Yorath blames directors for Wednesday's decay

Their former manager Terry Yorath has laid the blame for Sheffield Wednesday's spectacular decline firmly at the door of the boardroom. Yorath, who spent 12 months in charge at Hillsbrough before making way for the current manager, Chris Turner, in November last year, insists directors past and present were responsible for the club's plight.

"They've been living in never-never land for so long," said Yorath. "Now it's time to get real." A 1-1 draw at their fellow strugglers Brighton on Monday condemned Wednesday to Second Division football next season – for the first time in more than 20 years.

Yorath cited mismanagement as the reason for the decline of a club which had finished seventh in the Premiership and runners-up spots in both the FA Cup and League Cup in the same season only 10 years ago.

"The club has bought players who have not been up to it and handed them fantastic wages. Some of those players did not deserve those wages. But you can't just blame them," he said. "They were offered wages when the club were in the Premiership and without doubt it is not just the current board who are responsible."

Yorath said he was "saddened mostly for the supporters" and added that recent managers had all been handed an impossible task.

"Peter Shreeves, Paul Jewell and myself and now Chris Turner have been asked to work miracles. The fans have endured three or four seasons now of football that has not been of a high standard.

"But one thing in Chris Turner's favour now is that there are no players left on big wages. The likes of Gerald Sibon, Phil O'Donnell and Simon Donnelly will have all gone at the end of the season and there's a chance the club can turn it round."

Their former striker David Hirst also believes Wednesday's board must take some responsibility for the club's downfall, but that they are not the only ones to blame. He said: "Any team that can slip from third in the Premiership and two cup finals to the Second Division in a decade must ask itself serious questions.

"But it also comes down to the players. Not many have done themselves justice here for far too long and, if you're not winning games, you're going to get relegated."

Hirst too is convinced that the former Hartlepool manager Turner can turn round the club's fortunes. "He has a five-year plan and I think he will get it right," he said. "The club needs a settled manager more than anything."