FOUR things to look out for in Sheffield Wednesday's friendly with Celtic
and live on Freeview channel 276
With the accounts released, with progress when it comes to the payment of player wages, attention has slowly turned to what the whole thing is about; the football.
Darren Moore’s squad is a long way from complete, you’d have to think, but a behind-closed-doors friendly against Scottish giants Celtic waits for nobody and kicks off a jam-packed preseason schedule that will take in opponents from the National League North to the Championship.
Here are a few bits to look out for this afternoon..
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It’s the first day of a long list of preseason matches, so only so much can be gleaned.
But it will be interesting to see who lines up in Moore’s starting XI and indeed how they set up.
Much has been made of the manager’s preference for a 4-2-3-1 formation, though he was forced to depart from that for large parts of his illness-ravaged start as Wednesday boss.
We may just see a few green shoots of his longer-term plan.
A. Trialist.. or more?
A handful of trialists have featured in the Owls’ Welsh training camp and it will be interesting to see whether any of them line up in shin pads today.
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Hide AdPreseason friendlies are often used as opportunities to see what these youngsters can do, but with the match broadcast live in iFollow and on Celtic TV, they may choose to keep their powder dry.
We shall see.
Familiar faces..
There are of course a couple of Celtic new boys that have recently departed S6.
Liam Shaw did some pre-match media engagement, suggesting he may well feature having been involved with much of their preseason camp.
Osaze Urhoghide is a more recent addition having joined up last week.
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Hide AdOne or both could make their Celtic debut against their former club this afternoon.
Youngsters?
Moore set out his stall early this summer in saying Wednesday’s younger players would be given an opportunity to impress during preseason.
And that is of course a big part of what these matches are about.
Ryan Galvin is as it stands the club’s most senior left-back, for example. Could Korede Adedoyin get a run-out up top? What about Liam Waldock, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, Alex Hunt?
Exciting times.