Why not signing anyone doesn't matter and we should not care

[Cyprus Blade]

Option 2 if it's a poll, although our lass can't find out who the people are I'm bedding

I'd give you another like for this if I could - gave me a smile.

 

[blades78]

5 seasons to get it right and win promotion? WTF has happened here then. We're going round in circles while the board play hide & seek. These Transfer Windows are like the kid in the sweet shop window. We're just spectators to other clubs vying to bring in better players than before. We just stagnate from one window to another hoping our current squad of players find a magic formula.

Let's not kid ourselves here, the board have no ambition to make this work and gain promotion. Cloughie's exit proved that point as did Danny Wilson's departure. McCabe's view on player wages must be in line with the minimum wage. That's probably the main reason decent adequate players move to other less attractive clubs.

It hasn't always been about having of no ambition, particularly when the Prince etc became involved. I think its more likely that they had no idea or experience of what they were doing and put too much faith in the Brannigan, Clough etc to do a good job.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I see that path too, but since the summer of 2012 our transfer policy has, by and large, been run by morons.

McCabe has given up/has no money and heaven knows about the other guy. Meanwhile the managers dealings are at best uneven.

I would not retain a single out of contract player. Not one. Have a clean sweep. But there'll no doubt be the usual renewals for the likes of Flynn and we'll be back to square one.

McCabe has learnt nothing from his errors.

Our performance in the January window tells me that a clean sweep is the plan.

McC may have learnt from his errors?

Perhaps Coco's CV is right and he's sat the board down and given them direction, I hope so.

 

[carthesis]

I've just been chatting with one of the (sensible, not-at-all big-headed and tolerable) Pigs fans at work, and he and I agree on this fact:

When the larger, more historic clubs find themselves in the lower reaches of the league, it is disproportionately more difficult for them to obtain players. A player that might be £200k to - say - Burton or Walsall might end up being £350k to a Sheffield United, or a Wednesday, or a Nottingham Forest, or a Dirty Dirty Leeds. Why? Because they know we have (comparatively) big gates, more resources, and thus can afford to spend more. This is a situation made even worse when it is common knowledge that we made £2 million from the various Cup runs over the past few seasons, plus the best part of £3.5 million from the sales of Murphy and Maguire et al.

God only know how much Chessy quoted us for Morsy - the above effect was probably amplified by us being a local rival as much as a league rival. Wigan may have gotten him fo £200k, but there will no doubt have been performance and promotion clauses in there too, and with Wigan still getting parachute money they were probably in a better position to simply agree.

 

[Revolution]

Our performance in the January window tells me that a clean sweep is the plan.

McC may have learnt from his errors?

Perhaps Coco's CV is right and he's sat the board down and given them direction, I hope so.

As ever with United, seeing is believing.

 

[lazyfecklessblade]

'Keep in touch until January, and we'll see some activity, I have funds available to me'. January has passed with us in touching distance.

It isn't the lack of business that is frustrating - god knows we don't need another Michael O'Halloran, but the fact that someone high in the chain of command in the club isn't throwing straight dice.

 

[DiggerBlade]

It hasn't always been about having of no ambition, particularly when the Prince etc became involved. I think its more likely that they had no idea or experience of what they were doing and put too much faith in the Brannigan, Clough etc to do a good job.

It`s been the same decade after decade with our special one of a kind board as long as I remember.

Jones & Birchenall the first I can remember.
Brierley`s delaying tactics in building the John st stand.
The Samantha Hashimi affair.
The Woolhouse saga involving Interpol.
The Charles Green/Mike McDonald fiasco. ( Bid in for Gazza on teletext ) ( The Oliver Tebily fee )
The sale of Deane & Fyortoft on the same day. ( Spackman`s resignation )
Carlos Columbotti quick arrival & departure.
McCabe`s reluctance to ensure premier league survival.
McCabe`s annual speech`s about going for promotion (edition`s 1-2-3-4 & 5 )
McCabe`s excuses for letting our better players go.
McCabe`s spin on why bringing players in is very difficult ( but not for other clubs apparently )

I`m sure there are lots and lots of other little going`s on at boardroom level that we`re not aware of but one thing you can be sure of is that the Board at Bramall Lane are well versed at fobbing off its fantastic supporters.

 

[Fozzy_Blade]

I Agree! We've been in this league plenty of years now another season wont hurt. we are no where near good enough for championship football (Apart from the Ground/Fans) also manager that's in his first year of the club, give it time. It will all come good.

P.s. Imagine if Wigan don't get promoted now XD

UTB!

 

[SB_90]

i agree as i felt yesterday that summer window is more important, because its easier to start again get rid of a few Howard Harris Coutts Collins McEveley & bring in new faces from academy. i think were better off buying the best talent from below us league 1, league 2, conf. ive heard good things about tom parkes from bristol rovers young solid in conf team of the year last season

but i am disapointed we still havent got a CB in because this something we needed last january

 

[blades78]

I Agree! We've been in this league plenty of years now another season wont hurt. we are no where near good enough for championship football (Apart from the Ground/Fans) also manager that's in his first year of the club, give it time. It will all come good.

P.s. Imagine if Wigan don't get promoted now XD

UTB!

Imagine if we got promoted!

 

[coaxingstar71]

I think the OP is an accurate assumption. We might not like it, but I never thought we'd sign anyone in this window and I thought we'd try to offload - which we have. It would have been nice if the club could have made a couple of good signings to give us some hope of success this season. The reality is we'll probably struggle to finish top six and even if we do, I don't think the squad is strong enough mentally to get through the play offs.

I just wish the board members would be honest with the supporters - if they had no intention of spending the 'Murphy Money' then tell us, if it got spent on something else, tell us where it went. Might be as well not going on Twitter spouting bollox and realise that most fans either have the intelligence to work out what's going on and in the absence of any information, will make up something and believe it to be the truth. In the 70's it was common knowledge that Salmons was sold and the money went to pay off loan interest - nothing wrong with that, the club must be solvent first and foremost.

I wonder about those of you who seem really upset - what are you going to do about it? If the answer is to come on the forum with your 'board conspiracy theories' then it's getting a bit boring. If you don't like it, make a protest or don't go.

All the ones saying the board should go - who's going to replace them at the moment? I don't see any billionaire sheikhs, oil magnates or oligarchs scrambling to buy the club. We should be careful what we wish for or perhaps one or two of you think you could do better so maybe put your money where your mouth is?

Roll on the summer and in the meantime I'm going to the games and will continue to support the team, win, lose or draw.

 

[bornablade]

Imagine if we got promoted!

If we got promoted this season it would be an absolute disaster. Silent and Darren would be giving us info on what was the earliest in a season a club was ever relegated. Put us in the Championship next season and it would make the start of the 1990/91 season look like us going for a European place.

The players we currently have are that poor.

I'm totally not fussed about the lack of incoming activity in this JTW. It would have been 'a papering over the cracks exercise'.

I want to see some honesty and transparency being transferred into the club. I want Adkins, Phipps, McCabe and the Prince to stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes because they are shit scared of next season's season ticket sales. Just tell us how it is. Bloody hell we've waited over 90 years since we last won something. So patience is part of our DNA. Just cut the bull.

Let's start with the above named sharing with us an (honest) image of where they see us being in five years time. But rather than just a 'we'll be in Europe' type statement we need to see a step by step plan of how we'll get there.

I personally believe, with our seemingly current financial set up and the monies Premier League teams will get next season, we'll never reach the Premier League. In addition if those over in S6 do go up this year then the battle for new younger fans will become even more difficult.

 

[blades78]

If we got promoted this season it would be an absolute disaster. Silent and Darren would be giving us info on what was the earliest in a season a club was ever relegated. Put us in the Championship next season and it would make the start of the 1990/91 season look like us going for a European place.

The players we currently have are that poor.

I'm totally not fussed about the lack of incoming activity in this JTW. It would have been 'a papering over the cracks exercise'.

I want to see some honesty and transparency being transferred into the club. I want Adkins, Phipps, McCabe and the Prince to stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes because they are shit scared of next season's season ticket sales. Just tell us how it is. Bloody hell we've waited over 90 years since we last won something. So patience is part of our DNA. Just cut the bull.

Let's start with the above named sharing with us an (honest) image of where they see us being in five years time. But rather than just a 'we'll be in Europe' type statement we need to see a step by step plan of how we'll get there.

I personally believe, with our seemingly current financial set up and the monies Premier League teams will get next season, we'll never reach the Premier League. In addition if those over in S6 do go up this year then the battle for new younger fans will become even more difficult.

I agree with most of your points, but you contradict yourself slightly. On one hand you say it would be a disaster to get promoted and on the other you're worried about losing the next generation of fans to the piglets, if we don't.

Surely if you did go up, we would maintain our support and it may create a spark in the boardroom to get our sh*t together. We d also have a pretty small squad with all the out of contract players and loans finished, giving us the a better chance of building a squad to survive.
Furthermore, Jim Phipps has always maintained that we could gain much more sponsorship in the championship as well as the increased finances from the new TV deal. Maybe a promotion would attract a new investor?

All is not lost. At the minute it looks a mess but results have picked up recently and we do have quality in the squad. You never know....

 

[bornablade]

I agree with most of your points, but you contradict yourself slightly. On one hand you say it would be a disaster to get promoted and on the other you're worried about losing the next generation of fans to the piglets, if we don't.

Surely if you did go up, we would maintain our support and it may create a spark in the boardroom to get our sh*t together. We d also have a pretty small squad with all the out of contract players and loans finished, giving us the a better chance of building a squad to survive.
Furthermore, Jim Phipps has always maintained that we could gain much more sponsorship in the championship as well as the increased finances from the new TV deal. Maybe a promotion would attract a new investor?

All is not lost. At the minute it looks a mess but results have picked up recently and we do have quality in the squad. You never know....

Apologies for not making myself clear. I feel that if we gain promotion this season (2015/16) then we will be relegated in 2016/17. I would rather 'write off' this campaign and start putting together a strategy, on and off the pitch, for the future that will sustain longer term success. More importantly I want the board and management to come clean to us. We know where we stand then.

 

[madeinsheffield]

I could have accepted it if they'd have said there's a very slim chance we could stregthen in JTW. But they have led us down a road of hope and expectation, that's why it hurts. Kick on from January, six figure offers, admiring named players, all bollocks it would seem.

The Board shouldn't have let NC & MB keep signing injured or injury prone players swelling the squad, their part of this problem and taking the easy route of blaming individuals who are no longer here is poor form.

So what now? Is there a hope the players will play without care as they know they'll be out in the summer, you could fit the ones I'd keep in one car!

 

[robbiez666]

If we got promoted this season it would be an absolute disaster. Silent and Darren would be giving us info on what was the earliest in a season a club was ever relegated. Put us in the Championship next season and it would make the start of the 1990/91 season look like us going for a European place.

The players we currently have are that poor.

I'm totally not fussed about the lack of incoming activity in this JTW. It would have been 'a papering over the cracks exercise'.

I want to see some honesty and transparency being transferred into the club. I want Adkins, Phipps, McCabe and the Prince to stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes because they are shit scared of next season's season ticket sales. Just tell us how it is. Bloody hell we've waited over 90 years since we last won something. So patience is part of our DNA. Just cut the bull.

Let's start with the above named sharing with us an (honest) image of where they see us being in five years time. But rather than just a 'we'll be in Europe' type statement we need to see a step by step plan of how we'll get there.

I personally believe, with our seemingly current financial set up and the monies Premier League teams will get next season, we'll never reach the Premier League. In addition if those over in S6 do go up this year then the battle for new younger fans will become even more difficult.

Considering the amount of players we need to bring in, and the ones we'll be left with, I think promotion would work for us. 'As long as there was money to spend', I think we could possibly just about manage to stay up.

The best way to do it would be to put together a side which goes up top of the league from League 1 with 10 or so players in the squad who can compete at a higher level. This could take years to build though and the decent players at the club will likely have done one.

 

[wizadry]

Anybody writing this season off when we are a couple of points outside the playoffs really baffles me.

We might not be great but we are still in a good position to attack the playoffs, why would we not want that as fans? Who's saying next season will be any different to this?

The board have set a shocking mentality into a proportion of our fanbase which really worries me, well not me personally but my 10 year old son who is going to grow up listening to Blades fans saying we don't want to go up this season, our team isn't good enough, he will never hear that from me, it sounds pretty weak and pathetic.

This board have not let Adkins bring anyone in, why that is could be any ones guess but the fact of the matter is, when we could've done with a couple of additions in January we have chosen not to get them in.

Now, in this league a lot of players seem to need time to come to terms with the division, Murphy springs straight to mind, so why when this can be the case could we not get some good additions now so that when next season starts, whatever league that may be in, they will then be ready to take the league by storm in a squad they are comfortable with?

This then leads me on to another point I'd like to make, which is leading upto the summer will Adkins and his scouting network be scouting players for this league or if by any chance we got promotion that would then mean we need players scouting for the Championship? It's a conundrum that the board and club as a whole have now made it very difficult to know because we were in a position to stick or twist this January and we seemingly stuck. It would be a huge task to plan for both scenarios when we don't seem to be able to plan for one.

I will finish by saying we all want the best for our kids and in this case that means supporting a successful team in relative terms to our stature. This seems light years away and the club itself, with how it's going about things are going to make it hard for youngsters of the future to support the once mighty Blades. You always need flesh blood and money from the top of the game will make this even harder to achieve over the up and coming years in terms of both players and supporters.

 

[I should coco]

McCabe`s reluctance to ensure premier league survival.

IIRC Warnock spunked the cash on a second rate foreign centre half who never played, a decent Egyptian lad who didn't want to be here, an up and coming English centre half with no PL experience and a motorbike centre forward with no ball skills.

We supposedly bid £6m for Nugent but PNE played a waiting game and didn't need to sell.

He then played unbelievably negative football particularly Bolton away, Villa away and Wigan at home.

We were unlucky in the event with the CheatinAmmers but I put more blame at Warnock's door than McCabe's.

ISC

 

[blade too long]

It`s been the same decade after decade with our special one of a kind board as long as I remember.

Jones & Birchenall the first I can remember.
Brierley`s delaying tactics in building the John st stand.
The Samantha Hashimi affair.
The Woolhouse saga involving Interpol.
The Charles Green/Mike McDonald fiasco. ( Bid in for Gazza on teletext ) ( The Oliver Tebily fee )
The sale of Deane & Fyortoft on the same day. ( Spackman`s resignation )
Carlos Columbotti quick arrival & departure.
McCabe`s reluctance to ensure premier league survival.
McCabe`s annual speech`s about going for promotion (edition`s 1-2-3-4 & 5 )
McCabe`s excuses for letting our better players go.
McCabe`s spin on why bringing players in is very difficult ( but not for other clubs apparently )

I`m sure there are lots and lots of other little going`s on at boardroom level that we`re not aware of but one thing you can be sure of is that the Board at Bramall Lane are well versed at fobbing off its fantastic supporters.

its all well and good saying we are mistreated
but many more
portsmouth
been more under hand deals and sub plots there than anywhere
Burnley ,
chairmen making dubious deals , got to within a point of conference football
donny
chairman setting fire to his own ground
71 clubs been in admin, weve never been close

people should stop making out we are much worse than every other clubs
thats bollocks , most clubs get lied to

Wednesday shit on their note holders get lied to as a matter of course
1 hour from being wound up
chairman strafford was going to give them away for 5m to US speculators
bolton , he latest in a long line

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

its all well and good saying we are mistreated
but many more
portsmouth
been more under hand deals and sub plots there than anywhere
Burnley ,
chairmen making dubious deals , got to within a point of conference football
donny
chairman setting fire to his own ground
71 clubs been in admin, weve never been close

people should stop making out we are much worse than every other clubs
thats bollocks , most clubs get lied to

Wednesday shit on their note holders get lied to as a matter of course
1 hour from being wound up
chairman strafford was going to give them away for 5m to US speculators
bolton , he latest in a long line

Glad you've reminded me how grateful I should be.

 

[DiggerBlade]

its all well and good saying we are mistreated
but many more
portsmouth
been more under hand deals and sub plots there than anywhere
Burnley ,
chairmen making dubious deals , got to within a point of conference football
donny
chairman setting fire to his own ground
71 clubs been in admin, weve never been close

people should stop making out we are much worse than every other clubs
thats bollocks , most clubs get lied to

Wednesday shit on their note holders get lied to as a matter of course
1 hour from being wound up
chairman strafford was going to give them away for 5m to US speculators
bolton , he latest in a long line

Not really concerned about the antics of other clubs although I would feel bad for the true supporters of those clubs but it's the board at Sheffield United and the board of Christmas's past that is my gripe. Have those clubs above done the dirty every decade without a break?

Our board and in particular McCabe likes to think of himself as a football chairman with experience in the game yet across at the Swillery their chairman who openly stated he knew nothing about the game is showing him what owning a club is about. Quite embarrassing I would think but McCabe and the fake prince won't bother about that.