A few home truths

[bricktop]

I'm just watching Sky Sports News, and the Liverpool saga is rumbling on with a set of foreign investors battling through the high courts to take charge of one of the biggest clubs in the country. Dundee have fallen in to administration due to an investor gambling a few bob on taking them in to the SPL, and when it didn't happen he has taken his bat and ball home leaving Dundee fans wondering if they will have a club in a few weeks time.

Others have been in to administration over recent years, had winding up orders served on them. Sides like Portsmouth, Cardiff City, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Leicester City, Coventry City, Southampton, Charlton Athletic and quite a few others i that i can't think off of the top of my head.

When i look at what is going off at other clubs, i'm still quite glad we have got Kevin McCabe in charge, if it wasn't for him we could be down the road of getting money pumped in to us by foreign investors before getting dumped in the brown stuff, and the survival of our club being at the jurisdiction of a high court judge.

Whilst people bemoan United not spending the money, people also have to realise that there is nobody at Bramall Lane with a bottomless pit of money to throw at the club. Kevin McCabe has put plenty in already, look at Bramall Lane now compared to when he took charge and it is a top quality ground worthy of Premiership Football. He misguidedly appointed Bryan Robson and backed him to hilt by throwing millions at him to take us back up. Looking back to the Premiership season, we was a gnats piss away from surviving the first season back in the top flight, and if we had stayed up that year, i have no doubts that we would still be there now, but with the same old protagonists demanding more to put in without any regards to where it will come from, and how we will pay it back. It's all too easy to sit back and criticise how other people spend their money.

A lot of our problems stem back to three people in my opinion. Neil Warnock who when he was finally given some money to spend, cocked it up and spent heavily on players who didn't really do it for us. Terry Robinson and Bryan Robson who went on the biggest spending spree in our clubs history in order to secure an immediate return to the top flight and when it went wrong then what happened?

When we was relegated and dropped back in to the Championship, overnight we couldn't compete against the Premiership clubs in the transfer market, and any half decent offer that came in for any player automatically became impossible to resist due to player power, agents holding their sway, and the vast gulf in what is affordable in wages to low calibre Premierships opposed to high end Championship Clubs. When we sold James Beattie, it was because we could just about the afford the terms he was currently on, but nowhere near what Stoke was offering him and that is why he left. When Tottenham started offering silly money for the two Kyle's, it was impossible for United not to be able to take the money on offer as we would not be able to sustainably afford what Tottenham would offer the Kyles in their contracts. That is why they was sold and there was nothing we could do about it. That is what we are up against and unless someone has a bottomless pit of money to throw about without any cast iron guarantee of a return on it, then that is the reality of it.

People them look towards the management of the football side for reason why things are not going well. Well Bryan Robson's disasterous reign set us back 10 years in terms of progress and could and would have set us back even furthur if he had been allowed to continue unchecked with what he was doing with his mismanagement. Kevin Blackwell came in and fought against the tide, although the football wasn't pretty he kept us a lot more competitive than we might have been if we had made a different appointment, a club that illiustrates this beautifully is Charlton Athletic who came down with us and dropped another division the season after despite having similar resources to us when they dropped.

Looking at the present, i think if it wasn't for Kevin McCabe then it would open season at the Lane for winding up petitions, administration, court actions, boardroom battles, transfer embargo's and don't think it won't happen to us, because i remember the like of Brearley, Hashimi, Woolhouse, Colombotti and MacDonald dragging us through the shit before making us a laughing stock and fucking off leaving us firmly in the shit. There is no logical reason for Kevin McCabe not to turn round, cut his losses and put us in to adminstration.

I also think it is time to lay off Gary Speed, the bloke is less than two months in to his managerial career, is working with a squad of players well versed in Kevin Blackwell's long ball tactics, and is working with both hands tied behind his back in the transfer market as we have nothing to throw around in the transfer market. We need to give him time for his managerial style to shine through, and for his mark to be put on the side. When he took over, without throwing millions we clearly don't have at him, it was prehaps a bit unrealistic to expect a dramatic overnight transformation of the team in to promotion challengers. This season i think mid-table will be a reasonable outcome given the circumstances. We need to give him time to bring in the style of play he wants us to play and for it to bear fruit, we need to give him time for him to bring in his own players who will make the system work, and i think it might be a bit grim at the moment but given time things will work and at the moment Sheffield United are very much a work in progress.

I don't think there is anything to be gained by constantly slating United and everything to do with it, but there is loads to be gained by being patient and showing a bit of support, lets all face up to the fact that things most certainly are not great but then again the empty vessels did always make the loudest noise.

 

[Ted Danson]

Agree with all of that and think that lots of our fans are just impatient and expect everything NOW. these fans dont seem to understand that there's a global recession on either and now is not the time to be gambling huge sums on promotion

 

[SwissBlade]

Quality post Brownie! Highlights how daft some of the demands of fans are.

Like I've said a few times recently, slate the club but offer a better solution. Whilst I agree we've made some bad decisions, generally the decisions have been correct.

Bide our time and wait for things to pick up again.

 

[lenners]

It'll be interesting to see if you still think having a £50m debt and McCabe's reign is all that if we're in League One in under a year's time.
We shall see.

 

[SheepdipBlade]

You know Brownie - at times I hardly recognise you from the "angry young man" who would slag Warnock off from kick off to full time - age must be mellowing you me owd mucker!!

Can't disagree with much of the above.
It would be great if KMcC had a bottomless wallet - but it ain't the case.
It would be great if Robson hadn't damn near wrecked our club - but it ain't the case.
It would be great if Gary Speed could change the team's approach and skills overnight - but it ain't the case.

It is a rebuilding time - and as a result performances and league positions are going to suffer in the short term. Speed needs support - not undermining - - least of all undermining from the fans forum that is supposed to be the more thoughtful.

Some on here will know I have a soft spot for Northwich Victoria (3rd Beer Festival details coming soon all being well) - and when I compare our experiences with theirs over the last 5 years we have been SO fortunate - and so much of that comes down to the differences between KMcC (who is a Blade at the end of the day) and Mike Connett who locked the Vics out of their own ground, and has left them in the financial position where they have been relegated to the Northern Premier League.

We could be a lot worse off.

 

[Kenilworth]

Good post brownie - my frustration is not the position we find ourselves in it's the negativity in our play (no matter whether it was Blackie's hoofball or Speedo's Italian Job) that leads to so few opportunities and goal mouth action and results in a very a dull spectacle.

I bet it's great being a Blackpool fan at the moment. They know it won't last but they are having one hell of a ride - and they don't appear to be breaking the bank to do it. Ian Holloway appears to have the right idea bt I am not sure we are looking to emulate it.

There are a lot of clubs with far fewer resources than the Blades have and they are making a good fist of it. We appear to be going backwards big style and we seem to be afraid of teams (Boro away as an example) so we defend and defend and commit very little forward to give the crowd anything to get excited about.

 

[SotonBlade]

It'll be interesting to see if you still think having a £50m debt and McCabe's reign is all that if we're in League One in under a year's time.
We shall see.

What would have happened, had McCabe not come along in the first place lenners??

 

[Eskimo]

Agree with all that except the bit about Warnock. He made mistakes but it was the worst thing we ever did sacking him. Where is he now and where are we?

 

[Mousey]

What would have happened, had McCabe not come along in the first place lenners??

Lenners would probably have spaffed his pants at the shit we'd have been in.

Quality post though. I agree with every bit of it.

While things aren't perfect I do have full confidence in McCabe to make the correct decisions regarding our financial security.

Ok so the football decisions have not always worked out, but then again, who hasn't made a mistake at work?

 

[Oreyt]

:croc: :croc: :croc: :croc: :croc:

Good post, worthy of 5 big ones.

 

[davidpinder]

A bit mixed if you ask me :gizmo::foxy::hug::brick:

 

[beightonblade]

Sky, money and greedy agents have fooked football up in the UK mind yer The Blades were always pisspot United before the Sky dosh !

As far as wobblegob goes i'd judge him when he's gone if i were you.

 

[boo radley]

Brownie, Dont usually read long drawn out Thread starters coz they're usually posted by one person talking about his garden, Journey or a bad sandwich. You've got to the point straight away and although i may disagree slightly on on or two things, Its great the way you said everything. TOP THREAD AND POSTING.

 

[Bramley]

Good post.

I'm hoping we'll see some signings at Christmas with pace and dynamism. Its slim pickings at the moment, although a loan or two wouldn't go amiss.

My current mood is reasonably optimistic though we need some additions. Probably be "blind faith" according to some, but I've seen a lot worse and Speed constantly impresses me - lets hope he delivers.

Predictions for Saturday?

2-0 for me. Ched one and Jordan Slew the other.

 

[Bladesway]

All very good and all very agreeable. Patience, yes. However as the one who started the shoes off campaign you can't have it both ways. Patience when you want it and throw your toys when you don't. You forget some of us have long memories. I too remember your angst against Warnock and I share/agree with most of it. Warnock actually got us relegated. Spending money on players who weren't ready for a relegation scrap and others who were absolute no marks. FFS Nade, Killa and Sheltoss really were not the players to keep us in the Premiership.

However, I still don't think most Blades would have a problem with where we are now. After all we are Sheffield United, we expect to be half in the shit even when we are not. McCabe has made statements. Ones like "Europe in 5 years" like "Academy being a conveyor belt of talent". You talk about us not having any money but we do have a nice shiny hotel and several interests around the globe. Why is it that we are all fur coat and no knickers here? It is because the very man who is better than what went before (but thats like comparing serial killers and saying one is better than the rest) has actually taken all the praise due to him, but never accepted he has royally fucked it up by getting interested in clubs and ventures he should have kept his beak out of.

Fact is, had Sheffield United not flown to close to the sun (Premiership for a season) then we wouldn't be bothered. But we did so the expectation went up. Problem is, in recent years all we are sold is lies and more lies to back up the previous lies.

During a recent house move, me and a fellow Blade stumbled across some old Flashing Blades. Interesting reading. Something about Blades Leisure Parks in Abbeydale or somesuch. Something about Revenue Streams elsewhere in the world. Some grade A Codshit that never happened.

I think what I am alluding to is by all means praise the chairman for some wonderful work and wonderful development of SUFC, but the man who nearly built is isn't currently being honest with us and hasn't been honest with us in my book. Surely that means that there is some flack due his way isn't there?

Mistakes such as : Terry Robinson. Not Sacking Warnock when we got to the Premiership. Spending millions on European ventures so we could get players in from Africa and give them EU citizenship after 2 years. The Hotel. Robson. Blackwell. He did all these things so as the man who made it happen he is responsible for it. He is a terrible picker of managers.

Your point on the Manager however is without issue from this corner. Speed needs a chance to get it right. He needs utter and total support from fans and board alike. It isn't his fault and he is playing with a cack hand. However I would like to see some change in players and some progress over this season of transition.

But lets not blow smoke up McCabes arse. He did a good job but right now it seems to be coming unpicked.

 

[lenners]

What would have happened, had McCabe not come along in the first place lenners??

Who knows. Could have spent most of it in the Prem, could have been in the third tier again or we might have spent a year in the Prem and the rest treading water like we've done anyway.
We can only judge him on his record and if he takes us to League One with a £50m debt be assured there will be one or two folk on here who will be revising the stuff they've come out with today and over recent weeks, months and years.
We shall see.

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Sky, money and greedy agents have fooked football up in the UK mind yer The Blades were always pisspot United before the Sky dosh !

As far as wobblegob goes i'd judge him when he's gone if i were you.

If he went now it would be extremely debatable - we had rock all, a bunch of debts and a stadium struggling to come up to standard when he took over. If he left now we'd have rock all, a better stadium, an academy and a load of debt.

His real test is what happens next. He tried but ultimately failed to secure long-term Premiership status when the arse fell out of his empire, Warnock took his eye off the ball and they guy he'd put in charge of the club put an incompetent in charge of the team and backed him with millions. He's tried to get back on the cheap and that's got us where we are now.

I expect little more than a repeat of the first couple of years of Warnock's reign, where we bobbed about with little more than a feint hope of the play-offs until 2002/3. A shame, given what's been spent. If we managed to conjure up relegation it would be a feat of incompetence and mismanagement on a par with the late 70s to take the best opportunity to cement a position as the city's top club since .... just before the mid 70s.

If he hangs around for another couple of years whilst the economy picks up (and the value of our assets rise) it's likely that we'll return to continually pushing for promotion as a more fashionable "footballing" team in front of 20k crowds as opposed to a hoof and hope outfit. I doubt we'll be running campaigns to name the stadium after him, but we will at least be better off than when he came.

 

[alcoblade]

What would have happened, had McCabe not come along in the first place lenners??

My bet is that we'd be where we are now, but with about £50M less debt, and none of the other assets.

I don't subscribe to the idea that he's transformed us, though to his credit he's tried. None of the alternative income streams have, up to now, given fruit. Quite the contrary, they're a drain.

McCabe has filled in the corner, given us affordable football. That is to his credit. The Hotel, Chengdu, the property portfolio - time will tell but right now it seems to me that rather than helping, they are hindering.

It's patently obvious we're well short up front, but have no facility to anything about it. 10 years(?) after McCabe came, where it matters, not a lot has changed.


UTB

 

[ghandi]

If he went now it would be extremely debatable - we had rock all, a bunch of debts and a stadium struggling to come up to standard when he took over.

I've said this before - what stadium development was McCabe responsible apart from the Westfield Upper/Bramall Lane end. I don't consider the hotel and office block as stadium development as neither of them having paying supporters watching the game from there. That said I don't see McCabe as an evil "eater of babies" nor as St Kev of SUFC , just another chairman of SUFc who did some good and some bad. Ultimately he will get all his investment back with interest unlike me who as a shareholder took up all the options when shareholdings were diluted on several occasions plus I have to pay to watch the Blades.

 

[broomhillblade]

Mistakes such as : Terry Robinson. Not Sacking Warnock when we got to the Premiership. Spending millions on European ventures so we could get players in from Africa and give them EU citizenship after 2 years. The Hotel. Robson. Blackwell. He did all these things so as the man who made it happen he is responsible for it. He is a terrible picker of managers.

[At last a sensible thread after nearly two weeks of the gospel according to Mic, Olli, Len & Co!]

There seems to be a general consensus that Bryan Robson was a disastrous appointment, but what about the appointment of Terry Robinson? I never met the guy, and we were told that he was highly regarded in the game when he arrived here (though if that was true, what was he doing at Bury?), but it made me cringe just to hear him open his mouth on the radio. Then we all know what happened in Hungary.... As far as I'm aware, he was McCabe's appointment, and his advice may have been instrumental in Robson's coming here. Perhaps the appointment of Turry was when it all started to go wrong.

 

[Ted Danson]

All very good and all very agreeable. Patience, yes. However as the one who started the shoes off campaign you can't have it both ways. Patience when you want it and throw your toys when you don't. You forget some of us have long memories. I too remember your angst against Warnock and I share/agree with most of it. Warnock actually got us relegated. Spending money on players who weren't ready for a relegation scrap and others who were absolute no marks. FFS Nade, Killa and Sheltoss really were not the players to keep us in the Premiership.

However, I still don't think most Blades would have a problem with where we are now. After all we are Sheffield United, we expect to be half in the shit even when we are not. McCabe has made statements. Ones like "Europe in 5 years" like "Academy being a conveyor belt of talent". You talk about us not having any money but we do have a nice shiny hotel and several interests around the globe. Why is it that we are all fur coat and no knickers here? It is because the very man who is better than what went before (but thats like comparing serial killers and saying one is better than the rest) has actually taken all the praise due to him, but never accepted he has royally fucked it up by getting interested in clubs and ventures he should have kept his beak out of.

Fact is, had Sheffield United not flown to close to the sun (Premiership for a season) then we wouldn't be bothered. But we did so the expectation went up. Problem is, in recent years all we are sold is lies and more lies to back up the previous lies.

During a recent house move, me and a fellow Blade stumbled across some old Flashing Blades. Interesting reading. Something about Blades Leisure Parks in Abbeydale or somesuch. Something about Revenue Streams elsewhere in the world. Some grade A Codshit that never happened.

I think what I am alluding to is by all means praise the chairman for some wonderful work and wonderful development of SUFC, but the man who nearly built is isn't currently being honest with us and hasn't been honest with us in my book. Surely that means that there is some flack due his way isn't there?

Mistakes such as : Terry Robinson. Not Sacking Warnock when we got to the Premiership. Spending millions on European ventures so we could get players in from Africa and give them EU citizenship after 2 years. The Hotel. Robson. Blackwell. He did all these things so as the man who made it happen he is responsible for it. He is a terrible picker of managers.

Your point on the Manager however is without issue from this corner. Speed needs a chance to get it right. He needs utter and total support from fans and board alike. It isn't his fault and he is playing with a cack hand. However I would like to see some change in players and some progress over this season of transition.

But lets not blow smoke up McCabes arse. He did a good job but right now it seems to be coming unpicked.

I for one would have been pissed off if he'd sacked Warnock after he got us promoted, surely he deserved a crack at the perm as he had got us there. His big mistake was sacking him when we went down. Would you give Speed the sack if he gets us to the prem? Cant see many managers wanting to come here if thats how we reward them

 

[Bergen Blade]

Patience is ok, but we must continuously keep debating what the club and team does. If we line up with three defensive/holding midfielders - who scored one goal between them last season - at home against mediocre opposition, it should be pointed out that that is a major problem. If we line up with no pace and poor width there should be criticism of the tactics. When we dish out long contracts to ageing and injury prone players there should be debates about whether that was clever or not. When we extend the manager's contract with three years for no apparant reason at a time when he is not popular and the team is not performing great, it would be embarrassing if we as football people atomatically bought into it and thought it was a good idea.

This doesn't mean we should demand that the chairman to splash more cash. Nor does it mean we should look to replace Speed. But there are things to put right, and there's no guarantee that patience (let alone blind faith, or even worse -apathy) from fans will see it happen.

 

[alcoblade]

Patience is ok, but we must continuously keep debating what the club and team does. If we line up with three defensive/holding midfielders - who scored one goal between them last season - at home against mediocre opposition, it should be pointed out that that is a major problem. If we line up with no pace and poor width there should be criticism of the tactics. When we dish out long contracts to ageing and injury prone players there should be debates about whether that was clever or not. When we extend the manager's contract with three years for no apparant reason at a time when he is not popular and the team is not performing great, it would be embarrassing if we as football people atomatically bought into it and thought it was a good idea.

This doesn't mean we should demand that the chairman to splash more cash. Nor does it mean we should look to replace Speed. But there are things to put right, and there's no guarantee that patience (let alone blind faith, or even worse -apathy) from fans will see it happen.

Don't you just hate it when the chap who has English as his second language can actually make his point far better than yourself?



UTB

 

[Micalijo]

Brownie - Good read, think you need a paragraph in about Realty and Chengdu and how bad Blackwell was but I would say that. Totally agree that Speedo should have the job for a long time.

Spot on Bergen.

The sad thing about this demise on the pitch is that relatively speaking compared with alot of our rivals in the division, and inspite of sales of very good players, the playing budget has been huge. The lack of talent, pace, mobility and athleticism in the squad is a disgrace given how much has been chucked at it.

 

[bricktop]

All very good and all very agreeable. Patience, yes. However as the one who started the shoes off campaign you can't have it both ways. Patience when you want it and throw your toys when you don't. You forget some of us have long memories. I too remember your angst against Warnock and I share/agree with most of it. Warnock actually got us relegated. Spending money on players who weren't ready for a relegation scrap and others who were absolute no marks. FFS Nade, Killa and Sheltoss really were not the players to keep us in the Premiership.

The shoes off campaign, yeah, that was my handiwork although it is now infamous, but there is a good story behind it worth telling for people if they are interested.

It's origins actually came from the promotion season. I went down to watch United at Palace and we had won 3-2, and at the time we was really motoring. A few days before i had seen something on television where some people in a faraway country all had their shoes in the air for unknown reason, we ended up in a boozer at London Bridge on the way back, all to varying levels of advanced refreshment when we got some songs going, and being one of the most ultimately refreshed i decided it would be a good idea to get a song going of "shoes off if your going up" which a few of us did, and i did it a couple of more times towards the end of that season. I then forgot about it for a while. Cue a couple of years later and Bryan Robson had taken charge and we was unperforming on a massive scale with what was undoubtedly the most expensive squad in the division, and arguably the strongest. United had struggled badly at home to a Scunthorpe side who had gone down to 10 men early on and defended stoutly and played out for a 0-0 draw whilst we looked slow and half-arsed against a team who wanted it more. After the match after hearing the shouts of 'car park protest', i popped round to see what was happening and there was a thousand, maybe two in the car park chanting for the removal of Bryan Robson. There was the predictable chants of Robson Out, and We Want Robson Out, before the chavvier Unitedites started to turn a bit and starting showing a bit of hostility towards the club and shouting if your not coming out we are going in, and there was a bit of malice in the air. I then had a brainwave, or it shut down on me depending on which way you want to look at it, and i look my shoes off (White Adidas Stan Smith's for the choosy) and started the chant "shoes off if you want him out", and it took off and most of the car park stood there shoeless in protest. Later on that night i rocked up home at about half 10, pissed and stumbled in to the front room, fired up the laptop and turned on SSN and hadn't realised that it had been all over the television. A couple of days later Sky Sports got in touch with me, after they had been looking for the person responsible for starting the protest. I'd arranged to do an interview for them on the Tuesday afternoon and i'd had a work with my gaffer at work who said i could get off early if it was quiet. True to form about 10 minutes before i was due to knock off there ended up being big problems at work, so i had to try and delay Sky and they ended up calling it off, and my 15 minutes of fame had gone.

Believe it or not, i used to be a big fan of Neil Warnock when he first took charge, he had been in charge about 4 years when i began to get a bit tired of him towards the end of the 2003/04 season that had began promisingly but had fizzled out towards the end due to some poor signings, poor selections and poor performances. The 2004/05 was much the same and that is when i started to lose patience with him. Nobody was happier when we went up that i was, and to have sacked him there and then would have been wrong and he deserved his season in the top flight after taking us up, but he was wasteful with a lot of the money he was handed, and after relegation it was in all fairness the right time for him to go, although he totally showed himself up in his memiors where he came across as a bitter and twisted individual when he moaned on about his contract he had been promised and that was all he was concerned about.

However, I still don't think most Blades would have a problem with where we are now. After all we are Sheffield United, we expect to be half in the shit even when we are not. McCabe has made statements. Ones like "Europe in 5 years" like "Academy being a conveyor belt of talent". You talk about us not having any money but we do have a nice shiny hotel and several interests around the globe. Why is it that we are all fur coat and no knickers here? It is because the very man who is better than what went before (but thats like comparing serial killers and saying one is better than the rest) has actually taken all the praise due to him, but never accepted he has royally fucked it up by getting interested in clubs and ventures he should have kept his beak out of.

A lot of the other interest's we have, have been put in place to increase revenue streams from the footballing side and getting more out of the assets that the club have. I think the idea has been good, but in reality it has been a failure due to a few reasons like not cementing a Premiership place and the recession hit home just as the hotel was being built.

The analogy comparing one serial killer to another one and saying one is better is a very good one, as most football chairman are unpopular, but we have previous in this, but Kevin MCCabe has been one of the better ones, and i think had it not had been for the dramatic events of 13th May 2007 we could now be an established Premiership club, and things could be very very different.

Fact is, had Sheffield United not flown to close to the sun (Premiership for a season) then we wouldn't be bothered. But we did so the expectation went up. Problem is, in recent years all we are sold is lies and more lies to back up the previous lies.

During a recent house move, me and a fellow Blade stumbled across some old Flashing Blades. Interesting reading. Something about Blades Leisure Parks in Abbeydale or somesuch. Something about Revenue Streams elsewhere in the world. Some grade A Codshit that never happened.

I think what I am alluding to is by all means praise the chairman for some wonderful work and wonderful development of SUFC, but the man who nearly built is isn't currently being honest with us and hasn't been honest with us in my book. Surely that means that there is some flack due his way isn't there?

I think the expectation levels went up following the 2002-03 season, and when the dream of progress was realised with a promotion 3 years later, the expectation levels went through the roof. We went from a 12,000 hardcore support to 33,000 attendances in 6 years and with the increase in attendance, expectations rose accordingly. In recent years i don't think it has all been lies but a lot of pie in the sky stuff, but there has been a lack of transparency of what is wrong at the club, and a lack of willingness to admit that we are skint, despite it being clear where the problem does lie. What is telling is what the board doesn't tell us, sometimes i think they would get a lot more understanding with McCabe coming out and telling us that we are effectively skint. He's put a lot of money in, and he would regain a lot of honesty by being truthful about where the problems lie.

Mistakes such as : Terry Robinson. Not Sacking Warnock when we got to the Premiership. Spending millions on European ventures so we could get players in from Africa and give them EU citizenship after 2 years. The Hotel. Robson. Blackwell. He did all these things so as the man who made it happen he is responsible for it. He is a terrible picker of managers.

With regards to mistakes i hold 3 people and a committee responsible for some of the mess that we find ourselves in. Neil Warnock for squandering a lot of money on players who couldn't cut it when he had the money to spend, Terry Robinson for being a complete and utter fuckwit, and Bryan Robson for being a total and unmitigated disaster. The European ventures and the Hotel were good ideas in principle and would have worked well had we cemented a premiership place, and i think Kevin Blackwell did a decent job given the circumstances but went stale towards the end. Blackwell worked hard to try and pick up the pieces of Robsons mismanagement, and if the 2007/08 season had gone on two more weeks we would have gone up through the play-offs and we was unlucky not to get something from the 2008/09 season as we still had a chance of automatic promotion on the last day of the season, and ended up in a play off final. After 2009 it suddenly became too big a job with the lack of money available and he began to struggle.

Having said that, i still hold the FA in absolute and utter contempt for the Tevez business. That will always leave a sour taste in my mouth, and i will always have resentment for the likes of Dave Richards (refuse to call him Sir as he is a corrupt and incompetent little fucktard riding on the coat tails of the gravy train), Scudamore, and all the other players in the sorry little mess.

Your point on the Manager however is without issue from this corner. Speed needs a chance to get it right. He needs utter and total support from fans and board alike. It isn't his fault and he is playing with a cack hand. However I would like to see some change in players and some progress over this season of transition.

Absolutely completely agree with this. Believe it or not over the last 2 or 3 years i have managed to chill out a bit and show a bit more patience.

But lets not blow smoke up McCabes arse. He did a good job but right now it seems to be coming unpicked.

But then i still think it is a case of better the devil you know.

 

[SwissBlade]

It'll be interesting to see if you still think having a £50m debt and McCabe's reign is all that if we're in League One in under a year's time.
We shall see.

Thanks Mystic Meg!

It would also be interesting to see what we think of McCabe's reign if were in the PL in under a years time. Just as plausible as being in League one and also just as irrelevant as the league one statement Lenners.

You may not have noticed, but most of the more positive posters on here rarely speculate. Whereas yourself and others with an apparent agenda seem to bang on with statements of doom and gloom "what if it all goes to the worst case scenario".... Quite frankly I think now more than ever, speculation of where we'll be in 1 or 2 years on the pitch is irrelevant.

Brownie's post was excellent because he highlighted the difficulty that football has been in over the past 2, 3 or even 4 years and compared how ourselves are hanging on.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

McCabe's 4 errors for me:

-Not giving NW a 2 year deal as a mark of recognition for promotion
-Not giving the kind of funding and flexibility in wages in the Prem that we saw immediately after in summer post-relegation - someone like Stephen Warnock, who we were v close to signing that January, could have made a big difference
-Appointing Robson, and giving him a 3 year deal
-Keeping Blackwell on, and giving him a 3 year deal

That said, I think he's generally been good for us. Though I was recently reading an old copy of Flashing Blade, and was surprised to see at at an AGM he was effectively calling for the fans to stop complaining about Carlo Columbotti, as by doing so there was the danger of all the Blades Italia Ltd investment being withdrawn. All sorts of international link-ups were touted back then - was unaware of most of this at the time. Surprisingly and interesting that McCabe was bigging up this investment when in reality it didn't materialise. Something to ponder given the current investment hopes...

 

[Fiery Blade]

Whilst it was a good post and many important issue raised the fact that Sheffield United FC are hanging on hereby tells the tale!
Yes many have gambled and lost but many have also slowly gone about their business, made boardroom and team management changes but have flourished in those same 4-5 years.
Sides like Bolton, Blackburn, Wigan, compete year in year out in the Premier League and sides such as West Brom, Wolves and Birmingham have always been there or there abouts!
Since relegation there has been this obsession in winning promotion but instead of fine tuning we have made wholesale changes.
It is unbelievable that out of the side that lost to Burnley in the playoffs there are only four players left at the Lane !
We cannot achieve anything with the amount of loanees in the side and less than an adequate squad numbers wise
Rather than clamour to achieve play offs with a squad of about 15 players I would much rather see a team developed in the right way bringing on the youngsters and signing excellent prospects from the lower leagues to develop players with skill, pace and creativity.
I am totally pissed off seeing the same nearly men that have severe limitations parading their mediocrity week in week out!
Face facts France, Kozluk, Taylor, Monty, Quinn, Evans, Henderson, et al aren't going to get any better
Lets start from scratch ditch the crap and start again!

 

[lenners]

Thanks Mystic Meg!

It would also be interesting to see what we think of McCabe's reign if were in the PL in under a years time. Just as plausible as being in League one and also just as irrelevant as the league one statement Lenners.

You may not have noticed, but most of the more positive posters on here rarely speculate. Whereas yourself and others with an apparent agenda seem to bang on with statements of doom and gloom "what if it all goes to the worst case scenario".... Quite frankly I think now more than ever, speculation of where we'll be in 1 or 2 years on the pitch is irrelevant.

Brownie's post was excellent because he highlighted the difficulty that football has been in over the past 2, 3 or even 4 years and compared how ourselves are hanging on.

I can only assume you haven't seen United play this season if you believe it's as plausible for us to be in the Prem in a year's time or haven't noticed we've scored 5 goals in 10 games.
I've no problem with someone defending McCabe, I think on the whole he's relatively well meaning. But he has royally ferked up the opportunity we had to establish ourselves both in Sheffield, ahead of Wednesday, and nationally as a strong, stable club.
The end game's approaching at S6 whereas we are drowning in mediocrity, lack of transparency and lack of communication.
McCabe's benefited hugely from the car crash at our rivals and that accounts for a lot of the blind eyes turned to his evident failures at United.
It's obvious to me that if we go down or if they sort themselves out, Brownie's view or anyone else's relatively protective view of McCabe will dissolve into a much, much more questioning one.
Longer term, that might not be a bad thing. At the moment, the relationship between the club and the fans is broken, very few believe anything the club says, there's no clarity and thousands have walked and more will do so until that situation changes.

 

[chipsncake]

Fiery and Len, thank you, two brilliant posts.