Blades Worst Manager

[DronnieBlade]

Complete bollocks.

What. His doing the missus bit ?

Can't be any of the rest of it

UTB

 

[alcoblade]

My top 3;

Robson
Robson
Robson

UTB

 

[Deleted member 875]

From the managers I've seen at the Lane, and I've seen a few in the last 30 odd years.

Bassett
Wilder (provisonal rating)
Kendall
Porterfield
Warnock
Clough
Wilson
Spackman
Blackwell
Bruce
Thompson
Speed
McEwan
Heath
Adams
Adkins
Weir
Robson

 

[Dellas Cowboys]

I agree, I think he had as good a chance as any to take us up before one of the worst days I can remember as a United fan.



To be fair, any manager in the world would resign if the board decided to sell your two key strikers on the same day without you knowing.

It's going to be 20 years next summer and I haven't calmed down about that in the slightest.

 

[Bladesway]

That's what made it worse. You'd think that having an affinity with the club, then if nothing else, he would at least have a degree of passion and a desire to succeed. He brought nothing but even more negativity in his words and actions.

The minute he had Bassett in to answer the phone because the job was too big you knew we were utterly fucked.

 

[northsomersetblade]

Think you've summed it up perfectly.

We have had some less than perfect managers over the last 40 years, but Haslam stands out as by far the worst. In my humble opinion no one else comes close.

Your summary of his summary summarises it nicely for me. A shame cos he seemed like a nice old chap at the time, but when you both put it like that I believe you are right and he sowed the seeds of so much of the trouble that followed.

 

[Bladesway]

He got us to a playoff final with resources and a team many managers would have got promoted.
As I've already said, he's a good coach and when he first took over his job was effectively a coaching job. Charlton have just seen an upturn in form after sacking Slade and they didn't even have a manager. We were shocking under Robson, hugely under performing and with many players very demotivated. It wasn't the biggest task to turn that round.
In my opinion, now and at the time, Blackwell was sacked too late. Sacking him when we did was stupid and it really gave Speed no chance with the squad he was left with.

I'll accept he may not have been as bad as Haslam, Heath, Robson or Weir but he did a huge amount of damage to our club. Every club he's managed has been relegated after he's been sacked; Leeds, Us, Luton, Bury. I find it hard to believe that's just a coincidence. When we should have been investing in our future, he pissed all the money away on crocks, shit loans and the wrong signings.

Fine lines though. Wasn't it goal difference or a single point we missed out on promotion? Then in the play off final we lose to a worldie goal and are denied a blatant penalty?

After having half his squad sold from under his feet? Tell you what some people are hard judges.

 

[true99blade]

Some people are commenting thinking this is 'your most disliked manager'... there's absolutely no way Blackwell and Clough should even be considered as one of our worst.
Robson the worst in my lifetime, followed by Weir and Adams. (My God we've had some shite in recent history)
I've never disliked a Blades manager ever, until a certain Nigel Adkins came along. Was gradually taking us back to the few days of David Weir whilst blindly putting a team full of pensioners together. And the Scunthorpe post-match interview topped it all. How he could have the nerve to have a little dig at the fans for being a little less understanding than he would've liked after a 0-4 opening day tonking is beyond me. Never thought I'd be happy to see a United manager sacked.

 

[JohnDenver]

Robson the worst in my lifetime, followed by Weir and Adams.

Is the correct answer.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Kevin Blackwell is only slated because the "customers who pay for sporting entertainment" didn't like the lack of aesthetic appeal played under him, which is of course an irrelevance.

We would never had been relegated had he not been sacked when we was. Every manager since him, barring Wilson and Wilder has been crap.

 

[oldblade]

Wow, so many argument and different views but for me the worst five are Robson, Robson, Robson, Robson and Robson. Nobody else came close.

Robson managed to make what should have been a premier league side look like a struggling championship side.

Haslam made what should have been a comfortably placed second division (in new money - championship) side look like a struggling fourth division side.

He took us to depths we had never ever experienced before. We had never ever been as low as the third division (let alone the fourth division) until Haslam arrived. He altered all that. No one else has achieved anything like that level of failure.

Robson was poor, but Haslam put a whole new dimension to poorness.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I know some people may wonder at this, but the only manager I have disliked from the word go, I didn't like during his tenure and was happy to see the back of was Adkins.

 

[PokerBlade]

Kevin Blackwell is only slated because the "customers who pay for sporting entertainment" didn't like the lack of aesthetic appeal played under him, which is of course an irrelevance.

We would never had been relegated had he not been sacked when we was. Every manager since him, barring Wilson and Wilder has been crap.

Blackwell was proof that people don't really mean it when they say they'd be happy as long as we're winning. It was miserable to watch Blackwell football whatever the scoreline and people called for his head when we were sat near the top of a higher division.

As much as I never took to him, "should've done slightly better" will never put anyone in the worst manager ever category.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Robson managed to make what should have been a premier league side look like a struggling championship side.

Haslam made what should have been a comfortably placed second division (in new money - championship) side look like a struggling fourth division side.

He took us to depths we had never ever experienced before. We had never ever been as low as the third division (let alone the fourth division) until Haslam arrived. He altered all that. No one else has achieved anything like that level of failure.

Robson was poor, but Haslam put a whole new dimension to poorness.

I suppose these days Haslam would have been ousted much sooner?

 

[The Crab]

I suppose these days Haslam would have been ousted much sooner?

I'd say that's nailed on. The office milk lasts longer than many managers these days.

 

[Bladesway]

Kevin Blackwell is only slated because the "customers who pay for sporting entertainment" didn't like the lack of aesthetic appeal played under him, which is of course an irrelevance.

We would never had been relegated had he not been sacked when we was. Every manager since him, barring Wilson and Wilder has been crap.

Know you won't agree but I'm going to say it. Clough wasn't a crap manager. 2 cup semi finals and a play off having got us out of deep shit in his first season. Ultimately disappointing but not crap. Oh and as usual for us he had his best players sold from under him.

 

[dublin 10 blade]

While I have my problems with C2 ( Colin 2
or blackwell ) , and he should have gone after the Burnley defeat . He did give a bit of stability to the team .
Haslam brought Sabella , and we didn't play to badly under him , just thinking our club was to big for him ( not in a piggy way either ) , after Luton though he did take us down .
Robson , well what can ya say . That's not been said already .
For me it'd be Robson , followed by Peters , Adams , Weir , Heath and Atkins who I actually thought was going to be good for us and had high hopes for both
him and us .

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Robson, McEwan and Heath seem to be the leading contenders closely followed by Peters, Haslam and Sirrel
Unfortunately no room for Blackwell in the list to date!

Adkins for me was the worst ever manager I have known. Robson, Heath and Weir were pretty close. But Adkins inherited a VERY positive situation - memories are short and some fans are very clever with hindsight - but the facts are that when we signed Adkins I would suggest 99.9% of Blades fans were really optimistic and felt that we'd got both a very good manager and the nucleus of a very good squad that, with one or two additions, would take us up. He didn't. He couldn't make up his mind who is best 11 were, he played players way out of position, he signed players for personal reasons not playing reasons - and...the worst thing of all...he spouted such bullshit and obviously assumed that all of us are thick as 2 short planks to believe it.

Robson's situation was different. He inherited a relegated team and that is a whole different type of challenge. But he was useless in any case and everyone except Kevin McCabe knew that before he started. And Heath, I'd suggest, was even more clueless than Robson. But worse than these, imo, was David Weir. Because Weir was so stubborn and wouldn't change a thing even though it was clear that it wasn't working. At least Robson and Heath did try to do summat different. Weir just trudged on with the same tactics and hoped his luck would change.

So, my top 3 then: in reverse order to build the suspense!

3rd Adrian "Inchy" Heath - never been a football manager before or after - says it all really
2nd David "Chessball" Weir - for being dull as ditchwater and stubborn as a mule
1st Nigel "Bullshitter Supreme" Adkins - for being just a complete buffoon and treating everyone else like one!

 

[BushBlade]

Fine lines though. Wasn't it goal difference or a single point we missed out on promotion? Then in the play off final we lose to a worldie goal and are denied a blatant penalty?

After having half his squad sold from under his feet? Tell you what some people are hard judges.

Nearly nearly nearly. Not harsh at all. Had he not inherited a team of good players that were capable of promotion, had we a low wage bill, or even an average one, I'd say he did well.
Had he left after the PoF, I'd have said 'fair play, you gave it your best shot but you weren't quite good enough. You lacked leadership when it mattered and your tactics against Burnley were poor but overall, not a bad effort'. But the shambles of the following season showed he really wasn't up to being a manager.
Should we have sacked him when we did? No, that was ridiculous. Either before the close season to let his replacement build a new team with the money he spent on Ertl, Britton etc, or we should have stuck with him.

But ultimately, I judge a manager not on results alone but the context of the results; how difficult a job is taking into account the budget and time available.

Compare him to what CW has done. He's also had to cut our budget and raise funds and he's done so while building a really good team. I appreciate how hard that was/is and respect what he's done. But I'm just repeating myself now. And will continue to do so each time someone tells me we got the POF, because I know we did. I was there.

Tyler Durden I haven't mentioned the aesthetics of his football. Nothing to do with that. Bassett is still the best manager I've seen at the Lane.

 

[Tyler Durden]

Nearly nearly nearly. Not harsh at all. Had he not inherited a team of good players that were capable of promotion, had we a low wage bill, or even an average one, I'd say he did well.
Had he left after the PoF, I'd have said 'fair play, you gave it your best shot but you weren't quite good enough. You lacked leadership when it mattered and your tactics against Burnley were poor but overall, not a bad effort'. But the shambles of the following season showed he really wasn't up to being a manager.
Should we have sacked him when we did? No, that was ridiculous. Either before the close season to let his replacement build a new team with the money he spent on Ertl, Britton etc, or we should have stuck with him.

But ultimately, I judge a manager not on results alone but the context of the results; how difficult a job is taking into account the budget and time available.

Compare him to what CW has done. He's also had to cut our budget and raise funds and he's done so while building a really good team. I appreciate how hard that was/is and respect what he's done. But I'm just repeating myself now. And will continue to do so each time someone tells me we got the POF, because I know we did. I was there.

Tyler Durden I haven't mentioned the aesthetics of his football. Nothing to do with that. Bassett is still the best manager I've seen at the Lane.

I wasn't having a dig at you in particular BB, I was just referring to the perception of him in general.

 

[Ballinpigpubs13]

David Weir / Adrian Heath dead tie