Garry Monk tells Sheffield Wednesday to bring some joy to fans under tier-three coronavirus restrictions

Sheffield enter the highest level of Government covid-19 restrictions – tier three – first thing on Saturday, with all the financial and mental strains that puts on its inhabitants.

Owls manager Monk is aware of his responsibility to put a smile on the faces of those of a blue-and-white persuasion.

“People are going to be suffering, not only financially, but mentally and we have to try to stick together and support them,” he said.

“I don’t know what we can physically do, but if we can bring a little bit of joy in terms of getting results and winning on a Saturday, there’s that hour-and-a-half which can maybe be a distraction for people, then that is what we have to include in our motivation and that is what have been doing.

“We have spoken about that and what we need to do this season. We have tried to open ourselves up with our media channels and give the fans a better insight into knowing who is going to be fighting for them on a weekend.

“The only thing we can contribute now is to help distract them by hopefully giving them three points and a good feeling for their football club.

“It is not easy in Sheffield right now going into tier three but let's hope we are not in it for long and we can return to normal as soon as possible.”

Nationwide supporters have not been allowed into professional football grounds since early March, save for a handful of pilot matches, and not having that direct contract with fans makes it harder for Monk to measure the mood towards a squad who have made a positive and determined start, but are still on minus four Championship points as a result of past financial breaches.

“It's hard to gauge because there's no fans in the stadium but you're well aware of everything,” he said. “Having been in football my whole life, you know about football.

“(But) with the fans not in there you can't sense the true mood. Things get said on social media and in reports and that might not necessarily be true (or reflective of the wider mood) but the true sense is in the stands and bumping into people in the street.”

Monk admits even he feels “a bit lost” with all the restrictions on people at the moment.

“If I’m honest with you, since that first lockdown and then coming out of it and everything since then, I’m kind of a bit lost with it,” he added.

“You can do one thing but not another thing, which doesn’t seem to make sense.

“We’re all in the same position, aren’t we? Trying to work all that out. Some of it feels like it’s unnecessary because other things are going on – a couple of weeks ago there was a function at the (London) Palladium with a couple of thousand people in a closed space, yet we can’t have 2,000 people spaced out in an open stadium. It just doesn’t make sense.

“It’s difficult for the Government, these aren’t easy decisions.

“Let's just hope it's short and we return to reality as soon as possible.”

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