Sheffield Wednesday ponder ‘behind the scenes’ changes - Darren Moore assesses first team progress

The 46-year-old is 19 months into a rebuilding project at a club that had been rocked by points deductions, a saga over unpaid wages and relegation to League One.

And although the quest for a return to that division has gone on into a second season, there is a feeling that great strides have been made to improve a culture many believe to have been all wrong in recent seasons.

Asked to reflect on the work done at S6, Moore told The Star: “From when I arrived to where it is now, the club has moved forward significantly.

“The culture of the club has shifted, the mentality of the players on the pitch. The expectation will always be there, I feel there is a different edge to us in terms of the games we've won this season where we've had to be gritty.

“I'm quite happy in terms of the progress we've made. But I'm not completely happy because I know where I want to get the club and what we want to do this season.”

Moore revealed there were changes he wanted to make within the club going forward.

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And while he explained the strides the first team have made in terms of the first team, he feels things can also be improved at youth team level and in terms of the lay-out and facilities at their Middlewood Road training base.

Moore has spoken previously about the desire to tweak certain aspects of the base and is clearly keen to enact change going forward.

“There is still a lot of stuff behind the scenes I want us to catch up and do better with,” Moore admitted.

“The focus of the first team is where it is, but we have elements of the academy we want to bring along and sharpen things up there. We're always trying to evolve and develop, but looking at the characteristics of the [first team] squad, I'm pleased.”

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One aspect Wednesday certainly appear to have improved upon is their mental toughness. Moore’s arrival at S6 was greeted with an inability to earn points in matches they had gone behind in stretching back several months.

And while they were ultimately unable to do so at Plymouth last week, he used the performance of the side as an example of one that may not have been possible all those months ago.

He continued: “Within a couple of minutes we'd got back into the game and managed to control the game. Looking at the mindset of the boys when I first came, I don't think we'd have recovered from that [going a goal down early] really.

“There's a different mindset to the team in terms of the sports psychology and putting more demands on training, by doing double sessions in the afternoon, by more video analysis work, by doing one on one meetings.

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“There's so many things we've brought into the club that goes into playing the football we want the boys to be playing. There's been improvement but we keep striving to get even better.”