Ian Appleyard Mandaric must back or sack Irvine to end worry

On his arrival in South Yorkshire just over a year ago, Irvine was dubbed ‘Father Ted’ after the character in the television comedy. He initially worked miracles and a team that had gone 12 games without a win suddenly won four out of five, But since those early weeks, it has been largely downhill for the Owls leaving some to ask whether ‘Father Ted’ should now be read the last rites?

The Owls were relegated from the Championship in May and have now gone six games without a win to sit eight points adrift of the League One play-off zone.

Irvine is starting to show signs of strain – observers describing his demeanour after the last three games as ‘rattled’ (post Yeovil), ‘emotional’ (post Hereford), and ‘irritable’ (post Peterborough).

To his credit, he has not yet cracked but it is only a matter of time. And that is not healthy for anyone.

Chairman Milan Mandaric needs to resolve the situation one way or another and sooner rather than later. Put quite simply, the time has come to back Irvine or sack him.

Owls supporters could hardly believe their luck when Mandaric rode to the club’s rescue two months ago.

The former chairman of Portsmouth and Leicester City saved the club from the brink of administration and struck deals that wiped out a £28m debt.

All of a sudden, the Owls stood at the dawn of a bright new era and the promise of further funding for new players had strengthened talk of an immediate return to the Championship.

But the Owls have still to win a league game since Mandaric was installed as chairman and owner. Their last victory was a 6-2 mauling of strugglers Bristol Rovers when Mandaric waved to the crowd from the directors’ box – but in an unofficial capacity.

True to his word, Mandaric has funded the capture of five new players during the New Year transfer window – three defenders Reda Johnson, Michael Morrison and Mark Reynolds, a striker Gary Madine, and midfielder Isaiah Osbourne.

He has suggested many of the targets himself but the speed of change has provided a completely new set of problems for Irvine.

The team which he worked so hard at putting together over pre-season and still, publicly, had faith in to win promotion was suddenly ripped apart. Although he knew the new additions improved his side, he also feared it could take time for them to gel. And that has proved to be the case. On paper as good, if not better, than anything else in the division. Until they get to know each other, only hit and miss.

Time is something rarely afforded managers by Mandaric.

Over the last 12 years, he has axed 13 of them – a staggering statistic, which hardly curries favour with the League Managers’ Association.

Ironically, Howard Wilkinson, the LMA chairman, was acting chairman at Hillsborough during takeover talks.

He stayed on board for another two months after Mandaric’s arrival but resigned earlier this week saying his job was done.

Wilkinson’s departure is widely acknowledged as a blow to Irvine’s job security.

He will have done his best to stress the merits of managerial

stability before going but the ball is now firmly in Mandaric’s court.

There are some who find it hard to feel sympathy for any footballer or manager. They argue that the majority drive flash cars and live in big houses, and nearly always walk away from failure with a nice pay-off.

But Irvine, 52, is a rare breed in modern day football, a man who oozes ‘class’ as a person, and who vehemently believes there is no substitute for hard work. Maybe he is too nice to be a top class manager.

And, don’t forget, he only moved into management four years ago having spent the previous 18 working in the background as a coach.

Mandaric will be weighing up the pros and cons but there is no need to worry about his judgment.

One only needs to study his track record in football to appreciate that he is a winner. Whenever Mandaric has felt a manager could not deliver, he has brought in a manager who could. He left both Portsmouth and Leicester in better shape than he found them and has vowed to do the same with Wednesday.

Significantly, he does like Irvine and is desperate for the Scot to do well. Possibly thanks to Wilkinson’s influence, he has spoken of the need for patience during the last couple of difficult weeks.

Time, however, may be running out and Irvine admitted after Tuesday night’s 5-3 defeat at Peterborough that Saturday’s game against MK Dons was going to be ‘important for me.’

There were, of course, mitigating circumstances at London Road with midfielder Darren Potter sent off for a professional foul when the Owls were leading 3-2. Some teams, however, would have held on to that result for the final 20 minutes but not the Owls who, worryingly, are now only five points clear of the relegation zone.

There have been problems at right-back due to injuries and the signing of a new central midfielder was long overdue. But the turnaround in personnel has also made it harder to identify the club’s best side.

Until speculation over Irvine’s future is resolved, the players who feel uncomfortable about their own futures have an easy get out. Once uncertainty enters a dressing room it will breed division rather than unity.

Mandaric needs to come out publicly and say who is going to be the Wednesday manager for the rest of the season. As yet, there have been no major protests against Irvine but the dissenting voices are growing in numbers and patience is about to snap.

If not Irvine, then who? The names of Gary Johnson, Gary Megson and Paul Ince have been whispered in some corridors.