Impending exit of Sheffield Wednesday coach announced by Owls

Weaver has been a superb servant for the Owls over the years, spending time in the academy of his boyhood club before having two stints at Hillsborough during his professional career - once on loan from Manchester City, and then again on a permanent basis between 2010 and 2013.

Now, after years working in the club’s goalkeeping department at both senior and youth level, the 45-year-old has decided to call it a day so that he can go and focus on more important things like spending time with his family.

“It’s a lot of personal reasons,” he explained to the club’s official website. “Last year I lost my brother which has obviously had a massive impact on my family’s life. It makes you prioritise certain things and makes you realise how important other things are, like spending time with your family. I have two young kids and I want to spend as much time as I can with them.

Join our Whatsapp channel for your Wednesday news without the fuss of social media

“Physically, I had six operations on my knee as a player and as a goalkeeping coach you have to be relatively active, I’ve struggled over the last few months. It’s something that’s not going to get any better and not something where I can have a quick operation and it will be better. It’s an accumulation of the operations and playing for almost 20 years and it’s taken its toll...

“I’ve just loved my time here. I’m so lucky to have played for Wednesday in two different spells, I’ve got some fantastic memories. So when I got the opportunity to come back as a coach it was something I jumped at.”