Ryan Lowe talks dream chasing, tough decisions and all things Sheffield Wendesday with Chris Burton.
As part of skysports.com's League One spotlight, Chris Burton catches up with Sheffield Wednesday striker Ryan Lowe.
At the age of 33, Ryan Lowe is chasing the dream of turning out in the Championship.
He could, perhaps, have been forgiven for thinking that such an opportunity had passed him by, with many footballers considered to be past their sell-by date the moment they turn 30.
Quite why so many seasoned campaigners are cast onto the scrapheap at this stage of their career is a mystery, but sport has become a young man's game and the philosophies of many a manager are now geared very much towards 'the future'.
The Football League is, however, a breeding ground for young and old, with promotion pushes and relegation scraps built around squads that embrace an eclectic mix of youth and experience.
That means there is always a place for older heads, with League know-how worth its weight in gold the further you travel down the football pyramid.
Goal-getters are an especially precious commodity, with managers up and down the land forever searching for that most elusive of sporting heroes: the 20-goal-a-season striker.
If you find someone who is capable of hitting that target on an annual basis, it is advisable to gloss over the numbers on their birth certificate and crack on with the thrashing out of terms.
Goals win games and players who can provide that spark are priceless, regardless of whether they are 14 or 40.
One man who is enjoying something of an Indian summer in his career right now is Ryan Lowe.
He may find himself on the wrong side of 30, but he is displaying no signs that the killer instincts that have allowed him to forge a successful career in the lower leagues are about to desert him.
Ambition
A goal-laden spell at Bury proved, if proof were needed, that he still knows his way to the back of the net and the only surprising thing about this particular tale is that it has taken so long for a so-called 'bigger club' to come calling.
Sheffield Wednesday finally took a punt on transfer deadline day, with Gary Megson deciding he could well do with Lowe's services as the Owls attempt to awake from their slumber and shake off their unwanted sleeping giants tag.
A switch to Hillsborough was not a straight-forward call for the 33-year-old forward, given his strong ties to Bury, but he told
skysports.com's Chris Burton that the opportunity to possibly turn out in the Championship in the not too distant future was too big a carrot to leave swinging.
"It wasn't an easy call, to be honest, it was tough," said Lowe.
"I enjoyed my time at Bury. When I say it wasn't an easy call, it was an easy call because of the club they are (Wednesday), but it was hard to leave a club that I fell in love with. I had been there two and a bit seasons and I had the best time of my life there. Obviously I will have a bit of a hole in my heart for Bury, but it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
"It wasn't easy to walk away from Bury, it was hard, but, with all due respect to Bury, it was a bigger club and to get the chance to play in the Championship at my age I had to move to Sheffield Wednesday, because that's where they want to be."
Wednesday were the only side that could have lured Lowe away from Gigg Lane, with it always going to take a special offer for him to consider severing ties with Bury.
He said: "They offered me a contract, just for the
