Sheffield Wednesday v Huddersfield Town: Tom Lees on building a relationship on safer ground with Darren Moore

A totally different working environment as well.

It is not only the Huddersfield Town manager who makes his first return to a place he knows like the back of his hand in Hillsborough today, but also the former Sheffield Wednesday captain, who left S6 at the end of a bruising 2020-21 campaign.

Moore entered a maelstrom when he arrived at the start of March 2021 from Doncaster Rovers.

The record books denote that Wednesday were relegated at the end of that season, but it didn’t tell the half of it in truth.

The Owls dropped into League One on May 8 of that year. A week earlier, it had been revealed that players had not been paid on time when the club drew with Nottingham Forest on May 1.

At the end of that month, reports circulated that a number of senior players were considering handing in their two-week period of written notice due to the ongoing situation at the club regarding unpaid wages – which had lasted over several months.

Alongside the off-the-field issues which Moore had to grapple with in the spring of 2021, there was also a personal aspect – and a very concerning one.

Moore was hospitalised by a bout of pneumonia, triggered by his contraction of Covid.

His time at Wednesday may now be best remembered for his inspirational post-match team-talk to players following that stupendous play-off episode against Peterborough United in May, his final outing in the home dug-out.

For Wednesday stalwarts and those present in the 2020-21 run-in, his addresses via Zoom to the dressing room from his hospital bed will also stick in the memory.

Lees said: "There was a lot going on and he probably had a lot on his plate when he came in, to say the least.

"He was also ill quite a bit with Covid and was missing. I remember games where he was on the Zoom (calls) quite a lot in the dressing room and didn't have any staff with him, just Jamie (Smith).

“He had all that and the fact we were at the foot of the table with a lot of turn-around in players and other stuff.

"Now, it feels like a totally different situation (at Huddersfield) and I might see a different side (of Moore) to what I saw before.

"The club have brought him in for a long term plan and it's up to us to show what we can do when we get the chance.”

It was crisis-management back in the first half of 2021 for Moore at Hillsborough. In the here and now, his old club find themselves in a grim predicament.

For his part, Lees sampled the good times and not so good with the Owls in his seven years there. Glory games against the likes of Arsenal, Newcastle and Brighton and the pain of events against Hull City, Sheffield United and his current club.

He also experienced the might of Hillsborough when it was at its powerful, but also febrile. One of the best places to play when things are going well, but unforgiving when it is not.

Playing at the grand old stadium when it was eerily deserted during Covid-affected times was another emotion that Lees had to contend with, principally during his final season there.

Today, the arena could be mutinous and toxic. Or, conversely, defiant depending on on-pitch events in a bellwether game in the season for rock-bottom and managerless Wednesday, who sacked Xisco Munoz in midweek with Neil Thompson in caretaker charge.

Don’t underestimate the sense of importance for Huddersfield, reeling after a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Birmingham City in midweek, either.

Lees commented: "It can be a great atmosphere. But it's up to us to try and flatten that atmosphere as soon as possible and do what we can do to take any kind of ’bounce’ from what has happened (a change of manager) out of them."

Admitting that trying to turn the home crowd against Wednesday will be a factor in Town’s game plan, he continued: "One hundred per cent. That's why it takes a lot to play for teams like them – because you have got to handle it.

"We know Saturday can go either way. If they go out and get the first goal, the place will be rocking. Equally, if we do and put them under real pressure, it might be difficult.”

Lees, for his part, will park sentiment if he lines up today and with good reason.

Playing catch-up after calf and back injuries, the 32-year-old - who made his first start of the season on a tough night at St Andrew’s - is assigned with re-establishing himself after a beginning to the 2023-24 season which he could have done without.

He said: "When you are there for a long time, you do meet some people that you end up keeping in contact with and that's the case there.

"But all that goes out of the window. There's just a lot of importance for both teams on Saturday.

"It won't affect me going back. I see it as another game and one I am eager to do well for the team as there's a lot of stake.

"If I play, there's a lot at stake for me personally because I have not been playing and need to try and get up to my match sharpness and fitness as soon as possible and show what I can do.”