Garry Monk and Neil Warnock's motives, team news and potential points penalties: Sheffield Wednesday vs Middlesbrough Q&A with Alex Miller and Joe Nicholson

Middlesbrough’s Championship season will end at Sheffield Wednesday this week– and there’s a lot of uncertainty at both clubs ahead of their meeting at Hillsborough.

Here, Joe Nicholson of the Hartlepool Mail and Alex Miller of The Star in Sheffield preview the 7:30pm fixture in an in-depth video Q&A with Liam Hoden.

During the conversation we discussed the situations at both clubs, managers Neil Warnock and Garry Monk, recent results and team news.

Here’s a snippet of the discussion below and you can watch the full Q&A in the video.

Set the scene for Sheffield Wednesday, it’s a game that could mean very little or mean absolutely everything?

Alex Miller: “How long have we got.

“Ultimately Wednesday are eight points clear of the relegation zone and should be looking forward to their holidays to Dubai and putting their feet up for a few weeks.

“Obviously that’s not the case with the EFL charge still rumbling on from November when the charges were originally brought to the club which is incredible really.

“There’s a real lack of clarity on everything from for a start whether they are likely to get this deduction, how many points it might be worth.

“There was a bit of clarity last night from the EFL statement that did make clear if there was to be a guilty verdict and a points deduction it would be enacted this season.

“It’s utter, utter madness that it’s gone on this long and we are a few hours now away from the final game of the season and Sheffield Wednesday and all the other teams down at the bottom of the league don’t know where they stand.

“Very, very difficult, very secretive and we are just waiting on that verdict now.”

It’s a similar sort of thing at Middlesbrough Joe, how do you assess their position? Three places clear of the relegation zone as the table stands, but the table could look very different once these points decisions come into play?

Joe Nicholson: “It’s a similar situation with a lot of uncertainty at Middlesbrough.

“You look at the table and think they probably are safe, mathematically they are if Wigan get the 12-point penalty.

“Obviously they’ve appealed that decision and if that does get overturned there is a slim chance that Middlesbrough could go down.

“But even if Wigan’s decision is overturned it’s going to take a freak load of results for Middlesbrough to be relegated, Luton, Charlton have to win and Birmingham have to take a point.

“Realistically Middlesbrough should be safe but there’s still that little bit of uncertainty.

“I think what Neil Warnock will really be looking for is a performance against Sheffield Wednesday.

“We’ve seen under him they’ve produced one good performance, a lot of them away from home, against Millwall and Reading, but then the next game they’ve been second best to the likes of Bristol City and Cardiff.

“Just finding a bit of consistency is what Boro will be looking for.”

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