MANAGER SACKED

[Bladesman]

Reeks of Hecky until the January transfer window closes, so pauper owner has an excuse not to fund players without losing face.

4.5 years for Hecky actually. Some interim job this is then.

As they say all the time on our social media feeds: Finished Club

 

[Tezza1889]

Some amount of wanking off a fucking podcaster off going on here.

Here York, take your fucking hair dye and annoying smug look and fuck off with the Prince.

YorkBlade

Next podcast Hal in or out - podcast special... Happy birthday mate

 

[Wards]

“We look forward to embarking on a new era in Blades football with Paul at the helm. Paul possesses the personal leadership qualities and technical football skills the board feels are essential to successfully implement the board’s strategic directives. He shares our values and interest in player development while also possessing the ambition and determination to get the most out of our current squad. We are convinced that Paul will play a leading role in improving all aspects of football operations.”

We can't afford new players/needs to bring through the young lads/stuck with current players/aint a pot to piss in

 

[Blad]

The Prince has finally got his Yes man, someone who won’t say things to the press about funds, infrastructure, or basically anything that can be seen as bad mouthing the owner.

Absolute joke giving him that contract and it really is a two fingered salute to the fans.

 

[Bladesman]

Hecky as manager = No money in January

 

[Guesty]

Fuck me sideways.

 

[Tezza1889]

The hope was always that Slav turned out to be the Slav of 3/4 years ago at Fulham. He’s never looked like a Sheffield United manager, we’re weak defensively & boring offensively. Lucky to win Tuesday, if we’d of lost/ drawn more would agree with the decision. His record is similar to Robsons. Let that sink in

I give a lot of credit to the way the majority of fans have backed him on here, it says a lot about our fan base as another manager leaves without fan pressure..

I was slav out, that was well known and I have reasons that might come to light soon, but it was the football on the pitch I was disappointed with.. That's the think, I wasn't seeing a great manager at work...

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

Reyt then, that probably means there's fuck all for transfers in January

Nailed on. Glad he's gone though, an expensive fraud.

 

[MobileBlade]

Gutted about Slav leaving. If he could have built his own team in the summer. A manager at the helm now that’s been sacked by Barnsley and Leeds and one we’ve got rid of who got Fulham and Watford to the Premier. If brains were shit our Board wouldn’t have a sniff.

When was he sacked by Barnsley?

 

[We're back!]

Confirmed:

Someone please tell me this is a joke! That's no interim position!

 

[Hillsboro Blade]

When was he sacked by Barnsley?

Sorry, think I’ve got that wrong!! Was he at Barnsley? Fuck knows.

 

[Bladesman]

Someone please tell me this is a joke! That's no interim position!

I am just waiting for the words: "We are talking jape of the decade. We are talking April, May, June, July & August fool."

Kryten

 

[LardSardine]

From The Athletic:

Paul Heckingbottom, United's Under-23s head coach, will succeed Jokanovic as permanent manager — a move The Athletic revealed on Monday was in the board's thoughts.

His first game will be at home to Bristol City on Sunday lunchtime. He has brought in several new coaches including former United players Jack Lester, who becomes head of player development, and Stuart McCall, who is the new assistant manager.

 

[Nagima]

So here is my tuppence worth.
We all knew last season that we needed players for central midfield as Fleck and Norwood were poor, Berge had a serious injury and Lundstram was leaving. So the board got in Hourihane and Geudiora. In other words the did fuck all to sort our most major problem area.

They took too long to appoint the manager and were too late in bringing players in. MGW is the only one to be a positive signing and Davies being average at best.

Slav has made mistakes too along the way. And our first half performances have lacked energy and drive. But I think the bigger problem is what is going on in the background. If the Prince thinks that we have sufficient quality to be competing for the automatic places. Then he obviously has not got a clue about football.

We have been on a downward slide since the start of the lock down. New arrivals to the squad have been in general have been poor.
We have the second oldest squad in the championship. Slav did try to change the way we played and tried to make our formation more creative up front. It was sporadic in effectiveness.
But it doesn't matter what formation we play unless we get suitable players for central midfield then we are going to remain an inconsistent team.

It hasn't worked out for Slav but the damage was done at the start of last season with the Wilder/prince difficulties. There is a dysfunction about the club that is going to have to be resolved to allow a manager to be successful.
Slav isn't a bad manager and I thought his post match analysis was usually spot on. But successful management is about the environment and the timing of events. The environment and the timing of arrival and large changes to playing style were wrong.

We are going nowhere fast and need to have a consistent strategy from the board or things will get worse.

 

[Davalon]

The football has been turgid pass back pass sideways keep it our own half no runs forward (except bash) no matter who the manager is /was it wasn't very exciting really was it
When Slav came in we were promised attacking football and I am afraid it didn't happen
Lets see where we go from here we do not know the financial implications we can only surmise so hope for the best and try to get the ball in the opposition half because thats were we score from
UTB

How many matches have you actually watched since the end of August?

Some of the attacking play has been excellent and we've created more chances than we have for a long time.

Not holding leads and conceding poor goals has been our problem.

 

[Hague Blade]

Any news of whether Higginbottom is interim or has he been given the job full time?

Please not full-time, please. That‘d the final bloody straw.

 

[MobileBlade]

Sorry, think I’ve got that wrong!! Was he at Barnsley? Fuck knows.

He was. And did very well there. Left them to go to Leeds who then shafted him and sacked him.

 

[Westran]

I know there are plenty not happy, I'm not particularly, and there's of course plenty of speculation, these are the parts of the official statement that I'd speculate about:

"immediately after agreeing a contract through to the end of the 2025/26 season" - was he offered the managerpost until 25/26 or did he just extend his existing contract and then they gave him the manager post?

"Following several months of strategic planning" - sounds long term, what is the strategic plan?

"Further announcements with regards to the structure of the football department will be made in due course." - sounds like a full restructure, DOF?

"He shares our values and interest in player development while also possessing the ambition and determination to get the most out of our current squad." - i.e. use the youth and existing squad, but we won't be buying anyone else

Personally I think their original plan has been fucked by injury, poor performances from the manager and playing staff and we're going to have to consolidate on the cheap, we can moan all we like but if this is the position we're in, there's not much we can do. I don't think throwing money at it is the right thing to do, we've been a sustainable football club for years and I wouldn't want a promotion or bust situation like derby or the pigs. I also think that even though Heckingbottom has been given the "Football Manager" (interesting title), I don't think he's the long term manager, I think that's probably a smoke screen so that we don't have an interim manager for 2 thirds of the season. New manager in Summer along with a restructure of the whole football side of the club if you ask me, either that or PA/SB are priming us for a sale where a new owner can come in and make their own decisions quickly with people who know the club at the helm.

 

[10p]

I’d try and get Paul Warne personally. Surely he’s sick of promotion and relegation every other year?!

Warne gets my vote.
He’s done a brilliant job at Rotherham with no money to spend.
But would he want to come with his team doing so well?
Last time we poached a manager from Rotherham (Porterfield) proved a good move.

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

Nuno is number 1 target. Maybe a little ambitious though……

Fraud.

 

[Billyblade]

Any news of whether Higginbottom is interim or has he been given the job full time?

No, they've given it Heckingbottom

 

[Prem owner needed]

He was. And did very well there. Left them to go to Leeds who then shafted him and sacked him.

They didn't shaft him, he was useless for them.

 

[reedy63]

Just bleeding typical sack the manager and have to pay compo,could be a couple of million. that money could have bought in a couple of plays in January. therefore the transfer fund. is now nowt probably. ok, Heckinbottom with Jack Lester and Stuart Mccall could be good so we will have to go with that. however Brian the Blade needs to start a car park demo.to get rid of the board.

 

[MobileBlade]

They didn't shaft him, he was useless for them.

You mean they took him from Barnsley by promising riches, gave him 16 matches at club in total turmoil but in reality they were just waiting for Bielsa to become available at the end of the season. He was shafted.

 

[Farnboroughblade]

I wreken this move has been on the cards for quite a while. Wonder if it was Hecky who had the influence to recall Seriki in time for coming into the squad in January? Wouldn't be surprised to see Jebbo recalled too. If there's no money to spend in January, his only tools are blooding the youth, giving them experience and game time this season in the hope we can finish mid table and then make a push for the playoffs in 22/23, when these youngsters are better prepared.

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Coily]

This would only make a little bit of sense if we had a legitimate, high-caliber replacement in place almost immediately, but when the likes of Warnock and Alex Neil are being mooted as possibles I can't help but think this is a bad bad move.

Not to say that I've been happy with the season so far, but if they thought SJ would turn us from Premier League no hopers to Championship winners with zero investment I can only suggest they are barmy.

Oh.

 

[broomhillblade]

McCall as no.2

That's a good move.

 

[PaulHalfway]

The atmosphere at BL this season has been dire even with 28k in at every game
Our fans like attacking, pressure and effort football not prolonged possession on the half way line moving the ball side to side.
Teams have us totally sussed out and we have no answers, no midfield athletes closing players down, making forward runs or even forward passes of any quality
Utterly boring and frustrating too watch

 

[DeanLearner'sCat]

It's becoming increasingly clear that Wilder's brilliance papered over a lot of cracks at this club. Then he fell apart, and how badly run we are is now there for all to see.

If you hire a guy who wants to play with wingers, sign some wingers. If you want a guy to play 3-5-2, then hire a guy that plays that way. The worrying thing is that, when Jokanovic was suggested, people on here pointed out that we'd need a much bigger squad overhaul to play the way he wanted. Fans on a message board could see this. Yet the people running the club seemingly thought he was an "evolution not revolution" type appointment.