Deane and Fjortoft

[United Aren't Back.]

Great player Selly Oak.
Great player.

 

[TONY_TONY_AGANA]

I was brushing my teeth at the time....still can't believe it happened.

 

[TONY_TONY_AGANA]

"Meanwhile Tomas Brolin has signed for Crystal Palace until the end of the season.
The Swedish International returns to England after an unhappy spell with Leeds United, when he only made 19 first team starts.
He is still not match fit but hopes to be back in shape inside a month"

I think Palace are still waiting

 

[Cheets]

Need to set some facts straight in here. We were not "well placed" for automatic promotion had we not sold the two - we could have made a push for it but the way some are talking in here all we would have had to do is keep the two and stroll into the PL.

On Nov 4th we were second, two points behind Forest, with two games in hand.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/04-november-1997/

By 16th Jan we had dropped to 5th, 8 behind Forest, 5 behind Boro, with no games in hand at all.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/16-january-1998/

The rot has already set in, exacerbated by losing Whitehouse at Port Vale, with a run of W4, D6, L3 in the 13 games in between.

Clearly the sale didn't help (we didn't manage to win back to back league games for the rest of the season) but we were far from romping away with the league. The cup run papered over a LOT of cracks.

Look at that; Man City one place below Crewe in the bottom half of the table.

 

[wizadry]

I was brushing my teeth at the time....still can't believe it happened.

How come mate? Was you not known for brushing your teeth in them days?

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Need to set some facts straight in here. We were not "well placed" for automatic promotion had we not sold the two - we could have made a push for it but the way some are talking in here all we would have had to do is keep the two and stroll into the PL.

On Nov 4th we were second, two points behind Forest, with two games in hand.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/04-november-1997/

By 16th Jan we had dropped to 5th, 8 behind Forest, 5 behind Boro, with no games in hand at all.

https://www.11v11.com/league-tables/league-division-1/16-january-1998/

The rot has already set in, exacerbated by losing Whitehouse at Port Vale, with a run of W4, D6, L3 in the 13 games in between.

Clearly the sale didn't help (we didn't manage to win back to back league games for the rest of the season) but we were far from romping away with the league. The cup run papered over a LOT of cracks.

All of that maybe true, but one thing is certain, you don't improve things by selling two of your best players.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

Definitely did.
The infamous 2 4 home defeat at the hands of WBA, was a clear indication to me that promotion was not coming. Wilder in midfield, Traianos Dellas at the back.

That was bloody awful, with Kelly making an uncharacteristic balls-up by trying to take it round the WBA player. Totally fell apart in the 2nd half. I’d completely forgotten Wilder had played in that game. With Hamilton involved too that must have been some midfield...

 

[grafikhaus]

I think a problem was that Taylor had benefited playing alongside either of the two – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his production suffered afterwards, defences focused on him more and he didn’t have ability on the same level as them.

Often the case when you've got a effective strike duo - sell one and the other isn't nearly as effective. I don't think Agbonlahor at Villa has ever recovered from Ashley Young being old. Ditto Tony Agana when Deano went. Talking of which...

We sold Agana in the week prior to a Sheffield derby, so the timing of our sales has usually been shite as well.

 

[AnotherBlade]

All this followed by the weeks of "we've bid £3m for Hamilton Ricard" bollocks.

Strange how we bid 3 and Boro got him for £2m. Current board get some stick but they are nothing like the shit we used to have.

Don't sell Brooks ffs. He's got the potential to be amazing. Let's see it for us for a bit. I don't care about the money, we could never afford what he could be and I want to see something I'll remember in 30 years!

Then to Rub it in Boro eventually got Deane in to play up front with Ricard!

 

[Blade for Sale]

We sold Agana in the week prior to a Sheffield derby, so the timing of our sales has usually been shite as well.

Alternatively, we won said Sheffield derby for one of the most memorable wins in my lifetime, and got £750k for a striker who was clearly well past his best, and indeed never came close to justifying that price. We had Notts County's pants down big time on that deal, I think it was Warnock in charge as well. We also know he suffers from Striker Blindness at times....

 

[Darthblade]

I can't remember if it was the game after Deane/Fjortoft left or after Spackman walked, but Garth Crooks tried doing a TV interview in the Cricketers before one of the Saturday afternoon games (talking to a bunch of lads at a table, anyone on here by any chance?).

I have quite fond memories of that afternoon, he got his interview and it was shown on TV, but it took him an age, and he left with a scowl on his face (thanks to the piss-taking, pissed up punters). A recurring theme was him asking for quiet, met with the suggestion he got a round in for the lads

Indeed ...... I was one of the lads at the table and was appropriately scathing of the wa***rs who were in charge of the Club and who were unable to run a piss-up in a brewery .....

As I recall ...... Garth was suitably sad to see the way that the Club was being run .....

UTB & FTP

 

[unitedbhoy]

It's like the haunted house in Amityville Horror, everything starts off really pleasantly; the house is a fair price, the garden is well kept, the views are lovely, but whichever family lives there, someone eventually starts seeing flies in the attic, smoke in the basement, has windows slamming shut and ends up slaughtering his family.

Whoever are the incumbents of the Sheffield United boardroom enter as a relatively competent, clear thinking business men and eventually end up making the same mistakes as previous role holders, as if succumbing to some unseen malevolent force. It happened before MM, and has happen since and will happen again, and again, and again. You start the season with Deane/Fjortoft, you end it with Taylor/Marcello, you start the season with good Beattie you end it with bad Beattie, you start the season with Evans you end the season with Will 'if i was a horse, they'd have shot me' Hoskins. Until BDTBL is demolished, the ground drug up and whatever evil thing that lurks in the hallowed turf is released or at least captured, bottled up and taken to S6, we are fated to make the same mistakes.

For every SUFC foul up or mistep in my life I can remember exactly where I was, who I was with and how I was feeling (except our relegation in 2011, which I no recollection of). Admittedly, for the majority of them I was physically there to witness it. But like others on here, I clearly remember clearly where I was when we sold Deane/Fjortoft.

People talk about our football under Wilder, but for those not old enough to remember or those old enough to have forgotten, the way we dismantled Sunderland in the 1st game of the 97/98 season was a thing of beauty. They'd just been relegated from the prem and had kept basically their starting 11 and we'd undergone the heartbreak of losing to palace in the play-offs. The sun was shining, it was Vas Borbokis' debut and his impact can only be described as magical, it was if some otherworldly thing had appeared at S2. But in typical 'why are the f'ing fates always conspiring against this club' kind of way, we ended up paying them over two legs in the play-offs. We're falling out of form, they're firing on all cylinders and there's only on outcome and in typical Blades way, the following season we sold Saunders, the then leading goalscorer to Benfica without even telling the manager.

*Edit: Another thing that I seem to remember is Taylor scoring a worldy volley against Forest that season at home.

Fantastic post !! Oh to be a Blade..!! Wouldn't swap it for the world would we?!

 

[TONY_TONY_AGANA]

How come mate? Was you not known for brushing your teeth in them days?

I hated brushing my teeth, but luckily it didn't seem to have a detrimental effect.

 

[The Crab]

"Meanwhile Tomas Brolin has signed for Crystal Palace until the end of the season.
The Swedish International returns to England after an unhappy spell with Leeds United, when he only made 19 first team starts.
He is still not match fit but hopes to be back in shape inside a month"

I think Palace are still waiting

He's in shape. Round is a shape.