Keith Gillespie book

[cooperblade]

Had a quick read of the chapter or so about his time at the Lane. Interesting stuff, particularly about Blackwell.

He was on about £3,000 a week in the Premier League but when we got relegated, he signed a new deal on £6,000 a week plus £3,000 appearance money. Hard to see how we ended up in such a financial mess with that sort of approach!

He speaks highly of Warnock although he says he claimed they couldn't pay him more money in the top flight because they were worried what he'd do with the extra cash.

He thought Robson was let down by 'soft players' but he goes to town on Blackwell.

None of it is a huge surprise. He says he was arrogant and bullied some players (Cotterill in particular plus Sharp) but wouldn't say a word to Speed (who he was terrified of), Beattie or Ehiogu. He does actually say that he thought Blackwell was a pretty good coach but that was more than outweighed by his lack of man management skills.

Well worth 20 minutes in Waterstones (wonder if they'll use that line on the advertising?)

 

[Kenilworth]

Ehiogu - afraid of him? Hardly surprising really. What a unit that bloke was!

Now Cotterill - that pisses me off 'cos he was always a match winner in my eyes. Wingers always suffer from a level of inconsistency 'cos it's a fecking hard job to be creative as opposed to destructive. I'll bet Blackwell ragged on him for not getting back to help the defence when they had all stood and watched him burn off three players and get in a decent cross.

Cotterill having most assists in L1 last year - no surprise to me.

 

[Bladesman]

Pretty obvious Blackwell had no man management skills and he was afraid of the more experienced players like Beattie, Ugo etc.

Only we could offer a player a rise when we have been relegated and people wonder why we have ended up L1.

 

[Darren]

Pretty obvious Blackwell had no man management skills and he was afraid of the more experienced players like Beattie, Ugo etc.

Only we could offer a player a rise when we have been relegated and people wonder why we have ended up L1.

I also took a 2o min look at it in Waterstones

To be fair, £3000 was peanuts for a PL player and Gilliespie says that his agent went up the wall when he agreed that figure. Gilliespie did very well in the PL and I don't see that paying him £6K in the 2nd tier to be that outrageous.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

Cotterill was treat harshly on the field by Blackwell, never mind off it. Start on the bench for 3 games, come in and look creative but as soon as he made a couple of mistakes, subbed off and back to the bench.

Blackwell's strength as a coach carried him during his career. During his tenure we were always organised, kept a good shape and defended/attacked set pieces very well. Clarke Carlisle released a book recently and he had a pop at him also!

 

[Bladesman]

I also took a 2o min look at it in Waterstones

To be fair, £3000 was peanuts for a PL player and Gilliespie says that his agent went up the wall when he agreed that figure. Gilliespie did very well in the PL and I don't see that paying him £6K in the 2nd tier to be that outrageous.

Had we stayed up then yes give him a wage increase but increasing his wages on relegation is rather daft. Just makes you wonder who else got a bit of extra cash on relegation.

Must have been hard times living on 12k a month though.

 

[Darren]

Had we stayed up then yes give him a wage increase but increasing his wages on relegation is rather daft. Just makes you wonder who else got a bit of extra cash on relegation.

Must have been hard times living on 12k a month though.

Of course, it's not hard times, but even in 2007, £150K a year for a PL player was - relatively speaking - peanuts.

The average for a PL player that season was £778K, so Gilliespie was getting only 19% of the average.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com...011/10/Annual-foot-wage-increase-since-84.jpg

 

[Bladesman]

Of course, it's not hard times, but even in 2007, £150K a year for a PL player was - relatively speaking - peanuts.

The average for a PL player that season was £778K, so Gilliespie was getting only 19% of the average.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com...011/10/Annual-foot-wage-increase-since-84.jpg

Doesn't matter what other players were earning.

Give him a rise in the PL then not upon relegation to the Championshit.

 

[Darren]

Doesn't matter what other players were earning.

Give him a rise in the PL then not upon relegation to the Championshit.

Given that that average figure will include salaries played to young players who have never made the first team, Gilliespie must have been one of the lowest paid first team players in the PL. Just trying to point out that United are not always shafted financially.

The way he performed in the PL I am sure he could have got more than £150K a year if he had gone elsewhere.

 

[Bladesman]

Given that that average figure will include salaries played to young players who have never made the first team, Gilliespie must have been one of the lowest paid first team players in the PL. Just trying to point out that United are not always shafted financially.

The way he performed in the PL I am sure he could have got more than £150K a year if he had gone elsewhere.

Should have gone to another a club then.

It is the principal of giving a player a rise upon relegation that irks me regardless of who earns what elsewhere.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Of course, it's not hard times, but even in 2007, £150K a year for a PL player was - relatively speaking - peanuts.

The average for a PL player that season was £778K, so Gilliespie was getting only 19% of the average.

http://www.sportingintelligence.com...011/10/Annual-foot-wage-increase-since-84.jpg

Had we been prepared in the Premiership to widen the wage budget to the size that it was in the season following relegation in the Championship, it's possible we'd still be there today. We know of players like Stephen Warnock that went elsewhere in the January window rather than us due to the money we offered not being enough - how many more of better quality could have joined I wonder.

 

[Worksop II]

due to the money we offered not being enough

You should see the size of the Chandeliers at Chateau McCabe, thats what really mattered

 

[DronnieBlade]

Is there any player, past or present, that has anything positive to say about Blackwell ?

And many a Blade still reckons that he did a good job for us

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Is there any player, past or present, that has anything positive to say about Blackwell ?

And many a Blade still reckons that he did a good job for us

.......in comparison with what came afterwards, he probably did!

 

[DronnieBlade]

.......in comparison with what came afterwards, he probably did!

Now why might that be ??

Was it :-

A. He left us with a great squad of players that should have walked the league or

B. He made some of the worst signings in living memory, having had a much higher budget than any managers that have followed him, and at the same time, let go (or forced out) some very good players that were miles better than those that were brought in.

I wonder ..........

UTB.

 

[Ted Danson]

Is there any player, past or present, that has anything positive to say about Blackwell ?

And many a Blade still reckons that he did a good job for us

Based on his win ratio he did

 

[DronnieBlade]

Based on his win ratio he did

Interesting observation.

If Clough was to win every single game from now until the end of the season with the nucleus of players that he inherited, who would you credit most, Clough or Weir ??

My point is that a manager will only truly be judged when he has had time to bed and gel his OWN squad and to deploy his OWN tactics, which takes time (at least 12 months).

So I say that Blackwell was lucky enough to inherit arguably the best squad of players in decades and, quite frankly, decimated it with his own brand of goofballs and hoof merchants, many of which had difficulty in consistently trapping a football.

 

[SotonBlade]

Is there any player, past or present, that has anything positive to say about Blackwell ?

And many a Blade still reckons that he did a good job for us

Based on his win ratio he did

Jimmy Savile raised millions for charity......he still should have been burnt at the stake though!

 

[Darren]

Interesting observation.

If Clough was to win every single game from now until the end of the season with the nucleus of players that he inherited, who would you credit most, Clough or Weir ??

My point is that a manager will only truly be judged when he has had time to bed and gel his OWN squad and to deploy his OWN tactics, which takes time (at least 12 months).

So I say that Blackwell was lucky enough to inherit arguably the best squad of players in decades and, quite frankly, decimated it with his own brand of goofballs and hoof merchants, many of which had difficulty in consistently trapping a football.

By all accounts, Blackwell is a pretty obnoxious man, but I still don't understand this hatred for him as a manager. In his three proper seasons, we challenged for the play offs in the second tier each time. What wouldn't we give for that now.....

 

[DronnieBlade]

By all accounts, Blackwell is a pretty obnoxious man, but I still don't understand this hatred for him as a manager. In his three proper seasons, we challenged for the play offs in the second tier each time. What wouldn't we give for that now.....

Darren.

I dont hate him.

I just hate what he did for the club. There is a difference.

 

[judge]

Our top earner in the prem was jags on 13k a week

 

[Bladesman]

Our top earner in the prem was jags on 13k a week

Bargain!

 

[sitwell]

If you ever met Cotterill you would see why he was an easy target ,he is very quiet ,softly spoken even a bit effeminate and he unfortunately played down the wing close to Blackwell where he could be bullied. I am good friends with a player who was with Utd at that time and he told me Blackwell was a massive coward and bully way out of his depth hated by most players. Ex players are now queuing up to slag him off ,Sharp ,Clarke,Deane and Gillespie in the past few weeks. In my opinion he is more to blame than anyone else for our demise over the past 9 years.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

In my opinion he is more to blame than anyone else for our demise over the past 9 years.

The squad Robson left behind was arguably stronger then the squad the season before that was in the Premiership! Blackwell got the best out of it for a while, but when was trusted with money squandered it awfully. Steve Simonsen, Andy Taylor, Ched Evans (Fee), Daniel Bogdanovic, Nyron Nosworthy (believe a fee was involved in his loan deal), the list could go on if I cared to look at his post Wembley 2009.

 

[boo radley]

We've had far more loyal Blades players who it would be worth giving your hard earned cash in royalties too than this bloke. He probably does not rate in top fifty who the living Blades fans rate.

 

[diplomat]

Despite the average wages quoted I'd say Keith was lucky to have a contract of any type having been quite terrible and awkward to manage for a few seasons before he came to us. I think he was on such a wage because he appreciated the opportunity. Him and Geary were two that I couldn't believe we kept but largely acquitted themselves well.

He was good in the prem tho. Largely because we lacked players that could treat the ball other than a hot potato. However, to effectively treble his wages is ludicrous on a relegation. I remember lots of noise about how sensible we were having relegation clauses in all contracts that put everyone back on their champo wages when we got relegated. However, I also remember Morgan, Tongue, Kozluk and possibly Monty all getting new deals when we went down. I presumed we kept them on their premier wages. Did we double their pay too? Without anyone actually trying to poach them from us? .... And then when we realised, no-one could afford to take them even if we wanted too. I'd truly love to see a breakdown of the promotion, prem and the next three years wages. I think we'd see where it all went wrong. I remember Warnock saying we had players in the FA Cup semi v Arsenal on hundreds rather than thousands (compared to their tens of thousands) a week. Then when we push the boat out it was on completely the wrong type/age of player.

 

[JohnDenver]

He thought Robson was let down by 'soft players'

Hmmm…. He's right in what he says but Keef's own efforts in that season were the very definition of softness and "let-down". He was a disgrace.

Top player beforehand though….

 

[wardonia_blade]

IMO Blackwell should not have been appointed and should not have been sacked.

At the time he was appointed we had parachute payments, good players, good youngsters in the Academy and could have done much better. If we had sacked Robson a couple of weeks earlier I honestly believe we could have got Hodgson my first choice post Warnock. (A choice ridiculed on the boards though as he had failed Blackburn. Coleman was better apparently despite bringing the most gutless team I have ever seen to BDTBL a few months earlier - Fulham).

Having appointed Blackwell, the timing of the sacking was ridiculous. Never had a chance to build anything around Britton. From memory Blackwell's last 4 results were:
Swansea (H) won 2-0 and played superbly
Ipswich (A) won 3-0
Cardiff (A) 1-1 with 10 men for 65 minutes
QPR (H) Lost 3-0 to what were clearly a formidable team

Opinions will always be divided on Blackwell. The phrase "better the devil you know" sums up this chapter for me.

 

[Cool Clint]

We've had far more loyal Blades players who it would be worth giving your hard earned cash in royalties too than this bloke. He probably does not rate in top fifty who the living Blades fans rate.

He would not rate in my top 100.

 

[diplomat]

IMO Blackwell should not have been appointed and should not have been sacked.

At the time he was appointed we had parachute payments, good players, good youngsters in the Academy and could have done much better. If we had sacked Robson a couple of weeks earlier I honestly believe we could have got Hodgson my first choice post Warnock. (A choice ridiculed on the boards though as he had failed Blackburn. Coleman was better apparently despite bringing the most gutless team I have ever seen to BDTBL a few months earlier - Fulham).

Having appointed Blackwell, the timing of the sacking was ridiculous. Never had a chance to build anything around Britton. From memory Blackwell's last 4 results were:
Swansea (H) won 2-0 and played superbly
Ipswich (A) won 3-0
Cardiff (A) 1-1 with 10 men for 65 minutes
QPR (H) Lost 3-0 to what were clearly a formidable team

Opinions will always be divided on Blackwell. The phrase "better the devil you know" sums up this chapter for me.

Not saying this to spoil your argument as it doesn't necessarily, but in that run of games was a frighteningly inept performance from a strong team v Hartlepool that I had the misfortune of witnessing.