With Agent for the fylde, Trevor Hemmings (baron hardup)as owner and Ridsdale (champagne Charlie) as chairman, it was only a matter of time until Phil Brown was shown the door. A little unfair when you consider how long a certain mr Ferguson was given to screw things up. Our new manager will probably be Forest Gump with Ian Dowie as his number two. After all I can't imagine any one worse for the job that is why I think they are the most likely candidates.
There are some ex managers around but some are of a calibre that they would rather wait until a bigger club than NE comes along. Perhaps a young succesful non-league manager should be considered? Most of the best managers have come through this route.
No holiday cheer for North End as they lost at home to Sheffield Wednesday by 2 goals to nil, the physically stronger and efficient visitors duly came, saw and conquered much to the delight of the mass ranks of Wednesday fans in the Bill Shankley Kop. North End opened well with Mayor looking dangerous, however fom Wednesday's first corner they took the lead as Batth ambled into acres of space and headed an easy goal. (0-1) Wednesday then dominated the rest of the half with North End creating nothing to test Nicky Weaver in the Owls goal. Wednesday could have gone two up when Lowe was denied by keeper Stuckmann on the edge of his penalty area. Wednesday forced a whole series of corners which caused mayhem in the home defence. On the half hour Hume Notrth End's most likely player limped out of the game and with him went North End's chances. Wednesday double their lead just befoe half time when a woeful free kick found it's was to Marshall on the far side of the pitch. Marshall advnced into the area and from a narrow angle scored the ball may have ficked of a defender but it wasn't the finest piece of goalkeeping I've seen. (0-2) Easy peasy for Wednesday. The early stages of the 2nd half Wednesday could have had three more but twice tried to pass ball into the net and should have done better from a Smith mistake when a shot was blasted wide. But finally North End started to get a toe hold in the game, whether Wednesday eased off or not it's hard to say but when Parry had a header cleared of the line, the belief started to return to the home side. The arrival of young substitute Douglas proved the difference to the team and fellow forward Tsoumou also started to give Wednesday a problem. McCombe blasted over, Tsoumou finally forced Weaver into a save and Douglas blasted over. If they had scored it might have made itan interesting finish but they didn't and Wednesday took the points. Preston North End 0 Sheffield Wednesday 2 Att 15900
