In the 1988-89 season we finished 2nd in the 3rd Division with 84 points.
We scored 2 or more goals in 26 matches and 93 league goals in total
We played direct, exciting, attacking football and only failed to hit the net in 7 out of 46 matches.
If we could repeat that success in 2013-14, I for one would be more than happy to see us play in a “prehistoric” fashion.
“..but football has changed. Those tactics don’t work anymore. They stopped working years ago”.
Tell that to Wednesday and Doncaster who got promoted from this league by playing direct football.
Tell it to Stoke and Bolton who established themselves in the Premier League, reached finals, won trophies.
Tell it to Bradford fans who saw their club play in a League Cup Final and win at Wembley in a Play-Off final.
Tell it to West Ham, tell it to Port Vale, tell it to Northampton.
In fact, tell it to Sheffield United fans whose most successful years have come while watching prehistoric “hoofball” under dinosaur managers.
Except of course it wasn’t always “hoofball” (2002/2003) and when done well, even “hoofball” is bloody exciting to watch (1988 to 1990).
Someone drew the battle lines in the wrong place. The real battle is not direct v passing but attacking football v defensive football.
Wilson’s first season. Very attacking, great results, great to watch, no complaints from me.
Wilson’s second season. Very defensive, similar results but terrible to watch, I can understand why fans turned against him.
Kendall was a very similar story to Wilson. Spackman’s team played passing football and it was also great to watch.
Robson, Heath and Speed all played football “the right way” but it was terrible to watch.
Whoever we choose as manager, I just hope he goes down the attacking football route. That to me is "attractive" football whether it's direct, passing or somewhere in between.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that we’re hopeless and will never amount to anything.
At least let us get some enjoyment out of our football even if it’s 3-5 defeats every week.