Is there anyone who did not want Adkins

[DSB-91]

Eddie Howe springs to mind.

Though generally I think people who are "positive and full of energy" are twats, I'll give him a chance.

Haha, yeah, not sure how that attiitude will go down with our fan base. As long as we win I think it will be tolerated.

 

[bladesadviser]

Can I say I am not over excited by Adkins. To be honest I don't who I would want!! I think I am a bit weary of the whole process and just feel if he gets off to a bad start there will be plenty around (and dare I say on here) who will be calling for his head and the whole sorry saga will start again

Sorry to be a bit down on the situation!!!

 

[Silent Blade]

As I recall opinion was pretty unanimous that Weir was a good appointment

Trying to remember my thoughts to the previous managers at the time were appointed as our new manager

Dec 1973 - Furphy. I was too young to take notice of managers outside the top division. At my school I received a letter from my dad who said he thought it would be a good appointment (I think he was worried about me being upset that Harris was no longer in charge of the team)

Oct 1975. Never considered Sirrel as one of the candidates to be our new manager. I was going home by train for the October school holidays when I found out the news and I was puzzled that he said he was going to serve a month's notice at Notts County before coming over to us. My dad explained the meaning of "months notice" when I got home. He was more enthuisatic about Sirrel than I was because he had "done well" at Notts County. On the next day we played at home to Stoke (we lost 2-0) which was shown on MOTD and Sirrel was interviewed by the MOTD presenter from his Nottingham home. A few days later it was decided that it was best for both Notts County and the Blades that Sirrel should take charge at BDTBL immediately. It was a strange arrangement!

Jan 1978 - Not long after Sirrel was sacked we asked Luton for permission to speak to Haslam but "Happy Harry" preferred to stay at Luton. It was a surprise to me that a few months later he had changed his mind and wanted to manage us after all. I did think Haslam would be a good appointment because he did well at Luton who are a small club with low attendances

Jan 1981 - I did think Peters would be a good appointment! I think my dad wasnt keen on him as he had seen over the years that great players dont necessarily become good managers! I was wrong!

Summer 1981 - Porterfield. After our relegation to the 4th I had already decided that I would stop watching the Blades!

April 1986 - McEwan. My dad had heard that McEwan is strong on discipline and would eventually become a "top manager" so I was ok with that!

Jan 1988 - Wasnt keen on Bassett because I thought his style was anti- football! Grew to love him later in the year!

Dec 1995. Kendall. Was very surprised that we got a high profile manager but was worried about press reports of his drinking problem

Summer 1997. Spackman. After our win against Sunderland in the first game, I was one of the many who said "make him a permanent manager!"

Summer 1998. Bruce. I thought he would bring in quality players

Summer 1999. Heath. I remembered he was a good player coach for us in January 1996 and was happy with that

Dec 1999. Warnock, I was keen on him a few years earlier but thought less of him when he went to Oldham and Bury

Summer 2007. Robson. Nooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was dismayed at the appointment but on the eve of the season one or two who works at SUFC told me they are very confident about us going up!

 

[cooperblade]

I'm a little less excited than most appear to be with this appointment.

Just a couple of small, nagging concerns.

1) His career is on a bit of a downward path at the moment - it's either a blip or the start of a trend, hopefully the former.

2) He's all about a positive attitude and togetherness which is either great as it's exactly what we need or it's likely to be really short-lived as we, as a club, don't do positivity. In fact, we sneer at it and are generally pretty 'Sheffield' about such strange attitudes.

3) (Ignore his massive success at Scunthorpe and Southampton for the purposes of this bit) Is he just ever so slightly Blackwell-esque? Ex-keeper, obsessed with courses/badges and learning from other sports/clubs. That's probably a bit harsh - sorry Nige.

I think that if we start well, he'll be a roaring success but if we start badly, he'll soon start to grate on large sections of our fanbase and all this excitement will be forgotten. A 3 year deal will look pretty expensive at that point.

Anyway, miserable bastard moment over. I'll be 100% behind him from day 1 and wish him all the luck and success in the world.

 

[Darren]

I'm a little less excited than most appear to be with this appointment.

Just a couple of small, nagging concerns.

1) His career is on a bit of a downward path at the moment - it's either a blip or the start of a trend, hopefully the former.

2) He's all about a positive attitude and togetherness which is either great as it's exactly what we need or it's likely to be really short-lived as we, as a club, don't do positivity. In fact, we sneer at it and are generally pretty 'Sheffield' about such strange attitudes.

3) (Ignore his massive success at Scunthorpe and Southampton for the purposes of this bit) Is he just ever so slightly Blackwell-esque? Ex-keeper, obsessed with courses/badges and learning from other sports/clubs. That's probably a bit harsh - sorry Nige.

I think that if we start well, he'll be a roaring success but if we start badly, he'll soon start to grate on large sections of our fanbase and all this excitement will be forgotten. A 3 year deal will look pretty expensive at that point.

Anyway, miserable bastard moment over. I'll be 100% behind him from day 1 and wish him all the luck and success in the world.

Thing is, if his career were not on a downward path, we would have had no chance of getting him?

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Nigel or Nigel. I would vote for Nigel

You won't remember Nigel the First so third time lucky!

 

[cooperblade]

Thing is, if his career were not on a downward path, we would have had no chance of getting him?

That's correct. We could, I believe, have secured a manager whose career was on an upward path though in Karl Robinson. No way at all of proving whether that belief was correct and he might have been a much worse choice.

There'd have been plenty of arguments as to why Robinson might not be the right person if we'd got him. For example, if Adkins might be a bit of a dick, Robinson definitely is one.

All gut feel, all very subjective, all very different to my opinion in previous seasons but Robinson was my number one choice this time round (or number two choice behind Clough).

 

[Darren]

That's correct. We could, I believe, have secured a manager whose career was on an upward path though in Karl Robinson. No way at all of proving whether that belief was correct and he might have been a much worse choice.

There'd have been plenty of arguments as to why Robinson might not be the right person if we'd got him. For example, if Adkins might be a bit of a dick, Robinson definitely is one.

All gut feel, all very subjective, all very different to my opinion in previous seasons but Robinson was my number one choice this time round (or number two choice behind Clough).

Fair enough. I doubt Robinson would have come. We probably would to have offered him far more then we could afford to tempt him away from second tier MKD.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

I'm a little less excited than most appear to be with this appointment.

Just a couple of small, nagging concerns.

1) His career is on a bit of a downward path at the moment - it's either a blip or the start of a trend, hopefully the former.

2) He's all about a positive attitude and togetherness which is either great as it's exactly what we need or it's likely to be really short-lived as we, as a club, don't do positivity. In fact, we sneer at it and are generally pretty 'Sheffield' about such strange attitudes.

3) (Ignore his massive success at Scunthorpe and Southampton for the purposes of this bit) Is he just ever so slightly Blackwell-esque? Ex-keeper, obsessed with courses/badges and learning from other sports/clubs. That's probably a bit harsh - sorry Nige.

I think that if we start well, he'll be a roaring success but if we start badly, he'll soon start to grate on large sections of our fanbase and all this excitement will be forgotten. A 3 year deal will look pretty expensive at that point.

Anyway, miserable bastard moment over. I'll be 100% behind him from day 1 and wish him all the luck and success in the world.

I agree to some extent;

1) I was worried about him being out of Football and seemingly in no rush to get back into management.

The Ambassadorial work he seems to have been doing was another worry as I want a manager totally devoted to the Blades.

2) I actually like a positive attitude in a manager if that lends a positive approach on the pitch. Having heard him now - he is very positive!

3) Why ignore? Those successes are on his CV as are his coaching badges. I'm sure his experience will add much more than the badges will.

If he gets us promoted and into the Premiership eventually he can be Glen Hoddle and David Icke's love child for all I care!

 

[itsinyerblood]

I'm a little less excited than most appear to be with this appointment.

Just a couple of small, nagging concerns.

1) His career is on a bit of a downward path at the moment - it's either a blip or the start of a trend, hopefully the former.

2) He's all about a positive attitude and togetherness which is either great as it's exactly what we need or it's likely to be really short-lived as we, as a club, don't do positivity. In fact, we sneer at it and are generally pretty 'Sheffield' about such strange attitudes.

3) (Ignore his massive success at Scunthorpe and Southampton for the purposes of this bit) Is he just ever so slightly Blackwell-esque? Ex-keeper, obsessed with courses/badges and learning from other sports/clubs. That's probably a bit harsh - sorry Nige.

I think that if we start well, he'll be a roaring success but if we start badly, he'll soon start to grate on large sections of our fanbase and all this excitement will be forgotten. A 3 year deal will look pretty expensive at that point.

Anyway, miserable bastard moment over. I'll be 100% behind him from day 1 and wish him all the luck and success in the world.

cooperblade, I think I understand your reservations. Apart from yesterday's party atmosphere, it's all to be proved. All new managers enter the arena with the same positive words, the same buzz-words, describing a blueprint for success with the proviso that we'll face hard times etc. I noticed that amongst Adkins' flow of positive rhetoric (and that's not intended as a knock) he did manage to slip in that we must all stick together even in the bad times, so he's telling us that there will be moments when times get rough but that we'll come through it if we sing from the same hymn sheet. Seems obvious and predictable to me, and I hope we'll look back on next season with optimism and the knowledge that Adkins has delivered on the promise of promotion.

Even as a supporter of Clough, I think it says volumes for the club's new co-owner that a decision was taken that was decisive and that the outcome was to appoint a manager who appears to have received almost universal agreement amongst the supporters. I'm looking forward to this coming season, and the first 10 games will tell all of us what to expect.

 

[cooperblade]

I noticed that amongst Adkins' flow of positive rhetoric (and that's not intended as a knock) he did manage to slip in that we must all stick together even in the bad times, so he's telling us that there will be moments when times get rough but that we'll come through it if we sing from the same hymn sheet.

And I'd love nothing more than for Blades fans to do that - to stick together, to keep the faith no matter what and to be truly United behind a manager. The worry is we couldn't do it under Warnock, we couldn't do it under Clough and there were even a few dissenting voices under Clough.

Have we ever had a manager as universally loved from start to finish as Adkins seems to have been at Southampton? Maybe John Harris but that's before my time. Now maybe Adkins is so good he'll be that man. Or maybe Southampton, in recent times, is just a much more positive, accepting, softer, more optimistic place and football club than Sheffield and Sheffield United?

I'm often proud of our fans for the numbers they turn out in and the noise they create. I just find the negativity, defeatist attitude and willingness to turn our own hard to take sometimes. Fingers crossed that Adkins can be the man to start to change that but if anyone can destroy his bulletproof positivity, it's us!

 

[itsinyerblood]

And I'd love nothing more than for Blades fans to do that - to stick together, to keep the faith no matter what and to be truly United behind a manager. The worry is we couldn't do it under Warnock, we couldn't do it under Clough and there were even a few dissenting voices under Clough.

Have we ever had a manager as universally loved from start to finish as Adkins seems to have been at Southampton? Maybe John Harris but that's before my time. Now maybe Adkins is so good he'll be that man. Or maybe Southampton, in recent times, is just a much more positive, accepting, softer, more optimistic place and football club than Sheffield and Sheffield United?

I'm often proud of our fans for the numbers they turn out in and the noise they create. I just find the negativity, defeatist attitude and willingness to turn our own hard to take sometimes. Fingers crossed that Adkins can be the man to start to change that but if anyone can destroy his bulletproof positivity, it's us![/user]

Adkins needs to create a fuck-off aspirin of a football club, where we realise that we're not cursed (silly gypsy-like mentality), that we're able to play good football and win more games than we lose, and maintain that feeling that most of us experienced yesterday.

 

[bladesadviser]

Cooper blade you have hit the nail on the head for me. I really hope we come out of the blocks and have the cracking start I expected us to have last year but I just fear the shoutbox on a cold Saturday in November when we have just lost 1-0 at Crewe. I suspect I would have felt the same about any manager coming in

 

[BushBlade]

Eddie Howe springs to mind.

Though generally I think people who are "positive and full of energy" are twats, I'll give him a chance.

Yes, I've worked with/for a few of those. Not just twats but often twunts.

 

[Silent Blade]

Have we ever had a manager as universally loved from start to finish as Adkins seems to have been at Southampton? Maybe John Harris but that's before my time.

There were some Blades fans during the 1960s criticising Harris for keeping his faith on the youth policy rather than go into the transfer market.Attendances were poor in the mid 1960s. There were a lot of angry letters to the Green Un in the last month of the 1969-70 season. Many said he should have played John Tudor more often

 

[blade too long]

as always the proof is in the pudding , if we start next season and havent won in 3 he,ll be fair game for the name here out brigade

by game 5 theyll be wanting him sacked
big club best funding been in the prem for 5 minutes etc etc

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

As I recall opinion was pretty unanimous that Weir was a good appointment

Weir was the best thing that had happened to the club for ages, then the alarm clock went off the next day and he went to work.

 

[cooperblade]

there were even a few dissenting voices under Clough.

That should've been Bassett obviously - feel obliged to issue a correction given I'd moaned about mistakes on grafikhaus post.

 

[Jehovah]

He has openly said the aim is promotion (as expected) I am pleased with his appointment without being carried away as we have not won a game with him in charge yet. My fear for him is he will not smash the reporters face for no apparent reason when we lose, this will piss many blades off.