Vassilis
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2012
- Messages
- 68
- Reaction score
- 175
An open letter to the board, manager and players of Sheffield United.
I doubt anyone connected to the club will read this, but such is my frustration, I’ve taken to posting on a forum which I regularly visit, but rarely post on. Who knows who might read this. I doubt many people will, but I’m doing this mostly as a cathartic exercise to vent some of the huge amount of frustration I'm feeling as a Sheffield United supporter.
I’ve just got back from Bramall Lane, where I’ve witnessed one of the worst displays from a Sheffield United side in my 23 years of going to live games. I’ve lived through some bad United teams in time - Heath, Adams, Blackwell and Robson to name but a few, but at least those teams were terrible in a league above the current crop.
So limp is this ‘team’, that I can only think of one poorer display, and that was when United lost at home to Hartlepool under David Weir. Not that long ago, and we all know how that ended.
As a fan I look for someone to blame. ‘Bad luck’ is not a strong enough excuse for a decade of slow, ugly decline which has only been punctuated by fleeting romances with domestic cup competitions. So I’m directing this at those who I believe are culpable, to different extents, for the state Sheffield United finds itself in.
TO THE PLAYERS
You, the players, perhaps know better than anyone the anger which is being felt by fans of Sheffield United - it can’t be nice to be booed off the pitch so often in a season. We see players who we know can play better. Indeed, of the eleven which started the match against Burton Albion tonight, all but three (Done, Adams, Long) have played the much of their career at a level above League One. Yet we see you being outfoxed, outfought and outplayed by supposedly inferior players.
We accept that you are just earning a living and trying to make as much money as you can in a relatively short career. I doubt many fans would do any differently were we fortunate enough to be blessed with the same talent as you do.
So what should be your motivation? Most of you are not supporters of the Blades and nearly all of you have not been here long enough to have forged any meaningful a affection for the club, despite badge thumping celebrations and headline-making soundbites.
So perhaps your motivation should be this. Sheffield United is a proud club, with a number of great teams through the years. I was lucky enough to catch Deane, Agana et al perform and I won’t ever forget the how watching the Warnock’s triple assault team and promotion-winning side made me feel.
However, you’re on the verge of being synonymous with abject failure, some would argue you already have made that particular bed. You’re associated with one of the darkest periods in the club’s history. Is that how you want to look back at your career, no matter how financially successful it was?
All we ask is for effort and pride. In return, we promise to give you support both home and away. And when the day comes that you leave Sheffield United, you’ll know you will always be cheered when you return.
THE MANAGEMENT
Even if you do sometimes sound like some Silicone Valley, $50-an-hour motivational speaker, I believe you’re a good guy Mr Adkins.
You’ve been given a good job. A very good job. However we accept you’ve been lumbered with a bloated, imbalanced and in places limited squad. However, it is still a remarkably talented squad and we rightfully believe you should be doing better.
Most of the fans are willing to give you time, I believe. That said, the signings you’ve made this season have been overwhelmingly poor, with none, other than Billy Sharp, making a meaningful contribution to this team.
Your approach to games has been baffling at best and infuriating at worst. Fans would accept losing if it was in a manner which got us excited, but to not meaningfully test a goalkeeper when 17,000 have paid no small sum to watch the team perform is shameful. I accept the performance to an extent depends on the players, but the motivation, fitness, formation and tactics of the team has a much greater bearing on proceedings - and those are factors you have full control over.
Something is rotten in the squad, I believe. If it is a player or a group of players or a culture within the squad, we want you to be brave enough to cut it out no matter what the cost, because it is pulling the whole club down.
I am fed up with seeing over-paid, under-motivated players turn out for the club. We would much prefer to see a young player signed from a lower league come and try to be a success. That player would be given more time and celebrated should he succeed. I appreciate that you won’t always get it right with these kinds of players, but we’d like to see you try and get it right.
You have been given a well-paid job, in a vibrant city, with faithful support and more financial power than most managers could dream of. We now expect you to help steer the club to a more steady, secure place.
THE BOARD
This club has had 12 different managers in less than a decade. None of them have brought success. Are they all bad managers? I doubt it. The buck has to stop with you, the board. Your constant hiring and firing of managers has brought nothing but instability to the club. If you take the decision to appoint a manager (a) do the necessary homework to ensure he is the right man and (b) be brave enough to stick with him long enough to have a meaningful impact on the long-term future of this club. You only need to look at those clubs who have granted managers time to build a team to see how this can be successful.
Danny Wilson, Nigel Clough and Chris Morgan were not bad managers. I take your point with David Weir though.
The club has remarkable support considering its modest position in the football pyramid. We understand that this provides important revenue streams and helps sell the club as ‘big’ to players and sponsors. But this could all change and probably will should we stay in this position, playing the way we’re playing. We’re already not as attractive now as we were four or five years ago.
I ask for more consideration when it comes to appointments, both on and off the field. I appreciate that total financial transparency is not realistic, but I ask that the clubs treats its fans the way they should be treated. After all, the club is not the ground, the players, the brand, the assets or the fans, it’s a mixture of them all, but without the fans, the club is nothing.
Thanks to anyone who has read this far.
Up the Blades.
I doubt anyone connected to the club will read this, but such is my frustration, I’ve taken to posting on a forum which I regularly visit, but rarely post on. Who knows who might read this. I doubt many people will, but I’m doing this mostly as a cathartic exercise to vent some of the huge amount of frustration I'm feeling as a Sheffield United supporter.
I’ve just got back from Bramall Lane, where I’ve witnessed one of the worst displays from a Sheffield United side in my 23 years of going to live games. I’ve lived through some bad United teams in time - Heath, Adams, Blackwell and Robson to name but a few, but at least those teams were terrible in a league above the current crop.
So limp is this ‘team’, that I can only think of one poorer display, and that was when United lost at home to Hartlepool under David Weir. Not that long ago, and we all know how that ended.
As a fan I look for someone to blame. ‘Bad luck’ is not a strong enough excuse for a decade of slow, ugly decline which has only been punctuated by fleeting romances with domestic cup competitions. So I’m directing this at those who I believe are culpable, to different extents, for the state Sheffield United finds itself in.
TO THE PLAYERS
You, the players, perhaps know better than anyone the anger which is being felt by fans of Sheffield United - it can’t be nice to be booed off the pitch so often in a season. We see players who we know can play better. Indeed, of the eleven which started the match against Burton Albion tonight, all but three (Done, Adams, Long) have played the much of their career at a level above League One. Yet we see you being outfoxed, outfought and outplayed by supposedly inferior players.
We accept that you are just earning a living and trying to make as much money as you can in a relatively short career. I doubt many fans would do any differently were we fortunate enough to be blessed with the same talent as you do.
So what should be your motivation? Most of you are not supporters of the Blades and nearly all of you have not been here long enough to have forged any meaningful a affection for the club, despite badge thumping celebrations and headline-making soundbites.
So perhaps your motivation should be this. Sheffield United is a proud club, with a number of great teams through the years. I was lucky enough to catch Deane, Agana et al perform and I won’t ever forget the how watching the Warnock’s triple assault team and promotion-winning side made me feel.
However, you’re on the verge of being synonymous with abject failure, some would argue you already have made that particular bed. You’re associated with one of the darkest periods in the club’s history. Is that how you want to look back at your career, no matter how financially successful it was?
All we ask is for effort and pride. In return, we promise to give you support both home and away. And when the day comes that you leave Sheffield United, you’ll know you will always be cheered when you return.
THE MANAGEMENT
Even if you do sometimes sound like some Silicone Valley, $50-an-hour motivational speaker, I believe you’re a good guy Mr Adkins.
You’ve been given a good job. A very good job. However we accept you’ve been lumbered with a bloated, imbalanced and in places limited squad. However, it is still a remarkably talented squad and we rightfully believe you should be doing better.
Most of the fans are willing to give you time, I believe. That said, the signings you’ve made this season have been overwhelmingly poor, with none, other than Billy Sharp, making a meaningful contribution to this team.
Your approach to games has been baffling at best and infuriating at worst. Fans would accept losing if it was in a manner which got us excited, but to not meaningfully test a goalkeeper when 17,000 have paid no small sum to watch the team perform is shameful. I accept the performance to an extent depends on the players, but the motivation, fitness, formation and tactics of the team has a much greater bearing on proceedings - and those are factors you have full control over.
Something is rotten in the squad, I believe. If it is a player or a group of players or a culture within the squad, we want you to be brave enough to cut it out no matter what the cost, because it is pulling the whole club down.
I am fed up with seeing over-paid, under-motivated players turn out for the club. We would much prefer to see a young player signed from a lower league come and try to be a success. That player would be given more time and celebrated should he succeed. I appreciate that you won’t always get it right with these kinds of players, but we’d like to see you try and get it right.
You have been given a well-paid job, in a vibrant city, with faithful support and more financial power than most managers could dream of. We now expect you to help steer the club to a more steady, secure place.
THE BOARD
This club has had 12 different managers in less than a decade. None of them have brought success. Are they all bad managers? I doubt it. The buck has to stop with you, the board. Your constant hiring and firing of managers has brought nothing but instability to the club. If you take the decision to appoint a manager (a) do the necessary homework to ensure he is the right man and (b) be brave enough to stick with him long enough to have a meaningful impact on the long-term future of this club. You only need to look at those clubs who have granted managers time to build a team to see how this can be successful.
Danny Wilson, Nigel Clough and Chris Morgan were not bad managers. I take your point with David Weir though.
The club has remarkable support considering its modest position in the football pyramid. We understand that this provides important revenue streams and helps sell the club as ‘big’ to players and sponsors. But this could all change and probably will should we stay in this position, playing the way we’re playing. We’re already not as attractive now as we were four or five years ago.
I ask for more consideration when it comes to appointments, both on and off the field. I appreciate that total financial transparency is not realistic, but I ask that the clubs treats its fans the way they should be treated. After all, the club is not the ground, the players, the brand, the assets or the fans, it’s a mixture of them all, but without the fans, the club is nothing.
Thanks to anyone who has read this far.
Up the Blades.
