Dean Windass has claimed that Tony Pulis didn't really want the job as Sheffield Wednesday's manager, despite taking the role up last month.

The 62-year-old had been out of work since leaving Middlesbrough in 2019, and has numerous years of managing in the top flight during his career.

But after 18 months out of the game, Pulis decided to take on the role at Hillsborough, despite the finances of the club not being at their best and the team being in wretched form on the pitch.

Wednesday went on a run of eight games without a win to start Pulis' reign which included five losses, one of them being against South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley.

But he finally got his side into the winning habit this weekend, as a Tom Lees goal gave Wednesday all three points against Coventry City.

There haven't been many positives to Pulis' reign so far, as he's prioritised becoming defensively solid again over expansive football.

Did Pulis actually want the Wednesday job though when it was first offered to him?

Windass, father of Owls attacker Josh, isn't all convinced that Pulis wanted to take on the role at a team who look destined to struggle all season at the lower end of the Championship.

“The chairman obviously decided to have a change, to bring Tony Pulis in. I don’t think he really wanted the job, Tony," Windass told FootballFanCast.

"I think that there were other candidates, but obviously he ended up taking the job.

“It’s been a struggle, they’ve only won one game.”

The Verdict

Obviously it is just speculation from Windass, but considering his son plays for the Owls, maybe he knows more than he's letting on.

It was definitely out of character for Pulis to accept a job at the foot of the table in the second tier, considering his last three jobs after leaving Stoke City had been either in the Premier League or higher-up in the Championship standings.

Things may be starting to look up now that the Owls are off the bottom of the table and have their first win under the new boss, but after Windass' comments there may now be the lingering sense that Pulis doesn't have his whole heart on the job at hand.