'a groundbreaking sponsorship deal', where both Sheffield clubs (Sheffield Wednesday and rivals Sheffield United) announced at a joint press conference that they would share the same club sponsors, in a collaborative 'twin sponsorship'. This deal was the first of its kinds in the history of British football, whereby two rival clubs shared the same sponsor. The sponsorship deal was with Westfield Health and Volkswagen, with Sheffield Wednesday wearing the Volkswagen logo on their home shirts, and Sheffield United on their away, and Westfield Health on the away shirts of the Owls, and the home of the Blades. Having arrived back home from the tour in Austria, Sheffield Wednesday faced their first opponents back in England on 16 July, a day before this game, manager Gary Megson announced the club's new captain Rob Jones, who had only joined permanently weeks earlier. The Owls then played Worksop Town away in the first set of pre-season games back in England, in which they won 0–3, thanks to goals from Lewis Buxton on the eleventh minute, Gary Madine ten minutes later and defender Mark Beevers on the sixty-seventh minute. Wednesday's next friendly took place across Sheffield at Don Valley Stadium, where they won Rotherham United 1–2. The Owls took a two-goal lead after goals from Lewis Buxton and Gary Madine, before Adam Le Fondre pulled one back for Rotherham United, which was one of his last goals for Rotherham United as he later went on to sign for Reading. As well as the Wednesday first team taking part in friendlies, a Sheffield Wednesday XI – mainly made up of the Sheffield Wednesday Academy – also took part in several friendlies. The first of these games took place against Stocksbridge Park Steels, in which the end result was a 2–0 loss, after an own goal from Ayo Obileye and a goal from Mark Ward. Sheffield Wednesday then went on to play their first home game of the pre-season. The game against Leeds United and finished in a 1–1 draw, with goals from ex-Leeds United player David Prutton finishing after a dribble into the box on the eighth minute, and an eighty-fourth-minute goal from the penalty spot by Max Gradel. Max Gradel's goal was also the last he scored for his club, as he then went on to move to France by joining Marseille. One day later Sheffield Wednesday's XI were in action again, they played