Bully - I'd love to stay - exclusive

Last updated : 26 April 2006 By Andy Parsons

The amiable club captain's commitment and desire to be successful at Hillsborough is unquestioned although the 35-year-old's future is up in the air with his contract expiring in the summer.

But the Scotsman has been a bit-part player this season after playing in every game during the promotion campaign and has been used in countless positions – but he still wants to remain at the club.


“I am totally in the dark about my future,” Bullen told Footymad, “I believe the manager spoke to the chairman the other day and hopefully some light can be shed on the seven or eight of us who are out of contract in the summer because I am not the only one in the dark and it would be nice to know one way or the other. The fans have been great with me but sentiment goes out of the window when you open contract talks and I have said that in the past.


“Football moves on, clubs progress but at the end of the day it's not Lee Bullen's football club, it's not John-Paul McGovern's football club, it's not David Lucas' football club – it is Sheffield Wednesday and at the end of the day the manager will always have difficult decisions to make. Sure we all have our fingers crossed that we will be here next season, I would like to think that we will be but you have to look at it in the bigger angle and just accept whatever the manager decides. Managers live and die by decisions but hopefully the decisions are positive for the all the players out of contract.”


Whatever happens to Bullen in the summer, he will always be remembered as one of the most honest and hardworking players at the club for years and there's no doubt that he will take many memories with him should he leave – although he is passionate about staying.


He added: “Been at Sheffield Wednesday in the last few years has been the pinnacle of my career, especially Cardiff last year and going up with the captain's armband to collect the trophy in front of 42,000 Wednesday fans was amazing. To see the blue and white on the way down to the ground was unbelievable. It was brilliant on the way home too on the motorway: we went to a service station on the way back to Sheffield and there were 500 fans in there and these are the sort of memories that no one can take away from you.


“Now having played that part within this club has been brilliant for me but all that is the past because clubs move on and you can't live in the past. To be honest I would love to take a video of the Cardiff final in to the manager's office and ask him to give me a five-year deal but it doesn't work like that! Joking apart you have to abide with whatever the manager decides, I would love to stay but what you would love to do and what happens is a different matter altogether so I guess we'll see.“