Bizarre Blades Business

[Silent Blade]

In the long run it was strange. Tudor was a very good centre forward and a better player than either Ford or Hope or even Ford and Hope. But, as has been pointed on here recently, in the short term it probably got us promotion. Despite his protestations in his autobiography, Hodgy was beginning to show his age and the defence was losing confidence in him. There were genuine fears of United having another mid-season wobble and dropping away and the introduction of Hope (and, of course, Hockey) had a huge positive effect on the promotion campaign. Hope's flaws only began to show well into the following season.

Fully agree, Hodgy was letting in too many soft goals and other teams knew that he had lost confidence in coming out for crosses. I still remember Hope's debut at Oxford very well. He came out for crosses and caught them. This made my dad (who loved Hodgy) come out of his seat and applaud the catches in front of the Oxford fans because it had been a long time since we had a keeper making catches like that. Hope was a decent shot stopper too and NOTW gave him 9 out of 10 in players performances for our 0-0 home draw against Norwich (Norwich were dominant in that match). Hope had 8 clean sheets in the last 10 games of the promotion season which was one of the big factors in us getting promotion. His good form continued in the following season as we were at the top of the league with 8 wins and 2 draws in our first 10 games. He played only one bad game in 1971 which was the 5-0 League Cup defeat at West Ham. He lost confidence in 1972. It annoys me when narrow minded Blades fans say that Hope was the worst keeper we have had. Either they have a poor memory of 1971 or didnt watch any of our games

 

[Jehovah]

James "he's got a cold but is not for sale " Beattie to Stoke.

 

[Jostein Flo]

Luke Beckett was a strange one...

Was it a myth or did we actually make a profit on Beckett through loan fees alone? Seem to remember someone saying we signed him for something like 75k and charged Oldham(?) around 200k in loan fees over a few seasons.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

Was it a myth or did we actually make a profit on Beckett through loan fees alone? Seem to remember someone saying we signed him for something like 75k and charged Oldham(?) around 200k in loan fees over a few seasons.

I think we loaned him to Huddersfield, Oldham twice and somewhere else. Sheff We'd made a £500,000 bid for him about 6 months before!

 

[Cheets]

He scored both goals! After the game Reg Brealey was furious with Billy McEwan for allowing our player to play against us and score tWwice!

He scored both goals! After the game Reg Brealey was furious with Billy McEwan for allowing our player to play against us and score twice!

What made it worse was the way Withe celebrated in front of the Kop. He was back in a Blades shirt a couple of weeks later, got booed, and scored.

 

[Cheets]

What about Geoff Horsfield? We signed him on loan in our 2006 promotion season, then after 2 or 3 games announced he was going back to WBA, only for West Brom to deny this and announce we had agreed to buy him for £1.2m. £1.2 million!
He then proceeded to languish in our reserves for a couple of seasons, via a couple of loan spells.

 

[pommpey]

Speaking of Wayne Quinn ...

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Ex-...tory-18608185-detail/story.html#axzz2acfNMzVh

Just about sums him up. Good player, when he could be arsed.

pommpey

 

[Sheff de party]

The biggest, "Eh?" for me was when Newcastle signed Wayne Quinn. He was excellent when he first started at left back (with Vas Bob at right back) but disappeared and became pub team standard. Then Newcastle paid a million for him...? Eh?

Pub standard? I think you mean caravan park standard. Thankfully that's what he apparently does for a living

 

[Swanseablade]

Agana to the mighty Notts County?!

 

[CarlingBlade]

Speaking of Wayne Quinn ...

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Ex-...tory-18608185-detail/story.html#axzz2acfNMzVh

Just about sums him up. Good player, when he could be arsed.

pommpey

Dear lord, I wondered what I was clicking into when the title "Quinn excited by mouse hole challenge" popped up!

 

[Silent Blade]

Agana to the mighty Notts County?!

Yes, he had been injury prone for most of 1991 and then NW offered £750,000 so we took the offer!

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

What about Geoff Horsfield? We signed him on loan in our 2006 promotion season, then after 2 or 3 games announced he was going back to WBA, only for West Brom to deny this and announce we had agreed to buy him for £1.2m. £1.2 million!
He then proceeded to languish in our reserves for a couple of seasons, via a couple of loan spells.

I remember this. I went to Coventry away a few weeks after and he was absolutely terrible. Akinbiyi wasn't much better, but at least he looked like he wanted to score. Actually, did Geoff Horsfield ever score for us? (Karen Brady isn't a valid answer)

 

[LSF]

Me too.

and me.....

 

[Foxy]

I remember this. I went to Coventry away a few weeks after and he was absolutely terrible. Akinbiyi wasn't much better, but at least he looked like he wanted to score. Actually, did Geoff Horsfield ever score for us? (Karen Brady isn't a valid answer)

Yes, away at MK Dons in the League Cup, scored in extra time to give us the win.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

The returns of Marcus Bent, James Beattie and Jonathan Forte. Billy Paynter signing.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Which transfer (either in or out) made you go "eh?"

My nomination was Roger Nilsen signing for then Premiership Tottenham. I always liked Nilsen and was a bit sad to see him leave, but leaving to go to a big Premiership club and straight into the 1st team from our bench was strange.

Any others?

Guthrie, when I saw him play - who scouted him? Stevie Wonder

 

[Kev Gee]

Tebily to Celtic after playing 1-2 games for us?? Did we get a million for him?

 

[Jonboy60]

Carl bradshaws bitch. Vinny jones.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Yes, he had been injury prone for most of 1991 and then NW offered £750,000 so we took the offer!

Didn't Warnock once say signing Agana was the worst signing of his managerial career?

 

[Silent Blade]

Didn't Warnock once say signing Agana was the worst signing of his managerial career?

Wouldnt surprise me! It was a big help in paying the Gayle transfer fee as the board were struggling to pay the instalments to Ipswich

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

Carl Tiler/Mitch Ward to Everton. That was a strange one, I always liked Tiler and thought he formed a good defensive partnership with Holdsworth. Mitch Ward is a player I remember but cannot remember:

- Whether he was any good?
- What his position was (utility man?)
- His career pre/post Blades.

Anyway, the transfer seemed to be a bit needless at the time much like the Mark Patterson to Bury. I suppose we can pinpoint the beginning of the asset stripping here.

 

[Silent Blade]

Carl Tiler/Mitch Ward to Everton. That was a strange one, I always liked Tiler and thought he formed a good defensive partnership with Holdsworth. Mitch Ward is a player I remember but cannot remember:

- Whether he was any good?
- What his position was (utility man?)
- His career pre/post Blades.

Anyway, the transfer seemed to be a bit needless at the time much like the Mark Patterson to Bury. I suppose we can pinpoint the beginning of the asset stripping here.

Ward was an useful RB or RM, likes to cross the ball early with either foot. Rarely wastes a pass. Good penalty taker too. Kendall liked him and picked him regularly and when he went to Everton, he tried to sign Ward and eventually got him in November