A question for older Blades

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SLB

SLB

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In particular the ones who say Wilder is God and Sir Chris etc.

Was it right at the time to sack Ken Furphy?
 



SLB said:
In particular the ones who say Wilder is God and Sir Chris etc.

Was it right at the time to sack Ken Furphy?
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At the time, yes, even if only because that was 'the way things were done' back then.
The idea of sticking with someone through adversity is (imo) a relatively modern concept.
Not that it helped us at all - but weren't the whole team ageing by the time Furphy came in?
 
That's when everything turned to shit after the best season I've seen. Correct investment in the team was needed then. Board couldn't/wouldn't.
Furphy inherited John Harris' aces. Needed a top class striker, we got Chris Guthrie, bless him. Not his fault. Bought 3rd division players. Back up squad weren't quite up to scratch and the good youngsters were not ready then.
South stand needed to be built but it really cost us.
Some similarities this season, but that was our big chance.

Silent Blade is the man to ask.
 
Harrisblade said:
At the time, yes, even if only because that was 'the way things were done' back then.
The idea of sticking with someone through adversity is (imo) a relatively modern concept.
Not that it helped us at all - but weren't the whole team ageing by the time Furphy came in?
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That’s weird. I’ve always considered sacking managers as soon as they have a bad run as being a modern thing. My perception was that in the fifties and sixties, it was quite rare to sack a manager and most had quite long tenures, even if they had failures along with their successes. Is that not the case?
 
It may not look like it statistically but for me the 75-76 team was worse than our current team and basically threw the towel in. I see far more effort and commitment in the current team.
As to the OP, history would suggest it was a massive mistake sacking Furphy. He was a competent and respected coach who wasn’t given the backing he needed; Sirrel and Haslam were old-school wheeler-dealers (and that’s being kind) while Peters was the wrong man at the wrong time. The result was relegation to the 4th division. What worries me is that we are in danger of repeating the same mistakes.
 
BushBlade said:
That’s weird. I’ve always considered sacking managers as soon as they have a bad run as being a modern thing. My perception was that in the fifties and sixties, it was quite rare to sack a manager and most had quite long tenures, even if they had failures along with their successes. Is that not the case?
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Maybe I was thinking too much about Sheffield United!
After John Harris no-one seemed to last long except Warnock.
 
In the last year of his managerial career at Sufc the team Would have training on a Friday morning and then retire to the wagon and horses at millhouses to sort out the tactics that would be employed in the forthcoming match.
the ultimate in player power as they had no regard for him
 
SLB said:
In particular the ones who say Wilder is God and Sir Chris etc.

Was it right at the time to sack Ken Furphy?
Click to expand...

Anyone following Sir Alex Ferguson didn't have a chance.

Most following John Harris also had an unenviable job - obviously not on the scale of Sir Alex, but Harris was a tough nut to follow.

As someone mentioned above, the South Stand build caused us horrendous problems due to the type of contract it was. Now a days it generally is design and build at a known cost, which contractors generally have to adhere to (Wembley being a prime example). In those days it wasn't as such and we got stung by the build.

A sad decline that led to the 80's brand of football, that some of us witnessed............and some of you think this years is bad !

Ken Furphy didn't stand a chance with the situation. Jimmy Sirrel should/could have worked soon afterwards, so should Harry Haslam which failed too. Bad times, really really bad times.

UTB
 



He was, rightly or wrongly, trying to get rid of some of the old guard.
He’d dropped Badger for a spell the previous season,brought in a rare loan signing Garry Jones from Bolton for Dearden replaced Currie as captain.
At the start of 75/6 he tried to get Hemsley to leave & played without a proper defensive formation & the rot quickly set in.
 
themaninblack said:
It may not look like it statistically but for me the 75-76 team was worse than our current team and basically threw the towel in. I see far more effort and commitment in the current team.
As to the OP, history would suggest it was a massive mistake sacking Furphy. He was a competent and respected coach who wasn’t given the backing he needed; Sirrel and Haslam were old-school wheeler-dealers (and that’s being kind) while Peters was the wrong man at the wrong time. The result was relegation to the 4th division. What worries me is that we are in danger of repeating the same mistakes.
Click to expand...

Spot on but history doesn't always repeat itself. Surely it's the decisions which follow an event that dictate whether or not it was correct.
 
Chingo said:
How many more ways can the outers think of to say wilder out ?
Getting tiresome now 🥱
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It’s not going to stop now. If we’re not top two next season, it will still go on. If we get promoted it will be “he couldn’t keep us up last time, now’s the time to make a change”. If he keeps us up it’ll be “second season syndrome, we don’t want that again, let’s get rid”. If we still stay up it’ll be “he’s taken us as far as he can”.
 
Harrisblade said:
Maybe I was thinking too much about Sheffield United!
After John Harris no-one seemed to last long except Warnock.
Click to expand...

We were always a selling club, weren't we?

We get up to Div One and have a fairly decent, competitive side which contains robust (if ageing in places) talent. We buy low, sell low, invest in the stadium and fall away alarmingly and act surprised when we jettison people like Geoff Salmons and Tony Currie and acquire frankly substandard supplements over that period like Keith Eddy, Tony Field, Jim Bone and Chris Guthrie to swap out age and drop in form for youth and potential. History repeats itself with our failures. Over the past ten to twenty years, our progress has been hampered by flogging decent players when we thought we had them for good, Brown, Jagielka #1, Tonge, Murphy, Brooks to name but a few. We've never had consistency and built consistency upon it. Ken Furphy was a victim of that as much as Clough, Adkins and Warnock. I just hope Wilder doesn't get that same series of events.

pommpey
 
IMS Furphy came from Blackburn where he'd been successful he gave us old gits our best season finishing 6th and just missing Europe, then from what I've been told things went totally tits up. Promises that were made to him by the board were not kept resulting in Currie leaving and team falling to bits.

What went on in the next 6 years were beyond our wildest nightmares, as has been said Furphy was sacked after one win on 11 the following season, they didn't faff about in those days.

I often used to wonder what would have happened if promises were kept, I won't say what but it's the main reason TC left. Could we have kicked on under Furphy with the recruits brought in? in those days though we were more interested in having a four sided ground rather than a good team (RIP Ken Furphy).
 
Absolutely NOT. It’s OK changing manager if you have something better lined up, but sacking Furphy for Sirrel!

Our problems were not the manager - a bad workman blames his tools. We were broke, with debt from the Albatross stand and an ageing squad. The only manager to rescue us would have to have been a wizard, not a Scottish troll.

75/76 was worse than this season and the club was in an infinitely worse place.

We have exceeded expectation and need to regroup. We have no debts and a lot of developing young players - Rammers, Brew, McB, Bogle, Berge, Lowe, RND, with some fairly young leaders JOC, Egan, Fleck. We have no debt, an owner who knows sport and an innovative management team.

Head out of arse - 10 games to experiment and start next season on the run. Maybe Chris needs a break and should allow Squirrelman to call the shots and try a few wild ideas for a couple of weeks.

Let’s put some fun back - oh and win the Cup!
 
SLB said:
In particular the ones who say Wilder is God and Sir Chris etc.

Was it right at the time to sack Ken Furphy?
Click to expand...
Good question.
Further delivered United to their best finish in the Top flight for many years. As I remember it, the following season we had a lot of bad luck which took us ro the bottom of the league. I remember going to all the home games & we seemed to lose a lot of games by the odd goal after dominating. They did however get a few hammering away which dented moral.
As opposed to CW Furphy was appointed in the 1st division & had not brought us up. He wasn't a Blade so his heart was not invested in the Blades as CW is. As per normal, even after success, Furphy was given little money to spend (Chris Guthrie was the major signing). Many won't like this but I thought when the going got tough Furphy was let down by his best player. I thought Currie was guilty of not giving his all and couldn't wait to move up the road to Leeds.
It was probably a mutual parting & probably the RIGHT ONE.
When Jimmy Squirrel was appointed he had an excellent cv & seemed like a good match. Another failure.
 
haich1889 said:
Good question.
Further delivered United to their best finish in the Top flight for many years. As I remember it, the following season we had a lot of bad luck which took us ro the bottom of the league. I remember going to all the home games & we seemed to lose a lot of games by the odd goal after dominating. They did however get a few hammering away which dented moral.
As opposed to CW Furphy was appointed in the 1st division & had not brought us up. He wasn't a Blade so his heart was not invested in the Blades as CW is. As per normal, even after success, Furphy was given little money to spend (Chris Guthrie was the major signing). Many won't like this but I thought when the going got tough Furphy was let down by his best player. I thought Currie was guilty of not giving his all and couldn't wait to move up the road to Leeds.
It was probably a mutual parting & probably the RIGHT ONE.
When Jimmy Squirrel was appointed he had an excellent cv & seemed like a good match. Another failure.
Click to expand...
That’s absolutely spot on; TC and Woody, players who are rightly legends at BDTBL, were dreadful that season. They let themselves and the club down. We finished with a flourish once the pressure was off and I was quite optimistic about the future with two young forwards, Keith Edwards and Simon Stainrod, coming through. They were soon shipped out and the rest is history...
 



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