Time’s Up, Alan

Will Wednesday’s 5-3 defeat at Peterborough United be Alan Irvine’s final game as Wednesday manager?

I write this article on the back of our fifth defeat in our last eight npower League One games.

Of those eight games, we’ve won just once and drawn the other two. Our two victories since the turn of the year have come in the FA Cup.

Of course, Wednesday’s priority is with promotion back to the Championship this season, and the recent shocking form has left us seven points adrift of the top-six and in grave danger on missing out unless drastic changes are made.

Chairman change? Check. Player arrivals? Check. Manager?…

The defeat at London Road, although as disappointing as all the rest, is more worrying simply because it was half expected.

Yes, Wednesday didn’t play awful, it was an improvement on some of the other dire performances that we’ve had to put up with in recent weeks.

But I can’t still can’t see beyond that 5-3 scoreline, ten men or not.

The thrashing at Exeter, followed by another defeat at Leyton Orient by a similar heavy scoreline were bad enough.

The Yeovil game seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, but it wasn’t. Another chance, it seemed, for Irvine to put things right.

Irvine was in a no-win situation at the weekend, victory over lowly League Two side Hereford in the FA Cup was a must, and it was job done in that respect.

The clash with Posh was always the true test – a game away from home against a side also gunning for promotion this season.

The players said they were playing for the manager, this was the time to prove it.

Yet still we fall short. Another loss against a side battling for promotion. It’s simply not good enough.

Irvine said before tonight’s match that the first goal was key – and we got it. Yet we held on to it for minutes. It happened three times in one match.

I’ve been hoping, through bad result after bad result, that we could turn things around and that we could still make the play-offs this season, but that hope is dwindling rapidly.

Those rose tinted specs are wearing extremely thin.

Our new chairman must do something before it’s too late, and now’s the time to do it.

Irvine may be a nice bloke, Mandaric said he was one of the nicest himan beings that he’s ever met in a Radio Sheffield interview, but we’ve had enough nice guys who just haven’t been up to the task in years gone by.

We need change and we need it now.