Bullen hails Owls progress - exclusive

Last updated : 16 May 2007 By Andy Parsons

The amiable and ever-dependable Scotsman has just signed a new one-year deal to keep him at Hillsborough for a third season and has seen some good times and bad at the club since joining in the summer of 2004.

Wednesday came up from the league one play-offs in May 2005 as Luton and Hull galloped beyond everyone else to snatch automatic promotion but two years on, it's The Owls who are in the best position.


Bullen told Footymad: "We had a great finish last year to consolidate our place in the Championship and it was similar this year although we were hoping to sneak into the back door of the play-offs. But even though we failed at the last hurdle, we have to look at where we have come from and what we have achieved.


"We came up through the play-offs two years ago and tailed off behind Luton and Hull. Now Luton have been relegated and Hull ended up fighting for their lives. But we are building the right way even if it's slowly and if we are given the opportunity to go to the Premiership next season then we will take it."


The man who got Wednesday into the Championship that memorable sunny day at Cardiff was Paul Sturrock - he has since left the club of course and gone on to great things at Swindon but Bullen says that the change was a massive turning point in Wednesday's season - even if it did make them a tad weaker at the back.


He added: "I think if you look at how we played at the end of the season, we may have leaked lots of goals and under Paul Sturrock we didn't do that, but then again under Paul we didn't score many goals so we are a more exciting team to watch now because we are scoring more goals.


"Unfortunately that has a flip side and leaves us a little bit more open at the back. The fans I think are happier now with the style of football under Brian Laws and it's an enjoyable team to play with."


Meanwhile, Deon Burton has signed a new two-year deal at Hillsborough - although the club are still waiting on Steve MacLean to put pen to paper.


If MacLean does leave Sheffield, Laws is tipped to up his interest in his former play Billy Sharpe at Scunthorpe United although Wednesday will have to pay around £2million for the striker's services.