Tony Pulis admits being ‘the wrong person’ for Sheffield Wednesday – backs ‘proper lad’ Darren Moore

The experienced former Stoke City and Middlesbrough boss spent just 45 days with the Owls before parting ways – the shortest reign in the club’s history – after securing just one win in 10 matches.

It was a spell that certainly didn’t help Wednesday’s fight for survival that was ultimately lost on the final day of the season under Darren Moore at Derby County, and Pulis says that he never felt right at S6.

Speaking on the Undr The Cosh podcast, Pulis said, “At Sheffield Wednesday, it’s an absolutely fantastic club, but I was the wrong person at the wrong club, really. I went there during Covid, so I couldn’t get any energy from the supporters - and you know what Hillsborough is like when it’s empty.

“There was stuff going on behind the scenes that were different to what I was used to, and two or three weeks into it I thought, ‘I’m really struggling here’. For the first time.

“A lot of the time I’d seen myself through it, I’d fight through it, but I just didn’t think it was right for the football club - me having that mentality, struggling with the setup and everything else.

“I think the most honest thing I did was talk to the chairman about it.”

Pulis did go on to say, however, that he regularly checks on the Owls’ progress under his former captain, Moore, and told the podcast that he’s willing on both the club and their manager to success.

He went on to say, “They’ve got a manager there now in Darren Moore who was my captain at Portsmouth, he was at West Brom and I brought him on board with the first team. He is one of the proper, proper lads... One of the first results I look for on a weekend are Sheffield Wednesday, and I’m absolutely desperate for Darren and the club to do well. They’re a fabulous club.

“I just think I was, not cheating myself, but it didn’t feel ‘me’.”

The Wednesday job was Pulis’ last in football, with the 65-year-old having recently announced his retirement from the game.

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