Rotherham coach and former team mate says Lee Bullen is the 'perfect fit' for the Sheffield Wednesday manager's job

Speaking exclusively to The Star ahead of their Carabao Cup clash on Wednesday evening, the former Owls starlet drew parallels with the job done by his boss, Millers icon Paul Warne, since he took over at the New York Stadium following a spell as caretaker in 2016.

Hamshaw is a former team mate of Bullen’s having featured in the team that won promotion from League One in 2004/05 and said that the Scot is the ‘perfect fit’ for Wednesday having featured the club’s coaching staff since 2011.

“It’s an easy fit as far as I’m concerned”, he said. “He’s a really good coach and a really good manager and they’re a far better team this time than they were last season – they look better organised and he knows the club. That’s important.

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“He’s the perfect fit. I know there has been a lot of talk about big names but who knows how anyone will do when they come into a club? Bully has done brilliantly every time he’s stepped in as caretaker and as far as an audition goes, he’s done brilliantly again.”

Bullen’s permanent appointment would continue something of a trend in south Yorkshire in recent seasons.

Doncaster Rovers’ Darren Moore has a long-standing affinity with the club having played two seasons there and Chris Wilder’s relationship with Sheffield United is well documented.

But the biggest compliment Hamshaw could pay to Bullen, he says, is that his permanent appointment would closely mirror that of Warne, who has coached at Rotherham since his retirement there in 2012.

The 37-year-old former England youth international, who has previously described Hillsborough as a breeding ground for promising young coaches, said: “People over-complicate this game.

“Bully has come in and he’s got results. He knows the club inside out, he knows the fans and knows what the expectations are.

“It’s not dissimilar to what has happened with us here [at Rotherham]. Things weren’t easy at Wednesday when he first came in but he’s settled things down and things are looking good.

“If you’d asked most fans where they’d want to be at this stage of the season they would have taken this. Not many other managers have taken nine points from their first five games of a season.”

Rotherham head into the cup clash having not played since August 17 following back-to-back postponements against Bury and Portsmouth.

And whilst Hamshaw is understandably keen to give his former captain a bloody nose on the night, he says the reaction to Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat at Preston on Saturday has been overblown.

“That’s the way it is with modern football,” he said, “you lose one game and everything seems to go into meltdown.

“But I know Lee and I know how level-headed he is. He won’t let it bother him.”