Red-faced Mandaric out to wake Owls from slumbers

FOR the first time in his life, Milan Mandaric is embarrassed by his record as a football chairman.

It is four months since his arrival at Sheffield Wednesday and, in that time, he has saved the League One club from administration and wiped out a £28m debt.

The word ‘embarrassed’ should not even be entering his mind but Mandaric is a man who sets the bar high.

From his early days as owner of the San Jose Earthquakes to his promotions with Portsmouth and Leicester City, Mandaric has never settled for second best.

Which is why now, as the Owls enter the final few weeks of the season still needing points to be mathematically safe, he feels he could and should have done better.

His new club sat second in the league table when he took over, only three points behind leaders Brighton and Hove Albion.

He even provided five new players in the New Year transfer window but results still dipped.

In a desperate bid to halt the slide, manager Alan Irvine was sacked and replaced by Gary Megson. Play-off qualification became the new target but, once again, it was not to be.

As the weeks passed by, the results continued to show no sign of improvement. All of a sudden, there was even talk of a relegation battle.

Yet now, thanks to six points from three games in the last two weeks, the panic is just about over. Megson’s job appears to be safe and Mandaric would happily wave farewell to this season tomorrow.

From there, it will be time to build a squad fully equipped to win automatic promotion. Make no mistake about it, Mandaric will not tolerate failure next season.

“I am not impressed with myself or anyone right now,” admits Mandaric. “The jury is there for all of us and, right now, we have nothing to celebrate.

“When that time comes, I will tell you if I am impressed but, right now I am not impressed with anyone, beginning with myself.

“In a way, it is embarrassing to me. But I will work tirelessly to try and make it happen. If I don’t, it will be the first time in my life. And I don’t think that will be the case because everything we need is here.

“It’s always hard when you take over a club in the middle of a season, you are always chasing,” he concedes. “But this team was on the top of the league in the middle of the season. What the hell happened here? I have never experienced anything like it before – I guess my unproper due diligence was something to do with it.

“When I took over, I had not done due diligence because I simply did not have the time. I only had 24 hours to make up my mind or the club would have gone into administration. I had to move quickly because I didn’t want that.

“I was under the impression that we had the team we needed on the field and that maybe giving additional support to the manager would give us the security to go up to the Championship. I really believed that we could do it with the existing management but things didn’t happen and I had to make a move.”

On reflection, Mandaric is acutely aware that it would have been better for his new manager to sign players in January rather than one who was soon to be shown the door. However, at that time, Mandaric had no intention of sacking Irvine. His decision was based purely on the deterioration in results. Irvine became the 14th manager in 12 years to part company with Mandaric in English football but the Owls chairman has no regrets.

“I have been criticised enough for letting managers go which is unfair,” he says. “I never do this with pleasure. It’s the last thing I want to do but, in my mind, in my way of running a club, it is always my responsibility to do what is best for the club and its supporters. If that means I need to let my son-in-law or my brother go, I will do it – because the club is my priority.”

Over 23,000 supporters attended the Owls’ first game of the season at home to Dagenham and Redbridge which underlined the loyalty of its supporters. Gates have dropped to 15,000, however, in the last few weeks which is another issue Mandaric plans to address.

“There is no chairman who doesn’t care if gates are falling,” he says. “That shows you the satisfaction of the people in one way but, in another way, I can’t blame them. Would I be satisifed in their shoes with what I have seen? No. But I still count on their loyalty and their trust.

“We will turn things around and they will come back,” he insists. “If we are not able to correct it, then shame on us. There will be no excuses for anyone. Gary will get full support and we are starting to have meetings now to review what we have done and what we need to do. How can we turn this team into a winning team?”

Former Sheffield United commercial manager Andy Daykin has joined the Owls as commercial director and there will also be key additions to the club’s scouting network over the next few weeks.

“It’s been eventful and challenging to say the least but – if you ask me whether I would still take the club over, knowing what I know now – the answer would be ‘yes’,” Mandaric concluded. “The fans own this club, I am the maintenance man – but let’s see how far we can fix their broken club.

“They all talk about sleeping giants but, actually, that is the wrong impression. This giant is in a coma, it needs surgery, and it will be done. The doctors are not giving up. I have only one target. To get out of this division and into the Premier League. No disrespect to League One, there are a lot of nice people here and nice clubs but we need to get out of the darkness.”

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