SteelCity Blade
Active Member
In preparation for the inevitable driving of the final nail by our welsh visitors tomorrow night, I’ve decided to take an all together different approach to our up-coming games. No longer shall I worry about the deficit of points or our inability to clear the ball out of defence properly. My last fleeting hope of pulling off a miraculous escape was extinguished on Saturday by a combination of poor finishing and inept defending which have dogged us all season. Sometimes I listen to a minority of our supporters and think we deserve this for the kind of attitude we show and the way we portray ourselves as a club. Then other times I look at the same faces sat round me, who I see week in and week out with that oh so familiar desperate expression written across their mug.....those of unmoved faith.....those that make me realise we deserve better, if only for their sake.
For desperate expressions, look no further than our beleaguered gaffer. A man who took on his dream job and has slowly found it to have become an unimaginable nightmare. I like many Blades am so desperate for him to do well.....but surely the run of results we have seen is an indication that he has bitten off more than he can chew? I get the impression he came into this job believing his enthusiasm and genuine nature would rub off on the players and do just enough to turn the tide in preparation for better things next season. I don’t think he had any idea of the monumental task he was taking on. No he hasn’t done well, his record is shocking but in my view he is a decent manager who came unprepared and took the job at the wrong time. In other words (if I was being more harsh) not a good enough manager to turn this mess around. I’m not at all convinced that the previous three would have fared much better if landed in the same situation but that is somewhat imponderable and irrelevant at this stage.
The quite ironic thing about football at times is that those closest to it often can’t see the wood for the trees where as supporters can see exactly what elements are wrong. We’re not as irrational and fickle as some would like us to believe. Sometimes it is supporters that make the most prophetic argument. If you look behind the quirky metaphorical sense of humour in Olle’s shed update (for example) there is a message that most of us can relate to. The fact that all we want is for them to build something half decent, something we can be proud of and say we were part of making that happen. But we can see why it hasn’t worked and we can see what needs to be undertaken to sort it out.....but whilst the man in charge of putting it together is clueless of what to do next, the man above him with the resources to do it is simply unprepared to sort out the mess he has left behind. The overriding message is one of desperation and regret, that it hadn’t all been sorted out sooner and now we dwell on the mistakes that have been made while it is still in pieces. As an aside, we look to scrap it all once again and clutch straws as we think about doing something totally different (i.e. building the pond).
When we eventually do find that “R” next to our name it will come as no surprise to me. In truth I have feared the worst since the turn of the year and have said so on a couple of occasions. I like many of you have seen a lot of football and I know when something is rotten. This has been coming for sometime.....possibly longer than most Blades anticipated. When you look back at all the stick our resident complainants used to get (mic, lenners and co.) about being negative and impossible to please, perhaps they saw something quite obvious that others refused to see. I often don’t like the way they put their message across but fair is fair and when someone was right about something you have to give credit where it’s due. They effectively predicted this demise, even if it was done with an abrasive tone that upset others. Perhaps if certain people at the club had their foresight we wouldn’t be getting relegated. Who knows?! But now that the shit is hitting the fan it is about time that those from the other end of the spectrum stop shutting their eyes to it and accept the club is a shambles and has let its supporters down.
Setting all that to one side, tomorrow night should be interesting in the sense of seeing how many supporters actually turn out and then to see how they respond. We look a racing certainty for the drop now and it would be the greatest comeback since Lazarus if we managed to so much as stand a chance on the final day. I already expect MA to stick with the same group of players when by now he should really be accepting our fate and blooding the youth (our only hope of a bright future). The team we have are bottom of the league because they are the worst in the division – “the table doesn’t lie” – and persisting with the same individuals is what has cost us in the latter half of this season. Write it off and get shut of them, get the youngsters ready! Next season is going to be steep learning curve for them but we have to start now, or find ourselves lagging behind again when we start next season.
I’ll be there tomorrow night getting behind the team and I hope all of my fellow Blades will do the same. Whilst we dwell and reflect on one of the most miserable seasons in recent memory, there is little we can do about it now. The damage is done and it is about where we go from here. All I ask is that as supporters we don’t sleepwalk through this.....those running the club are doing a fine job of that on their own. Support the team but let those in charge know how you feel. Relegation from the second tier is NOT acceptable for a club like Sheffield United. We want better and we deserve better!
UTB
For desperate expressions, look no further than our beleaguered gaffer. A man who took on his dream job and has slowly found it to have become an unimaginable nightmare. I like many Blades am so desperate for him to do well.....but surely the run of results we have seen is an indication that he has bitten off more than he can chew? I get the impression he came into this job believing his enthusiasm and genuine nature would rub off on the players and do just enough to turn the tide in preparation for better things next season. I don’t think he had any idea of the monumental task he was taking on. No he hasn’t done well, his record is shocking but in my view he is a decent manager who came unprepared and took the job at the wrong time. In other words (if I was being more harsh) not a good enough manager to turn this mess around. I’m not at all convinced that the previous three would have fared much better if landed in the same situation but that is somewhat imponderable and irrelevant at this stage.
The quite ironic thing about football at times is that those closest to it often can’t see the wood for the trees where as supporters can see exactly what elements are wrong. We’re not as irrational and fickle as some would like us to believe. Sometimes it is supporters that make the most prophetic argument. If you look behind the quirky metaphorical sense of humour in Olle’s shed update (for example) there is a message that most of us can relate to. The fact that all we want is for them to build something half decent, something we can be proud of and say we were part of making that happen. But we can see why it hasn’t worked and we can see what needs to be undertaken to sort it out.....but whilst the man in charge of putting it together is clueless of what to do next, the man above him with the resources to do it is simply unprepared to sort out the mess he has left behind. The overriding message is one of desperation and regret, that it hadn’t all been sorted out sooner and now we dwell on the mistakes that have been made while it is still in pieces. As an aside, we look to scrap it all once again and clutch straws as we think about doing something totally different (i.e. building the pond).
When we eventually do find that “R” next to our name it will come as no surprise to me. In truth I have feared the worst since the turn of the year and have said so on a couple of occasions. I like many of you have seen a lot of football and I know when something is rotten. This has been coming for sometime.....possibly longer than most Blades anticipated. When you look back at all the stick our resident complainants used to get (mic, lenners and co.) about being negative and impossible to please, perhaps they saw something quite obvious that others refused to see. I often don’t like the way they put their message across but fair is fair and when someone was right about something you have to give credit where it’s due. They effectively predicted this demise, even if it was done with an abrasive tone that upset others. Perhaps if certain people at the club had their foresight we wouldn’t be getting relegated. Who knows?! But now that the shit is hitting the fan it is about time that those from the other end of the spectrum stop shutting their eyes to it and accept the club is a shambles and has let its supporters down.
Setting all that to one side, tomorrow night should be interesting in the sense of seeing how many supporters actually turn out and then to see how they respond. We look a racing certainty for the drop now and it would be the greatest comeback since Lazarus if we managed to so much as stand a chance on the final day. I already expect MA to stick with the same group of players when by now he should really be accepting our fate and blooding the youth (our only hope of a bright future). The team we have are bottom of the league because they are the worst in the division – “the table doesn’t lie” – and persisting with the same individuals is what has cost us in the latter half of this season. Write it off and get shut of them, get the youngsters ready! Next season is going to be steep learning curve for them but we have to start now, or find ourselves lagging behind again when we start next season.
I’ll be there tomorrow night getting behind the team and I hope all of my fellow Blades will do the same. Whilst we dwell and reflect on one of the most miserable seasons in recent memory, there is little we can do about it now. The damage is done and it is about where we go from here. All I ask is that as supporters we don’t sleepwalk through this.....those running the club are doing a fine job of that on their own. Support the team but let those in charge know how you feel. Relegation from the second tier is NOT acceptable for a club like Sheffield United. We want better and we deserve better!
UTB
