Adkins Interview Ahead of Notts County

[William Henry Foulkes]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034fccx

Buchan/Adkins - great interviewer/great interviewee

• Flynn - groin injury
• Edgar - hamstring - I said to WHF Jr Sr a couple of games ago I thought he'd done his hamstring - he might have been playing not fully fit (a judgement call from the player and the staff) hopefully this accounts for poor form
• no timescale given on the above two
• Wallace J, Flo, the Beard all play for the u21s at SPS tomorrow pm
• Done will be given 45' as well
• talks about Brayford and Coutts as experienced players - seems to respect Coutts's experience and, by implication, ability
• Port Vale first 20' very good - I agree, thought so at the time - and it looks very good on Blades Player
• then they scored and goals change games - obvious but it's true - goals are often even more than just what appears on the score sheet
• 19 shots 30 crosses - so we are very attack minded - but in the end it's the goals that matter
• Q: Are we physically or mentally frail? A: We need to be strong on both
• praise for supporters - the support for the team was often good on Satdi - the crowd did try to lift the players
• we are too inconsistent
• need to do the basics well - to an elite level
• believes we will be promoted - says so twice
• transfers - sounds like he wants to recruit permanently - this is consistent
• loans - covered elsewhere
• need to basics well - this cropped up again
• enjoying the challenge
• mentions this division, the one above, and the one above that - not the first thought on everyone's mind after Satdi when the one below and the one below that looked more likely
• we've got too many players in some ways - I think he means we've got too many players who aren't able to contribute and are a drain on resources, but that wouldn't be the best thing to say
• looking for a settled side
• mentions the game and a few changes - Long has done well in cup games and training since Gillingham - no Bash and no Edgar will make for an interesting selection

 

[Pollingtonblade]

What no "Saturday, Tuesday" and "United together" ;-)

 

[sheffielder]

Was he still disappointed to not win a game of football?

 

[Rodley]

Good interview. I rate Jonny Buchan and thought Adkins opened up a bit more then.

 

[Barney]

Same old empty words from Nigel II.

I'd love to hear the question and answer combination: "Do you think the failure to recruit in order of priority (CB's first, then CM then ST) has affected your league position so far in any way?" Answer: "Very much so. That was a mistake I made and we're paying the price now."

 

[madeinsheffield]

What about our hardworking professionals?

 

[The_Green_Man]

I think it is wonderful that Nigel is taking pointers from the fans.

 

[Rodders]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p034fccx

Buchan/Adkins - great interviewer/great interviewee

• Flynn - groin injury
• Edgar - hamstring - I said to WHF Jr Sr a couple of games ago I thought he'd done his hamstring - he might have been playing not fully fit (a judgement call from the player and the staff) hopefully this accounts for poor form
• no timescale given on the above two
• Wallace J, Flo, the Beard all play for the u21s at SPS tomorrow pm
• Done will be given 45' as well
• talks about Brayford and Coutts as experienced players - seems to respect Coutts's experience and, by implication, ability
• Port Vale first 20' very good - I agree, thought so at the time - and it looks very good on Blades Player
• then they scored and goals change games - obvious but it's true - goals are often even more than just what appears on the score sheet
• 19 shots 30 crosses - so we are very attack minded - but in the end it's the goals that matter
• Q: Are we physically or mentally frail? A: We need to be strong on both
• praise for supporters - the support for the team was often good on Satdi - the crowd did try to lift the players
• we are too inconsistent
• need to do the basics well - to an elite level
• believes we will be promoted - says so twice
• transfers - sounds like he wants to recruit permanently - this is consistent
• loans - covered elsewhere
• need to basics well - this cropped up again
• enjoying the challenge
• mentions this division, the one above, and the one above that - not the first thought on everyone's mind after Satdi when the one below and the one below that looked more likely
• we've got too many players in some ways - I think he means we've got too many players who aren't able to contribute and are a drain on resources, but that wouldn't be the best thing to say
• looking for a settled side
• mentions the game and a few changes - Long has done well in cup games and training since Gillingham - no Bash and no Edgar will make for an interesting selection

Why do you always say "WHF Jr Sr" - Isn't that ... err... you? Are you bi-polar?

 

[Barney]

Why do you always say "WHF Jr Sr" - Isn't that ... err... you? Are you bi-polar?

I was thinking that as well. Then I thought maybe he's got a lad that he's step dad to or something and WHF Jr Sr means his lads biological dad? Or the other way around. Then I realised I was over thinking it.

Spill the beans WHF.

 

[Tyler Durden]

"The crowd did try to lift the players"

Which we did, but we still had a laugh in the concorse at half time jumping around chanting "We're fucking shit" .

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Why do you always say "WHF Jr Sr" - Isn't that ... err... you? Are you bi-polar?

Number One Son: WHF Jr Sr
Number Two Son: WHF Jr Jr

 

[Rodders]

Number One Son: WHF Jr Sr
Number Two Son: WHF Jr Jr

Nah, not having it. I still think you're a mentalist

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

"The crowd did try to lift the players"

I don't recall this ever happening under Clough. (Did it?) At Swindon I thought the players lifted the crowd.

Last couple of times we've been behind the crowd have generally supported the team. Don't want to overstate it, but it's definitely been there.

 

[SwissBlade]

What about our hardworking professionals?

Honest bunch of lads...

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Nah, not having it. I still think you're a mentalist

I think bipolar is more this - a bit like if we found out Nigel 1 and Nigel 2 were the same person.

 

[Tyler Durden]

I don't recall this ever happening under Clough. (Did it?) At Swindon I thought the players lifted the crowd.

Last couple of times we've been behind the crowd have generally supported the team. Don't want to overstate it, but it's definitely been there.

We've been in fine voice away from home this season, we were bloody brilliant on Saturday considering the gutless shite we were witnessing. We've not been that bad at home either compared to last year which was dire in terms of atmosphere for partially understandable reasons.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Same old empty words from Nigel II.

I'd love to hear the question and answer combination: "Do you think the failure to recruit in order of priority (CB's first, then CM then ST) has affected your league position so far in any way?" Answer: "Very much so. That was a mistake I made and we're paying the price now."

NA doesn't do the deals though. All we know about what NA has done is ask the people above him to sign Edgar, Burn, Hammond, Woolford, Sharp and Sammon.
We have no idea if he prioritised Sharp, Sammon and Woolford or if those deals were just easier to conclude given past dealings with Adkins, Sharp and Woolford as well as Brannigan with Derby and Sammon. He might have had Burn and Hammond as the first names on the list for all we know.

 

[Worksop II]

I think Sammon was done last Season, Clough wanted him last Season

Wouldnt suprise me if we agreed to take him, then binned Clough, and we are stuck with Sammon

Maybe / probably

 

[mosbolad]

What no "Saturday, Tuesday" and "United together" ;-)

Moving forward....

 

[Barney]

NA doesn't do the deals though. All we know about what NA has done is ask the people above him to sign Edgar, Burn, Hammond, Woolford, Sharp and Sammon.
We have no idea if he prioritised Sharp, Sammon and Woolford or if those deals were just easier to conclude given past dealings with Adkins, Sharp and Woolford as well as Brannigan with Derby and Sammon. He might have had Burn and Hammond as the first names on the list for all we know.

There's no way around it. If he prioritised the CB and CM positions but then couldn't finish the deals, we should have had a plan B for those positions, not just forget about them and conclude deals for other positions.

 

[Trafford]

I'd love to hear the question and answer combination: "Do you think the failure to recruit in order of priority (CB's first, then CM then ST) has affected your league position so far in any way?" Answer: "Very much so. That was a mistake I made and we're paying the price now."

Are you saying that he shouldn't have signed anybody until he'd got a centre back in? I can just imagine your reaction if, on Transfer Day, he had said "I had a proven Championship striker lined up but couldn't sign the centre back that I was after, so had to let the opportunity pass....."

 

[Trafford]

Snap!

 

[derryblade]

Good interview. I rate Jonny Buchan and thought Adkins opened up a bit more then.

Said nothing he hasn't said in previous interviews, you could cut and paste most of it. Learn from mistakes, that's the one, nothing learned from Gillingham lets see what Rochdale brings

 

[Barney]

Are you saying that he shouldn't have signed anybody until he'd got a centre back in? I can just imagine your reaction if, on Transfer Day, he had said "I had a proven Championship striker lined up but couldn't sign the centre back that I was after, so had to let the opportunity pass....."

See my reply to 1danewhitehouse. That covers this.

 

[AlienBlade]

There's no way around it. If he prioritised the CB and CM positions but then couldn't finish the deals, we should have had a plan B for those positions, not just forget about them and conclude deals for other positions.

Clough was highly critisised for spending too long on certain targets (such as Brayford)

it's like Deja Vu only a flip on who is defending the manager and who is criticising him....

 

[davidpinder]

Honest bunch of lads...

is that the same "honest bunch of lads" that are "united" when "trying to win a game of football" ??

 

[davidpinder]

Same old empty words from Nigel II.

I'd love to hear the question and answer combination: "Do you think the failure to recruit in order of priority (CB's first, then CM then ST) has affected your league position so far in any way?" Answer: "Very much so. That was a mistake I made and we're paying the price now."

Why is it his fault the board have failed to bring the players in??

 

[Barney]

Clough was highly critisised for spending too long on certain targets (such as Brayford)

it's like Deja Vu only a flip on who is defending the manager and who is criticising him....

It's about having a plan B on the priority positions, after actually priortising the correct ones in the first place, unlike Adkins. Clough did the prioritising bit slightly better than Adkins has so far (O'Grady when we needed a striker, although he didn't look to buy any CB's when we needed those.) But again, like Clough with COG, no plan B.

 

[Barney]

Why is it his fault the board have failed to bring the players in??

Again see my replies to Alien and 1danewhitehouse. CBA to type it out a third time.

 

[Rodders]

It's about having a plan B on the priority positions, after actually priortising the correct ones in the first place, unlike Adkins. Clough did the prioritising bit slightly better than Adkins has so far (O'Grady when we needed a striker, although he didn't look to buy any CB's when we needed those. But again, like Clough with COG, no plan B.

So Adkins has had 5 minutes to assess what we've got, whereas we played with hardly any centre halves for a full season under Clough, the ones we did have he fell out with, and yet he still prioritised better?