I interviewed Michael Doyle and Neill Collins...

[Steve Mackan]

...and wrote it up as two-part article about the Blades' fortunes during the pre-Wilder 2010s. Here it is:
https://www.demblades.co.uk/post/go...nterview-with-neill-collins-and-michael-doyle

It's a bit different from the blogs I used to write, and post about, on here. And that's probably a good thing. Do let me know your thoughts, comments, corrections!

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Enjoyed that. Wasn’t aware of Collins’s situation early 2012, not sure it was made public at the time.

“I’d love to see a game between that Wilson side and Chris Wilder’s League One promotion team.”

I think Wilder’s team would have wiped the floor with them. That Wilson team was fine when up against the division fodder that made up League 1 that season, but plenty of the team went missing when needed in the big games against our competitors that season. In the away games in particular at Charlton and Wednesday, the likes of Williamson and Evans just weren’t anywhere near what they looked like against the rest of the division.

In a one-on-one game Wilder would out-think Wilson, and Wilder’s 2017 team would deliver when needed. Wilson’s team wasn’t as mentally strong, or as consistent against the top teams. For all the talk of it all being down to Evans’s conviction, if we’d handled McDonald’s absence at Hillsborough better (it was an otherwise full-strength team) and just drawn the game that would have been enough to go up.

Also, would love to know the player on the fitness test...Yeates?

 

[O Fletch]

Any way of seeing part 2 ?

 

[Dimyan93]

Good interview, always nice to get players perspectives on things

Also, would love to know the player on the fitness test...Yeates?

Yeates had already gone by the start of the summer hadn't he? Looking at that squad list my guess would be Bogdanovic, rumours at the time he didn't get along with Wilson which is why he got moved on

 

[Rodley]

Good interview, always nice to get players perspectives on things



Yeates had already gone by the start of the summer hadn't he? Looking at that squad list my guess would be Bogdanovic, rumours at the time he didn't get along with Wilson which is why he got moved on

The “Boggy Boggy Boggy...oi oi oi” chant was shortlived thankfully.

 

[8lade]

Wasn’t aware of Collins’s situation early 2012, not sure it was made public at the time.

It was after the event, we'd been really sound at the back with the 4 we had and we limped through until he came back but it never really got going as well as it had been. I don't think his son's condition had previously been mentioned as a heart attack though. At the end of the season one of the other posters on here organised any Blades to turn up at a local pub (Lincoln) to watch the play offs, there was me him, a lurker and Collins' FiL which was a nice surprise. FiL was talking about the baby's condition and I'd always understood it to be that he'd just stopped breathing but he may have said his heart just stopped, it was a pub and my hearing has never been the greatest.

 

[Large Mendonca]

Also, would love to know the player on the fitness test...Yeates?

My first thought went to this lad:-

 

[Roygbiv]

Loved that. Looking forward to the next part

 

[shorehamview]

The first season under Wilson was a refreshing change, but anyone who thinks that side wouldn’t have been well and truly dicked by Wilder’s title winners wants their bumps feeling.

 

[Deadbat]

Enjoyed that. Really interesting

 

[tyke1889]

Any way of seeing part 2 ?

Subscribe?

 

[LoughboroBlade]

My first thought went to this lad:-

View attachment 77242

Mine would have been had he inherited Bent rather than have the opportunity of looking at him before handing him the contract. For all the problems Adams inherited in terms of too many players and too many that were bad eggs, there was plenty exacerbated by Adams himself – the Bent signing being a prime example.

 

[Vintage Shirt]

Absolutely lovely stuff that. Really enjoyed the way you wrote it.

 

[Bladesman]

Total cluster fuck is the only way to describe their time at the club. They confirm when they talk about what was going on behind the scenes at the club.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

...and wrote it up as two-part article about the Blades' fortunes during the pre-Wilder 2010s. Here it is:
https://www.demblades.co.uk/post/go...nterview-with-neill-collins-and-michael-doyle

It's a bit different from the blogs I used to write, and post about, on here. And that's probably a good thing. Do let me know your thoughts, comments, corrections!

I think you've done a grand job there. It's very well written and I like the format where you provide the player perspective on key things that happened during their time, along with your own neat summary of events.

I always liked Doyle and Collins - I suppose that puts me in the minority, but I thought they both gave 100% in every game. It's regrettable that they both came in at a time when the club was on a downward spiral. Both were tarnished by that, to some extent. I remember a fan near me spewing his bile at Collins in particular during one game - it went something like...

"you're a loser Collins, x years of playing here and you're just a f*ckin' loser!".

I contrast that with an away game at Barnsley, around Christmas time. I'd left it late getting my ticket and was sat amongst the Barnsley fans. Collins had a masterful game - I remember some Barnsley fans around me saying..."that centre half of theirs, he wins every single header - I wish we'd got someone like him in our defence" - they were referring to Collins. We won that match as well, if I recall correctly. I remember it being a glorious sunny day and coming home with 3 points in the bag.

Back to your article and I think it is also a great insight into Danny Wilson and how much he was appreciated by the players (if not the fans!). But most of all, I think the article catalogues the disastrous decisions made by McCabe in terms of the hiring and firing of managers. It's palpable from the article, what effect those kind of decisions have on the players. Wilson's sacking in particular sent shock waves through the club - whilst Morgan's appointment was nothing short of comical and short-sighted.

Oh well, that's my opinion anyhow. Sometimes when things are going wrong it seems like everything is going wrong - and we've had it like that for so many of those years that you kind of just come to expect it. But, how things have change under Wilder eh? Absolutely amazing - and no McCabe to sack him on a whim either!

(PS: I think I spotted one mistake. In the interview where Collins is speaking about taking penalties, I think the word "relevantly" should be "relatively" - unless that's what Collins actually said?).

 

[CrookesBlade]

Enjoyed that.

It jogged my memory re Kevin McDonald. Whilst i'm not about to start some David Weir revisionism its probably worth noting that losing the player he expected to build the team around might have been a sliding doors moment in terms of getting his managerial career off the ground. If we'd have kept McDonald we might have kicked on from that win against Notts County. For a manager just starting with the brief of trying to change the culture of the club he effectively had his legs chopped out from under him. Morgan, a similarly inexperienced manager came in and was at least able to turn the tide with the same set of players simply by making us hard to score against which is a very different task to getting a side to play entertaining football with a squad of young players. Not saying that simply by keeping McDonald he'd have turned us into promotion candidates but this was a massive blow at the time.

For me this is why i'll always see Adkins as our worst ever manager. He had years of experience behind him and a full season at it. If it wasn't for Billy Sharp we'd have been relegated that season as he stuck with a formation that wasn't working whilst serving up steaming piles of dog shit like Dean Hammond and trying to tell us all it was delicious milk chocolate.

 

[Bert]

Enjoyed that.

It jogged my memory re Kevin McDonald. Whilst i'm not about to start some David Weir revisionism its probably worth noting that losing the player he expected to build the team around might have been a sliding doors moment in terms of getting his managerial career off the ground. If we'd have kept McDonald we might have kicked on from that win against Notts County. For a manager just starting with the brief of trying to change the culture of the club he effectively had his legs chopped out from under him. Morgan, a similarly inexperienced manager came in and was at least able to turn the tide with the same set of players simply by making us hard to score against which is a very different task to getting a side to play entertaining football with a squad of young players. Not saying that simply by keeping McDonald he'd have turned us into promotion candidates but this was a massive blow at the time.

For me this is why i'll always see Adkins as our worst ever manager. He had years of experience behind him and a full season at it. If it wasn't for Billy Sharp we'd have been relegated that season as he stuck with a formation that wasn't working whilst serving up steaming piles of dog shit like Dean Hammond and trying to tell us all it was delicious milk chocolate.

Weir told a business associate of Bert's that he was shocked how poor the players were.
Weir now works for Brighton on £125k a year as some sort of manager of the players out on loan.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

It jogged my memory re Kevin McDonald. Whilst i'm not about to start some David Weir revisionism its probably worth noting that losing the player he expected to build the team around might have been a sliding doors moment in terms of getting his managerial career off the ground. If we'd have kept McDonald we might have kicked on from that win against Notts County.

Completely that. Weir had attempted, in his first job, to completely redevelop a team and its style. At its core was a new role for McDonald. The minute he was sold unexpectedly Weir lost both his best player for any system, but the key player in the system he’d built the team around. It would have been like Coutts suddenly being sold in October 2016. Unfortunately Weir had neither the experience (or ability?) to rapidly develop a completely new approach for us that worked. He tried to persevere with the original system too long, and we then when he finally moved from it seemed to just lurch from one system to the next till his eventual sacking.

I have some sympathy for both Weir and Adkins – they were not working in easy environments. Weir had some flexibility in terms of space in the squad, but then had his best player sold. Adkins had limited flexibility in terms of space in the squad, arguably made one of the most important signings in our recent history, and gets surprisingly little credit for moving on a lot of deadwood that season (probably because folk won’t ever look past the two pieces of deadwood he brought in).

In my opinion both Adkins and Weir aren’t anywhere near as bad in terms of what they did with what they had compared to someone like Robson, who was basically given carte blanche to invest and recruit and made decisions that had long-lasting impacts on the club.

 

[JohnDenver]

Weir told a business associate of Bert's that he was shocked how poor the players were.
Weir now works for Brighton on £125k a year as some sort of manager of the players out on loan.

From the bloke who put Jasper Johns on a professional football pitch, that’s pretty damning.

 

[Steve Mackan]

My first thought went to this lad:-

View attachment 77242

I didn't actually find out who he was referring to, but the inference was that it could've been one of many.

I think you've done a grand job there. It's very well written and I like the format where you provide the player perspective on key things that happened during their time, along with your own neat summary of events.

I always liked Doyle and Collins - I suppose that puts me in the minority, but I thought they both gave 100% in every game.
I think they were damned by being a consistent presence in a team that was relegated and then failed to bounce back - they could've played in a side that won promotion, it just never happened. There were poor players and bad attitudes at Bramall Lane and I don't think Collins or Doyle fall into either category.

(PS: I think I spotted one mistake. In the interview where Collins is speaking about taking penalties, I think the word "relevantly" should be "relatively" - unless that's what Collins actually said?). Will amend, thanks!

Enjoyed that.

It jogged my memory re Kevin McDonald. Whilst i'm not about to start some David Weir revisionism....

Not revisionism, but I think the board stitched him up and, as a rookie manager, he wasn't able to cope with the players left at his disposal. But that first game of the season was really promising albeit against Notts County.

 

[Bert]

Completely that. Weir had attempted, in his first job, to completely redevelop a team and its style. At its core was a new role for McDonald. The minute he was sold unexpectedly Weir lost both his best player for any system, but the key player in the system he’d built the team around. It would have been like Coutts suddenly being sold in October 2016. Unfortunately Weir had neither the experience (or ability?) to rapidly develop a completely new approach for us that worked. He tried to persevere with the original system too long, and we then when he finally moved from it seemed to just lurch from one system to the next till his eventual sacking.

I have some sympathy for both Weir and Adkins – they were not working in easy environments. Weir had some flexibility in terms of space in the squad, but then had his best player sold. Adkins had limited flexibility in terms of space in the squad, arguably made one of the most important signings in our recent history, and gets surprisingly little credit for moving on a lot of deadwood that season (probably because folk won’t ever look past the two pieces of deadwood he brought in).

In my opinion both Adkins and Weir aren’t anywhere near as bad in terms of what they did with what they had compared to someone like Robson, who was basically given carte blanche to invest and recruit and made decisions that had long-lasting impacts on the club.

Appointing inexperienced managers has never gone well for United.
Peters, Bruce, Speed, Carver, Morgan, Weir etc.

 

[CaptainMorgans]

Any way of seeing part 2 ?

There is if you want to pay a £20/00 subscription fee. I'll give it a miss. Interesting article though, thanks for sharing the first half...

As for Doyle & Collins, they sadly were ever presents in my worst time supporting the Blades & so I'll never remember them fondly.

Collins in particular never sat right with me. He was very limited as a footballer, but his constant berating of team mates (often to mask his own shitness) never looked productive to me. There was a lot of finger pointing and pretending, but a lot of hiding in battle.

Michael Doyle rarely went above a 5/10. He just wasn't an effective footballer. A body in midfield. Another who spent most of his time directing traffic during games without actually playing in them. A bit of chest thumping & an emotional interview seem to make people think he was passionate. Maybe as a man. Not as a player.

I remember at Uni somebody coming up to me & telling me we'd drawn at home to Exeter 4-4 "sounds like a class game." I'd lost interest, I didn't even know we were playing. God I hated that period.

 

[Steve Mackan]

Michael Doyle rarely went above a 5/10. He just wasn't an effective footballer. A body in midfield. Another who spent most of his time directing traffic during games without actually playing in them. A bit of chest thumping & an emotional interview seem to make people think he was passionate. Maybe as a man. Not as a player.

Well, in part 2, you might be interested to read that a certain CW gave Doyle a phone call with a view to signing him.

 

[Revolution]

Appointing inexperienced managers has never gone well for United.
Peters, Bruce, Speed, Carver, Morgan, Weir etc.

The major lesson from the Weir debacle (and indeed from our other rookie manager appointments, by and large) is never, ever appoint a rookie manager. Let someone else break them in.

 

[Revolution]

There is if you want to pay a £20/00 subscription fee. I'll give it a miss. Interesting article though, thanks for sharing the first half...

As for Doyle & Collins, they sadly were ever presents in my worst time supporting the Blades & so I'll never remember them fondly.

Collins in particular never sat right with me. He was very limited as a footballer, but his constant berating of team mates (often to mask his own shitness) never looked productive to me. There was a lot of finger pointing and pretending, but a lot of hiding in battle.

Michael Doyle rarely went above a 5/10. He just wasn't an effective footballer. A body in midfield. Another who spent most of his time directing traffic during games without actually playing in them. A bit of chest thumping & an emotional interview seem to make people think he was passionate. Maybe as a man. Not as a player.

I remember at Uni somebody coming up to me & telling me we'd drawn at home to Exeter 4-4 "sounds like a class game." I'd lost interest, I didn't even know we were playing. God I hated that period.

I know Collins has his problems and he wasn't Championship class but he was part of very good defences in 3 seasons running from 2012 to 2014 - each year we were in the top 6 for least goals conceded, and that included only 42 conceded in 2012-3 and 46 in 2013-14, which was incredible after a bad start. Collins fell out of favour the following season but of course as is well documented Clough failed miserably to bring in a better centre back to replace him despite trying a number of different options.

And I know that Maguire was partnering Collins in the 3 years I mention but Collins certainly made his contribution, and many of the full backs and keepers that played were not exactly stars.

In summary, I always felt he was a bit underrated. I always feel that the real reason people don't like him is his habit of berating other players - not a good habit, admittedly - but this obscures his good points.

I agree with you re Doyle though,

 

[Tezza1889]

Does Fabian Brandy get a mention, that time he panicked a shot just before half time and the kop erupted, that was classic "weir" days..

Also seem to remember us enjoying the steward drills from the tannoy during the game, the low points were low weren't they..

 

[BladeInIreland]

Completely that. Weir had attempted, in his first job, to completely redevelop a team and its style. At its core was a new role for McDonald. The minute he was sold unexpectedly Weir lost both his best player for any system, but the key player in the system he’d built the team around. It would have been like Coutts suddenly being sold in October 2016. Unfortunately Weir had neither the experience (or ability?) to rapidly develop a completely new approach for us that worked. He tried to persevere with the original system too long, and we then when he finally moved from it seemed to just lurch from one system to the next till his eventual sacking.

I have some sympathy for both Weir and Adkins – they were not working in easy environments. Weir had some flexibility in terms of space in the squad, but then had his best player sold. Adkins had limited flexibility in terms of space in the squad, arguably made one of the most important signings in our recent history, and gets surprisingly little credit for moving on a lot of deadwood that season (probably because folk won’t ever look past the two pieces of deadwood he brought in).

In my opinion both Adkins and Weir aren’t anywhere near as bad in terms of what they did with what they had compared to someone like Robson, who was basically given carte blanche to invest and recruit and made decisions that had long-lasting impacts on the club.

To be fair to Robson (First and last time) his transfers we're good largely. The whole point of him was to attract big players (which he did). The wages and fees that went with this was a decision made at the top. He obviously wasn't a good enough manager to get anything out of them but it was a very good squad.

 

[Hackblade]

I seem to recall Robson blowing our parachute payments on over the hill big names but I could be wrong.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

To be fair to Robson (First and last time) his transfers we're good largely. The whole point of him was to attract big players (which he did). The wages and fees that went with this was a decision made at the top. He obviously wasn't a good enough manager to get anything out of them but it was a very good squad.

The only one that was undeniably a good signing was Beattie. Sharp clearly wasn’t ready for that role at that time, Hendrie and Carney were awful. Despite selling Jagielka and Davis, we didn’t bring any centre-back replacements that summer. Naysmith wasn’t really any better than Armstrong. Speed and Ehiogu arrived far too late.

 

[Bladesman]

To be fair to Robson (First and last time) his transfers we're good largely. The whole point of him was to attract big players (which he did). The wages and fees that went with this was a decision made at the top. He obviously wasn't a good enough manager to get anything out of them but it was a very good squad.

He was signing quality players but they were at the end of their career though. We were only ever going to get 1 season out of the likes of Ehiogu and Speed (God rest their souls)