I’M worried about Owen Coyle right now because he can’t seem to catch a break, but one look at our opponents on Saturday tells me that sacking him might not be the answer.

Since the turn of the millennium, Sheffield Wednesday have had 12 different managers, been relegated as far as League One from the Premier League and got themselves into all sorts of financial mess.

They were a big club, who once boasted the likes of Chris Waddle, David Hirst, Andy Sinton and Des Walker, but because of a few chairmen with itchy trigger fingers, they ended up in a right mess, and they are not alone.

If we’re not careful then we too could end up in that downward spiral. You sack a manager, and if the next guy isn’t an instant success, then suddenly you’re looking for the next one.

There is no continuity and it costs a lot of money. Sometimes, if you persevere, you can get your reward.

Owen is under pressure right now, no mistake. Coming off relegation we knew we needed to make a good start and that hasn’t happened.

But we have a good, young manager who’s heart is in the right place and who knows the club and his squad. Yes, he needs a bit of luck, but there’s enough quality there on paper to give him some time to turn things round.

People expected us to bounce straight back up with no effort but I’m telling you, it doesn’t work like that. Maybe a few of the players have been caught cold, and there are certainly one or two who are not producing at the moment.

It doesn’t matter if you think you should be playing in the Premier League, if you’re down here, you’re a Championship player. Simple as that.

I’m not making excuses for anyone and Owen knows that this is a results business. Ultimately it comes down to Eddie Davies and Phil Gartside and if they don’t see some improvement in the next two games then they might be forced into a decision. I’d say that would be a very sad day indeed.

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IT could well take something extraordinary to turn the mood round at the moment, so could Darren Pratley be the unlikely hero?

If Jay Spearing’s calf puts him out for Sheffield Wednesday it puts us back to square one in regards to central midfield.

It’s great that Keith Andrews is willing to play through the pain when his manager really needs him – but it’s very, very hard to operate at your maximum level when you are carrying an injury like that, so it could well be Pratley’s big chance.

I know fans haven’t taken to him, and he was one of quite a few who didn’t make the impression we wanted last season.

But he knows the division and he’s had success with Swansea, scoring a dozen or so goals the last time he was down there, so you never know.

There’s only one way you can get back onside with the fans, or with your manager, and that’s by producing on the pitch, and if Darren does that, there’s no reason why he can’t start all over again.

He’s clearly capable of scoring goals and producing performances at this level and even though I think we’re still missing one player in the middle of the park, it’s at times like these you need absolutely everyone to dig in.

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PEOPLE ask me how long Owen can continue to play Kevin Davies week in, week out, without a rest. My answer is simple – for as long as he needs to.

Right now, he knows what he’s getting from the skipper, who as usual is giving blood, sweat and tears to the cause and doing exactly what it says on the tin.

I’ll be honest, I don’t think we know what our best pair up front are at the moment, but while Kev is living up to his end of the bargain, that’s one position the manager doesn’t have to worry about.

David Ngog desperately needs games and then who knows if he’ll get his sharpness back.

The two young boys have shown the occasion flash of talent – more so Benik Afobe than Marvin Sordell – but they also need to step up right now.

Down the road at Blackburn they invested £8million on a top goalscorer in Jordan Rhodes and that’s why I think they’ll have success this season.

I wondered in the summer whether we’d have someone who you could look at and know they would score regularly, and though there are a few lads who’ll chip in, I just don’t think we’ve got someone we can depend on.

Chris Eagles has done quite well up to now and tends to come up with something spectacular. His set pieces are always a threat and he’s one of the few who have really sparkled at all this season.

But while Big Kev will run through brick walls for the team, we need someone with that look in his eye who’ll hit the target and make it count.

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IT’S got to the stage where we need to start making our own luck, regardless of how tempting it is to point a finger at the officials.

By all accounts, we’ve been done by a dodgy penalty at Birmingham and it sums up how things have been going for Owen just recently. He doesn’t seem to be able to do right for doing wrong.

The fans have said their piece but I don’t think it’s irreversible – even though it is going to take a gargantuan effort from all concerned to turn things round.

The important thing is that the players don’t lose focus on what they can put right.

If the football was improved at St Andrew’s, then it can still get better.

Yes, we conceded the penalty, but it was early enough in the second half to do something about it, and we’ve got to look at why we didn’t get back on level terms.