ALL things considered, thanks Nigel Clough

[itsinyerblood]

It happens often in life, you need a certain character to stop the rot and steady the ship. however that same person often does not have the skill set to move forward.

I think this was the case with Mr Clough.

There should never be joy when someone loses their job. The magnanimous thing to do is to thank him and wish him well.

Lovely sentiments dingle, wish we could see more of this on the forum. Well said mate UTB

 

[Worksop II]

Got to thank him for that 2nd goal moment Vs Spurs, went nutjob ...........

Right up there with Bob Atkins at Rotherham

 

[Grappler]

Nigel Clough always came across as an honest bloke to me, maybe a little too emotional in interviews and I never agreed with slating players in public, but still an honest sort of bloke.

I wish him all the best in finding a new role in football.

Nigel Adkins is the most exciting signing Sheffield United have made in recent years, and that includes players. I honestly don't think there was a better option out there for us, this is a guy who, with the right backing, could potentially take us all the way back to the promised land. At a minimum, I think he will get us back to being a top half Championship club.

I hope we have an enjoyable summer ahead, seeing which players he goes after. UTB.

 

[TJB.]

I think Clough bore the brunt of our fourth season in League 1. His success in dragging us from the pit of the table to an FA Cup semi-final and within a whisker of the play-offs was brilliant to be a part of, so naturally people thought more success was around the corner. It's hard to think far back after the sluggish season we've just had, but I cannot stress enough the levels of hope and optimism that were around the club last year. By Christmas, they had all but gone. I've never seen Blades fans so divided in my relatively short time watching them, but it was sad to see. The Kop was routinely quiet.

Cheers for the positives, Cloughy, but we move on now. We must be United again.

 

[Barney]

Think Clough has the abilities of a decent manager, but his personality traits let him down massively and this was the reason he was rightly sacked in my opinion. Do wish him well for the future though, and hope he can learn from his mistakes here. I now look forward to much success under Adkins.

 

[Davie Blade]

Clough will have learnt loads during his time here and I imagine he won't have any problems finding another job in this league.

I'd be amazed if any club is daft enough to take on this dinosaur even in non league.
When did Clough ever learn anything in 16 years?

The thread on Derby fans views of Clough, say it all

He has run out of using his dads name

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

sure you and me sat on the train to Leeds in Jan/Feb and agreed this was the case. If only the manager could have seen it.

We did LS26BLADE , we did!

Mind you I don't think it was only us that thought it but I guess the "Beard" effect was upon us all

 

[Pinchy]

I think Clough bore the brunt of our fourth season in League 1. His success in dragging us from the pit of the table to an FA Cup semi-final and within a whisker of the play-offs was brilliant to be a part of, so naturally people thought more success was around the corner. It's hard to think far back after the sluggish season we've just had, but I cannot stress enough the levels of hope and optimism that were around the club last year. By Christmas, they had all but gone. I've never seen Blades fans so divided in my relatively short time watching them, but it was sad to see. The Kop was routinely quiet.

Cheers for the positives, Cloughy, but we move on now. We must be United again.

I think "United, as one" is the Adkinsism. It's tautologous of course, but has a nice ring and I think it may catch on....

 

[alcoblade]

Not entirely fair, he started when we were facing relegation to the 4th division. Though some might think even my dead granny could have rescued us from that plight.

And I would be one of the some.

UTB

 

[HoodedClaw]

I'd like to thank him for giving me to opportunity to celebrate us scoring at a national stadium since we played the dark side in '93, and for making that wanker Bruce shit his pants.

 

[bornablade]

For Cloughie's second season read Danny Wilson's second season.

 

[Superblades]

I'd be amazed if any club is daft enough to take on this dinosaur even in non league.
When did Clough ever learn anything in 16 years?

The thread on Derby fans views of Clough, say it all

He has run out of using his dads name

Come on mate, he's gone now, let it go and stop the bitterness. He took a team in the space of 18 months from bottom of the league to the play-offs and 2 major cup semi-finals beating premiership & championship teams along the way. Not bad for a dinosaur who hasn't learnt anything in 16 years.

 

[Balham]

For Cloughie's second season read Danny Wilson's second season.

With the notable difference that one had his better players sold while the other was allowed to sign an entire squad.

 

[Tezza1889]

Wow..

People give him credit for keeping us up...


Coady
Maguire
Brayford
Scougall
Murphy
Baxter
Flynn

Etc....

It was league one....

A child could have kept them up, come to think of it!!!

 

[Davie Blade]

Come on mate, he's gone now, let it go and stop the bitterness. He took a team in the space of 18 months from bottom of the league to the play-offs and 2 major cup semi-finals beating premiership & championship teams along the way. Not bad for a dinosaur who hasn't learnt anything in 16 years.

Please drop the fanboy pointless defence crap. He has indeed gone just like the dinosaurs.

Just because my viewpoint is shared by just about every Derby fan on two forums, doesn't make it bitterness fella.
Many express the view he has learnt nothing, still doing exactly the same things that failed at Derby.

I'm expressing my viewpoint, just because it doesn't happen to be yours we can agree to disagree.

Did the fanboys say they wanted Parkinson because of his cup records by the way?
I rest my case

 

[DronnieBlade]

No gratitude whatsoever owed to Clough....anyone with half a footballing brain would have left us in a better position than the situation inherited from the awful Wier....progress under Clough was minimal giving tge resources at his disposal and his owm inabilities were his downfall.....good riddence.

And anyone with a footballing brain would realise that the position that the "awful" Weir inherited and fucked up royally for a dozen or so games was' little to do with Weir himself. MUCH more to do with the several cronic managers that we had before he even got any where near the squad.

Our problem is deep rooted, and has been for at least a decade and probably longer.

Solving the problem will require almost superhuman powers that I hoped Clough had in the same way I now pray Adkins has.

Seriously, Adkins has got one hell of a job on his hands. At the very least I hope that he is under no impressions to the contrary otherwise he is toast.

UTB

 

[diplomat]

I'd like to thank him for giving me to opportunity to celebrate us scoring at a national stadium since we played the dark side in '93, and for making that wanker Bruce shit his pants.

Absolutely agree. The whole of our end rising to clap the team in unison after the final Hull goal was one of the best memories anyone could give me too.

 

[Bladesman]

Thanks for saving us from relegation and giving us that day out at Wembley which was just a surreal atmosphere.

 

[Pedro Verde]

I would agree with the sentiments expressed with regard to the Semi v Hull
Great to see us score and go ahead in a big game for a change

 

[Bartleby]

have to agree - any decent manager with our resources should have got us out of that mess, but getting us to within an ace of an FA cup final was an unexpected bonus that he should be credited for.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I'd like to thank him for giving me to opportunity to celebrate us scoring at a national stadium since we played the dark side in '93, and for making that wanker Bruce shit his pants.

Half time at Wembley was the highlight of Clough, one foot in the Cup Final.

Yes, thanks Nigel.

 

[SwissBlade]

Like all things that end in football, it is rarely "well" but taking everything in to account, I believe that NCs tenure had more positives than negatives and he certainly leaves the club in much better shape than he found it.

Good luck with any new role (Except against us of course !).

We move on to a new era with Mr Adkins, one in which we can be rightly enthused, but let us not forget that at least some (but not all) of the foundations for any success Adkins may have will have been laid by NC.

UTB.

Great post. Relatively speaking Has a manager ever left it things in such good shape, other than Warnock?

Thank you Mr Clough. I for one am very grateful for the fantastic work you did with our club

Mr Adkins may succeed in the league, but never have I had such desire for us to win a cup or two

 

[ScoobBlade]

I'm in the dead granny camp. I give Clough no particular credit for keeping us up - any remotely competent manager that replaced the clearly inept Weir would have done the same.

Do I think Clough should have got us promoted? Yes, with the backing and resources available to him, I think he should. He didn't, there was no real sign that he had learnt from his mistakes or was prepared to change his stubborn and misguided negative approach, and so I've no problem with United sacking him. Though as others have posted, it ill behoves any of us to celebrate people losing their jobs.

I think we should be delighted with the appointment of Adkins. Best man available and his record of promotions speaks for itself. Remember that Clough has never achieved a football league promotion, and keep your mind on this:

Southampton started the 2009/10 season with minus 10 points in the third tier of English football. They are playing in Europe next season. Adkins was responsible for a large part of that. Wouldn’t we all love something similar for United?

Clough would have got burton promoted had he stayed, they were flying when he left. You say a dead granny could have saved us, I assume this dead granny would have also took us to the FA cup semi where we put in our best performance at Wembley in the last 50 years. I accept that some didn't like clough ( I for one thought long term he would have been good for us ) but I think it's unfair to just dismiss what he did manage to achieve whilst he was here

 

[Davie Blade]

Has a manager ever left it things in such good shape

Nasty accident having my breakfast.
Spluttered £10million pounds worth of Prince's Swiss Museli all over the table reading that.


6 new signings to make us competitive.
20 plus to shove out the door.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

And anyone with a footballing brain would realise that the position that the "awful" Weir inherited and fucked up royally for a dozen or so games was' little to do with Weir himself. MUCH more to do with the several cronic managers that we had before he even got any where near the squad.

Our problem is deep rooted, and has been for at least a decade and probably longer.

Solving the problem will require almost superhuman powers that I hoped Clough had in the same way I now pray Adkins has.

Seriously, Adkins has got one hell of a job on his hands. At the very least I hope that he is under no impressions to the contrary otherwise he is toast.

UTB

I think the biggest difference between Clough and Adkins , is that Clough didn't realise ( or did not want to know ) his limitations whereas Adkins does . What i mean by that , is the key to any managers success , is getting the maximum out of your back-room staff ( including the scouting system ).. You have to know , take on board your limitations , and employ staff to help you compensate for them.

You have to know your weaknesses , and if you don't know enough about tactics or player mam management , you employ a assistant who does. Adkins appears to balance his abilities against other members of his staff ( Wilkins on tactics) . Clough and Garner appeared to be a mirror image of each other . This i feel was the overall failure of Clough , and ultimately SUFC last season.

The complexity of the management team and scouting system , made a situation exactly the same we had on the pitch . Round pegs in square holes.

With Adkins getting this right we are there , with the balance of the management team , which is a great positive .,This could have been easily carried out by Clough , and if so , he would still be in charge. The problem now for Clough and not us , is that he may well not recognise this , or just not take it on board . McCabe , Prince , and all associated with BDTBL have, and that is why , we are already well on our way , to be successful next season.

UTB

 

[bornablade]

I think the biggest difference between Clough and Adkins , is that Clough didn't realise ( or did not want to know ) his limitations whereas Adkins does . What i mean by that , is the key to any managers success , is getting the maximum out of your back-room staff ( including the scouting system ).. You have to know , take on board your limitations , and employ staff to help you compensate for them.

You have to know your weaknesses , and if you don't know enough about tactics or player mam management , you employ a assistant who does. Adkins appears to balance his abilities against other members of his staff ( Wilkins on tactics) . Clough and Garner appeared to be a mirror image of each other . This i feel was the overall failure of Clough , and ultimately SUFC last season.

The complexity of the management team and scouting system , made a situation exactly the same we had on the pitch . Round pegs in square holes.

With Adkins getting this right we are there , with the balance of the management team , which is a great positive .,This could have been easily carried out by Clough , and if so , he would still be in charge. The problem now for Clough and not us , is that he may well not recognise this , or just not take it on board . McCabe , Prince , and all associated with BDTBL have, and that is why , we are already well on our way , to be successful next season.

UTB

The new fixtures have yet to be printed, we haven't even kicked a ball in pre-season training and you've already elevated Adkins to legendary status.

Be positive by all means but how can you say Adkins possesses these abilities when we've yet to see a Blades team play under his stewardship?

 

[Jan Age]

I live in Derby and when Clough took over all the lads round here said 'he will do a good job of steadying the ship' which he did for The Blades;

However they followed that up with 'but he will not take you that step further' and then provided a long list of 'predictions' that would happen which all came true.

This for me proves two points:

1) It's Clough's way or no way and he is incapable of reflection and change
2) We did the right thing in getting rid.

I think we thank him for steadying the ship and the cup runs, wish him luck but ultimately it was time to go our separate ways.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

The new fixtures have yet to be printed, we haven't even kicked a ball in pre-season training and you've already elevated Adkins to legendary status.

Be positive by all means but how can you say Adkins possesses these abilities when we've yet to see a Blades team play under his stewardship?

Bornablade , for no other reason than to be positive and believe. If you haven't got that , then all is lost , even before you kick a ball. ( also applies to life )

It not legendary status , it is having the intelligence as a manager to know your strengths , and also your weaknesses.( Like any job .) . Adkins has a strong assistant manager to balance out both strengths and weaknesses , and that after last season , is half the battle.

UTB

 

[SB_90]

Half time at Wembley was the highlight of Clough, one foot in the Cup Final.

Yes, thanks Nigel.

i agree for all his faults that HT was amazing, just spent the entire break in disbelief thinking we're 45 mins from fa cup final & already pictured by self singing abide with me

 

[grafikhaus]

i agree for all his faults that HT was amazing, just spent the entire break in disbelief thinking we're 45 mins from fa cup final & already pictured by self singing abide with me

...before getting rogered by Arsenal.