HeCanDoMagic
Well-Known Member
This Season
Unfortunately, and not for the first time in our history, our season was decided on things off the football pitch.
Whatever your opinions on the matter, the moment Evans was found guilty was the moment our season was destined to end in disappointment.
Pre-trial the team were playing with a spark, a creative freedom, we were brushing teams aside and there was a swagger about us. Post trial, and with the players reeling from the loss of a friend/colleague and the spearhead of our attack we lost all the afore mentioned positives. It was plain to see from the moment we kicked off against the MK Dons that something wasn’t right, that this wasn’t the United of the previous 40 odd games, that was a United we wouldn’t see again.
In addition to this the footballing Gods deemed that the loss of Evans wasn’t enough and took away Hoskins (the closest thing to a natural replacement for CE) for the season.
To boot, we had lost our best left back for the second half of the season and lost our most influential midfielder for an important run of games (which included a derby defeat which in hindsight proved crucial).
The fact we managed to somehow wrestle and battle our way to Wembley against an inform Stevenage was extremely admirable, every single player involved in those games deserves credit.
We had no momentum as such, we were back to being a battling side and not the side Danny Wilson had created.
Unfortunately DW’s approach seemed to rely on just 11 players – which is not a criticism because the game that those 11 players played is one that we had all been craving. However as soon as our starting 11 had to be altered we did not have the natural replacements in the squad to ensure continuity was maintained.
Our season was lost with a court case and 3 injuries, not tactical deficiencies.
Next Season
For me DW’s future should not even come into consideration and I’m glad that in the main other fans seem to feel the same.
But if DW thinks he had it tough this season then he has another thing coming because with the financial situation and the likely restructuring of the squad he will have one of the biggest tasks of his career ahead.
Williamson, Lowton and Maguire – these are the 3 key players. These are the ones I would be hell bent on keeping. These in addition to Lescinel, Flynn, Doyle , McAllister and Howard should be the nucleus of our team next season.
This obviously is easier said than done and over the coming days or weeks I’m sure we’ll get a better picture of where we’re at and what we can realistically achieve in term of player recruitment.
I’d like to see us sign 2 strikers (one of them being a fit and regularly played Hoskins), a ball playing midfielder, an out and out winger and a centre half. How achieveable this is I don’t yet know.
The fans
My knackers are aching we’ve been kicked in them that many times – in my life time alone I’ve seen disappointment at 3 FA Cup Semi Finals, 1 Play Off semi final, 4 play off finals and 1 league cup semi final.
But we’re made of stern stuff and bounce back is what we do, and it is what we will do next season. Carry on regardless! We can all see what DW is trying to achieve, its something we have hungered after for a long long time.
Who cares if there are better teams out there, who cares if them lot are a league above, yes we’ve been built up and let down so many times and had promises made and broken.
BUT as one season ends and another begins, one thing remains constant, we’re Blades and that means something to us all that cannot be written in words.
We will carry on, we will enjoy ourselfs, we will back the team and we will be United.
2012/2013 – bring it on.
Unfortunately, and not for the first time in our history, our season was decided on things off the football pitch.
Whatever your opinions on the matter, the moment Evans was found guilty was the moment our season was destined to end in disappointment.
Pre-trial the team were playing with a spark, a creative freedom, we were brushing teams aside and there was a swagger about us. Post trial, and with the players reeling from the loss of a friend/colleague and the spearhead of our attack we lost all the afore mentioned positives. It was plain to see from the moment we kicked off against the MK Dons that something wasn’t right, that this wasn’t the United of the previous 40 odd games, that was a United we wouldn’t see again.
In addition to this the footballing Gods deemed that the loss of Evans wasn’t enough and took away Hoskins (the closest thing to a natural replacement for CE) for the season.
To boot, we had lost our best left back for the second half of the season and lost our most influential midfielder for an important run of games (which included a derby defeat which in hindsight proved crucial).
The fact we managed to somehow wrestle and battle our way to Wembley against an inform Stevenage was extremely admirable, every single player involved in those games deserves credit.
We had no momentum as such, we were back to being a battling side and not the side Danny Wilson had created.
Unfortunately DW’s approach seemed to rely on just 11 players – which is not a criticism because the game that those 11 players played is one that we had all been craving. However as soon as our starting 11 had to be altered we did not have the natural replacements in the squad to ensure continuity was maintained.
Our season was lost with a court case and 3 injuries, not tactical deficiencies.
Next Season
For me DW’s future should not even come into consideration and I’m glad that in the main other fans seem to feel the same.
But if DW thinks he had it tough this season then he has another thing coming because with the financial situation and the likely restructuring of the squad he will have one of the biggest tasks of his career ahead.
Williamson, Lowton and Maguire – these are the 3 key players. These are the ones I would be hell bent on keeping. These in addition to Lescinel, Flynn, Doyle , McAllister and Howard should be the nucleus of our team next season.
This obviously is easier said than done and over the coming days or weeks I’m sure we’ll get a better picture of where we’re at and what we can realistically achieve in term of player recruitment.
I’d like to see us sign 2 strikers (one of them being a fit and regularly played Hoskins), a ball playing midfielder, an out and out winger and a centre half. How achieveable this is I don’t yet know.
The fans
My knackers are aching we’ve been kicked in them that many times – in my life time alone I’ve seen disappointment at 3 FA Cup Semi Finals, 1 Play Off semi final, 4 play off finals and 1 league cup semi final.
But we’re made of stern stuff and bounce back is what we do, and it is what we will do next season. Carry on regardless! We can all see what DW is trying to achieve, its something we have hungered after for a long long time.
Who cares if there are better teams out there, who cares if them lot are a league above, yes we’ve been built up and let down so many times and had promises made and broken.
BUT as one season ends and another begins, one thing remains constant, we’re Blades and that means something to us all that cannot be written in words.
We will carry on, we will enjoy ourselfs, we will back the team and we will be United.
2012/2013 – bring it on.
