Gray has restored belief in Wednesday squad

The former Southampton chief has been in temporary charge of the Owls for the best part of seven weeks.

In that time, results have improved dramatically to lift Wednesday out of the bottom three in the Championship and also into the FA Cup fourth round.

Despite that – and one of those improved results being the derby thrashing of Leeds United – chairman Milan Mandaric is yet to hand Gray the job on a permanent basis.

Lee, outstanding in the 6-0 demolition of Leeds, said: “Stuart has brought belief back. Everyone plays with freedom. A couple of players have also come back to change the team.

“But there isn’t one particular thing that has changed. Everyone just plays with confidence now and that can be down to results.

“Everyone is different but Stuart has got everyone believing in themselves. All the lads are behind him. We don’t know what will happen but we would all love him to be in charge.

“We, though, aren’t the ones who decide that. I don’t know what will happen.”

Gray’s record in 10 league and cup game includes five wins and three draws.

Lee added: “Performances have improved. Credit to Stu and also credit to the lads. Everyone is working hard for each other. The fans have also lifted us. All the players love playing for Stu so I don’t know how much it would change if he was made permanent.”

The latest test of Wednesday’s improvement under Gray came on Tuesday night when Macclesfield Town visited Hillsborough in the Cup.

The Silkmen may have been the lowest ranked team still in the competition but they still produced an impressive display that took three late goals to see them off before the Owls booked a fourth round trip to Leeds’s conquerors Rochdale.

Lee, so impressive in recent games and now switched to central midfield, said: “I thought in the first half we passed the ball well. We got in front and could have had a couple more. But when you are only one goal ahead, the opposition are always in the game.

“When they scored, it made things tough for 10 minutes but we came through.

“Now, we are focused on Burnley (at Turf Moor in the Championship on Saturday).

“It will be tough because they are flying near the top. But we will go there believing we can win. Our performances and results have been good.”