Sheffield Wednesday coach Lee Bullen opens up on Steve Bruce ‘disappointment’ and relationship with Garry Monk
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The Scot, who oversaw his third caretaker management stint in the intervening period between the two managers, also said he was excited at how the future looks under Monk and described how decisions are made in the Wednesday dugout.
On the transition between Bruce and Monk, Bullen told The Star: “He [Monk] has been great. I was a bit disappointed with Steve moving on so quickly because a man of his experience and the success he's had at our level and the level he was at as a player, along with his two assistants, I was really excited to work with them and see how things would go.
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Hide Ad“Unfortunately that wasn't to be the case. Garry has come in and is more of my age group, we played about similar times and so have similar thoughts on how the game has gone from that point of view.”
Speaking before the restart of training at Middlewood Road, Bullen said: “Ultimately all decisions of line-ups and tactics and team selection is made by Garry, he'll give our opinions and we'll give our opinions, we're not just yes men. But ultimately the final decision on that sort of thing will come down to Gaz. It's about earning trust.
“When he was at ‘Boro, at Leeds and Birmingham I had a lot of respect for Garry before he came in and he's been great to work with and very accommodating for us. It can't have been easy for him, coming in at that point on his own, especially. But he's got 100 per cent support for everybody at the football club.
“Our plan is to make a huge success of it. We've had ups and downs but we're on the right road. That's been good for Garry, he's learned a lot about the squad and the club and how the chairman likes to work. It puts his knowledge in a better state come preparation for a new season.”
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Hide AdMuch has been made of Monk’s inability to bring in his own coaching staff, with James Beattie widely mentioned as someone the club had attempted to take from Monk’s former club Birmingham. Beattie reportedly remains on gardening leave in the Midlands.
“I don't think it's a major thing, he would have liked to have brought James in, he obviously brought in Ryan Needs,” Bullen said.
“But ultimately we've had to dig in and work with what we've got. He's really enjoyed working with myself, Neil [Thompson] and Nicky [Weaver], we've built a really good relationship there. Coming in there could have been a sense of trepidation and maybe even trust issues, it was about earning Gaz's trust. He's the gaffer.”