Davy Jones finds Wednesday have cleared his locker after defeat to Blackpool

PUBLISHED: 17:30 EST, 1 December 2013 | UPDATED: 17:39 EST, 1 December 2013

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Life is not a pleasure beach for Sheffield Wednesday, and Blackpool in winter will rarely have appeared more desolate for their fans, manager and players.

So bleak that Dave Jones was facing up to the chill wind of redundancy on Sunday night, 24 hours after his team had been beaten 2-0 by a club who continue to confound pre-season predictions by staying in fourth place before December’s frenetic programme.

It will be a cruel month for Jones, whose plea for Milan Mandaric to show patience was backed up after the game both by his opposite number Paul Ince and, more tellingly, his captain Roger Johnson.

Game over: Dave Jones was sacked as Sheffield Wednesday manager after a 2-0 defeat to Blackpool on Saturday

‘This club has had 12 or 13 managers in the last 10 years. Change is not the answer,’ said the soon-to-be former manager Jones. ‘Nobody has a magic wand.’

We will find out soon enough. The chairman preferred to listen to the sporadic chants for his sacking, backed up by printed placards reading ‘Jones Out!’, most of which had been confiscated by the local constabulary and neatly piled in the press room.

When a team of experienced professionals miss the host of chances Wednesday created in the first 45 minutes, enough to have given them the advantage, do you blame them or the boss?

Finishing touch: Blackpool's Dan Gosling (right) seals three points with his side's second goal of the game

Johnson had chosen to step out into the cold after the match to volunteer his coruscating opinion of what happened in the second half, when Blackpool came out re-energised to build on their scarcely deserved lead.

‘We just melted. They had a good spell, we just gave up. It’s not good enough,’ he said.

‘The manager is going to get the blame but it’s not the manager’s fault. If he gets the sack, it’s a joke. It ain’t the staff; they are working us hard all week. It’s the players.

‘I had it last year at Wolves; three managers, great team. The manager works hard, we train unbelievably and come out here and it doesn’t happen. There is a bit of pressure and we hide away. I’m fuming.

No way through: Blackpool's Neal Bishop slides in to steal the ball from Wednesday's Connor Wickham

‘Nobody has given up on the manager. We just haven’t performed. Bringing another manager in won’t change it, you’ll have the same players.

‘As players, we’ve got to say it isn’t good enough. Everyone knows as players if you’ve not gone out there and given 100 per cent. You’ve gone home and you know.

‘Of course you hear the fans. They’ve every right to voice their opinion. That’s their opinion, but to me, it’s not the right decision.’

But the deed is done, and from Jones’s tone, you suspect he already knew. He has been buffeted enough by the vagaries of football to know what to expect from a second-from-bottom position. Three straight defeats have included goals through defensive mistakes from corners, as in Ricardo Fuller’s opener.

Key man: Blackpool's Ricardo Fuller celebrates his match-winning goal against Jones' side

Connor Wickham, on loan from Sunderland, stood out for Wednesday like the host town’s famous Tower in terms of quality, although he was among the guilty with those early misses.

For Ince it was a happy return to live football after a five-game stadium ban for abusing the fourth official at Bournemouth in September.

Ince had spent previous Saturdays at Sky’s HQ in Wilmslow watching a live feed and feeding instructions by phone to assistants.

He has done well with a relatively low-cost squad who play in an efficient and committed way, but who are unlikely to be filling the promotion places in May.

Back on the scene: Blackpool boss Paul Ince was back in the dugout against Wednesday after serving a stadium ban

‘We were favourites to be relegated this year, so to be on 31 points after 17 games is a minor miracle,’ Ince said.

‘We can’t think beyond getting 52 points and safety, then we’ll take it from there.

‘I wasn’t sure today whether to sit up in the stand or be on the touchline.

‘You know me, when I played football I was very passionate. Sometimes you are going to lose your head. I will lose it again, but it’s how you lose your head.

‘I realise you have to learn to control yourself because you are a role model.

‘If I’m getting banned for five games, how can I have a go at players for being sent off? It won’t happen again.’

Too good: Blackpool's Angel Martinez (right) races beyond Owls midfielder Seyi Olifinjana (left)

Performance of the weekend

Maybe homeless Coventry will come to prefer being on the road.

Having lost their previous two matches ‘at home’ by an aggregate 8-1 against Tranmere and Rotherham, they travelled to Milton Keynes Dons and beat them 3-1, thanks to two late free-kicks from debutant Chris Maguire.

Man of the moment: Coventry City debutant Chris Maguire bends in the second of his free-kicks against MK Dons

What's caught my eye...

Don’t wish to be rude but, even as someone with a fair knowledge of football dating back to playing Subbuteo during my childhood, I had not heard of some of the teams in Europa League action this week, let alone been capable of pointing to them on a map.

Among those completely flummoxing me were Shakhter Karagandy, Pandurii Targu Jiu and Chornomorets.

PS: Shakhter Karagandy hail from Kazakhstan, Pandurii are Romanian, and Chornomorets are from Ukraine’s Black Sea coast.

New names: Roger Canas (right) of Shakhter Karagandy challenges Stefanos Athanasiadis (left) of PAOK for the ball during a Europa League clash on Thursday