[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

This new year has to bring a new start at the club, and that means just about every person in the coaching staff and recruitment department sitting in the gestapo interrogation chair in JP's office, justifying why the hell they should be allowed to continue in positions which have frankly become untenable.

I'm sure Alan Irvine is a lovely man who knows more about football than most of us ever have, and I'm sure players at every level of the game admire and respect him, but is he that Winston Churchill you want in the dressing room before a must-win game, or at half-time when things aren't going your way? The evidence of the last two months suggests he isn't that man at all. These players don't need a friend; they need someone who'll put a win-or-die mentality into them. Alan Irvine has utterly failed to accomplish this with the chances he's had.

The problems don't end there. I'm still not convinced that this is a comfortable mid-table squad of players at all, and I think that transfer activity in January is imperative to steer clear of relegation. Fresh ideas are needed in the coaching staff, some serious accountability is required in the recruitment department, and a lot of our players need to shape up or ship out.

New year, new start. Please, Jeremy.