Adkins: the view from Scunny

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The Bohemian

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No surprise that there's lots of discussion over the merits or otherwise of keeping Adkins at the helm for next season.

Most supporters seem to accept the season gone has been dire in terms of general performance levels and finishing position.

Hope for the future seems to rest on Adkins' ability to turn things around based, heavily, on his past accomplishments at Scunny and Soton.

So, I took the liberty of asking some Iron fans, given how badly things have gone for us, "how did Adkins do such a good job for Scunny?"

The Scunny folk seem a decent bunch, with generally fond reflections of Nigel at a personal level but no great confidence that he can turn things around for The Blades.

Here's their responses: http://www.iron-bru.co.uk/forums/topic/the-adkins-effect/#post-61654

I'll post Soton responses once I've got them.

p.s. not after your job, Roy.
 



"Don’t be baffled Blade- it was laid on a plate for him,by the previous manager."

As far as success he's had pre-Blades goes - there seems to be a trend developing here. :)
 
"I think you have to look much deeper than Nigel Adkins. The Blades have underachieved now for many seasons considering your support, income, facilities and big club potential. You should be able to afford and attract quality players which some of us smaller clubs could only dream about. A succession of apparently capable managers over the past few seasons have all failed to realise the clubs capabilities. Something somewhere is not right that a club with such potential are consistently underachieving. No one has the right to automatic success but Sheffield United have more than most other clubs in the lower divisions to achieve a higher position in the league structure. I would expect you to be a Championship club competing for promotion to the premiership and an occasional relegation to league one when the wheels come off."
He's bang on the money
 
It's a well known fact that Pam Ayres, although NOT a Blade, was romantically involved with Tony Hadley whilst he was incarcerated in Spandau Ballet, up until his death, alone, in 1993. Rudolf Hess, the ex frontman of the prison band was once linked with signing for United in 1943, but atrocious weather conditions meant he crash landed his plane in Scotland, where he was mistaken by a local farmer, for former United defender Bert Oswald, who was the mainman behind "The Brownshirts", so named after the SUFC kit-woman of the time, Elizabeth "Betty" Swallocks mistakenly mixed up the first team home kit with that of her husband, Joe's underpants.

Hess and Ayres had two sons, who played for United, John Cadette and Richard Francis, who after their career at BDTBL ended, became well known Saturday afternoon tv football pundits, Garth Dublin and Dion Crooks, who had previously entered the Top 40 with their Cariblypso version of "There's A Rat In Ma Kitchen (whadamagunnado)" a song originally penned by former SUFC player, Kenny Tonworthy about former colleague, Kerry Turran, the often mistaken travelling transvestite, living in shelter made of pallets on the A1 between Blyth and Retford.
 
A good point, Bohemian. After negotiating SYPD/Durham Constabulary's attempts to turn Bramall Lane/John Street into the Gaza Strip on Sunday (why don't they fuck off on the equally-pointless Ben Needham/Madelaine McCann method of boosting their holiday pay/pension?), I finally encountered plenty of Scunny fans in town. They were obviously intent on making a day of it instead of just being herded back on the coaches. Obviously, the glorious weather helped but the centre of town was a picture and afforded the Scunny fans the chance to see a fairly big city. We're not talking Leeds or Millwall here. Maybe, just for once they treated decent (i.e. not Wendy, West Ham etc.) fans like human beings instead of 'laddering' their crime stats. and football would be an altogether better place to be? The Scunny fans I chatted with were a credit and it's a pity that Wigan have scammed them out of a well-deserved place in the play-offs.

After so much unexpected positivity from myself, and apropos of whether Adkins deserves to stay, I must say that I am amazed at how accepting most United fans are of being beaten at home by Scunthorpe. It just shows how far we have slumped. With Adkins still in situ, will we be expecting home defeats by Scunny, Chezzie, Shrewsbury etc. next season? Probably. I really can't see much changing under Adkins.

BeatleBlade said:
"I think you have to look much deeper than Nigel Adkins. The Blades have underachieved now for many seasons considering your support, income, facilities and big club potential. You should be able to afford and attract quality players which some of us smaller clubs could only dream about. A succession of apparently capable managers over the past few seasons have all failed to realise the clubs capabilities. Something somewhere is not right that a club with such potential are consistently underachieving. No one has the right to automatic success but Sheffield United have more than most other clubs in the lower divisions to achieve a higher position in the league structure. I would expect you to be a Championship club competing for promotion to the premiership and an occasional relegation to league one when the wheels come off."
He's bang on the money
Click to expand...

All true but it would equally apply to other 'big clubs' like Wolves, Leeds, Birmingham, Forest, Blackburn, Bolton etc. We're not the only club to be run in a piss-poor way. samuel.gif Oh, and look! They all sell their better players...
 
LYDON said:
It's a well known fact that Pam Ayres, although NOT a Blade, was romantically involved with Tony Hadley whilst he was incarcerated in Spandau Ballet, up until his death, alone, in 1993. Rudolf Hess, the ex frontman of the prison band was once linked with signing for United in 1943, but atrocious weather conditions meant he crash landed his plane in Scotland, where he was mistaken by a local farmer, for former United defender Bert Oswald, who was the mainman behind "The Brownshirts", so named after the SUFC kit-woman of the time, Elizabeth "Betty" Swallocks mistakenly mixed up the first team home kit with that of her husband, Joe's underpants.

Hess and Ayres had two sons, who played for United, John Cadette and Richard Francis, who after their career at BDTBL ended, became well known Saturday afternoon tv football pundits, Garth Dublin and Dion Crooks, who had previously entered the Top 40 with their Cariblypso version of "There's A Rat In Ma Kitchen (whadamagunnado)" a song originally penned by former SUFC player, Kenny Tonworthy about former colleague, Kerry Turran, the often mistaken travelling transvestite, living in shelter made of pallets on the A1 between Blyth and Retford.
Click to expand...

o-CROOKS-570.jpg
 
The Bohemian said:
No surprise that there's lots of discussion over the merits or otherwise of keeping Adkins at the helm for next season.

Most supporters seem to accept the season gone has been dire in terms of general performance levels and finishing position.

Hope for the future seems to rest on Adkins' ability to turn things around based, heavily, on his past accomplishments at Scunny and Soton.

So, I took the liberty of asking some Iron fans, given how badly things have gone for us, "how did Adkins do such a good job for Scunny?"

The Scunny folk seem a decent bunch, with generally fond reflections of Nigel at a personal level but no great confidence that he can turn things around for The Blades.

Here's their responses: http://www.iron-bru.co.uk/forums/topic/the-adkins-effect/#post-61654

I'll post Soton responses once I've got them.

p.s. not after your job, Roy.
Click to expand...

Top man yet again . Thanks . From the Scunny fans and what I know about Southampton , Adkins has had luck and fate on his side . Ok he still could have messed it up , but fans of these clubs seem to think he should thank Laws and Pardew .

When he had to put a real shift in to pull a side around like Reading he failed .

Seems to be doing a Reading on us . His he just a clever bull shitter like his interviews portray , or does he know what he is actually doing. I believe it's the first , and he is leading us into the abyss .

McCabe has a major decision to make , perhaps this week.

UTB
 
I agree that managers can get lucky with the team they inherit and get a promotion on their CV that was largely down to a previous manager (eg Clough's Burton promotion).

I can't accept that all 4 of Adkins promotions have been lucky, 1 or 2 maybe but 4? No chance!

If it's just a case of the best players guaranteeing success then Leicester wouldn't be champions, we wouldn't have been shocking under Robson. The manager has to take some of the credit.

As for Adkins failing in his rebuild job at Reading, well that's a fair point. But he hasn't even begun to rebuild with us, 2 permanent and 4 loan signings whilst shipping out 20+ players is a dismantling job, the rebuild starts now.
 



Barney said:
As far as success he's had pre-Blades goes - there seems to be a trend developing here. :)
Click to expand...

Bit one sided that, plenty give him credit.

grafikhaus said:
All true but it would equally apply to other 'big clubs' like Wolves, Leeds, Birmingham, Forest, Blackburn, Bolton etc.
Click to expand...

The difference is, now, just how ridiculously long a team of our history, stature and resources has spent in the doldrums. That's what makes it very difficult to remain patient on the back of a disastrous season.

Lord Bos of Eckington. said:
Adkins has had luck and fate on his side . Ok he still could have messed it up , but fans of these clubs seem to think he should thank Laws and Pardew .
Click to expand...

He clearly did lots right at both Scunny and Southampton. Was he fortunate in the squads he inherited at both? Probably, but plenty of managers have been capable of messing things up even with good players, e.g. Bryan Robson.

YES Blade said:
I can't accept that all 4 of Adkins promotions have been lucky, 1 or 2 maybe but 4? No chance!
Click to expand...

Agreed, one yes, twice, maybe but four times - he has to have done lots right. However, everything happens in context and perhaps it's the difference in circumstances that explains why he's struggling. Just need to understand these differences, better.
 
Barney said:
"Don’t be baffled Blade- it was laid on a plate for him,by the previous manager."

As far as success he's had pre-Blades goes - there seems to be a trend developing here. :)
Click to expand...

Never more evident than the last season, look what was served up to him by the previous manager at BDTBL*

So if he was lucky when he managed teams to promotion, is he unlucky to have had a bad season? What piffle.


* hoping there are no Clough-Idolisers on the Forum tonight.
 
LYDON said:
It's a well known fact that Pam Ayres, although NOT a Blade, was romantically involved with Tony Hadley whilst he was incarcerated in Spandau Ballet, up until his death, alone, in 1993. Rudolf Hess, the ex frontman of the prison band was once linked with signing for United in 1943, but atrocious weather conditions meant he crash landed his plane in Scotland, where he was mistaken by a local farmer, for former United defender Bert Oswald, who was the mainman behind "The Brownshirts", so named after the SUFC kit-woman of the time, Elizabeth "Betty" Swallocks mistakenly mixed up the first team home kit with that of her husband, Joe's underpants.

Hess and Ayres had two sons, who played for United, John Cadette and Richard Francis, who after their career at BDTBL ended, became well known Saturday afternoon tv football pundits, Garth Dublin and Dion Crooks, who had previously entered the Top 40 with their Cariblypso version of "There's A Rat In Ma Kitchen (whadamagunnado)" a song originally penned by former SUFC player, Kenny Tonworthy about former colleague, Kerry Turran, the often mistaken travelling transvestite, living in shelter made of pallets on the A1 between Blyth and Retford.
Click to expand...

:D
 
Barney said:
"Don’t be baffled Blade- it was laid on a plate for him,by the previous manager."

As far as success he's had pre-Blades goes - there seems to be a trend developing here. :)
Click to expand...
He's been sussed !
 
HillmortonBlade said:
Never more evident than the last season, look what was served up to him by the previous manager at BDTBL*

So if he was lucky when he managed teams to promotion, is he unlucky to have had a bad season? What piffle.


* hoping there are no Clough-Idolisers on the Forum tonight.
Click to expand...
Being left a set of England internationals in your youth set up and seemingly all the work being done for you by Laws at Scunny could very well be seen as lucky and fortunate. I don't necessarily think finishing 5th in league one with the capacity for 5 signings to take it to 2nd really comes on a similar level in terms of unluckiness.
 
Barney said:
Being left a set of England internationals in your youth set up and seemingly all the work being done for you by Laws at Scunny could very well be seen as lucky and fortunate. I don't necessarily think finishing 5th in league one with the capacity for 5 signings to take it to 2nd really comes on a similar level in terms of unluckiness.
Click to expand...

Fortunate, agreed.

Not luck though.
 
Barney said:
Broadly speaking, can't have one without the other surely?
Click to expand...

Depends on ones definition of "fortunate".. Fortune involves a degree of luck (if such a thing exists, perhaps just coincidence), whereas pure luck suggests that he, and everyone else in the hands of random acts.

He successfully applied for the various jobs he has obtained and one presumes this was because he did a good interview (tin hat time) and demonstrated the knowledge and understanding to convince whoever gave him the job. So, it could be argued that he was not even fortunate, he went for a job against other applicants and was chosen. It was not pure luck, but he was fortunate that the talent lay there.
 
HillmortonBlade said:
Depends on ones definition of "fortunate".. Fortune involves a degree of luck (if such a thing exists, perhaps just coincidence), whereas pure luck suggests that he, and everyone else in the hands of random acts.

He successfully applied for the various jobs he has obtained and one presumes this was because he did a good interview (tin hat time) and demonstrated the knowledge and understanding to convince whoever gave him the job. So, it could be argued that he was not even fortunate, he went for a job against other applicants and was chosen. It was not pure luck, but he was fortunate that the talent lay there.
Click to expand...
I think we can agree he was fortunate and lucky. I'd agree it wasn't all or purely luck, still a good portion though. It brings in to question, how much ability does one have to possess to get a set of England internationals out of league one and the championship? Not a lot in the world of professional football managers I'd imagine.
 
Barney said:
I think we can agree he was fortunate and lucky. I'd agree it wasn't all or purely luck, still a good portion though. It brings in to question, how much ability does one have to possess to get a set of England internationals out of league one and the championship? Not a lot in the world of professional football managers I'd imagine.
Click to expand...

Luck, karma, coincidence, fate... we all benefit at times. And Adkins has with some of the player available to him (perhaps not so many in the last 12 months). It takes more ability than I have (and perhaps your good self) to manage a football team. Neil Lennon, very successful at Celtic, opposite at Bolton, lucky? unlucky?
 
HillmortonBlade said:
Luck, karma, coincidence, fate... we all benefit at times. And Adkins has with some of the player available to him (perhaps not so many in the last 12 months). It takes more ability than I have (and perhaps your good self) to manage a football team. Neil Lennon, very successful at Celtic, opposite at Bolton, lucky? unlucky?
Click to expand...
But then you or I aren't football managers for a living. That was why I mentioned "in the world of football managers".

From what I can gather you acknowledge it was lucky and fortunate but see it as one of them things as opposed to anything that might take the glow off Adkins' misleading CV. I don't see the logic in that view unless I've mistaken your point.

One thing's for sure, the argument for luck playing a good part of his CV successes is backed up hugely by his dismal performances in his last two jobs.
 
I'd love to know what the Saints fans make of the accusations that Adkins was lucky to inherit the team he did at St Mary's
 



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