Lee Bullen offers honest assessment of dressing room culture at Sheffield Wednesday

The comments came in the moments after their last match before the coronavirus suspension – a 5-0 humiliation at Brentford – and reiterated comments he had made earlier after defeat at Wigan.

And speaking exclusively to The Star, assistant boss Lee Bullen has agreed that leadership and character is an are that needs improvement within the group.

Asked about Monk’s assessment of the culture, three-time caretaker boss Bullen said: “He's not the only one. Previous managers have spoken about it as well.

“It's an area that can be improved on. There are some good characters in there and there are some very quiet characters. But that's modern-day football. That sort of caveman mentality that came to an end towards the end of my time. I've spoken about that with Garry, there’s a different type of character within a dressing room.

“Even if you're quiet, when you're going through a bad time you've got to talk, you've got to drive yourself on, for yourself as well as everyone else.

“A lot of modern-day footballers become quieter, less vocal. It's a lot more, I don't know, touchy-feely. Is that down to finance? Do they have a different type of hunger from even before my time when basically you had to be in the team to get a bit of appearance bonus?

“But it's very easy for ex-players to look at modern-day players and say they don't have the same hunger because they're earning money. I don't agree with that 100 per cent. But the type of character that starts rolling sleeves up, gritting teeth, digging in? That is going out of the game a little bit.”

Bullen, a former Owls captain who has been on the coaching staff at Hillsborough for nearly a decade, said he believes the development of players is a factor in that ‘different type of character’ in football.

“I think that back in the day with younger players coming through, they have been wrapped up in cotton wool at times,” he said.

“They are better looked after, everything is on a plate for them, and they do lose that little bit of hunger and when a team is going through a hard time it is easier for them to find an injury or come off.

“If they are carrying a little injury, if you compare it to our time, I don't think any of us played a game of football 100 per cent fit. We always had some sort of knock or injury.

“You just got on with it and that breeds character. We've got a few good ones in there and a few that can improve. The group would admit that themselves. But maybe that's not just us, maybe that's modern-day footballers.”