Bladesway
Not a member of the reaction faction
Wow, what a fun week its been on here. We won away and this place went into meltdown as the sides steeled themselves for the usual rock throwing. Then on Saturday we bettered ourselves by getting thumped and it all kicked off again with the hate brigade finally having the ammo they apparently crave. Even Harrys game made his chilly appearance on the back of the loss, so things must be shit.
I cannot be the only one surely who sits in the middle of this with my head in my hands. People want to apportion blame, others want a poll to see how long we will be in this division. Others see nothing wrong and think we will win the league at a canter. There must be those in the middle like myself.
I liken it to the Scottish referendum. Both sides have their fingers in their ears, proverbial cannons at the ready. Swiss has his Happiness Howitzer and Pommpey his swearasaurus in his back pocket. No one appears to see that we are in both a very good and a very worrying position at the same time.
There is no doubt we only lost one of the last 7, we have played some of the best teams in the division away (Preston, Peterborough and now Swindon). Only one has taken any points from us. We are three points off second place and have a game in hand on a couple of the teams above us. We have been operating with some injured players such as Scougall who had such an effect when he came on against Colchester. This is all the good stuff but then there is this.......
We are only three points off the bottom end of the table and lets all be honest about it we can count the good minutes in each game on the fingers of both hands (thats ten for those wondering or living in Barnsley). We look/sound disjoined and it is clear that the manager isn't happy with the way things are currently going. We sold our best player in the summer and the bloke we were going to put in his shoes has fucked off on loan to Walsall from whence he came. None of the new signings have particularly stood out and we have been reliant on midfielders and defenders scoring the goals that we expected the forward line to at least participate in. Higdon looks more like a waste of money and I am struggling to think of anyone making the sort of impact you would have wanted (notice I didn't say expected). Even only 8 games in it isn't filling anyone with confidence. The fact that even those filled to the brim with positivity are saying "ahh but wait until we click" or "wait until insert name here is match fit" tells you a story. You listen to the manager, a man who for the first time in some while I trust with the keys to the Kingdom and he doesn't seem 100% happy with the situation.
Then you move to the upstairs of the club. We have Phippsy telling us all to hang in there and it will all be cool "dudes", and McCabe and the "Prince is Right" saying nowt. Now in my experience football people with money want to prove it and spend it. This isn't a spend it regime in my opinion. Are we building the foundation stones for the future? How do we know no one is saying anything.
We put some bids in for some players on deadline day but (shock) they weren't high enough and so we didn't get the players we wanted. 2-3 of them. That tells me the real story of both what Clough wants and what he is being given. Anyone can bid for a player. I can ring a club up and put a bid in. It might be 58p and a fish finger but its a bid.
However, we are actually in a good position table wise. If you looked at this in isolation you would wonder what all the fuss is about. And I do. We do need to improve and we do need new players, but I do have faith in Clough that he both knows what he is doing and knows who he wants to do it. Problem is I don't have faith in anything attached to Kevin McCabe to give him what it is he needs. That said, 2 players could turn this season from a scrap for the play offs to a challenge for the top 2. A Morgan type Centre half and either a striker, or goalgetting midfielder.
So Mr McCabe and co. If you want to maximise your revenue streams and put the Blades somewhere close to back on the map you do need to put your hand in your pocket before its too late. Clough will get the right players but for the sake of God can we pay the right money, just once. Well twice actually.
I cannot be the only one surely who sits in the middle of this with my head in my hands. People want to apportion blame, others want a poll to see how long we will be in this division. Others see nothing wrong and think we will win the league at a canter. There must be those in the middle like myself.
I liken it to the Scottish referendum. Both sides have their fingers in their ears, proverbial cannons at the ready. Swiss has his Happiness Howitzer and Pommpey his swearasaurus in his back pocket. No one appears to see that we are in both a very good and a very worrying position at the same time.
There is no doubt we only lost one of the last 7, we have played some of the best teams in the division away (Preston, Peterborough and now Swindon). Only one has taken any points from us. We are three points off second place and have a game in hand on a couple of the teams above us. We have been operating with some injured players such as Scougall who had such an effect when he came on against Colchester. This is all the good stuff but then there is this.......
We are only three points off the bottom end of the table and lets all be honest about it we can count the good minutes in each game on the fingers of both hands (thats ten for those wondering or living in Barnsley). We look/sound disjoined and it is clear that the manager isn't happy with the way things are currently going. We sold our best player in the summer and the bloke we were going to put in his shoes has fucked off on loan to Walsall from whence he came. None of the new signings have particularly stood out and we have been reliant on midfielders and defenders scoring the goals that we expected the forward line to at least participate in. Higdon looks more like a waste of money and I am struggling to think of anyone making the sort of impact you would have wanted (notice I didn't say expected). Even only 8 games in it isn't filling anyone with confidence. The fact that even those filled to the brim with positivity are saying "ahh but wait until we click" or "wait until insert name here is match fit" tells you a story. You listen to the manager, a man who for the first time in some while I trust with the keys to the Kingdom and he doesn't seem 100% happy with the situation.
Then you move to the upstairs of the club. We have Phippsy telling us all to hang in there and it will all be cool "dudes", and McCabe and the "Prince is Right" saying nowt. Now in my experience football people with money want to prove it and spend it. This isn't a spend it regime in my opinion. Are we building the foundation stones for the future? How do we know no one is saying anything.
We put some bids in for some players on deadline day but (shock) they weren't high enough and so we didn't get the players we wanted. 2-3 of them. That tells me the real story of both what Clough wants and what he is being given. Anyone can bid for a player. I can ring a club up and put a bid in. It might be 58p and a fish finger but its a bid.
However, we are actually in a good position table wise. If you looked at this in isolation you would wonder what all the fuss is about. And I do. We do need to improve and we do need new players, but I do have faith in Clough that he both knows what he is doing and knows who he wants to do it. Problem is I don't have faith in anything attached to Kevin McCabe to give him what it is he needs. That said, 2 players could turn this season from a scrap for the play offs to a challenge for the top 2. A Morgan type Centre half and either a striker, or goalgetting midfielder.
So Mr McCabe and co. If you want to maximise your revenue streams and put the Blades somewhere close to back on the map you do need to put your hand in your pocket before its too late. Clough will get the right players but for the sake of God can we pay the right money, just once. Well twice actually.
