Antwoine Hackford

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Another 'don't dare start playing kids who might show our expensive Wilder flops up - get 'em out loaned' move.

pommpey
 
I honestly don't get 1 month loans by the time you start getting used to new surroundings your off back to parent club.
I didn’t even realise 1 month loans were still a thing. Haven’t heard of one in ages.
It’s understandable if it’s an established player covering for an injury for a month, but this is unusual.
 
Like ndiaye and jebbison ?

Ndaiye has been mysteriously frozen out and Jebbison is/was at Burton, isn't he?

Clear what the board policy is here. If Wilder's duds aren't playing, they aren't in the shop window, however shit they are. They are just eking out their time with their thumbs up their arses and depreciating which is a loss to the club.

One day, people will realise the financial and technical damage Wilder's naïve transfer spree has done to Sheffield United. They stop blaming COVID and other disconnected fluff and concentrate on his stubbornness with his one-system approach and the shower of expensive damp squibs he thought were enhancements. The ignoring of our gathering midfield crisis is one amongst several failures he left us with.

pommpey
 
Youth loans are one month loans, aren't they? Presumably for the players wellbeing.

I'm not sure what the problem is. A month of men's football will help everyone see where he is in terms of development and whether he'll go out on a longer loan next month.
 
Another 'don't dare start playing kids who might show our expensive Wilder flops up - get 'em out loaned' move.

pommpey
One way of viewing it I suppose.
Kind of glass half full / glass half empty and will bust filling your mouth with broken glass causing you to choke to death on your own blood.
 
A report suggested we had brought someone back early, who is that?
 
I honestly don't get 1 month loans by the time you start getting used to new surroundings your off back to parent club.
I think part of this is the pragmatism around games during the festive period as well as getting men's football.

A quick glance at the fixtures and there is no game between Coventry on the 14th of December and Everton on the 7th of January.

I'd say it makes sense to keep the lads playing, especially stretching their comfort levels at non-league clubs when games come thick and fast rather than having no competitive action for 24 days.
 
Hasnt he been out injured as well. Hopefully 3-4 blood and thunder competitive games under his belt
 
A report suggested we had brought someone back early, who is that?
We brought back Arblaster from Bradford PA and sent Maguire to them.
 
I honestly don't get 1 month loans by the time you start getting used to new surroundings your off back to parent club.
A few lads going out on short term loans to local clubs. Does that = common sense, just to see if they are up to it, before extending the loan or sending them further afield?
Genuine question.
It’s part of their programme of development into the man’s game.
 
Ndaiye has been mysteriously frozen out and Jebbison is/was at Burton, isn't he?

Clear what the board policy is here. If Wilder's duds aren't playing, they aren't in the shop window, however shit they are. They are just eking out their time with their thumbs up their arses and depreciating which is a loss to the club.

One day, people will realise the financial and technical damage Wilder's naïve transfer spree has done to Sheffield United. They stop blaming COVID and other disconnected fluff and concentrate on his stubbornness with his one-system approach and the shower of expensive damp squibs he thought were enhancements. The ignoring of our gathering midfield crisis is one amongst several failures he left us with.

pommpey
Is Wilder solely to blame for these players being bought? Was there not a chairman and numerous others involved in the acquisition of players? Do we know that the players we bought were first choice, or did Wilder identify a list and then the recruitment team worked their way down the list until they found a player who accepted the low (for PL) wages on offer?

We don’t know the answers to most of this, so it’s unfair the lay the blame solely at Wilder’s door.
 

Ndaiye has been mysteriously frozen out and Jebbison is/was at Burton, isn't he?

Clear what the board policy is here. If Wilder's duds aren't playing, they aren't in the shop window, however shit they are. They are just eking out their time with their thumbs up their arses and depreciating which is a loss to the club.

One day, people will realise the financial and technical damage Wilder's naïve transfer spree has done to Sheffield United. They stop blaming COVID and other disconnected fluff and concentrate on his stubbornness with his one-system approach and the shower of expensive damp squibs he thought were enhancements. The ignoring of our gathering midfield crisis is one amongst several failures he left us with.

pommpey
Got out the wrong side of the bed this morning?
 
Ndaiye has been mysteriously frozen out and Jebbison is/was at Burton, isn't he?

Clear what the board policy is here. If Wilder's duds aren't playing, they aren't in the shop window, however shit they are. They are just eking out their time with their thumbs up their arses and depreciating which is a loss to the club.

One day, people will realise the financial and technical damage Wilder's naïve transfer spree has done to Sheffield United. They stop blaming COVID and other disconnected fluff and concentrate on his stubbornness with his one-system approach and the shower of expensive damp squibs he thought were enhancements. The ignoring of our gathering midfield crisis is one amongst several failures he left us with.

pommpey
Ndiaye hasn't been mysteriously frozen out at all his form dipped so he was replaced he's still in and around the squad
Don't be such a drama queen
 
His progress seems to have slown a little. He was a big name in the academy, I remember someone on here describing him as a generational talent and when he came off the bench and almost scored on his debut I was really excited about him getting into the first team squad.

I've kept an eye on him in the 23s and he's not scored as many recently.

He's a kid, and I only skim over the academy news and highlights but he went from one of our closest (to making the step) to one on the outskirts a little.
A loan move should really gauge where he is and teach him a lot.
 
Another 'don't dare start playing kids who might show our expensive Wilder flops up - get 'em out loaned' move.

pommpey
He’s been injured for most of this season pomps and dipped in form towards the end of last season a months loan to get him up to speed and reevaluate in January seems pretty sensible to me.
 
His progress seems to have slown a little. He was a big name in the academy, I remember someone on here describing him as a generational talent and when he came off the bench and almost scored on his debut I was really excited about him getting into the first team squad.

I've kept an eye on him in the 23s and he's not scored as many recently.

He's a kid, and I only skim over the academy news and highlights but he went from one of our closest (to making the step) to one on the outskirts a little.
A loan move should really gauge where he is and teach him a lot.
Been injured pig end like you say playing men’s football at 17 is no small achievement and will help bring him along
 
Is Wilder solely to blame for these players being bought? Was there not a chairman and numerous others involved in the acquisition of players? Do we know that the players we bought were first choice, or did Wilder identify a list and then the recruitment team worked their way down the list until they found a player who accepted the low (for PL) wages on offer?

We don’t know the answers to most of this, so it’s unfair the lay the blame solely at Wilder’s door.

Wilder was team manager, wasn't he?

He will have had a portfolio from his scouts and advisors and his likely areas to prepare for the future as a PL club. Quite what the flying fuck he was doing buying Moussett to fulfil the striker's role when even at Bournemouth he was shy on goals and unable to finish a game is anyone's guess. I can't see HRH and his board being particularly influential on twisting his arm for that one, even at £10-11m, depending on who you speak to.

But elsewhere ... it's not just this cash acquisitions which confound the sensibilities of even the most mild-mannered football follower. Berge (unproven in the English leagues), Brewster (great at Swansea, unproven anywhere else), Burke (laughably shit), McBurnie (see Brewster), Bogle and Lowe (between them we've had about 40% of the return expected and only through Bogle) Robinson (jesus-tittyfucking-christ) ... but what the fuck was going on with Rodwell, Freeman and Robinson C and even the stupidity of spending all that on cack and not breaking the bank for a keeper tons better than Ramsdale in goal for us. I mean, given the logic surrounding the four areas of our team:

Goalkeeping: Was it wise to simply let Henderson go back without a robust bid to buy him back to a team he was comfortable in and pulling off some simply brilliant saves?

Defence: We let Stearman go on promotion. Is he not any worse than the shower of pretty Chad Valley LCBs we have had trying to cover for Jack? Stears was nails. He'd have broken his dick trying to keep a clean sheet. What's with all those signings anyway? Bryan (inconsistent and flakey) Robinson (fucking rubbish) and playing Stevens in an unfamiliar role even when he's on his way down in form?

Midfield: Letting Besic go? To me he was a player who could only get better with more games and more of an imposing, game-making midfielder who could attack, tackle and defend in equal measures. Yet we blew the bank on a nesh sicknote who occasionally turns on the flashes of capability, mainly these days to bid for a transfer we suspect. And why not get that engine room optimised? Norwood and Fleck, one would wish to understand, would be the anchor points in any progressive United side but they have been serially woeful across two seasons now, with no sign of replacing them. One would imagine they'd be first for the chop yet during Wilder's period we signed no one to threaten their positions instead caused Lundstram to chuck his dummy out by signing sicknote. The only midfielder we have had any return out of is - in limited terms - Osborn and even he is technically playing out of position and finds himself outmuscled.

Strikers: 'Just buy strikers'. He did, lots of them. I don't think between them they've topped twenty goals in three seasons, have they? To remain viable in any league that has to be a total for one striker in one season with two or three others on ten or above.

Wilder had his ambitions and was obviously persuasive on HRH to chuck the dice on future revenue (because I doubt he had the cash in his pockets at the time) to gamble on his gut feelings rather than bring in tried and tested PL out of favours and benchwarmers - preferably ones who can complete 90 minutes and have goals and playing ability in them at the top flight of English football.

So, in short, I disagree. It's his gig. He owns this until we actually start turning a corner then it becomes Heckingbottom's.

pommpey
 
His progress seems to have slown a little. He was a big name in the academy, I remember someone on here describing him as a generational talent and when he came off the bench and almost scored on his debut I was really excited about him getting into the first team squad.

I've kept an eye on him in the 23s and he's not scored as many recently.

He's a kid, and I only skim over the academy news and highlights but he went from one of our closest (to making the step) to one on the outskirts a little.
A loan move should really gauge where he is and teach him a lot.
His full debut was against Peterborough and he was sensational. He also played pretty well in some other games eg Millwall. His form did dip a bit but that coincided with the form of the whole team who certainly gave the impression they didn’t want to play for Slav. I think Ndjaye is an outstanding and exciting prospect and although he hasn’t played in the last few games he has been on the bench.

(he hasn’t scored for the U23s as he has not been playing for them - one game only I think)
 
Wilder was team manager, wasn't he?

He will have had a portfolio from his scouts and advisors and his likely areas to prepare for the future as a PL club. Quite what the flying fuck he was doing buying Moussett to fulfil the striker's role when even at Bournemouth he was shy on goals and unable to finish a game is anyone's guess. I can't see HRH and his board being particularly influential on twisting his arm for that one, even at £10-11m, depending on who you speak to.

But elsewhere ... it's not just this cash acquisitions which confound the sensibilities of even the most mild-mannered football follower. Berge (unproven in the English leagues), Brewster (great at Swansea, unproven anywhere else), Burke (laughably shit), McBurnie (see Brewster), Bogle and Lowe (between them we've had about 40% of the return expected and only through Bogle) Robinson (jesus-tittyfucking-christ) ... but what the fuck was going on with Rodwell, Freeman and Robinson C and even the stupidity of spending all that on cack and not breaking the bank for a keeper tons better than Ramsdale in goal for us. I mean, given the logic surrounding the four areas of our team:

Goalkeeping: Was it wise to simply let Henderson go back without a robust bid to buy him back to a team he was comfortable in and pulling off some simply brilliant saves?

Defence: We let Stearman go on promotion. Is he not any worse than the shower of pretty Chad Valley LCBs we have had trying to cover for Jack? Stears was nails. He'd have broken his dick trying to keep a clean sheet. What's with all those signings anyway? Bryan (inconsistent and flakey) Robinson (fucking rubbish) and playing Stevens in an unfamiliar role even when he's on his way down in form?

Midfield: Letting Besic go? To me he was a player who could only get better with more games and more of an imposing, game-making midfielder who could attack, tackle and defend in equal measures. Yet we blew the bank on a nesh sicknote who occasionally turns on the flashes of capability, mainly these days to bid for a transfer we suspect. And why not get that engine room optimised? Norwood and Fleck, one would wish to understand, would be the anchor points in any progressive United side but they have been serially woeful across two seasons now, with no sign of replacing them. One would imagine they'd be first for the chop yet during Wilder's period we signed no one to threaten their positions instead caused Lundstram to chuck his dummy out by signing sicknote. The only midfielder we have had any return out of is - in limited terms - Osborn and even he is technically playing out of position and finds himself outmuscled.

Strikers: 'Just buy strikers'. He did, lots of them. I don't think between them they've topped twenty goals in three seasons, have they? To remain viable in any league that has to be a total for one striker in one season with two or three others on ten or above.

Wilder had his ambitions and was obviously persuasive on HRH to chuck the dice on future revenue (because I doubt he had the cash in his pockets at the time) to gamble on his gut feelings rather than bring in tried and tested PL out of favours and benchwarmers - preferably ones who can complete 90 minutes and have goals and playing ability in them at the top flight of English football.

So, in short, I disagree. It's his gig. He owns this until we actually start turning a corner then it becomes Heckingbottom's.

pommpey
Wilders recruitment up until we got into PL was largely great (apart from the odd thing like Holmes). However once we were in the PL it was terrible. Players who didn’t make the step up to PL and in every case we vastly overpaid for them. Also as others have said we were completely over stocked with strikers and he ignored the obvious lack of quality and athleticism in midfield and we never replaced JOC even with a loan player.
 
His full debut was against Peterborough and he was sensational. He also played pretty well in some other games eg Millwall. His form did dip a bit but that coincided with the form of the whole team who certainly gave the impression they didn’t want to play for Slav. I think Ndjaye is an outstanding and exciting prospect and although he hasn’t played in the last few games he has been on the bench.

(he hasn’t scored for the U23s as he has not been playing for them - one game only I think)
Sure he scored twice last week
 
Wilders recruitment up until we got into PL was largely great (apart from the odd thing like Holmes). However once we were in the PL it was terrible. Players who didn’t make the step up to PL and in every case we vastly overpaid for them. Also as others have said we were completely over stocked with strikers and he ignored the obvious lack of quality and athleticism in midfield and we never replaced JOC even with a loan player.
I've done this to death on other posts but I wholeheartedly agree with yourself and Pompey_Blade here.

Two years of top flight football after being led there by a dyed in the wool Blade and no improvement in facilities or Category A Academy status is just unfathomable. Like most, I find that an incredibly poor prioritisation by someone who wouldn't tip up the owner's pockets and who wanted to leave something for his pals to be proud of yet only made noises about this having spunked over 100m already.

It's still quite staggering that the conclusion Chris had was that the bloke who just scored him 24 in 42 matches to get us promoted was the one he should be urgently and expensively replacing and with other players he'd just outperformed (OM 24 in 44, CR 13 in 28). I still hadn't personally forgotten him bringing on James Wilson, latterly seen scoring 1 in 4 at Port Vale in League Two, over Billy at home vs the Pigs in the previous season. Did Chris not like sharing the limelight with Billy at times or what?

When you do consider the team finishing 9th was 10/11ths from the promotion squad it makes you question the entire recruitment and overall awareness of the teams ability and that of those coming in. Yes you need new bodies and to replace those leaving but it could have been so much more well managed.

One final thought; was it also absolutely necessary to end up with such a draconian outcome of Mark Duffy being ostracized? A bloke who was a joy to watch for 3 years. How much did that temper tantrum cost? Yes, Lunny surprised us for a few months, but there were plenty of times Duffy would have been useful, especially from the bench, and once we lost O'Connell we'd gone from being 3-dimentional to being one dimensional in less than a season. When you consider the money on Freeman used to replace him, then not playing him, then shipping him out on loan when we were short midfielders, then end up playing Lunny after he'd refused an extension, because we had no other senior option. That was a lesson in how not to manage resources too. But after 3 years of working together, could Wilder and Duffy not have just resolved this amicably? I think he could have contributed, even at that level in that set up. He was just a lovely player who added to the team.

Wilder overall did a fantastic job lifting the place. He ran out of steam, most would acknowledge in season 2 in the PL, but you look back more dispassionately now and you realise he made quite a few expensive mistakes upon promotion, we just didn't see the result of this until later. Plenty of warning signs were there post lockdown but were largely ignored too.

Chris was always happy to advise that he was in charge. I don't think we need to rewrite that for that bits that went wrong.
 
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