"What's the point?" Sheffield Wednesday youngster Osaze Urhoghide describes tough experience with Tony Pulis
and live on Freeview channel 276
The 20-year-old defender, who burst onto the scene early last year before having to spend several months out with a knee injury, had to wait until the end of January to make his first appearance of the 2020/21 season.
That was only after Pulis had been sacked after just 10 matches and replaced by long-term caretaker Neil Thompson. Pulis’ disastrous reign saw the Owls win only one match.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“I was frozen out of the team when Tony Pulis came in,” Urhoghide said on his YouTube channel, admitting that any dialogue between him and his then-manager was minimal.
“He had a team he would already pick and I wasn’t really playing during that period. I was on the bench a couple of times, sometimes the extra man and it was a sad moment to be honest.
“Football is about playing and when you’re not playing you do all you can to get into the team and you don’t get what you deserve sometimes.”
The youngster stepped in and became a key part of the first team changing room in 2021, making 17 appearances including 13 starts.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAdmitting he felt he learnt a lot from the experience under Pulis, he described just how difficult it was mentally at stages.
He said: “I felt I was just coming into train, as if I was never going to get into the team, it was like ‘What’s the point?’ I was working hard, trying to do my extras, trying to keep my fitness up. It was difficult.
“My hard work wasn’t paying off. It was only after he left the club that hard work did start coming off and I was ready when the opportunity came.
“I look back now and if I wasn’t doing the stuff I did even when I was low then I wouldn’t have had the success I would have had when I came back in.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdUrhoghide’s contract is up in the coming weeks and is one player many Wednesday fans will hope stays on at S6.