Boss makes it clear

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

Who exactly are the 43? I can only seem to count 34...

Long
Howard
Willis (3)

Brayford
Collins
Edgar (Loan)
McEverley
Alcock
Freeman
Harris
McGahey
Kennedy (9)

J Wallace
K Wallace
Adams
Basham
Coutts
Hammond (Loan)
Baxter
Flynn
Scougall
Woolford
Calvert-Lewin
JCR
Reed
Cuvellier
Dimiao
McFadzean (16!!)

Sharp
Sammon (Loan)
Higdon
DeGirolamo
Done
McNulty (6)

Side note... we have 16 fucking midfielders!!! (if you count Adams as one). Personally I'd only like to see us keep 7 (Adams, Basham, Coutts, Hammond, Baxter, Flynn & Reed) & get shut of the rest as they're either permanently crocked or evidently not good enough / useful enough. That's 9 off the books looking at only one area of the pitch. McNulty sounds like his days at United are done (good riddance IMO) & I can't see Higdon getting any game time again at United so either sell him (if anyone is daft enough to give us any money for him) or pay him off / terminate his contract. McGahey, Kennedy, Alcock, McEverley & Sammon can all go for me too which would mean that's 16 players off the books & a significant wedge saved on wages (although if we had to pay some of them off it's going to cost a bit I'd imagine!). If all 16 of those went that would leave us with 26 contracted 'professionals' (if the original 42 quoted is accurate).

Surely that would leave us with plenty of room to play with regarding player recruitment under SCMP & no excuses about scrimping on bargain bucket 'footballers'.

UTB

 

[Deadbat]

Baxter has had umpteen chances and his off field conduct should have seen him jettisoned a long time ago despite him still being one of our main assist/goal threats for all his faults but Reed had gone backwards in last 2 year. He has been really poor in nearly every game I have seen of him in the last 12 months. He did ok v Soton/QPR and a few other cup games start of last year but I cannot recall him playing well in a game for a long time. He has often played a half and been taken off or rarely lasted an hour when he has started.

He may come again but at the moment he is not even close to being a first team regular at a mid table League One side. He is here for another 2 years so maybe would benefit from a loan spell in League Two to find some confidence and form.

 

[mosbolad]

Really sorry but the time for sentiment is well and truly over, some of them are fucking crap. And some of us need to wake up to that fact, sorry for any hurt feelings...

Enough is enough when we're putting roots down in the third division, and getting the odd pasting at home from village teams, call that disrespectful but they are some of them, were browned off cause we can't get more that 7,800 for old Trafford ( a game we should lose handsomely ) but there we are paying a shitload of cash in case we have a miracle result on Saturday, were not the same as Peterborough, sorry but were not.... 24,500 on the Monday against Bradford, was the third highest attendance outside the premier league.... Jim Phipps was amazed at our passion and dedication, the way our board sells us down the river I'm amazed as well....

Apology for hurt feelings accepted.....

I don't understand the middle bit about 7800 at Old Trafford? I also can't see who you are angry at, is it the players the manager, Jim Phipps or the board? Of course no-one wants us to be in the third division but how are they selling us down the river? By buying Brayford, Billy Sharp, bringing Che Adams in. A top rated proven manager? Trying to sort things by agreeing to bring in Hammond on big wages?

If it's just general annoyance at everything Blade because we've been in league 3 way too long, then yes I do understand. For what its worth I can't imagine the board are too happy about the situation either. They have brought in a proven manager and I do trust him to sort it out. It will probably take longer than they/we all think as we have a bloated squad of players but they are mostly under contract till June and so just can't be moved along. I'm sure Adkins will sort it, I really am, and god help us if he can't.....

 

[Grappler]

Apology for hurt feelings accepted.....

I don't understand the middle bit about 7800 at Old Trafford? I also can't see who you are angry at, is it the players the manager, Jim Phipps or the board? Of course no-one wants us to be in the third division but how are they selling us down the river? By buying Brayford, Billy Sharp, bringing Che Adams in. A top rated proven manager? Trying to sort things by agreeing to bring in Hammond on big wages?

If it's just general annoyance at everything Blade because we've been in league 3 way too long, then yes I do understand. For what its worth I can't imagine the board are too happy about the situation either. They have brought in a proven manager and I do trust him to sort it out. It will probably take longer than they/we all think as we have a bloated squad of players but they are mostly under contract till June and so just can't be moved along. I'm sure Adkins will sort it, I really am, and god help us if he can't.....

"...If it's just general annoyance at everything Blade because we've been in league 3 way too long, then yes I do understand...."

That's probably the bulk of the gripes I hear from most Blades on match day, we are all just sick of not only being in Division 3, but getting a footballing/goal scoring lesson from some of the village teams we play.

Our biggest mistake in recent years was not having a plan B for when Evans went to prison. All history now of course.

 

[Keen Blade]

There are plenty of players whose contracts are finished in June , that's only 6 months salary cheques if they can be categorized TODAY as the walking-dead , for whatever reason (injury, inconsistency, just plain rubbish).
If we are going to make the "bonus" £1m from Saturday , why can't we use that unexpected windfall to simply pay them off and stop them cluttering up the Club ?
The turnover we budgeted for before the plum FA Cup draw is boosted by £1m - use it to pay the wages of the walking-dead.
Then we have a smaller , more cohesive group , to which Adkins can try and add the much needed 3 to be the first-choice spine of the team.
I honestly don't believe the problem the short-term problem is money.
I think it's that Nigel , if put on the spot today , can't decide in his own mind who to jettison , which is very worrying.
He keeps saying on the radio that he's under pressure to reduce the squad.
Well then , come on Nigel , just tell the board who to pay-off.
Otherwise , all this talk of a June clearout is just blowing more smoke up the fans arses.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

Apology for hurt feelings accepted.....

I don't understand the middle bit about 7800 at Old Trafford? I also can't see who you are angry at, is it the players the manager, Jim Phipps or the board? Of course no-one wants us to be in the third division but how are they selling us down the river? By buying Brayford, Billy Sharp, bringing Che Adams in. A top rated proven manager? Trying to sort things by agreeing to bring in Hammond on big wages?

If it's just general annoyance at everything Blade because we've been in league 3 way too long, then yes I do understand. For what its worth I can't imagine the board are too happy about the situation either. They have brought in a proven manager and I do trust him to sort it out. It will probably take longer than they/we all think as we have a bloated squad of players but they are mostly under contract till June and so just can't be moved along. I'm sure Adkins will sort it, I really am, and god help us if he can't.....

It amazes me that people have so much faith in a clown who couldn't see we needed two centre halves, something he should have spotted as soon as his first alarm clock went off.

He's had us needing to score three goals a game for six fuckin months now.

 

[PeteBlade]

Yep, and I wonder what Louis Reed thinks when he sees Baxter getting chance after chance ahead of him.

That he's a much better footballer?

 

[PeteBlade]

Would the "crap" we are unloading be Sheffield United players? Players that previous managers hoped would do well and enhance the team.

I am sure you didn't mean it (or maybe you did!) but referring to players as 'some crap' does grate a bit with me.

On the whole released players may not be good enough or have injury issues or we may have better players in their position but do give them a bit of respect....Just sayin'

Yes that's exactly what this group of players need, more shielding, protecting and moly-codling.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Sheffield United's priority this transfer window should be a proper centre half and decent target man. First few days of the JTW Adkins should have been straight in there getting two glaring problems in the team sorted - we might then actually have a decent chance of getting promoted, at least via the play-offs. Trimming down the size of squad should have been the secondary consideration, with the whole of January to get shut. They took £1.75m unbudgeted for Murphy that should be going straight back in on players. We'll be taking 40% of over £3m gate receipts on Saturday, plus TV fee, if McCabe was serious about promotion that should be going on players too.

We're not in debt (McCabe wrote all that off when the Pearly Prince turned up) and are inside the FPP, there's no reason why we aren't getting problem positions sorted.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Meanwhile "little" Peterborough - who I think someone mentioned had more players listed on Saturday's programme than we did - have just extended the loan of that classy West Ham midfielder who scored their third. This coming a few days after bringing Lawrie Wilson in on loan. They're also giving trials to two non-league players.

Some clubs are progressive & proactive in transfer windows, others are constrained & negative...

How many players would we have if we weren't constrained?

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Yep, and I wonder what Louis Reed thinks when he sees Baxter getting chance after chance ahead of him.

I wish I could score goals, maybe.

 

[blade too long]

There are plenty of players whose contracts are finished in June , that's only 6 months salary cheques if they can be categorized TODAY as the walking-dead , for whatever reason (injury, inconsistency, just plain rubbish).
If we are going to make the "bonus" £1m from Saturday , why can't we use that unexpected windfall to simply pay them off and stop them cluttering up the Club ?
.

Free transfers save a lot of money ,
if we throw in some of those old trafford 2 team scarves free and , some old footballs someone might take a few

 

[Hunkerby]

why can't we use that unexpected windfall to simply pay them off and stop them cluttering up the Club ?

Much better to send them out on loan which has been the strategy to date.
Can you imagine the uproar on here if it turns out we actually needed one of those players we paid off due to a bad run of injuries

 

[mosbolad]

It amazes me that people have so much faith in a clown

Would the 'clown' be Nigel Adkins, Grumpy? Whose only trick is 4 league promotions with two clubs?

Keep 'em coming Coco!

 

[Hunkerby]

It amazes me that people have so much faith in a clown who couldn't see we needed two centre halves, something he should have spotted as soon as his first alarm clock went off.

I expect he did know that but was waiting for some scouting reports to arrive on his desk.
There were certainly no scouting reports of any use when he arrived - hence the need to rely on loans and players he knew from past experience.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I expect he did know that but was waiting for some scouting reports to arrive on his desk.
There were certainly no scouting reports of any use when he arrived - hence the need to rely on loans and players he knew from past experience.

Fucking hell 20 minutes with 20 random fans would have told him in no uncertain terms, in fact why didn't Blades legend Phipps tell him we needed defenders on the day he arrived?

 

[Hunkerby]

Fucking hell 20 minutes with 20 random fans would have told him in no uncertain terms, in fact why didn't Blades legend Phipps tell him we needed defenders on the day he arrived?

I meant scouting reports for the replacements - or did you just want him to sign random players to add to our bloated squad?

 

[Patrick Suffaux]

Would the "crap" we are unloading be Sheffield United players? Players that previous managers hoped would do well and enhance the team.

I am sure you didn't mean it (or maybe you did!) but referring to players as 'some crap' does grate a bit with me.

On the whole released players may not be good enough or have injury issues or we may have better players in their position but do give them a bit of respect....Just sayin'

In football you have to earn respect

 

[HighfieldBlade]

"We can't get any in before we get some out"

"There's only one way to get out and that's to get some in. Get Some In!"

 

[Bladesway]

“I’m going to be asked all the way through January about comings and goings.

That's because you kept mentioning "staying in touch until January" Nigel.

Ball=your court.

Which if you bother to read thefull statement is natural and to be expected by Adkins. Don't make something out of nothing.

 

[Barney]

Apology for hurt feelings accepted.....

I don't understand the middle bit about 7800 at Old Trafford? I also can't see who you are angry at, is it the players the manager, Jim Phipps or the board? Of course no-one wants us to be in the third division but how are they selling us down the river? By buying Brayford, Billy Sharp, bringing Che Adams in. A top rated proven manager? Trying to sort things by agreeing to bring in Hammond on big wages?

If it's just general annoyance at everything Blade because we've been in league 3 way too long, then yes I do understand. For what its worth I can't imagine the board are too happy about the situation either. They have brought in a proven manager and I do trust him to sort it out. It will probably take longer than they/we all think as we have a bloated squad of players but they are mostly under contract till June and so just can't be moved along. I'm sure Adkins will sort it, I really am, and god help us if he can't.....

No need for the overreaction. We'd be able to get someone else in. Someone that would have signed 2 CB's first, for example. It wasn't difficult. In fact it was really hard to get wrong. Kudos to Adkins for managing it.

 

[Bladesman]

So pretty much repeating the answer to the question he was asked the other day.

Players need to be shipped out and that will help us bring some in.

 

[Barney]

Good that we're planning on shipping some out. It'll be difficult getting many out permanently, so most will have to be loans if we want rid of a noticeable amount. It would have to be a drastic reduction to justify any incomings though. January isn't the time to begin as important a job as the rebuild of an entire squad. Player prices are inflated and the quality of players available for comparable monies are genereally less favourable. Especially towards the end of the window, which remarkably, but unsurprisingly happens to be the time period Adkins has in mind. I can't see it ending well whatsoever. Panic buys and expensive buys, a magnificent time to be starting the most important period of the last 5 years.

 

[MobileBlade]

Goalposts and jam tomorrow put back yet again.
Just a few weeks ago it was "actively working towards the January window"; now we're in the window it's "We can't get any in before we get some out"; and I suspect on Feb 1st we'll get the standard, "We were looking at some, but we just couldn't quite get the deal done in time"; with the promise that the good times will definitely return in the summer and that everyone should still renew.

Just remind me again, which January did that happen?

 

[MobileBlade]

You know you can just use a full stop instead of saying full stop at the end of each sentence right?

FACT?

 

[davidpinder]

There's a thread elsewhere on this forum detailing precisely which players are in/out of contract at the end of the season.....

Of last Saturday's starting 11 only 5 are contracted after June (Brayford, Coutts, Bash, Billy & Woolford)

There are then only 6 more contracted after June (Freeman, Adams, Reed, McNulty, Diego and Scougall - who has been told he can go) - so 10 in total

All the rest are history after June - will be interesting

Definitely how the fuck can we play with 10 men?

 

[PeteBlade]

Good that we're planning on shipping some out. It'll be difficult getting many out permanently, so most will have to be loans if we want rid of a noticeable amount. It would have to be a drastic reduction to justify any incomings though. January isn't the time to begin as important a job as the rebuild of an entire squad. Player prices are inflated and the quality of players available for comparable monies are genereally less favourable. Especially towards the end of the window, which remarkably, but unsurprisingly happens to be the time period Adkins has in mind. I can't see it ending well whatsoever. Panic buys and expensive buys, a magnificent time to be starting the most important period of the last 5 years.

It's good that you no longer think that the answer would be to 'show ambition' and pay all our player contracts up.

 

[Barney]

It's good that you no longer think that the answer would be to 'show ambition' and pay all our player contracts up.

It would be the answer, and it would show ambition. Two correct statements.

It isn't worth commenting on because we won't do it.

If you weren't already aware, ambition is quite a rarity among Sheffield United.

 

[PeteBlade]

It would be the answer, and it would show ambition. Two correct statements.

It isn't worth commenting on because we won't do it.

If you wasn't already aware, ambition is quite a rarity among Sheffield United.

If only those pesky financial fair play rules didn't exist eh?

 

[Barney]

If only those pesky financial fair play rules didn't exist eh?

If only we had half a brain to work around them.