Wide-ranging media reports suggest that Sheffield Wednesday have parted company with manager Alan Irvine this morning after a poor run in the league which has left them points 8 adrift of the play-off places in League One.
Tuesday evening’s 5-3 defeat t Peterborough appears to have been the final straw as far as SWFC owner Milan Mandaric is concerned. Despite a good run in the F.A. Cup Wednesday’s league form has been dire. The Owls have picked up just 5 points from their last 8 games and have lost 5 away games in succession. These defeats included conceding 5 goals at Peterborough and Exeter and 4 at Leyton Orient and they have not kept a clean sheet in the league in 8 attempts.
Irvine was appointed as manager at Hillsborough in January 2010 with the Owls languishing near the foot of the Championship table. Wednesday won 5 of his first 7 games in charge to give them genuine hopes of avoiding the drop. The Owls form dipped dramatically after this initial upturn however and just two wins from their last 16 matches meant that they were relegated after failing to get the win they needed against Crystal Palace on the last day of the season.
Despite severe financial constraints Irvine was able to build a strong team during the summer by bringing in a number of key free transfers and hopes of a promotion challenge were high. This optimism seemed well placed as the Owls got off to a strong start, an unbeaten first month of the season taking them into 2nd place.
At this point off-field matters again came to the fore with the threat of administration becoming a very real possibility due to unpaid tax bills. Wednesday failed to win in the league in September, dropping into the bottom half of the table as a result.
The financial issues continued to be a concern but 6 successive wins in league and cup in November saw the club surge up the table and by mid-December they were up to 2nd place, albeit having played more games than their near rivals due to postponements. At this time the financial position of the club had taken a major positive turn as Milan Mandaric completed a takeover after agreeing deals with clubs major creditors.
With money now available The Owls signed 5 new players in January but have failed to push on and now find themselves closer to the relegation zone in terms of points than they are to the play-off places. With 60 points still to play for Wednesday will hope that they can still get back into contention for promotion, they face 6th placed MK Dons at Hillsborough on Saturday.