The Stoke City fan base is currently divided; there are those that believe the manager should go now and those that believe he should be given until the end of the season, and beyond, to put things right. There isn't much middle ground to be had and as the rut continues, the numbers falling into the former of the two groups is growing by the day. It is generally accepted, regardless of which side of the fence the fans are on, that we shouldn't be in the position that we are currently in. At the turn of the year we were sitting pretty in 10th on the back of a tremendous showing in the 3-1 victory over Liverpool at The Britannia Stadium. We had 29 points on the board with 18 games remaining. We required just 11 more points from the remaining 18 games (or an average of around 0.6 points per game) to reach the magical 40 point barrier. It never should have come to this but we are now well and truly in the relegation dogfight. In the 13 Premier League games played throughout 2013, we have picked up a measly 5 points, scoring just 7 goals along the way. That is relegation form against any yardstick. This isn't a problem that has crept up on us overnight either. A number of fans have been voicing concerns for a good while now, the issues affecting us go back for the best part of two years. This isn't a time to go over old ground though. Ignoring everything that has gone, and accepting the situation as it is, we are now in a five-game season to secure our status in the Premier League. Looking at our fixtures, they're about as good as we could've hoped for. The old adage "there are no easy game in the league" certainly applies but if you look at the games we have left, you have to say that they are very favourable and Tony Pulis couldn't really have hoped for better. We have 3 away games left to play. We haven't got to play the likes of Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea. It isn't like we have to play 2 of them, or even 1 of them. We have no top teams left to play on our travels and that's about as good as it gets. You can argue that we are playing teams in a fight for survival but if it's a choice between playing QPR and Southampton or Chelsea and Man City, we'd be snapping hands off for the first option every day of the week. Of the 2 home games we have left, we have Norwich left to play. Their away record is equally as poor as ours, having won only once on the road all Season. The only top team we have left to play is Spurs, and not so long ago we'd have been confident of giving them, or anybody else for that matter, a good game at The Brit. Accepting everything as it currently is, and taking into consideration our remaining fixtures, in comparison to some of the other teams still in the fight at the bottom, if we do go down then we can have absolutely no complaints. Furthermore, if we do go down, then Tony Pulis can have no grievances; he can have no qualms over "not getting the breaks". It is still in our hands and now is a time to go out, be positive and seize the initiative. No more bemoaning bad luck; fortune favours the brave and the Manager needs to start making his own luck. If Peter Coates is going to stand by him, and he can't get enough points over the last 5 games to keep us up, then surely he has to go? All it requires is a bit of positivity from the Manager, the correct team selections (two wingers in the side for a start) and we can still get the job done. What will kill us is negativity and the fear of failure. We'll get a good indication of which way it is going to go on Saturday when we travel to QPR. We have to go there and take the game to them. If we play for a point, we'll more than likely leave with none. If we find ourselves in the bottom three come 5.45pm on May 19th then that will represent mismanagement on a colossal scale. He's had the financial backing and the kind of time and patience not afforded most Managers in this league. Tony Pulis can have no excuses whatsoever. If we go down, the buck stops with him.