Speaking in an interview with Yorkshire Live, former Sheffield Wednesday defender Glenn Loovens has offered praise for Stuart Gray, who was controversially removed from the Owls' managerial job under Dejphon Chansiri.

The Dutchman is back in his native Netherlands now as he weighs up the next steps of his career but will be remembered most for his time in this country with Wednesday and Celtic.

Indeed, he signed for the Owls under Dave Jones but he was quickly removed and much of his early playing time at the club came under Stuart Gray.

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Gray did a fine job, too, in keeping the Owls up in the Championship and signing some good players, something that was not lost on Loovens.

He said:

"Stuart was great. He was a proper coach. He loved to be on the pitch with the players. That was probably what we needed at that time.

"He was on top of things and brought in a lot of good players like Leesy [Tom Lees], Hutch [Sam Hutchinson] and Westy [Keiren Westwood]. He has a good eye for a player."

The Verdict

When Gray was removed by Dejphon Chansiri a fair few fans were up in arms about things with Carlos Carvalhal coming in.

Of course, the Portuguese manager did a good job, too, as the club challenged for promotion via the play-offs but, ultimately, things never worked out for the Owls.

Gray, meanwhile, wasn't manager of the club long whilst Loovens was there but, clearly, he had a positive impact both on the Dutchman and the wider team.