Scougs on Adkins

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Scougall is doing well but I do feel there is more to come. A run of games could see him flourish. Whether he would work in a different formation I'm not so sure.

Credit to Chris Wilder for recognising Scougall's abilities.
 
More proof that Adkins is/was a fraud. He'll not manage above Division Three level unless he takes a team up. Got lucky at Southampton by inheriting a team of future England internationals and took over a Scunthorpe team that was already put in place for him by Bison Head.
 
Interesting piece. He really buries Adkins.

He glosses over Cloughs second year though, which was a poor one for him and may be the reason why Adkins didn't rate him (it's certainly why I didn't rate him).

Here's hoping he keeps up this improvement.
 
The principle thing this article tells me is that we are still paying way more than they do in the Scots Prem (bar old firm).
Sounds like Adkins had had a breakdown to me.
 
raw
 
Quality toilet read that was. I tip my hat to you good sir!
 
He won't be getting a new contract if we get promoted, we will need better players. He's working hard now to do himself out of a job. :)
 
LoughboroBlade said:
"He told me: ‘You’re a great player but I need to cut the numbers down.’ All that bulls**t."

Hasn't it been pretty much accepted by everyone that we did need to get the numbers down?
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There is no doubt that Adkins was told to get the numbers down, as the clearing of the decks in January shows.

It wasn't fun to watch the football, but I suspect the behind the scenes situation was even more of a trainwreck than on the pitch last season. As best I can tell from ITK posts on this board and discussions with various people, at least one, and possibly all, of the following happened:

1. Adkins massively overestimated the ability of the players we had and the players he brought in.

2. The board changed its mind about the level of investment it was prepared to provide, or there were divisions within the board that prevented investment being made.

3. For some reason, Adkins lost the dressing room, or lost the respect of a good percentage of the players, some of whom stopped giving their best effort.

4. Adkins' tactical nous completely deserted him.

5. Adkins tried hard to introduce what he felt would be improvements to the way the club was run behind the scenes, but failed to achieve this.

I'd love to hear his side of the story, but I suppose that's what confidentiality clauses are for.
 
Adkins a spineless bullshitter who seems to base his approach on something out of a terrible psychology textbook? Never.
 
Revolution said:
Interesting piece. He really buries Adkins.

He glosses over Cloughs second year though, which was a poor one for him and may be the reason why Adkins didn't rate him (it's certainly why I didn't rate him).

Here's hoping he keeps up this improvement.
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Agree on this. Scoogs form dropped off a cliff very quickly in one of the worst cases of 'second season syndrome' I've ever seen.

BUT, if he keeps up his form and recaptures the player of that first season, we'll be much much closer to securing promotion this time round. He was virtually unplayable in his first season.
 
He's certainly getting there. Don't think we have anyone else in the squad who can turn with the ball as quick as him and put us on the front foot as quick.
 



Revolution said:
There is no doubt that Adkins was told to get the numbers down, as the clearing of the decks in January shows.

It wasn't fun to watch the football, but I suspect the behind the scenes situation was even more of a trainwreck than on the pitch last season. As best I can tell from ITK posts on this board and discussions with various people, at least one, and possibly all, of the following happened:

1. Adkins massively overestimated the ability of the players we had and the players he brought in.

2. The board changed its mind about the level of investment it was prepared to provide, or there were divisions within the board that prevented investment being made.

3. For some reason, Adkins lost the dressing room, or lost the respect of a good percentage of the players, some of whom stopped giving their best effort.

4. Adkins' tactical nous completely deserted him.

5. Adkins tried hard to introduce what he felt would be improvements to the way the club was run behind the scenes, but failed to achieve this.

I'd love to hear his side of the story, but I suppose that's what confidentiality clauses are for.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be surprised if the reality isn't that different from what you suggest. It is inevitable that breaking up some of the cliches as part of that process might not go down well.

Last season was pretty bad, but much of what Adkins did to begin the culling was much-needed and laid the groundwork for Wilder to act quickly – he didn't have to get rid a chunk of players (the biggest chunk being Higgo) for example that had been dispatched before the summer. The rigidity that Adkins seems to have worked under has probably enabled much of the flexibility Wilder is enjoying today.
 
Bert said:
He won't be getting a new contract if we get promoted, we will need better players. He's working hard now to do himself out of a job. :)
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Am I really in that much of a minority? Liked him when he first came and watched his performances fall off under Adkins, whenever the was played. Now we see him back to his old self, getting into the mix and showing he really wants to play. I think he could be an important part of the team for the rest of this season and next, hopefully in the Championship.
 
Hope that was cleared by the club. I can't see that any criticism, however vague or much warranted, would be acceptable to them.
 
To be fair to Scougall in his second season he was almost constantly struggling with niggling injuries. He was brilliant away at Colchester that season when he came on and changed the game. I recall a number of other times under Clough he came off the bench and did well. I wonder if he wasn't ever fully fit throughout that season.

Whether he is good enough to be a starter is still very much up for debate but I always felt he could be a very good squad player at this level.
 
I think the main problem with Adkins was that he under estimated the job. We finished just outside the playoffs the previous season and had some great cup runs, so he thought we just needed tweaking.

Under Clough we played a patient slow passing game and had no thrust or penetration up front.
The defence and goalie were struggling with teams that counter attacked us and we struggled on corners due to having no physicality.

I think Adkins naevely thought "bring in Sharp" and that's the goals sorted.
Then we just need a few tried and trusted experienced additions to kick on.
He put faith in Woolford and Hammond and both really let him down, Brayford form dipped.

Another problem is that it took ages for Adkins to find his best team.
He kept playing Hammond hoping he'd come good but swapped all then other players.
Also he had bad luck with Jose Baxter and Wallaces injuries.
Due to his poor buys the board lost confidence and wouldn't back him in January.

Now bring on Chris Wilder.
His big advantage is that he already knew the team and players.
His brother is a United season ticket hokder who will no doubt have been telling Chris where we are struggling.
Another big difference with Chris is that he's quick to act and isn't bothered about being liked.
Wilder also seems to keep settled teams playing the same players as much as possible.
He's not afraid to admit mistakes and is straight talking, very much a Sheffielder in style.
 
Revolution said:
There is no doubt that Adkins was told to get the numbers down, as the clearing of the decks in January shows.

It wasn't fun to watch the football, but I suspect the behind the scenes situation was even more of a trainwreck than on the pitch last season. As best I can tell from ITK posts on this board and discussions with various people, at least one, and possibly all, of the following happened:

1. Adkins massively overestimated the ability of the players we had and the players he brought in.

2. The board changed its mind about the level of investment it was prepared to provide, or there were divisions within the board that prevented investment being made.

3. For some reason, Adkins lost the dressing room, or lost the respect of a good percentage of the players, some of whom stopped giving their best effort.

4. Adkins' tactical nous completely deserted him.

5. Adkins tried hard to introduce what he felt would be improvements to the way the club was run behind the scenes, but failed to achieve this.

I'd love to hear his side of the story, but I suppose that's what confidentiality clauses are for.
Click to expand...

I think Adkins was undermined by the board early on last season. He didn't clear out the players they wanted to offload quickly enough BUT it is clear some players were in the last year of their contract and happy to sit on it.

He did lose the dressing room eventually because no one knew in January if they were coming or going even Adkins himself. Hence the lack of activity in the transfer window when we still had a opportunity to improve the squad. It was clear that unless players could be offloaded first then no more could come in. A shame really especially since we hit some good form before the window and could have kicked on much like Wigan and Barnsley did.

As for Scoogs we all thought he would have gone in January regardless of whether Adkins wanted him or not, he was out of form before Adkins arrived. Also I am sure he is not on nothing contract wise either and the board would still be happy to see him go.

Following on from another thread about player bonuses when Warnock was here, it makes me wonder what bonuses some of Clough's squad were on.
 
A good honest read that. While it's his own view and will obviously have some bias, I think it give us an insight into just how Adkins had lost the plot, probably the dressing room as well as most of the fans.
 
axel smeets said:
More proof that Adkins is/was a fraud. He'll not manage above Division Three level unless he takes a team up. Got lucky at Southampton by inheriting a team of future England internationals and took over a Scunthorpe team that was already put in place for him by Bison Head.
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It's all water under the bridge now as he's gone but understood why people needed to make this kind of stuff up.

It's so far from being accurate.
 
SK10Blade said:
Am I really in that much of a minority? Liked him when he first came and watched his performances fall off under Adkins, whenever the was played. Now we see him back to his old self, getting into the mix and showing he really wants to play. I think he could be an important part of the team for the rest of this season and next, hopefully in the Championship.
Click to expand...
I'm with you. I also think some of his best performances for us were against Championship and Premier League teams. This notion that he will be immediately replaced for "Championship quality" if we're promoted doesn't hold any water for me. He'll flourish and I'll be putting this post in Barney's thread when it happens :D
 
If only Scougs had scored at White Hart Lane vs Spurs 0-0, could have done wonders for his confidence that, I was right behind that shot and it missed by a whisker. He never quite seemed the same player after that miss.
Such are the footballing margins.
 
He wasn't the same after being spiked at Bradford....

If we go up he will get better protection, some refs in league one, you'd need to have a leg hanging off before they put the whistle to their mouth..
 



Davie Blade said:
If only Scougs had scored at White Hart Lane vs Spurs 0-0, could have done wonders for his confidence that, I was right behind that shot and it missed by a whisker. He never quite seemed the same player after that miss.
Such are the footballing margins.
Click to expand...
Same might be said of Louis Reed's attempt in the 2nd leg..
 
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