Tony Pulis embraces challenge of putting Sheffield Wednesday back where they belong in Premier League

Once those are out of the way he can focus on his long-term goal of establishing the Owls as the Steel City’s biggest club and underlining it by beating Sheffield United in a Premier League match.

A manager with a reputation for football that is anything but was certainly in crowd-pleasing mode in his first press conference.

Keiren Westwood, frozen out and made to train with the under-23s, was part of Monday’s session, with Pulis describing him as one of the Championship’s best goalkeepers.

He was not on the squad list Pulis’s predecessor Garry Monk submitted to the Football League but there are spaces available.

“No disrespect to the two young goalkeepers (Joe Wildsmith and Cameron Dawson) who have done really well but personally I think the kid is one of the best goalkeepers in the Championship. If he was available in the position we are now I’d be most probably looking to pick him – can I be any more honest than that?” said Pulis, who promised to be up front too with chairman Dejphon Chansiri.

“I’m trying to get that (eligibility) sorted out now. I don’t know whether we can or we can’t.”

Coaches James Beattie, Darryl Flahavan and Andrew Hughes left when Monk was sacked last week with the club in the Championship relegation zone, and Pulis will look to bring in replacements, with erstwhile assistant Dave Kemp likely to be amongst them. His first game in charge is at Preston North End in the Championship on Saturday.

“I’m trying to do that over the next few days,” he explained. “It was important I get myself up here, have a look around and get settled.

“Once I’m bedded down I need to bring in people who can help me and the players to prepare to win football matches at this level.”

They, like his players, will be expected to challenge Pulis.

“At times you need one singer and one song and if I feel that’s the case I’ll certainly make my point but I also think there are occasions when you open it up or players or coaches come forward with questions,” he said. “That’s really stimulating, that’s good.”

Barry Bannan, who was a bit-part player under Pulis at Crystal Palace, was appointed captain by Monk in the summer replacing Tom Lees but there has not yet been a conversation about whether that will continue.

“I was going to talk to Barry but unfortunately he knocked on the door when I had all the medical and sports science people in the room,” said Pulis. “I think it’s best I speak to him first.

“Barry most probably over the past three or four years, maybe longer, has been one of the outstanding players in the Championship. His ability to dictate and control games is first class. I’ve got a lot of time for him.

“At Palace we had (Yannick) Bolasie and (Jason) Puncheon as our wide players. The strengths we had at Palace were the pace and ability we had wide. We worked very hard to get the balls out to them as quickly as possible.

“Barry wasn’t in that category but everything he did at that football club in the time I was there was professional. He was a good worker in training and a very well-liked member of that group.

“I looked at the (Owls) players in my first training session and they look up to him.”

Pulis’s conversation with the medical and sports science staff was largely about the alarming number of injured players he has inherited, added to by two unspecified problems even since Monk left.

“Soft tissue injuries, I’ve told them how I feel about them,” said Pulis. “It’s almost a disaster. They’re avoidable injuries. If someone has an ankle injury, knee injury, shoulder, I can accept that, but muscular injuries, with the knowledge and the facilities and people we have, we’ve got to try and stop that. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve picked up quite a few of these injuries and that has to stop. We can’t afford it.”

As for his long-term aim, Pulis said: “Wouldn’t it be lovely to have derby matches with both clubs in the Premier League? If I did that, I’d say to the chairman thanks very much and I’d be off.

“When you look at the football club in respect of the enormous support they can get, no disrespect to Sheffield United but I think if you got this club into the Premier League it would be the biggest club in Sheffield.”

The last top-flight Steel City derby was in January 1994.

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