Scott Minto has hailed the work being done at Sheffield Wednesday this season.

The Owls faced an uncertain summer as speculation linking Steve Bruce with a move to Newcastle distracted from pre-season preparations.

The former boss completed his move to St James' Park but left Lee Bullen to pick up the pieces at the South Yorkshire side prepared for a pivotal season in the Championship.

With Sheffield Wednesday tipped to struggle, a strong start from Bullen was followed up by the appointment of Garry Monk who has guided the Owls to within touching distance of the play-off places, something which, according to Minto, should not be underestimated.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, the Sky Sports presenter said: "There are three teams fighting for the automatic promotion places, and around 10 or 12 battling for the other three play-off places.

"Sheffield Wednesday are definitely one of them.

“I wasn’t sure at the start of the season with all that happened with Steve Bruce leaving and how it would affect them.

“I think first and foremost Lee Bullen did a fantastic job with the first few games of the season.

"Of course there were some defeats after that but it was a worry that Sheffield Wednesday could have done similar to Stoke City of Middlesbrough, but Lee Bullen made sure that didn’t happen.

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“With Garry Monk coming in, he’s an extremely experienced man at this level.

“He fell just short with Leeds challenging for promotion but at the start of that season, you wouldn’t have put them up there in the first place.

“What he did at Birmingham was incredible. To keep them away from the relegation zone with everything that was a fantastic achievement.

“He deserves to be managing a team who are fighting for promotion rather than against relegation.”