Irvine Out

[BIG D]

I for one have a lot of respect for DED Allen.

I will be heartbroken if Chesterfield miss out on the play-offs after he generously donated £6 to them.

Pardon?

Oh £4M then, £2M is a loan apparently.

[gurujuan]

This manager has had half a season to halt the slide and apart from a brief honeymoon period, has never looked like doing it.

[DJMortimer]

AI must have been half expecting a backlash should we fail, but for pities sake, people ... he's a damn fine manager, a good man for us in the long term.

Let him rebuild the squad, with or without money.

There were no better candidates out there who'd take on the poisoned chalice of SWFC.

We were very fortunate to get him.

Our squad is a shambles - to quote once again: "You Can't Polish a Turd"

If bloody BL had remained in charge we'd have been losing 3-4 nil or 1, week in week out. And been rock bottom long by now - and an even bigger laughing stock.

I have posted many comparisons to the effect other managers taking over in similar circumstances have had on us. Five of them in a decade is quite a body of evidence under the circumstances. All but one of them had a better effect on results than Irvine has and the one who didn't was an unmitigated disaster for this club.

The fact that nobody has mounted a robust defence against this evidence, and that most haven't even bothered to offer one, speaks for itself.

[Imre Varadi's Conker]

AI must have been half expecting a backlash should we fail, but for pities sake, people ... he's a damn fine manager, a good man for us in the long term.

Let him rebuild the squad, with or without money.

There were no better candidates out there who'd take on the poisoned chalice of SWFC.

We were very fortunate to get him.

Our squad is a shambles - to quote once again: "You Can't Polish a Turd"

If bloody BL had remained in charge we'd have been losing 3-4 nil or 1, week in week out. And been rock bottom long by now - and an even bigger laughing stock.

THIS /\ /\ /\ /\.

[DJMortimer]

THIS /\ /\ /\ /\.

So the best defence for Irvine's performance is that Laws would have done even worse? This is a man who had clearly lost a squad who were sitting back and happily getting rammed on a weekly basis? Hardly an outstanding achievement to do better than that really is it? And even if Laws had stayed, is it even possible to do a great deal worse than 1 win in 11 with your division status on the line?

[gurujuan]

Irvine's ineptitude is so bad that I would actually have fancied Laws chances of beating Palace over his

[Wednesday-Wonderland]

So the best defence for Irvine's performance is that Laws would have done even worse? This is a man who had clearly lost a squad who were sitting back and happily getting rammed on a weekly basis? Hardly an outstanding achievement to do better than that really is it? And even if Laws had stayed, is it even possible to do a great deal worse than 1 win in 11 with your division status on the line?

Why are you so intent on laying the blame on AI? The squad is rotten. If players don't have the guts, or the attitude, or just simply don't care enough to drag a club out of a bad situation what can you do? The only thing you can do is bomb them out of the club and get the right people in. And unless I'm mistaken that's not something AI has had the luxury of being able to do.

[M Royds]

If a professional footballer needs motivating into wanting to win a game then they really should retire and take up a different profession.

IMO - a manager should not need to motivate players into giving full commitment and effort for 90 minutes. It's the least a player should give. This shower doesn't.

I for one can't blame Irvine for players efforts and attitudes. Like i said, they either want to win or don't.

Yes they do.

Try reading theories of management. In any group processes leaders and direction is essential. Otherwise we wouldn't have managers. Just because somebody's good/professional it doesn't make them automatically go out and perform, after all they are not robots.

Management of resources and motivational speaking are essential.

[BRADDAZ]

THEY ARE NOT IS flipping PLAYERS!

For **** Sake.

This set of players might not want to play for Irvine. Hardly Irvines fault is it? He didn't bring the fvckers in.

A little responsibility falls on Irvine - i think everyone will agree with that - maybe things would have worked out differently if he'd have picked a different teams yesterday.

But the main blame lies with the players, who didn't want to work under Laws, and don't want to work under Irvine. Once this set of shysters are gone, the better.

Mainly judge Irvine, with his OWN set of players, that HE'S brought to the club, to work under HIM.

Jesus Wept.

[Guest Distraught!]

Irvine's ineptitude is so bad that I would actually have fancied Laws chances of beating Palace over his

A scary thought:

Whenever we needed a crucial win under Laws, the players performed out of their skin notably Leicester away and Norwich at home a few seasons ago.

Irvine has been very good at getting Preston to the playoffs. Could he win the crucial games when he needed to?

[BobsMagicCalculator]

Why are you so intent on laying the blame on AI? The squad is rotten. If players don't have the guts, or the attitude, or just simply don't care enough to drag a club out of a bad situation what can you do? The only thing you can do is bomb them out of the club and get the right people in. And unless I'm mistaken that's not something AI has had the luxury of being able to do.

Barnsley were in a worse position than us when they appointed Robins, they had a similar set of unmotivated moderate players.

Great managers turn poor players into average, average players into good and good players into excellent.

Alan Irvine's CV isn't impressive. He may be a good coach but he was never going to get a buzz around the place which after Laws was needed badly.

[BRADDAZ]

Yes they do.

Try reading theories of management. In any group processes leaders and direction is essential. Otherwise we wouldn't have managers. Just because somebody's good/professional it doesn't make them automatically go out and perform, after all they are not robots.

Management of resources and motivational speaking are essential.

If not wanting to get relegated isn't motivation then i don't no what is.

What footballer would want to be part of a team that get's relegated?

The manager should not need to tell a player the importance of a Sheffield Derby or a must win game at Cardiff yesterday.

[ROKERITE]

Was at party last night with some of the Preston players and they all said that the best manager that they have worked under is Alan Irvine!

Not withstanding the terrible run Preston were on at the time of Irvine's sacking, most PNE fans seem more unhappy since Ferguson's arrival. I thought at the time that Irvine's dismissal was the stupidest decision of the season, and nothing has altered that opinion. There's a suspicion amongst some of Preston's support that it was the wealthy investor behind the scenes at Deepdale, who made the decision to part company with Irvine, when Fergie Jnr. left Peterborough. Apparently he was bedazzled by the idea of Sir Alex's boy being Preston's Manager. I know which man I'd rather was manager of my club, and it wouldn't be young Darren.

[gurujuan]

Mishowl how can we trust the chairman and the board to get it right. Earlier in the season our chairman was telling us, the squad was the best in recent times and how he expected us to be up there challenging. After appointing Irvine, and seeing the disastrous results continue, then it suddenly becomes, Laws has left us in this mess with the players he brought in.

[djstatic]

Was at party last night with some of the Preston players and they all said that the best manager that they have worked under is Alan Irvine!

Although I do feel yesterday was the first time I watched us & thought we were actually really going for it. For what its worth, I think we played well first half with JJ up front. However, his hamstring went & with it, did our chances of staying up. Irvine has tried to make us solid, hard to beat & organised but at the cost of us being an attacking threat. I can see why he did it because under Laws, defensively we were a joke. Irvine is a good manager. Preston have got worse since he left with supposedly a bright, young manager & he's been able to bring in some of his daddy's youngsters. Give Irvine a chance next season. Its the least he deserves. Don't forget when he took over, we needed promotion form just to stay up. What really erks me about this season is, unlike in 2003 where we just awful & not good enough, I know this squad aren't the 3rd worst in the Championship but they have let us all down badly by not showing up on far too many occasions. I can handle my team not being good enough but to not to give 100%, is just unforgiveable.

[cardiffowl06]

Laws started the mess.

These are Law's players.

Irvine has improved the team slightly.

It's not Irvine's team.

Give Irvine a chance.

[BRADDAZ]

Mishowl how can we trust the chairman and the board to get it right. Earlier in the season our chairman was telling us, the squad was the best in recent times and how he expected us to be up there challenging. After appointing Irvine, and seeing the disastrous results continue, then it suddenly becomes, Laws has left us in this mess with the players he brought in.

The chairmans hardly going to come out and say:

" This squad is average, we'll probably finish midtable, might be looking over our shoulders, come and get your season tickets, we need to sell 16,500 season tickets to get Wednesday moving forward "

Wednesday's main source of finance is through Season Tickets. Lee Strafford job at the beginning of the season was to try and sell these Season Tickets.

Not his fault result have panned out like they have.

[M Royds]

THEY ARE NOT IS flipping PLAYERS!

For **** Sake.

This set of players might not want to play for Irvine. Hardly Irvines fault is it? He didn't bring the fvckers in.

A little responsibility falls on Irvine - i think everyone will agree with that - maybe things would have worked out differently if he'd have picked a different teams yesterday.

But the main blame lies with the players, who didn't want to work under Laws, and don't want to work under Irvine. Once this set of shysters are gone, the better.

Mainly judge Irvine, with his OWN set of players, that HE'S brought to the club, to work under HIM.

Jesus Wept.

They are his players. They became his players the moment he took the job.

[DJMortimer]

Why are you so intent on laying the blame on AI? The squad is rotten. If players don't have the guts, or the attitude, or just simply don't care enough to drag a club out of a bad situation what can you do? The only thing you can do is bomb them out of the club and get the right people in. And unless I'm mistaken that's not something AI has had the luxury of being able to do.

I'm not blaming him exclusively. I'd say it's more about people looking to absolve him completely as if he is utterly powerless. Clearly the bulk of culpability lies with the players themselves. But what has Irvine done with them? Underperforming, uncommitted players are being selected regardless of what they do even as players with more talent or more effort (sadly not both together) sit on the bench and watch us sleepwalk to insipid low scoring draws and defeats. He has committed to a style of play that might cut down on goals conceded, but it ensures that the opponent will enjoy the territorial and possession advantage, thus increasing the chances that the pivotal moments in a game will occur at our end of the field. We are not Arsenal circa 1992, we don't have a Paul Merson or Ian Wright at the other end to create or score that vital goal we need to make these tactics work.

And STILL no one has managed to explain away the likes of Shreeves and Yorath taking an arguably worse situation and doing rather better with it.

[DJMortimer]

Laws started the mess.

These are Law's players.

Irvine has improved the team slightly.

It's not Irvine's team.

Give Irvine a chance.

The final proof that the 'give him a chance' / 'they're not his players' angle is nothing more than a convenient excuse.