Our identity and what we want that to be.

[Pilley-Blade]

It is the first time I have started a thread, so bare with me. I have commented on a few posts of late and a few of you have asked for me to contribute more, so here I go, feet first into the bear pit with clappers and a rubber blanket.

All football clubs have ups and downs, it is the very nature of football, the weekly drama that we love to hate and hate to love. What the Blades have gone through over the last five years or so is a bit of resurgence of pride and identity, a manager who ‘told it as it was’, proud Sheffielder, talked about shops on the moor in interviews and all that. That has now gone, unlikely to return, but it has left a bit of a gap at a strange time. Everything is changing, but we don’t know what too.

I have done a bit of work in the game and identity is the one area I have found to be so important at every club or organisation I have worked in. Identity is a key element that other area are built.

What we are suffering from now is a removal of that identity and the double bubble of a board that is not giving us a new identity in any real sense, just a smart news article that is now months old. A lot of comparisons are made to other clubs about boards and communication, but the real work is done by creating an identity, even if they don’t speak that often, you can see what clubs are doing behind the scenes. I have watched Birmingham twice this season on TV and you can see what they are trying to do, really pushing the atmosphere. But I don’t know what or who Sheff Utd are at the moment. What is our identity? Right now it seems (on social media) as if we ‘have a nice old traditional ground’, great – but then what?

When you don’t have an identity, you then go into default mode of ‘why does this happen to us’, I felt that at Wembley a little bit and once again I sat on a coach facing a long way back with that same gutting feeling. When the club don’t really communicate, then you make your own ideas up about what is happening and that does not generally go well, we have a tendency to be negative.

But, last week, my daughter and I sat in our new season ticket seats on the back of the Kop, like I have done on and off for the last forty years. I haven’t had an ST for the last few years since my older daughter passed away on the same day we beat West Brom to get promoted, coming back was a really big deal for me. But the guys I were sat around were brilliant, all introduced each other, we had a good laugh and some great chats. After the game, low and behold, we bumped into most of them in the pub and everyone bought us a drink and it was brilliant – whether anyone will remember next week I don’t know !!

But it really struck me, THAT is what we are all about, a bunch of strangers having a laugh, putting the world to rights and having a few lemonades after - not what is happening in a board room. Nobody can define who or what we are apart from us.

The club have created an odd negative, if not sterile, vibe and we have reacted to that by reacting negatively. I got the feeling that when RND was booed/cheered on his substitution, that was less of a pop at RND and more of a ‘thank god somebody sees what we are seeing’ and ‘thank god somebody is recognising what we are doing isn’t working’, that’s how I saw and felt it anyway – I might be wrong. The current situation has split the fan base a bit and both sides can be wrong or right, we just don’t know. We are Schrodinger’s Football Club at the moment, we have not got a clue what is happening inside. (That is the best analogy you will get in any fans forum by the way)

One thing I can’t help but think watching Wednesday’s capitulation at the moment is all the protests, all the talk of boycotts and staying out of games etc etc etc, but it is all pointless, it will make zero difference, owners and boards are stubborn bastards to say the least. We are consumers and customers.

But what does it mean to be a Blade ? Generally, for me, it’s the average bloke and woman off the street, come rain or shine, have a few before the game, talking to anyone in a Blades shirt, sat in the Cricks putting the world to rights, man or woman, young or old. Supporting United is traumatic sometimes, ‘yeah it’s only football’, but it’s not is it? It’s a way of life.

I look at the squad and the performances over the last two games, I look at the comments on Twitter, our fans joining in with the normal drivel that opposition fans post (call me an old man, but I will never ever ever ever ever understand why so many people go on random clubs feeds just to mock and jeer, its like standing outside a random strangers house and abusing them everytime they come out – hopefully someone can explain that to me?). But there were a few young kids in the squad in Blades shirts, players making debuts, put into a situation not of their own making. Surely, we need to fully support these guys and fully get behind them. Any anger needs to be towards the board and the situation they have put us in (even then, knowing it would make little difference), but surely not to the young kids and debutants that are just trying to do as well as they can under ridiculous circumstances.

Can we be the fan base that supports the players no matter what, even if the club is all over the place?

Can we let RS know that there is definitely a positive to acting on behalf of fans and telling them what they need to know? Get the fans behind you and you are on a winner with them, no matter what.

Or am I way off the mark, an old dreamer from the past, stuck in traditions long gone, blind to the new way of quick fast money, mass investing and instant mix success from a packet from Asda?

I don’t really know what the answer is, but I felt it would make a good discussion point and I would love to hear what people think the club is now, what is the identity and what is the fans place within it?

 

[SufcBilly]

It is the first time I have started a thread, so bare with me. I have commented on a few posts of late and a few of you have asked for me to contribute more, so here I go, feet first into the bear pit with clappers and a rubber blanket.

All football clubs have ups and downs, it is the very nature of football, the weekly drama that we love to hate and hate to love. What the Blades have gone through over the last five years or so is a bit of resurgence of pride and identity, a manager who ‘told it as it was’, proud Sheffielder, talked about shops on the moor in interviews and all that. That has now gone, unlikely to return, but it has left a bit of a gap at a strange time. Everything is changing, but we don’t know what too.

I have done a bit of work in the game and identity is the one area I have found to be so important at every club or organisation I have worked in. Identity is a key element that other area are built.

What we are suffering from now is a removal of that identity and the double bubble of a board that is not giving us a new identity in any real sense, just a smart news article that is now months old. A lot of comparisons are made to other clubs about boards and communication, but the real work is done by creating an identity, even if they don’t speak that often, you can see what clubs are doing behind the scenes. I have watched Birmingham twice this season on TV and you can see what they are trying to do, really pushing the atmosphere. But I don’t know what or who Sheff Utd are at the moment. What is our identity? Right now it seems (on social media) as if we ‘have a nice old traditional ground’, great – but then what?

When you don’t have an identity, you then go into default mode of ‘why does this happen to us’, I felt that at Wembley a little bit and once again I sat on a coach facing a long way back with that same gutting feeling. When the club don’t really communicate, then you make your own ideas up about what is happening and that does not generally go well, we have a tendency to be negative.

But, last week, my daughter and I sat in our new season ticket seats on the back of the Kop, like I have done on and off for the last forty years. I haven’t had an ST for the last few years since my older daughter passed away on the same day we beat West Brom to get promoted, coming back was a really big deal for me. But the guys I were sat around were brilliant, all introduced each other, we had a good laugh and some great chats. After the game, low and behold, we bumped into most of them in the pub and everyone bought us a drink and it was brilliant – whether anyone will remember next week I don’t know !!

But it really struck me, THAT is what we are all about, a bunch of strangers having a laugh, putting the world to rights and having a few lemonades after - not what is happening in a board room. Nobody can define who or what we are apart from us.

The club have created an odd negative, if not sterile, vibe and we have reacted to that by reacting negatively. I got the feeling that when RND was booed/cheered on his substitution, that was less of a pop at RND and more of a ‘thank god somebody sees what we are seeing’ and ‘thank god somebody is recognising what we are doing isn’t working’, that’s how I saw and felt it anyway – I might be wrong. The current situation has split the fan base a bit and both sides can be wrong or right, we just don’t know. We are Schrodinger’s Football Club at the moment, we have not got a clue what is happening inside. (That is the best analogy you will get in any fans forum by the way)

One thing I can’t help but think watching Wednesday’s capitulation at the moment is all the protests, all the talk of boycotts and staying out of games etc etc etc, but it is all pointless, it will make zero difference, owners and boards are stubborn bastards to say the least. We are consumers and customers.

But what does it mean to be a Blade ? Generally, for me, it’s the average bloke and woman off the street, come rain or shine, have a few before the game, talking to anyone in a Blades shirt, sat in the Cricks putting the world to rights, man or woman, young or old. Supporting United is traumatic sometimes, ‘yeah it’s only football’, but it’s not is it? It’s a way of life.

I look at the squad and the performances over the last two games, I look at the comments on Twitter, our fans joining in with the normal drivel that opposition fans post (call me an old man, but I will never ever ever ever ever understand why so many people go on random clubs feeds just to mock and jeer, its like standing outside a random strangers house and abusing them everytime they come out – hopefully someone can explain that to me?). But there were a few young kids in the squad in Blades shirts, players making debuts, put into a situation not of their own making. Surely, we need to fully support these guys and fully get behind them. Any anger needs to be towards the board and the situation they have put us in (even then, knowing it would make little difference), but surely not to the young kids and debutants that are just trying to do as well as they can under ridiculous circumstances.

Can we be the fan base that supports the players no matter what, even if the club is all over the place?

Can we let RS know that there is definitely a positive to acting on behalf of fans and telling them what they need to know? Get the fans behind you and you are on a winner with them, no matter what.

Or am I way off the mark, an old dreamer from the past, stuck in traditions long gone, blind to the new way of quick fast money, mass investing and instant mix success from a packet from Asda?

I don’t really know what the answer is, but I felt it would make a good discussion point and I would love to hear what people think the club is now, what is the identity and what is the fans place within it?

Very good read, sorry to hear about your daughter. I lost my dad the day before we played Preston first game last season and I only went to the Lane twice, once was Wednesday and cried when we won so I know how poignant it will have been even with the result.

I think whatever state of the club whatever division people will come and support because it’s the way of life amongst most. I do have a slight feeling that our recent success, in comparison to seasons prior, has led to a slight arrogance and delusion of who we really are and I hope that doesn’t bog us down in the short term as we overcome this evidently bumpy road we are going down but I think we’ll come through the other side stronger I really do

Win lose or draw we’ll still come back for more

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Our identity what we have grafted to put together since 2016 (Wilder-Hecky-Wilder) has for all intents and puposes has been thrown under a bus,by the lack of any leadership at the top.

 

[I should coco]

It is the first time I have started a thread, so bare with me. I have commented on a few posts of late and a few of you have asked for me to contribute more, so here I go, feet first into the bear pit with clappers and a rubber blanket.

All football clubs have ups and downs, it is the very nature of football, the weekly drama that we love to hate and hate to love. What the Blades have gone through over the last five years or so is a bit of resurgence of pride and identity, a manager who ‘told it as it was’, proud Sheffielder, talked about shops on the moor in interviews and all that. That has now gone, unlikely to return, but it has left a bit of a gap at a strange time. Everything is changing, but we don’t know what too.

I have done a bit of work in the game and identity is the one area I have found to be so important at every club or organisation I have worked in. Identity is a key element that other area are built.

What we are suffering from now is a removal of that identity and the double bubble of a board that is not giving us a new identity in any real sense, just a smart news article that is now months old. A lot of comparisons are made to other clubs about boards and communication, but the real work is done by creating an identity, even if they don’t speak that often, you can see what clubs are doing behind the scenes. I have watched Birmingham twice this season on TV and you can see what they are trying to do, really pushing the atmosphere. But I don’t know what or who Sheff Utd are at the moment. What is our identity? Right now it seems (on social media) as if we ‘have a nice old traditional ground’, great – but then what?

When you don’t have an identity, you then go into default mode of ‘why does this happen to us’, I felt that at Wembley a little bit and once again I sat on a coach facing a long way back with that same gutting feeling. When the club don’t really communicate, then you make your own ideas up about what is happening and that does not generally go well, we have a tendency to be negative.

But, last week, my daughter and I sat in our new season ticket seats on the back of the Kop, like I have done on and off for the last forty years. I haven’t had an ST for the last few years since my older daughter passed away on the same day we beat West Brom to get promoted, coming back was a really big deal for me. But the guys I were sat around were brilliant, all introduced each other, we had a good laugh and some great chats. After the game, low and behold, we bumped into most of them in the pub and everyone bought us a drink and it was brilliant – whether anyone will remember next week I don’t know !!

But it really struck me, THAT is what we are all about, a bunch of strangers having a laugh, putting the world to rights and having a few lemonades after - not what is happening in a board room. Nobody can define who or what we are apart from us.

The club have created an odd negative, if not sterile, vibe and we have reacted to that by reacting negatively. I got the feeling that when RND was booed/cheered on his substitution, that was less of a pop at RND and more of a ‘thank god somebody sees what we are seeing’ and ‘thank god somebody is recognising what we are doing isn’t working’, that’s how I saw and felt it anyway – I might be wrong. The current situation has split the fan base a bit and both sides can be wrong or right, we just don’t know. We are Schrodinger’s Football Club at the moment, we have not got a clue what is happening inside. (That is the best analogy you will get in any fans forum by the way)

One thing I can’t help but think watching Wednesday’s capitulation at the moment is all the protests, all the talk of boycotts and staying out of games etc etc etc, but it is all pointless, it will make zero difference, owners and boards are stubborn bastards to say the least. We are consumers and customers.

But what does it mean to be a Blade ? Generally, for me, it’s the average bloke and woman off the street, come rain or shine, have a few before the game, talking to anyone in a Blades shirt, sat in the Cricks putting the world to rights, man or woman, young or old. Supporting United is traumatic sometimes, ‘yeah it’s only football’, but it’s not is it? It’s a way of life.

I look at the squad and the performances over the last two games, I look at the comments on Twitter, our fans joining in with the normal drivel that opposition fans post (call me an old man, but I will never ever ever ever ever understand why so many people go on random clubs feeds just to mock and jeer, its like standing outside a random strangers house and abusing them everytime they come out – hopefully someone can explain that to me?). But there were a few young kids in the squad in Blades shirts, players making debuts, put into a situation not of their own making. Surely, we need to fully support these guys and fully get behind them. Any anger needs to be towards the board and the situation they have put us in (even then, knowing it would make little difference), but surely not to the young kids and debutants that are just trying to do as well as they can under ridiculous circumstances.

Can we be the fan base that supports the players no matter what, even if the club is all over the place?

Can we let RS know that there is definitely a positive to acting on behalf of fans and telling them what they need to know? Get the fans behind you and you are on a winner with them, no matter what.

Or am I way off the mark, an old dreamer from the past, stuck in traditions long gone, blind to the new way of quick fast money, mass investing and instant mix success from a packet from Asda?

I don’t really know what the answer is, but I felt it would make a good discussion point and I would love to hear what people think the club is now, what is the identity and what is the fans place within it?

You aren't way off mark.
You are an old Blade, just wanting a bit of a laugh with some half decent footie. It really isn't too much to ask.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Our identity what we have grafted to put together since 2016 (Wilder-Hecky-Wilder) has for all intents and puposes has been thrown under a bus,by the lack of any leadership at the top.

A lack of leadership is being unwilling to make decisions and letting things drift as they’ve always done in the past.

These new owners have made loads of decisions so are obviously leaders but suspect they have been surprised and caught short how difficult it is to buy players at the right price.

Also the change in manager decision isn’t working yet but it’s early days. I remember Wilder losing his 1st 4 matches then storming up the league, so I’m hang fire and won’t judge the manager until we’ve played 10 matches.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

For me, this is one of the best goals to show if someone wanted to know what peak Tuftyball was all about.

Your main striker dropping very deep, your right back crossing, for your centre back to nod it in (I know bash did not touch it)


What an identity that was

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

For me, this is one of the best goals to show if someone wanted to know what peak Tuftyball was all about.

Your main striker dropping very deep, your right back crossing, for your centre back to nod it in (I know bash did not touch it)


What an identity that was



View attachment 219484

Should obviously also point out that this identity was forged off the back of three successful seasons, and i dare say not many people would have expected this after Chris wilders second defeat of his first season.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

It is the first time I have started a thread, so bare with me. I have commented on a few posts of late and a few of you have asked for me to contribute more, so here I go, feet first into the bear pit with clappers and a rubber blanket.

All football clubs have ups and downs, it is the very nature of football, the weekly drama that we love to hate and hate to love. What the Blades have gone through over the last five years or so is a bit of resurgence of pride and identity, a manager who ‘told it as it was’, proud Sheffielder, talked about shops on the moor in interviews and all that. That has now gone, unlikely to return, but it has left a bit of a gap at a strange time. Everything is changing, but we don’t know what too.

I have done a bit of work in the game and identity is the one area I have found to be so important at every club or organisation I have worked in. Identity is a key element that other area are built.

What we are suffering from now is a removal of that identity and the double bubble of a board that is not giving us a new identity in any real sense, just a smart news article that is now months old. A lot of comparisons are made to other clubs about boards and communication, but the real work is done by creating an identity, even if they don’t speak that often, you can see what clubs are doing behind the scenes. I have watched Birmingham twice this season on TV and you can see what they are trying to do, really pushing the atmosphere. But I don’t know what or who Sheff Utd are at the moment. What is our identity? Right now it seems (on social media) as if we ‘have a nice old traditional ground’, great – but then what?

When you don’t have an identity, you then go into default mode of ‘why does this happen to us’, I felt that at Wembley a little bit and once again I sat on a coach facing a long way back with that same gutting feeling. When the club don’t really communicate, then you make your own ideas up about what is happening and that does not generally go well, we have a tendency to be negative.

But, last week, my daughter and I sat in our new season ticket seats on the back of the Kop, like I have done on and off for the last forty years. I haven’t had an ST for the last few years since my older daughter passed away on the same day we beat West Brom to get promoted, coming back was a really big deal for me. But the guys I were sat around were brilliant, all introduced each other, we had a good laugh and some great chats. After the game, low and behold, we bumped into most of them in the pub and everyone bought us a drink and it was brilliant – whether anyone will remember next week I don’t know !!

But it really struck me, THAT is what we are all about, a bunch of strangers having a laugh, putting the world to rights and having a few lemonades after - not what is happening in a board room. Nobody can define who or what we are apart from us.

The club have created an odd negative, if not sterile, vibe and we have reacted to that by reacting negatively. I got the feeling that when RND was booed/cheered on his substitution, that was less of a pop at RND and more of a ‘thank god somebody sees what we are seeing’ and ‘thank god somebody is recognising what we are doing isn’t working’, that’s how I saw and felt it anyway – I might be wrong. The current situation has split the fan base a bit and both sides can be wrong or right, we just don’t know. We are Schrodinger’s Football Club at the moment, we have not got a clue what is happening inside. (That is the best analogy you will get in any fans forum by the way)

One thing I can’t help but think watching Wednesday’s capitulation at the moment is all the protests, all the talk of boycotts and staying out of games etc etc etc, but it is all pointless, it will make zero difference, owners and boards are stubborn bastards to say the least. We are consumers and customers.

But what does it mean to be a Blade ? Generally, for me, it’s the average bloke and woman off the street, come rain or shine, have a few before the game, talking to anyone in a Blades shirt, sat in the Cricks putting the world to rights, man or woman, young or old. Supporting United is traumatic sometimes, ‘yeah it’s only football’, but it’s not is it? It’s a way of life.

I look at the squad and the performances over the last two games, I look at the comments on Twitter, our fans joining in with the normal drivel that opposition fans post (call me an old man, but I will never ever ever ever ever understand why so many people go on random clubs feeds just to mock and jeer, its like standing outside a random strangers house and abusing them everytime they come out – hopefully someone can explain that to me?). But there were a few young kids in the squad in Blades shirts, players making debuts, put into a situation not of their own making. Surely, we need to fully support these guys and fully get behind them. Any anger needs to be towards the board and the situation they have put us in (even then, knowing it would make little difference), but surely not to the young kids and debutants that are just trying to do as well as they can under ridiculous circumstances.

Can we be the fan base that supports the players no matter what, even if the club is all over the place?

Can we let RS know that there is definitely a positive to acting on behalf of fans and telling them what they need to know? Get the fans behind you and you are on a winner with them, no matter what.

Or am I way off the mark, an old dreamer from the past, stuck in traditions long gone, blind to the new way of quick fast money, mass investing and instant mix success from a packet from Asda?

I don’t really know what the answer is, but I felt it would make a good discussion point and I would love to hear what people think the club is now, what is the identity and what is the fans place within it?

The perceived identity of the club for a long time will be "comedically bad spenders of money" - however credit to COHs sterling attempt at rectifying that reputation this Summer by simply spending next to nothing. We'll also be known as a set of fans that won't be taken for a ride and can be guaranteed to walk out en masse once their team is 3-0 down. We showed it in 23/24 and we'll show it again this season too. Some might view that as a negative trait but I think it shows that we aren't the kind of mugs that lap up any old drivel served up to us.

 

[Chimpan-A]

For me, this is one of the best goals to show if someone wanted to know what peak Tuftyball was all about.

Your main striker dropping very deep, your right back crossing, for your centre back to nod it in (I know bash did not touch it)


What an identity that was



View attachment 219484

The only thing I would say to that is that we hardly saw anything approaching that from Tufty last season. I was very much in the “cheer up, we are winning, what more do you want” camp last season, but it wasn’t very inspiring to watch at times.
I still think it was time for a change, it felt very stale by the end of the season, and I hoped RS would be a breath of fresh air. After 3 games I am trying to remain positive but it’s difficult after watching it all!
But then again I am 57 but prove on an almost daily basis I know nothing about football. For example, I proudly proclaimed One was ready to replace Moore, yet he has appeared unable to control, shoot or pass the football … bad example, I could be describing either of them.

 

[Nick Jansky]

We'll also be known as a set of fans that won't be taken for a ride and can be guaranteed to walk out en masse once their team is 3-0 down. We showed it in 23/24 and we'll show it again this season too. Some might view that as a negative trait but I think it shows that we aren't the kind of mugs that lap up any old drivel served up to us.

I think it shows a lack of spine, but we all perceive things differently.

 

[Balham]

I think it shows a lack of spine, but we all perceive things differently.

Other than Sunderland in 2003/04 and 2005/06 I'm not sure any team has been as abject in two close seasons in the top flight as us. Even the poor Norwich sides of 2019/20 and 2021/22 managed 5 wins per season. In particular, that sequence in January/February/March 2024 when we conceded 21 goals in 4 home matches seems to have broken our supporters' belief.

The other issue is that there's a level of entitlement which means there's no patience for anyone trying to change the way we play. It happened with Jokanovic who was hamstrung by the inability of the club to sign wingers and it's happening to Sellés, who's hamstrung by the club's inability to sign anyone.

 

[Champagneblade]

Maybe problem we have, like every set of fans, is that we want the best of everything.

For a few years we had it. Under Wilder v1.0, we had our own unique style, we played sexy scoring football, had a good defence and were it not for some Chinese bats, we’d have been in Europe.

Last season, he managed to install a winning football, attaining more wins that 21 other clubs.

But now we wanted sexy, expansive football, because winning football working without your limitations was boring for some. Unfortunately we are now finding out that attempts at sexy football also invariably involve higher risks and if your defence isn’t rock solid, it involved getting punished more regularly. It’s the classic you can’t have your cake and eat it scenario.

It boils down to what you want your team to provide. You want entertainment on a match by match basis and finish 10th or you want often ugly football in pursuit of results.

 

[BladeByChoice]

Lack of identity on the pitch is the biggest issue that will destroy our chances of making any quality signings this window.

If we go back to CWAK joining the club we could say with 100% certainty that Sheffield United played 3-5-2 with overlapping centre backs.

That took us from 6 years in League 1 to 9th in the Premier League before it was sussed out and teams learned how to defend against it.

Look at us now, put yourself in the position of a DOF (AI program), owners say get us a striker for 10m, DOF askes the manager, what type of striker do you need.

Goal mouth poacher
Receives crosses from wingers
Runs at defenders from midfield
Wants balls into channels to run on to
Traditional target man

I don’t think Rubens can currently answer any of those questions so can’t possibly describe the kind of players he needs.

In my opinion, we need to play a formation that suits Rubens style of management and that the current core of the team can play, and fill in with good solid journey men (ring any bells), until we have our formation A and formation B (changing games with subs) sorted as well as the tactics for each formation.

Then (JTW) start bringing in quality players who can be identified and hit the ground running, who want to play for the club and not just do the least amount of effort to collect a wage packet.

That would give us as a club an identity we could get behind, and it would give me just what I want as a Blade, going to every match with the knowledge that we can win and if we don’t win, going home from every match knowing every player gave it 100%.

And that isn’t division specific. In fact I’d rather spend the next 10 years with a couple of promotions, a couple of religions and a couple of cup runs, playing exciting football and being entertained, than be a PL non entity like Brighton or Bournemouth.

 

[Champagneblade]

Lack of identity on the pitch is the biggest issue that will destroy our chances of making any quality signings this window.

If we go back to CWAK joining the club we could say with 100% certainty that Sheffield United played 3-5-2 with overlapping centre backs.

That took us from 6 years in League 1 to 9th in the Premier League before it was sussed out and teams learned how to defend against it.
.

Agree with majority of that you say. This part I always struggle with. I don’t think there was one team that sussed us out. We pretty much maximised the attainable results before the pandemic hit.

The difference was O’Connell got injured in a freak accident and the system came undone because we didn’t have an O’Connell mark two to bring in.

 

[Balham]

Maybe problem we have, like every set of fans, is that we want the best of everything.

For a few years we had it. Under Wilder v1.0, we had our own unique style, we played sexy scoring football, had a good defence and were it not for some Chinese bats, we’d have been in Europe.

Last season, he managed to install a winning football, attaining more wins that 21 other clubs.

But now we wanted sexy, expansive football, because winning football working without your limitations was boring for some. Unfortunately we are now finding out that attempts at sexy football also invariably involve higher risks and if your defence isn’t rock solid, it involved getting punished more regularly. It’s the classic you can’t have your cake and eat it scenario.

It boils down to what you want your team to provide. You want entertainment on a match by match basis and finish 10th or you want often ugly football in pursuit of results.

The expectation in changing management is that we would get entertaining football which would lead to promotion and a hope of staying up. Wilder's efficiency was waning; we were 2nd over the first half of the season (to the end of Boxing Day; level with Leeds and a point ahead of Burnley); 3rd in the third quarter (5pts behind Leeds & 1 behind Coventry) and then 7th over the final quarter - one when we had a real chance of automatic promotion.

First half of the season:


3rd quarter:


Final quarter:


We then contrived to lose to Sunderland who were 17th in the form table of the final 12 games.


No amount of misty-eyed revisionism can gloss over that.

 

[ChipDayFriday]

Re identity, I was a bit shocked by the state of Stoke matchday experience that last two visits we've had to their stadium. When we won their last season, I wondered how a club that was in the PL not so long ago could fall to this level, given the ownership has remained the same (Coates family). I do fear we're heading for that scenario, if we're not already there.

 

[BladeByChoice]

Agree with majority of that you say. This part I always struggle with. I don’t think there was one team that sussed us out. We pretty much maximised the attainable results before the pandemic hit.

The difference was O’Connell got injured in a freak accident and the system came undone because we didn’t have an O’Connell mark two to bring in.

I will keep forgetting about covid that season, in fact I honestly believe, with the way the fans were behind the team that season, we would have beaten Arsenal and gone on to a cup final.

It was the disaster of a season after that where I think we were sussed out.

Agree with JOC and mirrored with Harry Souttar, same mistakes over and over again.

 

[Champagneblade]

The expectation in changing management is that we would get entertaining football which would lead to promotion and a hope of staying up. Wilder's efficiency was waning; we were 2nd over the first half of the season (to the end of Boxing Day; level with Leeds and a point ahead of Burnley); 3rd in the third quarter (5pts behind Leeds & 1 behind Coventry) and then 7th over the final quarter - one when we had a real chance of automatic promotion.

First half of the season:
View attachment 219509

3rd quarter:
View attachment 219511

Final quarter:
View attachment 219512

We then contrived to lose to Sunderland who were 17th in the form table of the final 12 games.
View attachment 219513

No amount of misty-eyed revisionism can gloss over that.

That’s easily explainable though isn’t it?

First half we had Arblaster and Souttar.

Second half we didn’t.

Had he got both for the full season, every chance we would have gone up.

 

[Balham]

That’s easily explainable though isn’t it?

First half we had Arblaster and Souttar.

Second half we didn’t.

Had he got both for the full season, every chance we would have gone up.

That’s wrong Champers, sorry. Neither of those two players was available for the third quarter of the season so their absence doesn’t explain the drop off in the final 12 games.

 

[dexter101]

For me, this is one of the best goals to show if someone wanted to know what peak Tuftyball was all about.

Your main striker dropping very deep, your right back crossing, for your centre back to nod it in (I know bash did not touch it)


What an identity that was



View attachment 219484

What's interesting about this though is I don't think its that different to last season... However it looks sped up!

Turgid football doesn't come from the tactics but the speed at which its implemented.

That team knew each other so well and look at when Deano had the ball. you could see 3 or 4 arms up, giving him direction.

Feels like our current squad are used to operating at half speed and now Selles is trying to get them to do everything in fast forward and they don't have the speed of thought to do that.

 

[TJB.]

Identity-wise, on the pitch it has to be every player giving 100% no matter what. If we see that level of effort and still come up short against the opposition then fair enough - that's football. Half-heartedness, laziness, poor decisions and heads dropping doesn't go down well with the Bramall Lane faithful.

In the stands, it's pretty much as the OP says. The only caveat I'd add is that we generally tend to be a reactive bunch rather than proactive when it comes to backing the lads - we need to see that aforementioned effort in order to reciprocate with our voices. The SB89 movement and the introduction of safe standing might change that a little but that remains to be seen.

 

[KMC-1889]

Re identity, I was a bit shocked by the state of Stoke matchday experience that last two visits we've had to their stadium. When we won their last season, I wondered how a club that was in the PL not so long ago could fall to this level, given the ownership has remained the same (Coates family). I do fear we're heading for that scenario, if we're not already there.

I think the opposite. The Coates have got into their current predicament by listening to fans, spending big on signings and wages and appointing club legends/badge thumpers in key positions.

If anything they’re probably the example our owners are looking at as a template of what not to do.

 

[Champagneblade]

That’s wrong Champers, sorry. Neither of those two players was available for the third quarter of the season so their absence doesn’t explain the drop off in the final 12 games.

But the second half of the season was worse than the first. Their absence can be attributed to that.

As to the drop from 3rd quarter to 4th, you are introducing more variables as opposition can vary. That’s not the same when you compare first half to second half. The drop off in the final games could have been pressure, overplaying some players who weren’t good enough and their faults coming to the fore, it could be a number of things catching up with them. It could simply be the teams we played at that time, maybe they were more resilient , maybe more in form? Maybe the pressure of going top impacted leaser players than Souttar and Arblaster?

Whereas comparing half season to half season, you are at least removing the variable of opposition given the sample is the same, more or less.

I’m assuming your conclusion is that Wilder’s influence is waning. It could just be that group ran out of steam and that he’d improve it in the summer. For instance it was suggested Darling and Dunne would be with us now. I’d be far happier if they defence had those to call on than Bindon and, checks notes, nobody!

This team currently seems lost and rudderless and to a degree so does the club. I didn’t personally feel that under Wilder. I didn’t agree with all he did. But it felt in hand, that he had a plan in the main.