Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa decision points the way for Sheffield Wednesday

It took Darren Moore only a few days after taking over the reins at Sheffield Wednesday to recognise the balance of the squad was off. He wielded the axe and oversaw a big turnover of players last summer following relegation to League One.

There is no room for sentiment in sport and Moore showed his ruthless streak in making some tough calls. "Within three days of me being in the building, I knew the balance just wasn’t right," he said.

"We had to make some big decisions in the summer in terms of those going out of contract. We decided to let them go, which was important, and what I’ve been doing now is trying to get that balance right.”

Key dates for Sheffield Wednesday's 2022/23 League One season as summer transfer window looms

Not that it was easy for Moore to rebuild the squad in his image. His hands were tied, to some extent, in the transfer market due to the restrictions imposed on the club by the English Football League.

Although their transfer embargo was officially lifted in July, the EFL's restrictions meant the club could only sign players on loan or on a free transfer basis. The embargo also delayed their ability to trade and culminated in them missing out on a number of their transfer targets.

It was a challenging summer for Moore and the recruitment team. They were forced to play catch up on their rivals.

But Moore quickly got to work after the embargo shackles were removed, adding Dennis Adeniran to their ranks three days later. Thirteen more players arrived before the end of August as Moore built a strong, competitive squad.

After finishing fourth and qualifying for the play-offs, Moore does not need to rip everything up and start again. His Owls outfit only finished five points shy of the automatic