Self Inflicted

[The Vicar]

From 8 months ago and unbelievable wins against Spurs & Chelsea, to what has been the worst 3 days in my support of the Blades [since 1970], I cannot but reflect that it has been virtually all self inflicted [not necessarily relegation but that is the outcome]. Even worse than Wigan in 2007!

From, a manager [who I would have back] who has made very poor transfer decisions, spent over £100m & has not improved the team. To looking increasingly arrogant in interviews and statements, has forgotten that as an employee he has to work within the constraints given him [which look generous to me], & ultimately has not been willing to give a bit to accommodate a DoF, even though the evidence [from other teams] is that is the way forward if we want to build success long term. And finally has kept to a tactical formation using certain players which has failed miserably this season.

To an owner who has backed his manger financially & has ultimately decided that he is not prepared to throw the club to the financial wolves, & closed his purse. But has failed [or his representatives have] to work with CW to make it work. Has failed to understand that CW is not just any old manager who can be replaced, but SUFC are almost part of his DNA & he feels things deeply & personally, as many of us do. And maybe, just maybe he has played the 'I am the owner & you listen to me', card which a belligerent Yorkshireman has took umbridge to! Man management skills come to mind, but maybe distance does not help. He is beginning to look very inexperienced & all at sea, and whose communication skills are being found wanting.

Finally to a set of players who have just not looked as if they were giving their all collectively! New signings in the main have been poor, some of the old hands have looked tired and lacking the spark of last season, & more importantly there has been very little, if any quality. Certain players form has been consistently poor, others have tried but to little effect & some ought never to have been in the PL. Yes some old stalwarts have huffed & puffed & really tried, but it really has been men against boys.

Now we the fans have to put up with the fallout, manager gone [but why not at the seasons end Chris?], relegation assured, dreadful performances, embarrassing results, silence from PA, little hope of a decent season next year on the evidence of this season. PH [not a man who inspires me at all] spoke of having lost a leader. Well someone at SUFC needs to pick up that mantle & lead, show some direction. I might not like it but at least I will know what is happening.

I am not one for Biblical quotes as this is a football forum, but a verse in Proverbs comes to mind, 'faithful are the wounds of a friend'!

Maybe CW & PA need a good friend to tell them both some home truths, & prevent another utter catastrophic event like this happening in the future!

It could all have been so different.............................

 

[ShropsBlade]

I must admit I thought the exact same about Heckingbottoms leader comments in the post match interview.

 

[Bladeinleeds]

Think the results got to wilder in the end - not one for amateur psychology (but you could understand just not being able to buy a win for a year). He looks to have massively thinned and become gaunt in the interviews of the last few weeks so you could imagine it had got to him and he needed to step away from it.

this was on the cards given a blame game over lack of successful signings over the last 2 years. But to be fair to the prince, wilder has gone from being happy to spend what he’s allowed to and not putting club at risk to pissing and whining every two minutes about not being able to make signings. When anyone looking unbiasedly knew we were down from mid December and it was pure vanity to waste resources for no end gain.

theres enough blame to go around - but obviously we need to get the next appointment right or we could be in league one in the blink of an eye

 

[Drunk blade]

We should be an established premier league team but realistically we are more likely to be down in league 1 before we see the prem again, possibly with an administration thrown in when the parachute payments dry up.

Can't nt help thinking that a big part of the problem is having to buy the property assets from Mccabe, it's starved the club of cash to compete with the likes of Aston villa on wages for players that might have made a difference this season.

Sad sad state of affairs.. we will always be the club that finds a way of fucking it up when we're just on the verge of something great.

Its hard work being a blades fan

 

[Toronto Blade]

Heckingbottom was brought in by Wilder he probably was in shock like the players.
He managed the U23s Friday night then had to take the first team out today .He probably had little preparation on how to go up against a Leicester who are top of their game.

 

[Feo]

From 8 months ago and unbelievable wins against Spurs & Chelsea, to what has been the worst 3 days in my support of the Blades [since 1970], I cannot but reflect that it has been virtually all self inflicted [not necessarily relegation but that is the outcome]. Even worse than Wigan in 2007!

From, a manager [who I would have back] who has made very poor transfer decisions, spent over £100m & has not improved the team. To looking increasingly arrogant in interviews and statements, has forgotten that as an employee he has to work within the constraints given him [which look generous to me], & ultimately has not been willing to give a bit to accommodate a DoF, even though the evidence [from other teams] is that is the way forward if we want to build success long term. And finally has kept to a tactical formation using certain players which has failed miserably this season.

To an owner who has backed his manger financially & has ultimately decided that he is not prepared to throw the club to the financial wolves, & closed his purse. But has failed [or his representatives have] to work with CW to make it work. Has failed to understand that CW is not just any old manager who can be replaced, but SUFC are almost part of his DNA & he feels things deeply & personally, as many of us do. And maybe, just maybe he has played the 'I am the owner & you listen to me', card which a belligerent Yorkshireman has took umbridge to! Man management skills come to mind, but maybe distance does not help. He is beginning to look very inexperienced & all at sea, and whose communication skills are being found wanting.

Finally to a set of players who have just not looked as if they were giving their all collectively! New signings in the main have been poor, some of the old hands have looked tired and lacking the spark of last season, & more importantly there has been very little, if any quality. Certain players form has been consistently poor, others have tried but to little effect & some ought never to have been in the PL. Yes some old stalwarts have huffed & puffed & really tried, but it really has been men against boys.

Now we the fans have to put up with the fallout, manager gone [but why not at the seasons end Chris?], relegation assured, dreadful performances, embarrassing results, silence from PA, little hope of a decent season next year on the evidence of this season. PH [not a man who inspires me at all] spoke of having lost a leader. Well someone at SUFC needs to pick up that mantle & lead, show some direction. I might not like it but at least I will know what is happening.

I am not one for Biblical quotes as this is a football forum, but a verse in Proverbs comes to mind, 'faithful are the wounds of a friend'!

Maybe CW & PA need a good friend to tell them both some home truths, & prevent another utter catastrophic event like this happening in the future!

It could all have been so different.............................

You do use a lot of brackets Vic

 

[bromtom]

We should be an established premier league team but realistically we are more likely to be down in league 1 before we see the prem again, possibly with an administration thrown in when the parachute payments dry up.

Can't nt help thinking that a big part of the problem is having to buy the property assets from Mccabe, it's starved the club of cash to compete with the likes of Aston villa on wages for players that might have made a difference this season.

Sad sad state of affairs.. we will always be the club that finds a way of fucking it up when we're just on the verge of something great.

Its hard work being a blades fan

No Bigger Blade Kevin McCabe, you knew he was biding his time. If he's a Blade then I'm a teapot.

Pisses us about with the assets and tries to charge us a ridiculous amount for potential value, then charges us best part of £60m anyway when he knows how much it'd be needed.

Waits until we're on the floor after a shambles of a season and puts his steel toed boots on and gives us a kick by starting up with the land behind the Kop, pretty much guaranteeing we'll never be able to do anything with it, or at least making it prohibitively expensive/ time consuming to do anything.

 

[nopigfansintown]

It all boils down to money, and the Prince having none. To McCabe's credit he did warn us on his way out.

 

[BobblesBlade]

It all boils down to money, and the Prince having none. To McCabe's credit he did warn us on his way out.

Weird in it McCabe said the Prince was different gravy when two joined up. We’ve gone from a chairman who kept us afloat but was quick to sell anyone that was any good to a chairman that has no money but allowed a £130 million war chest.

 

[Chingo]

It all boils down to money, and the Prince having none. To McCabe's credit he did warn us on his way out.

Warned us of what ?

that c*nt can’t say owt about anyone !

 

[bromtom]

It all boils down to money, and the Prince having none. To McCabe's credit he did warn us on his way out.

Sore loser isn't happy that winner beat him at his own game. More at 10.

The amount of shite McCabe fed us over the years and he's being used as a reliable source now.

 

[1987]

Wilders clearly become antagonostic towards the board over the last few weeks/ month. Everybody is putting it under a director of football umbrella and saying Chris spat the dummy out. Maybe thats all it was.

Seems unlikely though and if CW has handed his resignation in, and got a payoff, that tells its own story about his own working conditions at the club. Clearly to me theyve alienated him, agreed plans have changed and promises broken (look at january).

Saying "Ill never sack Wilder" is for the fans, who he needs onside. Genius interview, as its basically made it more Wilders fault right should he ever leave. "Prince did all he could. Public backing, etc etc."

Avoidable for sure Vic, and Wilder will have definitely been pig headed, but i doubt we'll ever know exactly what did it.

 

[Harrisblade]

We should be an established premier league team but realistically we are more likely to be down in league 1 before we see the prem again, possibly with an administration thrown in when the parachute payments dry up.

Can't nt help thinking that a big part of the problem is having to buy the property assets from Mccabe, it's starved the club of cash to compete with the likes of Aston villa on wages for players that might have made a difference this season.

Sad sad state of affairs.. we will always be the club that finds a way of fucking it up when we're just on the verge of something great.

Its hard work being a blades fan

The property assets are being bought via a loan costing £10m a season x 5 seasons from PL money, so shouldn't really have impacted on past signings or current budget.
May be a problem in future after relegation, but not at the present.

 

[Chris the Blade]

Apparently this whole thing is down to not having enough money to fix a leaking roof at the training ground. If only someone had told me. I know a guy

 

[Gimli]

Come on rev. I seem to recall a lot of your posts slating Wilder and the team. Well he’s gone now and we look an absolute mess.

 

[Nagima]

Wilders clearly become antagonostic towards the board over the last few weeks/ month. Everybody is putting it under a director of football umbrella and saying Chris spat the dummy out. Maybe thats all it was.

Seems unlikely though and if CW has handed his resignation in, and got a payoff, that tells its own story about his own working conditions at the club. Clearly to me theyve alienated him, agreed plans have changed and promises broken (look at january).

Saying "Ill never sack Wilder" is for the fans, who he needs onside. Genius interview, as its basically made it more Wilders fault right should he ever leave. "Prince did all he could. Public backing, etc etc."

Avoidable for sure Vic, and Wilder will have definitely been pig headed, but i doubt we'll ever know exactly what did it.

Just about the point of January.
We were that far off the pace I wouldn't have spent a bob. Any sane owner or chairman wouldn't have either.

Obviously there has been serious problems behind the scenes for awhile now. But I do think that Chris has to take some criticism. The majority of players we bought are not up to the mark and this season he kept complaining about how other clubs spend loads of money and he can't.

 

[LJBlade]

Apparently this whole thing is down to not having enough money to fix a leaking roof at the training ground. If only someone had told me. I know a guy

Is it the same guy that told you we’re getting both Michael Appleton and Adrie Koster in as our next manager? If it was then I wouldn’t trust him if I were you.

 

[The Vicar]

Come on rev. I seem to recall a lot of your posts slating Wilder and the team. Well he’s gone now and we look an absolute mess.

Using the word lots is a bit of an exaggeration, but you never heard me say I wanted him out, in fact the contrary is true! BUT, a team that has 14 points after 29 games & has performed as they have deserves to be slated.

 

[1987]

Just about the point of January.
We were that far off the pace I wouldn't have spent a bob. Any sane owner or chairman wouldn't have either.

Obviously there has been serious problems behind the scenes for awhile now. But I do think that Chris has to take some criticism. The majority of players we bought are not up to the mark and this season he kept complaining about how other clubs spend loads of money and he can't.

Agree re: January as it happens, but i wouldnt say its an isolated incident, and you just get the feeling it hasn't been handled well. That being said, we definitely started to have a feeling towards the end of Jan that it was possible, so the added quality could well have helped.

Depends what your mark is tbh. Cant afford true premier wages, so you're taking chances somewhat. Weve taken them on younger players in the main. Tough league to learn in, we needed to go down and get then back in form and working as a team. Jury is out on the signings as far as im concerned, lets see because nobodys covered themselves in glory this year.

So no, signings havent performed well in the main, but just to add - his main targets all got signed and have performed well. We couldnt afford their wages.

 

[Blade1959]

Apparently this whole thing is down to not having enough money to fix a leaking roof at the training ground. If only someone had told me. I know a guy

Perhaps you could take him to S6 to fix the boiler