A wise old gentleman summed it all up for me today.

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The_Green_Man

The_Green_Man

Slave to the NHS.
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I think the finest part of my job and one of the main reasons I do what I do is that I get the pleasure of speaking to some pretty wonderful individuals. A shining example being a gentleman who I met today.

I'm not going to name him for legal reasons however the gentleman was in his late 70's and has been following United for the majority of his life. Like most gents of his era, this guy used to go and watch the other half play one week with his father and then the following week he would go down to BDTBL with his uncle who was an avid blade.

In the space of 20 minutes we had spoken of this chaps memories as a lifelong blade, some of the happy and some of the sad. We went on the talk about some of the footballing greats who have worn the red and white stripes and how the club has gone through a transition over the years, some good and some bad of course.

The bit that really sank in was when I asked him the last time he went to the lane to watch United in which I was shocked to hear "November, and I won't be watching them again".

"Why", I ask?............ "Oh, I will be honest with you lad", he says". "I don't recognise them any more, In fact i've fallen out of love with them".

This guy has been a season ticket holder with United for a very long time and for this reason he has seen all of the highs and equally all of the lows however he has decided that enough is enough, and he's called it a day.

I won't go too deep into what was said but the chap went on to point out that he didn't trust the club or the owners any more. He felt like the club only say what the fans want to hear this days to cheat us out of our money. He said that never before in all of his time as a supporter had he ever seen a team with such little passion what so ever. "Spineless" he said, "They don't want to play for us...They don't care about United".

Think about it though....I've spent months of soul searching when it comes to United. I've seen the finger of blame being thrown around and i've tried to play ignorant to it all and hope that things would improve. The truth of the matter is that this old man summed it all up in one sentence......

"The only people who care about United are the fans"........

Very, very sad indeed.
 

The_Green_Man said:
I think the finest part of my job and one of the main reasons I do what I do is that I get the pleasure of speaking to some pretty wonderful individuals. A shining example being a gentleman who I met today.

I'm not going to name him for legal reasons however the gentleman was in his late 70's and has been following United for the majority of his life. Like most gents of his era, this guy used to go and watch the other half play one week with his father and then the following week he would go down to BDTBL with his uncle who was an avid blade.

In the space of 20 minutes we had spoken of this chaps memories as a lifelong blade, some of the happy and some of the sad. We went on the talk about some of the footballing greats who have worn the red and white stripes and how the club has gone through a transition over the years, some good and some bad of course.

The bit that really sank in was when I asked him the last time he went to the lane to watch United in which I was shocked to hear "November, and I won't be watching them again".

"Why", I ask?............ "Oh, I will be honest with you lad", he says". "I don't recognise them any more, In fact i've fallen out of love with them".

This guy has been a season ticket holder with United for a very long time and for this reason he has seen all of the highs and equally all of the lows however he has decided that enough is enough, and he's called it a day.

I won't go too deep into what was said but the chap went on to point out that he didn't trust the club or the owners any more. He felt like the club only say what the fans want to hear this days to cheat us out of our money. He said that never before in all of his time as a supporter had he ever seen a team with such little passion what so ever. "Spineless" he said, "They don't want to play for us...They don't care about United".

Think about it though....I've spent months of soul searching when it comes to United. I've seen the finger of blame being thrown around and i've tried to play ignorant to it all and hope that things would improve. The truth of the matter is that this old man summed it all up in one sentence......

"The only people who care about United are the fans"........

Very, very sad indeed.
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He's bang on the money though isn't he ? wise words indeed.........
 
Wow. That chimes a bit. Here's us on here, booting the shit out of each other with gusto and passion, offering debate and opinion and many of us opening their feelings out and delving into past experiences et al as our club slowly sinks lower and lower in the water.

Meanwhile, the people who can do anything about it are either inactive or strangely silent. The only people who speak from the club's standpoint are the team manager (strangely giving off signals that he is less than happy with his job) and one of the execuitive, whose collective experience of Sheffield United Football Club and the sport itself is microsends long.

This old feller has a point. We give a shit, the players less so and the management not.

That is why we are where we are.

pommpey
 
wimbledon blade said:
I agree with Deadbat when he says he senses the Prince is about to pull out. It would explain a lot.
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Got to agree someone or somethings in the wings we need an EVENT to move forwards. Can't see a gradual improvement of incoming players, performances and promotions.

It's going to go one way or t'other, Blackpool or Pigs and all we can do is sit and wait.

Bless the old guy, nearly four score years and the performance of SUFC at the weekend of his life makes him lose faith. Sad!
 
The conversation in the OP echoes much of my last conversations with my late father who followed the Blades all of his life and died at 92 in October. The only thing he would have added is that "they don't even look like United with those shirts". He was strongly anti-McCabe from the day he took over describing him as "nowt but a money man".
 
wimbledon blade said:
I agree with Deadbat when he says he senses the Prince is about to pull out. It would explain a lot.
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I wouldn't be surprised but IMO that would well and truly fuck us up. We may not have seen the level of investment many of us thought / hoped we were going to get when his involvement was announced, but I don't think there's any doubt that his money has helped - without his input, does anyone actually believe or trust that KMc will be willing or able to keep the club as it is let alone move us forward. I don't. Worrying times.
 

boo radley said:
What was the last United shirt he bought?
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images
 
him behind you said:
I wouldn't be surprised but IMO that would well and truly fuck us up. We may not have seen the level of investment many of us thought / hoped we were going to get when his involvement was announced, but I don't think there's any doubt that his money has helped - without his input, does anyone actually believe or trust that KMc will be willing or able to keep the club as it is let alone move us forward. I don't. Worrying times.
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He might have sold it by now! 3 years standing still and the most likely state of affairs will be another 3 years of stalemate
 
wimbledon blade said:
I agree with Deadbat when he says he senses the Prince is about to pull out. It would explain a lot.
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"senses" ?

Is that because he has ESP or he's been reading the rumours that have been doing the rounds for three months?
 
Sean Thornton said:
"senses" ?

Is that because he has ESP or he's been reading the rumours that have been doing the rounds for three months?
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He's just at that age we can all reminisce about Jones/Birchinall, Currie/Woodward, Deane and Agana etc
It's what's happening now and like what's already been said we are the club.
So enjoy the ride:rolleyes:
 
Lane Ender said:
He's just at that age we can all reminisce about Jones/Birchinall, Currie/Woodward, Deane and Agana etc
It's what's happening now and like what's already been said we are the club.
So enjoy the ride:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I don't mean the guy the OP us talking about.
 
The_Green_Man said:
I think the finest part of my job and one of the main reasons I do what I do is that I get the pleasure of speaking to some pretty wonderful individuals. A shining example being a gentleman who I met today.

I'm not going to name him for legal reasons however the gentleman was in his late 70's and has been following United for the majority of his life. Like most gents of his era, this guy used to go and watch the other half play one week with his father and then the following week he would go down to BDTBL with his uncle who was an avid blade.

In the space of 20 minutes we had spoken of this chaps memories as a lifelong blade, some of the happy and some of the sad. We went on the talk about some of the footballing greats who have worn the red and white stripes and how the club has gone through a transition over the years, some good and some bad of course.

The bit that really sank in was when I asked him the last time he went to the lane to watch United in which I was shocked to hear "November, and I won't be watching them again".

"Why", I ask?............ "Oh, I will be honest with you lad", he says". "I don't recognise them any more, In fact i've fallen out of love with them".

This guy has been a season ticket holder with United for a very long time and for this reason he has seen all of the highs and equally all of the lows however he has decided that enough is enough, and he's called it a day.

I won't go too deep into what was said but the chap went on to point out that he didn't trust the club or the owners any more. He felt like the club only say what the fans want to hear this days to cheat us out of our money. He said that never before in all of his time as a supporter had he ever seen a team with such little passion what so ever. "Spineless" he said, "They don't want to play for us...They don't care about United".

Think about it though....I've spent months of soul searching when it comes to United. I've seen the finger of blame being thrown around and i've tried to play ignorant to it all and hope that things would improve. The truth of the matter is that this old man summed it all up in one sentence......

"The only people who care about United are the fans"........

Very, very sad indeed.
Click to expand...

Thanks for relating that story Green Man but I'm not convinced. I am convinced that that is what he said but the whole giving up on United bit and the whole it's not like when I were a lad? It's not like when I went with my Dad either. Nothing to do with the football or the players or the board. It's just as a boy growing up it was all new and exciting. Where were we in the league? No idea, manager? Dunno, board????? Players, Woodward, Curry, Hemsley, Badger etc etc.

Reality is there were probably old blokes then who said, it's not like it was in my day. That's the nature of life. You'll hear them at work, this job isn't what it was like when I started. Or we used to go out and play, you can't do that now.

There was no social media and rolling 24 hour sports news so we never got to know any of the goings on at the club but I'm sure things were just the same back then. Did they have match fixing in football in Sheffield back then? Of course they did. Board room scandles? No doubt.

So to me, everything has changed and nothing has changed, just a bloke getting old I'm afraid.
By the way, I could equally tell you of blokes I meet and see in the pub before the match who still love football and the Blades. :)
 
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mosbolad said:
Thanks for relating that story Green Man but I'm not convinced. I am convinced that that is what he said but the whole giving up on United bit and the whole it's not like when I were a lad? It's not like when I went with my Dad either. Nothing to do with the football or the players or the board. It's just as a boy growing up it was all new and exciting. Where were we in the league? No idea, manager? Dunno, board????? Players, Woodward, Curry, Hemsley, Badger etc etc.

Reality is there were probably old blokes then who said, it's not like it was in my day. That's the nature of life. You'll hear them at work, this job isn't what it was like when I started. Or we used to go out and play, you can't do that now.

There was no social media and rolling 24 hour sports news so we never got to know any of the goings on at the club but I'm sure things were just the same back then. Did they have match fixing in football in Sheffield back then? Of course they did. Board room scandles? No doubt.

So to me, everything has changed and nothing has changed, just a bloke getting old I'm afraid.
By the way, I could equally tell you of blokes I meet and see in the pub before the match who still love football and the Blades. :)
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Good old Curry :)
 
The_Green_Man said:
I think the finest part of my job and one of the main reasons I do what I do is that I get the pleasure of speaking to some pretty wonderful individuals. A shining example being a gentleman who I met today.

I'm not going to name him for legal reasons however the gentleman was in his late 70's and has been following United for the majority of his life. Like most gents of his era, this guy used to go and watch the other half play one week with his father and then the following week he would go down to BDTBL with his uncle who was an avid blade.

In the space of 20 minutes we had spoken of this chaps memories as a lifelong blade, some of the happy and some of the sad. We went on the talk about some of the footballing greats who have worn the red and white stripes and how the club has gone through a transition over the years, some good and some bad of course.

The bit that really sank in was when I asked him the last time he went to the lane to watch United in which I was shocked to hear "November, and I won't be watching them again".

"Why", I ask?............ "Oh, I will be honest with you lad", he says". "I don't recognise them any more, In fact i've fallen out of love with them".

This guy has been a season ticket holder with United for a very long time and for this reason he has seen all of the highs and equally all of the lows however he has decided that enough is enough, and he's called it a day.

I won't go too deep into what was said but the chap went on to point out that he didn't trust the club or the owners any more. He felt like the club only say what the fans want to hear this days to cheat us out of our money. He said that never before in all of his time as a supporter had he ever seen a team with such little passion what so ever. "Spineless" he said, "They don't want to play for us...They don't care about United".

Think about it though....I've spent months of soul searching when it comes to United. I've seen the finger of blame being thrown around and i've tried to play ignorant to it all and hope that things would improve. The truth of the matter is that this old man summed it all up in one sentence......

"The only people who care about United are the fans"........

Very, very sad indeed.
Click to expand...
I can name quite a few teams who had no desire,in my time following the blades.The worst of the lot was of course the team which dropped into bottom tear,there are one or two squads that ran it close and not all were teams in the lower divisions ,we have had teams in the top 2 divisions that lacked desire also.,and relegation followed.It's the managers job to build a team with desire ime hoping Adkins managers this.
Bassett in his early years was great at this and good football or not a team with desire will get results and entertain the fans.
 
There's never a need to fall out of love with your club. Nobody is exclusively loyal to a manager or the players or the ownership anyway, and nor should they be.

The name, the emblem, the colours, the ground and your memories are what characterizes your allegience. And whilst you might decide to scale back your active support from time to time, it never ever leaves you.
 

"Why", I ask?............ "Oh, I will be honest with you lad", he says". "I don't recognise them any more,

I would agree with that sentiment, I wouldn't give up on them but they do lack an identity the home kit certainly doesn't help IMO it isn't SUFC the sooner we return to our normal kit the better. Through the years there was always at least one player you would be annoyed at losing, this team doesn't contain one, I wouldn't bat an eyelid if they were all shown the door.
 
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