What Sheffield Wednesday should expect from Craig Gardner ... according to his old boss

There has been no official confirmation of the switch to South Yorkshire for Gardner, but Pulis certainly didn’t do much to pour water on rumours of the 33-year-old’s move when he presided over his first press conference on Monday.

The new Owls boss said: “I always like to bring one young coach with me and someone who knows the best players in the academy."They know how the academy is set up, I think the link between the academy and the first-team is important. Neil [Thompson] has joined in [training] today and he will be part of that."Craig is somebody I have great respect for, he is a top-quality character. He's a young coach, enthusiastic, you ask him to do stuff and I'm sure he will."

Gardner announced last year that he would be retiring from playing after a career that began at Aston Villa, took in two spells at Birmingham City as well as West Brom and Sunderland, and immediately set his sights on forging a career in coaching.

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He said at the time: “Now I have found a new bug, I have got the bug of coaching and I love it.

“I can bring a hunger, that youth into the coaching, I can relate to the players that are already on the pitch. I think I have shown that and hopefully the players enjoy it.”

The former midfielder got a taste of what it’s like at the top when he ended last season as joint-caretaker manager at Blues following the departure of Pep Clotet.

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Before that, Clotet – who worked alongside former Owls boss Garry Monk at Swansea, Leeds and Birmingham – indicated that he saw a future manager in Gardner.

“He should [become a manager] because he loves football,” Clotet said last year. “He has strategic thinking on how to develop a club and a team.

“He will take his badges and I will encourage him to take the next step and grow.

“I think it’s important whoever is in charge encourages their staff to grow and I’m sure that Craig will.

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“He has experience from the point of view of seeing the game and understanding the tactical side of the game when he was playing. His midfield role he always valued good football and that is something that we are chasing.

“He understands the small tactical relationships with different positions. He’s taking a lot of responsibility as well with the technical work with the players when it comes to improving them on the crossing, passing and finishing.

“I think he’s doing very well with that on the training pitch but obviously that takes a lot of time to develop. As well that he helps us with analysing the opposition and how we set up ourselves.”

Pulis has made no firm announcement on his backroom staff, though has indicated that he wants to bring in his own men.

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