Lawrie Madden: Owls' legend who's now writing the news rather than making it!

Lawrie Madden was a tough-tacking central defender who played for Sheffield Wednesday between 1983 and 1991, making nearly 250 appearances for the Yorkshire club. He also wore the colours of Charlton, Millwall, Wolves and Chesterfield and now works as a freelance journalist (regularly providing copy for our own givemefootball) as well as lecturing part-time at Staffordshire University. Mark Shail is the man with the questions.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR CAREER?

I was lucky because I was at Sheffield Wednesday during what was a very successful period in the club's history during the mid 1980s and early 1990s. Looking back, the two highlights would have to be winning promotion to the top flight for the first time in 14 years and reaching the League Cup Final against Manchester United at Wembley in 1991.

WHO WERE THE BEST PLAYERS YOU PLAYED WITH AT HILLSBOROUGH?

There were some very good players at Wednesday at that time – Roland Nielson, John Sheridan, Trevor Francis and David Hirst to name a just a few. I think Hirst would have gone on to become a really top striker had he not picked up a serious injury against Arsenal. At one stage early in his career he was being talked about in the same breath as Alan Shearer, but unfortunately he was never the same player after that injury.

AND THE BEST PLAYERS YOU PLAYED AGAINST?

Gary Lineker, Ian Rush and Kenny Dalglish are three that stand out. Funnily enough, Liverpool were the top team in the country at that time but we had a great record against them – in fact we won at both Anfield and Old Trafford two years in succession in the late 1980s. On the flip side though, we could never seem to get a victory on the road at either Arsenal or Spurs.

WHAT WERE THE STRENGTHS OF THE THEN WEDNESDAY BOSS HOWARD WILKINSON?

His strengths were definitely on the training field – he was a great organiser and his attention to detail was first class. In many respects, he was ahead of his time because he was using the methods back then that many of the Premiership managers are using today. It was sometimes suggested that Howard was not particularly amenable with the media but that was because he was purely a football man.

WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF WEDNESDAY'S POSITION TODAY?

It's sad to see them languishing at the bottom of the Championship but I think Neil Warnock summed their position up well when he said that Wednesday are now where Sheffield United were five or six years ago. In many ways, Paul Sturrock over-achieved in winning promotion last season and this year was always going to be a bit of a struggle but hopefully they can stay in the division this season and look to build on that next term. It's not going to be easy though because the club has always got this £28 million debt hanging over it like a black cloud.

HOW HAS THE GAME CHANGED SINCE YOU HUNG UP YOUR BOOTS?

It's changed in the sense that it's much quicker nowadays and I think as a result players are starting to pick up a lot more injuries. Because of the increased pace of the game managers are tending to opt for more athletic players today.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?

I work as a freelance journalist, as well as doing some TV work for GMTV and Sky. I also work part-time at Staffordshire University, lecturing aspiring young journalists.