Sheffield Wednesday v Crystal Palace: Blame me, says Irvine if Owls are relegated

Laws, relegated from the Premier League last week with Burnley, was sacked by the Owls in December after a disastrous sequence of mid-season results.

Although Irvine's arrival initially sparked an upturn in fortunes, the Owls will be condemned to life in League One tomorrow unless they beat Crystal Palace in the final game of the season at Hillsborough.

Irvine, who took on the Owls job less than two weeks after his shock sacking by Preston North End, said: "If we don't stay up, I am not going to blame anyone else. This was always going to be a difficult task but we had enough time to win enough games and we have not done that."

The Owls have won only one of their last 11 games – a dismal sequence of results which sets up tomorrow's nail-biting finale against Palace, the only other club still fighting for survival. Palace, however, would not even be in this situation but for the docking of 10 points by the Football League for entering administration.

The Eagles also wasted an opportunity to secure their survival against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night.

For the Owls, burdened by debts in the region of 26m since dropping out of the Premier League 10 years ago, tomorrow's game is pivotal in shaping the direction of the club over the next five years.

Chairman Lee Strafford has often stated that relegation will not derail the possibility of major investment this summer from America but no-one at Hillsborough wants to put that theory to the test.

Irvine said: "People often say that Sheffield Wednesday is a 'sleeping giant' but it's been sleeping for a long time! We are hoping that we can awaken it.

"The current position is not hard to believe," he added. "It has been in this position quite a lot in recent years. In fact, I wouldn't have got the job if the club had been absolutely flying.

"No club is 'too big' to go down and it doesn't matter what has happened in the past. It's what happens now," he stressed. "I don't know what relegation would mean for us financially because I have not talked to the chairman or chief executive about that yet. I don't know how it would affect any of the takeover interests.

"But this game is undoubtedly 'big' for the future of the club and it is massively important that we are a Championship club or a club pushing for the Premier League."

Referring to the problems experienced by clubs including Leeds United and Bradford City in recent years, Irvine said: "At the moment, there are something like seven clubs in League One who have been in the Premier League since it was formed and there is one in League Two. Sheffield Wednesday have been in League One in the not-too distant past and we cannot assume we won't go there again.

"I don't want to consider relegation just now because the objective is to stay in the division – but if it happens, we will have to deal with it."

Both Irvine and Palace manager Paul Hart are in the awkward position of having to save their own skins at the expense of former clubs.

Irvine spent three years as a player with Palace in the late Eighties and Hart spent two at Hillsborough.

For Palace, the impact of relegation may be far worse than it would be for the Owls. They are yet to find a buyer and joint- administrator Brendan Guilfoyle has stated that, as yet, there is no funding for the club beyond the end of the season.

"I would rather it wasn't a former club we were up against but there is no room for sentiment," said Irvine. "I desperately want us to stay in this division and the price for that is Palace going down. Whatever happens, I will continue to hope they do well in the future because I was really happy there, but not at the expense of us going down."

All tickets for tomorrow's 1pm clash have been sold, which guarantees a crowd in the region of 36,000.

Millions more will be watching live coverage on BBC1.

"I always felt this season could go right to the wire and unfortunately I was not wrong," Irvine reflected. "The mental part of this game is going to be huge. It will be down to which set of players can handle this occasion and the pressure – but last Saturday (after Cardiff) everyone of us wanted this pressure this weekend.

"We should be delighted to have the opportunity and hopefully that will make a difference to my players."