The_Green_Man
Slave to the NHS.
Sorry about the imaginative, long winded title 
I don't know how many of us managed to watch a bit of Soccer AM on Saturday morning, in fact I don't know if that many watch it these days but anyway.
Theo Pathitis of Dragons Den made an appearance on the couch at the weekend. I would imagine almost everybody will be familiar with his links to football but on the off chance that anybody doesn't know, he owned Millwall for a while as well as holding various roles within The Football League committee.
Anyway he actually came across really well when discussing modern day football as a whole and as they went on to discuss sacking managers he made a very valid point and the reason I am placing this on this section of the forum is that I feel it is pretty relevant to Sheffield United Football Club, both in recent years as well as in the immediate future should results not go our way.
In a nutshell Theo basically rightly said that the fans play a huge part in managers leaving a club and I think our fans can be held accountable for this as well. You only have to look at our last gaffer Mr Clough as a prime example of this really and I am as guilty as the next man in hindsight.
Mr Clough in all farness wasn't terrible on paper. He got us to a couple of cup semi finals and he had us knocking around in the play-offs but these days we expect a great deal more. As fans our expectancies these have shifted, what with the added pressures of playing in a league that we don't want to be in and feel that we don't belong in, coupled with the fact that our neighbours are in the league above us. We aren't a happy bunch are we and lets be fair, we won't be happy until we achieve promotion and the casualties along the way sometimes appear irrelevant due to the frustration.
You only have to look at the constant movement with the finger of blame as well as a prime example of the above. There is a constant shift between blaming the board and then the management depending on the stage of the season or circumstances. During a transfer window or towards the end of a window we always have a tendency to wave the finger of blame towards the boardroom for a failure to support the manager financially, however as soon as we hit a rocky patch and the results stop flowing we promptly wave the finger of blame towards the guy in the hot seat again.
Again going back to Mr Clough. In the second half of the season we became frustrated with how things appeared to be panning out, I too am guilty of this. As this stagnant patch went on this elevated more and more and game by game more calls rang out for the manager to leave the club as promotion appeared to drift away into the distance. The truth of the matter is that on paper we were there or there about and in touching distance but as the results weren't exactly convincing on a weekly basis, we felt the need to oust the manager and bring somebody else in to rescue the mission. The board went on to back Clough into the play-offs and we flopped in the end all be it very close and as a result the board had no other option but to act as social media went crackers with shouts for the manager to leave the club.
The whole social media thing doesn't help what so ever either in my humble opinion. Allowing the fans an easily obtainable direct channel to vent at the board can surely only hinder more than it helps the situation? After all, a few dozen numpties (who probably don't even go to watch the team) shouting Clough out at Jim 10 seconds after every full time whistle and every day after hardly represents the voice of the whole fan base does it however this is all that the board see .
We are now heading rapidly towards a very similar situation with Nigel Adkins despite the circumstances being a little different. Week by week frustrations are growing and rightly so based on the performances that we are seeing on the pitch however I really think that we need to take a step back and have a good look at the bigger picture before piling it on and making a rash decision.
I personally think it is hot in the kitchen however fuelling the stove is only going to make it a great deal warmer. I think we need to sit back and ride out this bumpy spell until the next window and give the chance a decent shot at putting it right because if the truth be said, Adkins is still very much quite early into his United career. He has proven credentials of getting it right in the end.
A good xmas spell and a couple of decent signings in January could well put it all back on track. Of course we could panic and be rash and oust the manager AGAIN however what guarantees does this bring us? One thing is for certain, we are extremely unlikely to replace him with anyone with a track record that even comes half as close on paper.
Theo was very much correct. The Millwall fans twisted his arm when it came to booting managers out of the door and likewise for Sheffield United Fans. Current times are indeed shit and it is highly frustrating however we need to bite the bullet and ride the storm out for once because it is evident that previous rash decisions haven't solved the situation. I also strongly believe that we are approaching an extremely important crossroads in our immediate future as well as being a nearly team for so long simply isn't good enough.
UTB!
I don't know how many of us managed to watch a bit of Soccer AM on Saturday morning, in fact I don't know if that many watch it these days but anyway.
Theo Pathitis of Dragons Den made an appearance on the couch at the weekend. I would imagine almost everybody will be familiar with his links to football but on the off chance that anybody doesn't know, he owned Millwall for a while as well as holding various roles within The Football League committee.
Anyway he actually came across really well when discussing modern day football as a whole and as they went on to discuss sacking managers he made a very valid point and the reason I am placing this on this section of the forum is that I feel it is pretty relevant to Sheffield United Football Club, both in recent years as well as in the immediate future should results not go our way.
In a nutshell Theo basically rightly said that the fans play a huge part in managers leaving a club and I think our fans can be held accountable for this as well. You only have to look at our last gaffer Mr Clough as a prime example of this really and I am as guilty as the next man in hindsight.
Mr Clough in all farness wasn't terrible on paper. He got us to a couple of cup semi finals and he had us knocking around in the play-offs but these days we expect a great deal more. As fans our expectancies these have shifted, what with the added pressures of playing in a league that we don't want to be in and feel that we don't belong in, coupled with the fact that our neighbours are in the league above us. We aren't a happy bunch are we and lets be fair, we won't be happy until we achieve promotion and the casualties along the way sometimes appear irrelevant due to the frustration.
You only have to look at the constant movement with the finger of blame as well as a prime example of the above. There is a constant shift between blaming the board and then the management depending on the stage of the season or circumstances. During a transfer window or towards the end of a window we always have a tendency to wave the finger of blame towards the boardroom for a failure to support the manager financially, however as soon as we hit a rocky patch and the results stop flowing we promptly wave the finger of blame towards the guy in the hot seat again.
Again going back to Mr Clough. In the second half of the season we became frustrated with how things appeared to be panning out, I too am guilty of this. As this stagnant patch went on this elevated more and more and game by game more calls rang out for the manager to leave the club as promotion appeared to drift away into the distance. The truth of the matter is that on paper we were there or there about and in touching distance but as the results weren't exactly convincing on a weekly basis, we felt the need to oust the manager and bring somebody else in to rescue the mission. The board went on to back Clough into the play-offs and we flopped in the end all be it very close and as a result the board had no other option but to act as social media went crackers with shouts for the manager to leave the club.
The whole social media thing doesn't help what so ever either in my humble opinion. Allowing the fans an easily obtainable direct channel to vent at the board can surely only hinder more than it helps the situation? After all, a few dozen numpties (who probably don't even go to watch the team) shouting Clough out at Jim 10 seconds after every full time whistle and every day after hardly represents the voice of the whole fan base does it however this is all that the board see .
We are now heading rapidly towards a very similar situation with Nigel Adkins despite the circumstances being a little different. Week by week frustrations are growing and rightly so based on the performances that we are seeing on the pitch however I really think that we need to take a step back and have a good look at the bigger picture before piling it on and making a rash decision.
I personally think it is hot in the kitchen however fuelling the stove is only going to make it a great deal warmer. I think we need to sit back and ride out this bumpy spell until the next window and give the chance a decent shot at putting it right because if the truth be said, Adkins is still very much quite early into his United career. He has proven credentials of getting it right in the end.
A good xmas spell and a couple of decent signings in January could well put it all back on track. Of course we could panic and be rash and oust the manager AGAIN however what guarantees does this bring us? One thing is for certain, we are extremely unlikely to replace him with anyone with a track record that even comes half as close on paper.
Theo was very much correct. The Millwall fans twisted his arm when it came to booting managers out of the door and likewise for Sheffield United Fans. Current times are indeed shit and it is highly frustrating however we need to bite the bullet and ride the storm out for once because it is evident that previous rash decisions haven't solved the situation. I also strongly believe that we are approaching an extremely important crossroads in our immediate future as well as being a nearly team for so long simply isn't good enough.
UTB!
