nopigfansintown
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2016
- Messages
- 6,279
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Let me preface what I'm going to say by making clear that I, and I guess most Blades fans don't, and should never, see consolidation in League One as acceptable. It can only be explained as a symptom of failure at one or more levels and a knot that must be untied as a matter of urgency.
.
When Jamie Murphy was sold in the summer transfer window, I told my younger brother (12 years old) with whom I go to matches, that it'd be extremely unlikely that we'd go up unless we invested heavily in three or four top class players at this level - with the fee. That squad had only just scraped in to the play offs and major weaknesses throughout the team were apparent. It was also known that our other talisman and galvanising figure, John Brayford, was set to be injured for a considerable amount of time. My point, - which I'm getting to, - is should the club have set the bar lower in order to help the club, manager, fanbase and ultimately themselves in the long run?
If the club statement was: "the wage bill is too high, and the squad too big and not of adequate quality, we shouldn't be considered among the favourites for promotion", the consequences for Adkins would be myriad:
He could have invested in younger development players, making his aim automatic promotion by the end of next season - or even the final year of his contract. He could've fast tracked young players development and put up with the expected inconsistencies of Adams, Kieron Wallace, DCL etc knowing that game time now may reap benefits next season - despite potentially costing us points this. Phipps has already started making moves in this direction by shifting blame to Clough. In the summer they were telling us that the sun was shining when in reality there were big black clouds over the club. I always check the weather before a long journey so I can take my coat( if the weatherman gets it wrong I curse them)..They have lost a lot of goodwill, time and possibly support with this approach. Should the club give us realistic, achievable timeframes for our ambitions and give our manager a reasonable chance, or should they carry on with the bs and spin?
Btw: "the easy way out" is we're going for promotion blah, blah, blah, when our hopes are slim at best.
.
When Jamie Murphy was sold in the summer transfer window, I told my younger brother (12 years old) with whom I go to matches, that it'd be extremely unlikely that we'd go up unless we invested heavily in three or four top class players at this level - with the fee. That squad had only just scraped in to the play offs and major weaknesses throughout the team were apparent. It was also known that our other talisman and galvanising figure, John Brayford, was set to be injured for a considerable amount of time. My point, - which I'm getting to, - is should the club have set the bar lower in order to help the club, manager, fanbase and ultimately themselves in the long run?
If the club statement was: "the wage bill is too high, and the squad too big and not of adequate quality, we shouldn't be considered among the favourites for promotion", the consequences for Adkins would be myriad:
He could have invested in younger development players, making his aim automatic promotion by the end of next season - or even the final year of his contract. He could've fast tracked young players development and put up with the expected inconsistencies of Adams, Kieron Wallace, DCL etc knowing that game time now may reap benefits next season - despite potentially costing us points this. Phipps has already started making moves in this direction by shifting blame to Clough. In the summer they were telling us that the sun was shining when in reality there were big black clouds over the club. I always check the weather before a long journey so I can take my coat( if the weatherman gets it wrong I curse them)..They have lost a lot of goodwill, time and possibly support with this approach. Should the club give us realistic, achievable timeframes for our ambitions and give our manager a reasonable chance, or should they carry on with the bs and spin?
Btw: "the easy way out" is we're going for promotion blah, blah, blah, when our hopes are slim at best.