Blackwell's dilemma.

[Bradders]

It seems obvious now, that before Blackwell can make any additions to the squad, other than loan signings, Billy Sharp has to agree to be moved out, providing that any club is interested in signing him.
Sharp doesn't appear to fit into Blackwell's future plans, so we are in limbo, unless finacial restraints are eased to allow for the two essential players to come in that we all know we so desperately need, another striker and midfielder with some quality and presence.
Failing that, we are back to loan players and trialists who are most likely no better than we have at the moment.

Judging from the report on the reserves defeat last night, the trialists failed to impress, whether that includes Fortune I don't know, and with Hendrie limping off yet again, there has to be a sense of urgency from the Board to complete the squad if they are serious about promotion.

It must be frustrating for Blackwell, some players underperforming, Hendrie always crocked or suspended, the possibility of losing Kilgallon, Paddygate, Sharp standing his ground, he can't lose Carney, plus having little room for manoeuvre with his finances, he could well be wishing he had thrown in the towel after the playoff final after all.

 

[Fiery Blade]

It seemed obvious that despite high value signings Liecester City looked a cut above the Blades for much of the match. Looking down their team sheet it was not exactly overburdened with known names yet they seem to be able to deal with Henderson and Evans (£5 million cost) with reletive comfort. Its what the manager can get out of them - Blackwell lacks both Man Management skills and Tactical Know How- I for one wish his towel had been well and truly thrown in after Wembley

 

[clashing blade]

I have to agree with Fiery Blade.

 

[Robbie]

It's a bit soon in the season to be sacking Blackwell if I am honest.

However I don't believe he is the right man to take us forward and would have been exstatic had he left after the Wembley debacle.

 

[grafikhaus]

Got to admit, I'm beginning to have doubts. It seems he has the Warnock mentality of 'quantity rather than quality'.
At present we have Billy (£2m), Hendo (£2m), Cotts (£2m), Ched (£3m), not to mention £600k for Howard.
Christ, we could have had Darren Bent for that!

 

[MAQ]

Got to admit, I'm beginning to have doubts. It seems he has the Warnock mentality of 'quantity rather than quality'.
At present we have Billy (£2m), Hendo (£2m), Cotts (£2m), Ched (£3m), not to mention £600k for Howard.
Christ, we could have had Darren Bent for that!

And Darren Bents wages would probably have been equal to the majority of those players put together

 

[jono]

I think it's unrealistic to talk of sacking at this stage, it's not as if last season we only avoided relegation on the last day like Barnsley. Hopefully after a few more games the team will gel and we'll start playing some decent football.

 

[Robbie]

I think it's unrealistic to talk of sacking at this stage, it's not as if last season we only avoided relegation on the last day like Barnsley. Hopefully after a few more games the team will gel and we'll start playing some decent football.

We said this all last season

 

[SwissBlade]

Ermmm..... sorry to disappoint the Blackwell haters, but the board backed him in the summer and McCabe personally claimed to have talked him into staying. So they won't be sacking him in a hurry.

Add to it that he's had to sell a few and restructure the squad AND were still unbeaten.

Some of you will never like Blackie or his style of play but the comments on this post are ridiculous.

Blackie's Hopefully here to stay, we need stability, I don't always agree with the way we play or the players he picks, but a lot of it is out of necessity. We proved last season that on occasions we can play decent stuff.

 

[Fiery Blade]

Played excellent football in PO Semi V Preston at BDTBL only to see nobody on the end of the play - but the build ups were terrific!!!
However, sadly that was the first and last time!

 

[SwissBlade]

Got to admit, I'm beginning to have doubts. It seems he has the Warnock mentality of 'quantity rather than quality'.
At present we have Billy (£2m), Hendo (£2m), Cotts (£2m), Ched (£3m), not to mention £600k for Howard.
Christ, we could have had Darren Bent for that!

The same Darren Bent who scored f all at Spurs?

 

[Ollessendro]

We said this all last season

And we did, albeit in the final 3rd of the season.

We can only hope that KB has learnt from his mistakes. He is certainly talking the talk (in the radio interview after Watford he said he'd be much more positive at home and et teams worry about us).

We have to let him see if he can walk the walk. Personally i'd stick with him to the end of the season. If he doesn't get us up, then start looking for someone else. I know it wasn't pretty and could have been better, but in his first full season he did pretty well. He deserves a shot this year. He has had some cash to play with and hence at the end of the season should not be making any excuses if we don't get promoted.

 

[grafikhaus]

And Darren Bents wages would probably have been equal to the majority of those players put together

And? That's my point. £3k p.w. here, £5k p.w. there. All adds up.

 

[Robbie]

The same Darren Bent who scored f all at Spurs?

Spurs' leading scorer last season?

And we did, albeit in the final 3rd of the season.

At times we did yes.... but until the play off semis there wasn't a game all season where I thought.... yeah we played well all game there.

 

[TonyAgana]

Got to admit, I'm beginning to have doubts. It seems he has the Warnock mentality of 'quantity rather than quality'.
At present we have Billy (£2m), Hendo (£2m), Cotts (£2m), Ched (£3m), not to mention £600k for Howard.
Christ, we could have had Darren Bent for that!

You'd rather we got rid of Sharp, Henderson, Cotterill, Evans and Howard to get Darren Bent in? I bet I can guess where you stand in regards to the Beattie sale.

I'm rolling this old one out again so apologies to those who've heard it before (but failed to counter it, I might add )... Where was our 20+ goals-a-season striker in the promotion season?

 

[Come from away]

Spurs' leading scorer last season?



At times we did yes.... but until the play off semis there wasn't a game all season where I thought.... yeah we played well all game there.

Given that Quinn was our leading scorer at the end of the season he must be worth a a few million??? Who needs Bent???

 

[Kentblade]

It seems obvious now, that before Blackwell can make any additions to the squad, other than loan signings, Billy Sharp has to agree to be moved out, providing that any club is interested in signing him.
Sharp doesn't appear to fit into Blackwell's future plans, so we are in limbo, unless finacial restraints are eased to allow for the two essential players to come in that we all know we so desperately need, another striker and midfielder with some quality and presence.
Failing that, we are back to loan players and trialists who are most likely no better than we have at the moment.

Judging from the report on the reserves defeat last night, the trialists failed to impress, whether that includes Fortune I don't know, and with Hendrie limping off yet again, there has to be a sense of urgency from the Board to complete the squad if they are serious about promotion.

It must be frustrating for Blackwell, some players underperforming, Hendrie always crocked or suspended, the possibility of losing Kilgallon, Paddygate, Sharp standing his ground, he can't lose Carney, plus having little room for manoeuvre with his finances, he could well be wishing he had thrown in the towel after the playoff final after all.

I have to agree with you Bradders that the possibility of automatic promotion imo looks an awful long way off.
Realalistically a longer spell in this division would seem more likely but it is still early season with a long way to go.
As you say we are still crying out for the creative midfield player and another quality striker.A decision also on signing a goal keeper as relying on loans is not the way forward.
Very concerned if Blackie will ever take us to the promised land.Yes we will win more than we will lose but can we do better than last season.?
It is a tall order.
UTB

 

[MAQ]

And? That's my point. £3k p.w. here, £5k p.w. there. All adds up.

and rather than having 5 players we have 1!

is it just me or is this not even a valid argument?

 

[Ollessendro]

Spurs' leading scorer last season?



At times we did yes.... but until the play off semis there wasn't a game all season where I thought.... yeah we played well all game there.

Robbie. How about completely outplaying Birmigham at home, thrashing high flying Cardiff at Ninian Park or taking Deby apart at home???

 

[Bladesman]

The same Darren Bent who scored f all at Spurs?

Or the same Bent that scored a shitload for Ipswich and Charlton? and has 2 in 2 for Sunderland

 

[Robbie]

Given that Quinn was our leading scorer at the end of the season he must be worth a a few million??? Who needs Bent???

Not saying we need Bent, however he is a very good striker.

PS. Beattie finished leading scorer for the Blades last season.

If you wish to be pedantic about it all and mention he went to Stoke, then Ward was our leading scorer is my anticipated response.

 

[Bladesman]

Not saying we need Bent, however he is a very good striker.

PS. Beattie finished leading scorer for the Blades last season.

If you wish to be pedantic about it all and mention he went to Stoke, then Ward was our leading scorer is my anticipated response.

Yet we didn't get more money for him.

Really annoys me everytime that gets mentioned.

 

[davidpinder]

why are we talking about Darren bent like he would come to us anyway

We need 3 more players 1 in each department at the back for cover, Middle for quality and up top for goals i worry about ched can't see him being a goal machine don't forget we have only forked out 1.5m at the moment the other 1.5m is add ons i am sure a big chunk will be promotion. I think mcCabe thinks we can't afford to go up as long as we win more than we lose he'll be happy lets hope our neighbours don't cause a shock.

 

[Come from away]

Not aiming to be pedantic but struck me that having multiple players scoring a few is not all bad; rather than trying to rely on the 'big guy' all the time. Some of our recent big guys, though highly thought and productive elsewhere, have not been putting in 20+ goal performances for us.

 

[Stafford Blade]

did anyone else feel a bit sorry for sharp at the leicester game? why not throw him on with 10 mins left instead of 2 wingers with very little end product?

 

[MAQ]

did anyone else feel a bit sorry for sharp at the leicester game? why not throw him on with 10 mins left instead of 2 wingers with very little end product?

i think that blackie had that very thing in mind potentially. However as we had to waste a substitution by taking howard off because he didnt say he was ill before the match this couldnt be done.

 

[Fiery Blade]

How many times does Sharp have a chance?
The guy is just not good enough at this level?
What makes you believe he will get any better?

 

[Revolution]

If you wish to be pedantic about it all and mention he went to Stoke, then Ward was our leading scorer is my anticipated response.

Quinn scored 7 times last year, Ward twice. How was Ward our leading scorer?

Oh, and it's true we had no 20 goal scorer when we went up, but we had 2 in double figures (Shipps, Webber) and Ifill, Jags and Kabba all got 8 or 9. No one save Beattie managed more than 7 last year. If you're going to go up, someone has to score goals as a rule

 

[Fiery Blade]

If Billy Sharp scored as many times as he is caught offside or falls on his arse either / or he would be the Golden Boot winner and we would be champions!

 

[Sirius]

I would agree that we need stability along with skill and consistency but Blackwell's chopping and changing the side about will never give us that stability. It seems to me that he picks a side to negate the opposition rather than a team which will go out for the win.
Pick your best team and let the opposition do the worrying for a change.