Source: PA
Mandaric: Promotion is the target
Milan Mandaric will instruct sacked manager Alan Irvine's successor to get Sheffield Wednesday back on course for promotion to the npower Championship this season.
Owls chairman Mandaric, who completed his £8million takeover of Wednesday in November, claimed his decision to part company with Irvine, 52, was the hardest he has had to make in football, but he is determined not to write the season off as a failure.
The Owls have slipped to 12th place, eight points adrift of the play-off places, and Mandaric said in a statement: "I have to emphasise now that we are not writing off this season. Promotion was the target when I bought the club and promotion is still the target now.
"We are also through to the fifth round of the FA Cup so if anyone thinks we are writing this season off, they could not be more wrong.
"We move onto the next stage and that means recruiting the right manager to take the club where I want it to be and that is into the Premier League. I know the supporters have big ambitions too and that is the way I like it."
Mandaric added: "From the first day that I met Alan Irvine it was clear he is an honourable man who would work tirelessly to take this club back into the Championship and I admired the dedication and commitment Alan showed to the job. Unfortunately, the results did not follow."
