Adkins, booing, and a bit of time..

[Deadbat]

Are you physically unable to hold a conversation?

All i'm saying beyond all the doom and gloom that most of you lot seem to have inherited of late is - It's fine margins, now that is a football cliché. But, if we had found the winning goal in the draws against Southend, Oldham, Burton and Bradford - we would be 3rd and 1pt behind the top 2. We didn't so that must mean the season is over, we're shit and the world is ending

Its an odd logic. You could say if Burton had scored from the better chances they had and if Baxter had not cleared off the line v Bradford we could have lost two more.

We drew the games as we were not good enough to get winners.

We are where we are deservedly. All this we could be here, or could have these points and its slim margins means nothing.

We are currently an inferior side to likes of Gillingham, Walsall, Burton etc.

I keep hearing 'they wont be above us at the end of the season' and 'we will be above them'. Well as others have pointed out; they are still winning more than us, still more consistent than us and actually moving away from us further. It was 2 months ago we got told they wont last the course/pace. Well they are doing a damn sight better than us still. Added to that improvements of likes of Wigan and Coventry, I have seen nothing to suggest we will be anywhere neat the top 2. Yes, division may be weaker and no Wolves, Bristol, Brentford etc this year but we are further off the top this year than we were last at this stage.

This miracle January window where we shift on 10-12 garbage players and bring in 5-6 players quality difference makes I would love to see happen but it will not. Sad to see fans pinning hopes on the 'next' window when the last 2 or 3 have shown that this board is all talk and no action. There will be more excuses as there are every window. Not convinced a right back coming in will suddenly elevate the side especially when he has been out so long and might not be back to full fitness for league football until Xmas anyway.

The reality is as much as fans can stay positive and hope for this sudden upturn but the reality (not being negative but realisitc) is the performances are getting worse not better. The results and form suggests we are going backwards. Adkins has been here 5 months and has still not sorted the defence out, still does not know his strongest team and still we are a soft touch.

I hope I come back in 3 or 4 months and we are right up there and I can say what bollox the above is but my eyes are telling me otherwise on what I am seeing on the field.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

the last 2 or 3 have shown that this board is all talk and no action.

Over the close season we brought in Billy, Sammon, Edgar, and Woolford all from a higher division

JTW Brayford and Done

All talk and no action?

 

[Bladesince59]

It seems to me that it's ONLY the fans who have been delivering for the past couple of years. All 20 odd thousand of them.

UTB

 

[Deadbat]

All from a higher division but all on the way down and sadly other than Sharp; most not been good enough. Sammon is/was a laughing stock at Derby. Edgar was about 6th choice centre back for an awful (last season) Brum side and ended up playing midfield for Huddersfield before he lost his place there. Woolford has been released by a relegated side.

Don't think any of the signings can be lauded or had many salivating really. Other than Sharp none will be here by next August and the other 3 can barely get in our side now.

Brayford was an ambitious signing but was a foolish waste of resources but that is in reflection. Done was a good signing but he even struggles to convince now.

I think the board are generally sanctioning the wrong sort of signing overall.

Maybe they have taken action but generally with most things they have done whether it be sanctioning signings, lack of decisive actions or poor managerial choices (jury out on this) they make the wrong choices. From the last 4 or 5 years sadly I see no evidence to suggest January that a) they will act b) get it right

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

All from a higher division but all on the way down and sadly other than Sharp; most not been good enough. Sammon is/was a laughing stock at Derby. Edgar was about 6th choice centre back for an awful (last season) Brum side and ended up playing midfield for Huddersfield before he lost his place there. Woolford has been released by a relegated side.

Don't think any of the signings can be lauded or had many salivating really. Other than Sharp none will be here by next August and the other 3 can barely get in our side now.

Brayford was an ambitious signing but was a foolish waste of resources but that is in reflection. Done was a good signing but he even struggles to convince now.

I think the board are generally sanctioning the wrong sort of signing overall.

Maybe they have taken action but generally with most things they have done whether it be sanctioning signings, lack of decisive actions or poor managerial choices (jury out on this) they make the wrong choices. From the last 4 or 5 years sadly I see no evidence to suggest January that a) they will act b) get it right

"Sammon was a laughing stock at Derby" - all this means is there were some fans on there who didn't like him: it's like saying Baxter/Collins/McEveley/Howard or pretty much anyone else is a laughing stock here. Everyone's got their detractors. He's been pointed out as our most dangerous player by at least two sets of opposition fans - and contributed plenty.

Everyone thought Edgar was great before the international break - looked to me like he was playing with an injury after that.

Done.

Brayford.

etc etc etc

But none of this is relevant: the assertion was that the Board are all talk and no action.

There has clearly been action.

Despite acknowledging this action there is a further assertion that there is no evidence the board will act in January. This just loses me.

Who exactly didn't get it right on the signings btw? The Board or Adkins? Or neither bc the signings are about par for the course given the outlay.

And then there's Hammond. Whether it works or not it's a statement of intent.

 

[Darthblade]

I have to say, when Southend's second went in, the atmosphere was as poisonous as any I can recall at BDBL. If we hadn't gone in level at HT I can't imagine what it would have been like.

While I have deep, deep reservations about many aspects of how our club is being run (down), I cannot understand this outpouring of hatred from our own supporters.

I believe that its the deep frustration created by witnessing that our beloved Club have learned nothing from the last 5 seasons !!

UTB & FTP

 

[Rodders]

I agree with this. I think we've been unlucky. But you can't realistically be unlucky for 16 games. It has to be something else. 4 points better off wouldn't be flattering us. Anything more might.

I'm not a fan of saying"we've been unlucky" for the fact that every team in the league will be saying it looking at their missed chances. We are where we are - 5th or 6th I thought, a few games in - not seen much to change my mind.

 

[Darthblade]

Personally I believe the new Board have provided loads of money for both their managers to gain promotion, maybe Adkins less than Clough, but nevertheless loads.

Clough will go down as a manager who frittered a really good budget from a new owner, much like Kendall under MacDonald and Robson/ Blackwell in the case of parachute payments. These spells of cash richness have to be made to count and never are.

Adkins fancied the challenge and still can rise to it, there are loads of games left in a poor league. BTW when I say "poor league" I mean amongst the top contenders but I honestly believe the bottom half of League 1 has improved beyond recognition in the 5 years we have been there and there are no easy games anymore. Nevertheless Adkins' budget and resources are the envy of all but a couple of other clubs.

I remain unconvinced about the statement that the new Board have provided loads of money. The only significant outlay has been Brayford and possibly the wages for Hammond. All the other acquisitions have been minimal outlay and in most cases free transfers or out of contract.

We don't need to spend millions on players in this agricultural division but the old adage goes " if you spend peanuts you get monkeys" and we've proven that.

We have lost good quality players and replaced them with dross or not replaced them at all ....... that's why we're going nowhere for the fifth season ......

UTB & FTP

 

[Darthblade]

Over the close season we brought in Billy, Sammon, Edgar, and Woolford all from a higher division

JTW Brayford and Done

All talk and no action?

But Brayford is injured and all the rest are not exactly " ripping this division a new one " .

Billy & Done were a small fee, Sammon & Edgar are loans & Woolford was a free transfer ...... minimal outlay really considering our stated intention to be automatic contenders.

UTB & FTP

 

[Rodders]

But Brayford is injured and all the rest are not exactly " ripping this division a new one " .

Billy & Done were a small fee, Sammon & Edgar are loans & Woolford was a free transfer ...... minimal outlay really considering our stated intention to be automatic contenders.

UTB & FTP

Its not just transfer fees though, wages will be a huge drain on the Club, especially with so many having come down a division. I dread to think how much this mediocrity is costing us

 

[wizadry]

Its not just transfer fees though, wages will be a huge drain on the Club, especially with so many having come down a division. I dread to think how much this mediocrity is costing us

This is the thing though Rodders, if we want to plod along paying loads of wages out, getting mostly free transfers in then we will carry on losing money and carry on being in this league at best. If on the other hand they want to go up and start to make money then they have to spend a sufficient amount to do so and not be seen as spending next to nothing in footballing terms. Surely if we go up they might start making money, and surely that's what buisness is all about, put in to get out but also making good decisions with the odd (hopefully good) gamble chucked in, we seem incapable of doing either which is very worrying for a supporter of this club.

The longer it takes to get to the Championship the harder it will be to stay there, clubs in that league are already light years ahead of us in terms of revenue and will continue to get bigger year upon year.

 

[Lane Ender]

Are you physically unable to hold a conversation?

All i'm saying beyond all the doom and gloom that most of you lot seem to have inherited of late is - It's fine margins, now that is a football cliché. But, if we had found the winning goal in the draws against Southend, Oldham, Burton and Bradford - we would be 3rd and 1pt behind the top 2. We didn't so that must mean the season is over, we're shit and the world is ending

Yes and we did enough to win all those games.
Fact

 

[Swanseablade]

Nigel Clough spent a shit load of money on mediocre players, in his time as Blades manager he signed the following players. I've put in Green if we signed them, Amber if it was a loan and Bold if they were signed from a higher division. I've underlined the players we paid cash for. He managed to attract many players from a higher division, who paid their wages?

Scougall
Harris
Paynter
Brayford
Ben Davies
Freeman
Campbell Ryce
McNulty
Basham
Butler
Ben Davies
J. Wallace
Alcock
McGahey
Higdon
McEverley
Turner
Adams
K. Wallace
Freeman
Coutts
Brayford
Done
McCarthy
O'Grady
Holt
Steve Davies

15 of his signings were from a higher division, 4 were from different countries (mainly Scotland).

For what it's worth, I have put in italics the players I would keep/liked to have kept. His signings in January last year were all good ones/could prove to be.

I've forgotten the coding system already and why are some in italics?
Were they stolen?

 

[LoughboroBlade]

This season is the gamble. This is the season he's shown his true colours.

Shows what can happen when you actually have to think, and you haven't got the best academy in England to sponge off.

I wasn't actually aware Scunthorpe had an academy as good as ours, let alone the best in England. Is it still any good after EPPP do you know?

 

[grafikhaus]

Another potentially worry aspect was alluded to on Wendy Heaven last night. In between an interview/book plug with some Wendy no-mark (Semedo?) and - again - the correct pronunciation of 'Joao', a Blade managed to get on. Now I don't know if it's been referred to elsewhere but it makes sense. This caller suggested that, at 2-2 last Saturday, Adkins was afraid that if he brought Sammon and/or Done on and Southend went on to win the game, he'd have been roundly criticised.

Makes a lot of sense, given the crowd's earlier reactions, but hardly the 'go for it' attitude that either claws back lost ground or is needed for a serious punt at promotion. Nigel Mk. II?

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I know he said this matt but do you think it could be possible that he said it because we didn't look like moving quick enough to get the list of players he made up? I ask this only because i can't see a manager of his calibre in this league taking that long to decide which shite he was keeping.

I think he had to give them a clean slate. As much as we could see as fans that some players weren’t good enough, he also has to man-manage. If he’d come in and said to say Alcock, McEveley, Coutts, K. Wallace, Higdon, Scougall and Flynn “I’ve seen videos of you lot and you’re shit. There’s the door” then do you really think he’d have had the dressing room behind him? He had to come in and assess them as characters as well as their footballing ability. And in a couple of cases, we’ve had pleasant surprises with players we thought weren’t good enough. The main one being Kieron Wallace who I think is very unlucky to be out of the team. It’s so easy to just look at the players’ footballing attributes and tactics etc. but there’s always the need to consider the human element of management and managing the egos, cliques etc. There’s also the fact that due to the size of the squad and the contracts they’re on, he was always going to struggle for a quick turnaround/


Unfortunately, this delay was the price we had to pay if we were to change managers at the time we did. It could be argued that it was worth it to get a manager with such a good record but I think it would be a huge mistake to repeat the exercise next summer.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Over the close season we brought in Billy, Sammon, Edgar, and Woolford all from a higher division

JTW Brayford and Done

All talk and no action?

And over the last 2 seasons we have sold £4million worth of talent. Or since we’ve been down here, almost £10million worth of talent (Slew, Lowton, Blackman, McDonald, Maguire, Murphy etc.). No doubt that will go to £12-13million next summer but we’ll sign a couple of decent league 1 players deemed surplus to requirements at championship clubs and be told it’s game-changing. I’m not one of these that say they put bugger all in. Brayford was an ambitious signing and we carry greater numbers than we might otherwise afford. I suppose I would say they are more talk than action. There is some action but it fails to live up to the talk in my opinion.

 

[wizadry]

I think he had to give them a clean slate. As much as we could see as fans that some players weren’t good enough, he also has to man-manage. If he’d come in and said to say Alcock, McEveley, Coutts, K. Wallace, Higdon, Scougall and Flynn “I’ve seen videos of you lot and you’re shit. There’s the door” then do you really think he’d have had the dressing room behind him? He had to come in and assess them as characters as well as their footballing ability. And in a couple of cases, we’ve had pleasant surprises with players we thought weren’t good enough. The main one being Kieron Wallace who I think is very unlucky to be out of the team. It’s so easy to just look at the players’ footballing attributes and tactics etc. but there’s always the need to consider the human element of management and managing the egos, cliques etc. There’s also the fact that due to the size of the squad and the contracts they’re on, he was always going to struggle for a quick turnaround/


Unfortunately, this delay was the price we had to pay if we were to change managers at the time we did. It could be argued that it was worth it to get a manager with such a good record but I think it would be a huge mistake to repeat the exercise next summer.

Good post Dane. My post was more about playing Devils advocate in a way, just looking for reasons as to why he could've said it, i realise he may have said it because he meant exactly that.

 

[SandyMcBlade]

You can't have it both ways, all this talk about all our players being rubbish is just that, rubbish. We have a squad as good as any in this division and there has been investment in promising players from lower leagues and players from higher divisions and they've paid good money for some as well.
The fact their not performing as well as they should is down to many reason and we should also remember that in football the difference between success and failure is a very fine line...

UTB

 

[Rodders]

You can't have it both ways, all this talk about all our players being rubbish is just that, rubbish. We have a squad as good as any in this division and there has been investment in promising players from lower leagues and players from higher divisions and they've paid good money for some as well.
The fact their not performing as well as they should is down to many reason and we should also remember that in football the difference between success and failure is a very fine line...

UTB

Unfortunately for our highly-paid talent from the higher divisions, they find that line a little too frequently.

 

[Revolution]

We have a squad as good as any in this division

Really?

We don't have a good goalkeeper.

We don't have two good centre backs

We don't have any good central midfielders (unless you count Baxter). Our midfield is collectively one of the slowest, least physical and least creative in the division

We have 1 good winger.

Our squad is full of holes.

 

[BushBlade]

I think he had to give them a clean slate. As much as we could see as fans that some players weren’t good enough, he also has to man-manage. If he’d come in and said to say Alcock, McEveley, Coutts, K. Wallace, Higdon, Scougall and Flynn “I’ve seen videos of you lot and you’re shit. There’s the door” then do you really think he’d have had the dressing room behind him? He had to come in and assess them as characters as well as their footballing ability. And in a couple of cases, we’ve had pleasant surprises with players we thought weren’t good enough. The main one being Kieron Wallace who I think is very unlucky to be out of the team. It’s so easy to just look at the players’ footballing attributes and tactics etc. but there’s always the need to consider the human element of management and managing the egos, cliques etc. There’s also the fact that due to the size of the squad and the contracts they’re on, he was always going to struggle for a quick turnaround/


Unfortunately, this delay was the price we had to pay if we were to change managers at the time we did. It could be argued that it was worth it to get a manager with such a good record but I think it would be a huge mistake to repeat the exercise next summer.

Couldn't agree more. As has been repeated recently, over 60% of supporters were happy for Clough to stay. I'd guess the players felt similar and I doubt steaming in like John Wayne would have helped.
Funny how NA's critics have called him a dinosaur but then criticise him for not managing like someone from the 70s.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

You can't have it both ways, all this talk about all our players being rubbish is just that, rubbish. We have a squad as good as any in this division and there has been investment in promising players from lower leagues and players from higher divisions and they've paid good money for some as well.
The fact their not performing as well as they should is down to many reason and we should also remember that in football the difference between success and failure is a very fine line...

UTB

The problem for me is that when they do perform for us, they are sold too quickly which hamstrings any manager in their attempt to build an effective team. We do have players that have done well at some stage of their careers in the right environment etc. What we don’t seem to have (with the exception of Brayford who has been out all season and maybe in the future Adams) is players who stand out, take games by the scruff of the neck and ensure they play well regardless of what is going on around them. As soon as players show signs of being able to do that, they are sold and we are left with a huge bunch of players who all might be good with better players around them but they spend so little time with the right players around them.

 

[Deadbat]

Interesting that back in November a few said there was not a chance Gills, Burton and Walsall would finish above us.

Not only will they all finish above us it could be 20+ points above us!

A lot of talk about the January window too and how that would change things.

Oh dear.

 

[Deaneandagana]

Interesting that back in November a few said there was not a chance Gills, Burton and Walsall would finish above us.

Not only will they all finish above us it could be 20+ points above us!

A lot of talk about the January window too and how that would change things.

Oh dear.

Facts of the matter are, that we have been poor since opening day of the season, 4-0 away at the mighty Gills set the tone for the season, apart from a brief flurry in Sept the performances have been rank poor.

Manager, players or board - which is it to be?

 

[derryblade]

Interesting that back in November a few said there was not a chance Gills, Burton and Walsall would finish above us.

Not only will they all finish above us it could be 20+ points above us!

A lot of talk about the January window too and how that would change things.

Oh dear.

Exactly the same comments were made last season.

 

[BushBlade]

Exactly the same comments were made last season.

Yeah, what a bunch of cunts those optimists are.

 

[Barney]

Yeah, what a bunch of cunts those optimists are.

They are when they're shouting down the throats of anyone with an alternative opinion. They should be shown up and criticised as much as the so called moaners would have been if it had been the other way around. Fair's fair, they were wrong.

 

[Jehovah]

Same old bulllshit last time with Bristol city "they won't keep this up" just bullshit phrases thrown around due to blind optimism.

 

[BushBlade]

Same old bulllshit last time with Bristol city "they won't keep this up" just bullshit phrases thrown around due to blind optimism.

It's on this board if you'd like to check; I posted several times that if we waited to get some out before we got players in, we'd not go up this season.
However I take no pleasure in being correct or running about waving my cock screaming I told you so.
I'd have preferred to be wrong.