Darren Moore held his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon for this weekend’s derby clash with Rotherham. Here are some key talking points from the Owls boss…
On Andre Green
We felt the offer was the right one for the club, it happened very quickly and we wish Andre all the very best. It’s a fresh challenge for him. We have players in that role that the supporters haven’t seen this season, we have players who can play in that position, and when the time is right we will introduce those players who will play a big part for the team. We have a lot of versatility in the squad and that’s a great place to be in when everyone is fit and running on full gas, which we haven’t seen yet.
On Rotherham
Both defences will have to be at their best to keep the attacking threat that both teams present at bay. There’s always something special about derby games and especially this one as both teams are in the ascendancy. I think Rotherham will be up there at the end of the season, they have an experienced manager who knows this level inside out. His team of players are experienced too, they have a level of togetherness and understanding, so it bodes well for Rotherham this season. I know Paul Warne very well, he’s a personal friend of mine and I felt for him when they went down in the manner that they did on the last day, I really did. It looked like they were going to do it but they conceded right at the end so you can understand completely the emotions that followed.
On Sam Hutchinson
Sam just had some general soreness that we would put down to the volume of games at the start of the season. It’s nothing long sustaining which is great news. We will make a decision on Sam before the game tomorrow, he’s had a couple of days for it to settle down, he’s feeling a lot, lot better. We’ll give him every chance to make it.
On the fans
I’m told we could’ve sold our allocation for this game five times over and as always I ask our fans to sign their hearts out for the boys. They make all the difference, the support has been fantastic this season, we took a few thousand down to Charlton for a game that was on Sky, we’ve had two games at home with both games exceeding 20,000. They will have such a big part to play for us this season and we are all really grateful for their support.
On transfers
This window has been a huge one for the club because of the turnaround of players. I have spoken to some managers who’ve had to tweak things by bringing in one or two players and we’ve had to work really hard right from the start with the magnitude of players we want to bring in. We have made some huge strides in that work. The window will come and go and after that we can move from the distractions of the window. The phone calls will stop and you are competing with a lot of clubs for players, it takes a lot of time, but once the window closes, that is it.