Cec Coldwell

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

Simple question for all, but mainly 'older' Blades... who'll hopefully remember.

Should he have been given the Manager's job (permanent) at Bramall Lane?

 

[Davalon]

Not with a name like Cecil no

 

[snootyfenooty]

Simple question for all, but mainly 'older' Blades... who'll hopefully remember.

Should he have been given the Manager's job (permanent) at Bramall Lane?

Cec was too nice a guy and didn't deserve something like that being foisted upon him...

 

[INTAKE BLADE]

Yes. I was a young un when he took over, he had two stints in charge, seems like yesterday A loyal servant to the club and a great coach. Not bad for £10 from norton woodseats.

 

[Isar]

Yes.

 

[Snowman]

Nice guy. Wouldn't have had the authority. Then again now we'll never know.

 

[Cheets]

According to the Bladerunner book he didn't get on with Porterfield and was frozen out despite being kept on by the club. He had a second testimonial v Wendy in Autumn 1983 which was used as a way of paying him off.

 

[oaklandrdblade]

Don't think he ever wanted the job, but he was unhappy about the way he was treated towards the end of his time there, my Mum knew him and I remember we bumped into him and his wife some time after he left, and Mum asked if he ever went to watch, his response was "No, not after what they did", he seemed very sad about it.

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

Remember a stint he had as caretaker late 70's which included a 6-1 away win at Cardiff (Woody's 150th goal for Utd ?) but also three consecutive defeats letting in 5 goals in each match (Arsenal and possibly Bolton & Sunderland)... so probably not.

 

[Dnblade]

He's a bit of legend for me for what he did as a no.2 or Trainer as he was called.. brought through and improved so many players under JH.
I know he had a couple of stints as caretaker,but who knows if he'd have made a Manager,Haslam, Sirrell and Peters didn't exactly work out well.
Can't remember his record as Caretaker..was his first stint a lot better than his 2nd?

 

[HodgysBrokenThumb]

There's always a risk when a great servant of the club is given the manager's job, especially if they are not battle-hardened from elsewhere. The case against Morgan was that he needed to learn the job elsewhere, rather than risk losing his legendary status here. Coldwell was hugely respected by just about everyone at the Lane.

 

[BushBlade]

According to the Bladerunner book he didn't get on with Porterfield and was frozen out despite being kept on by the club. He had a second testimonial v Wendy in Autumn 1983 which was used as a way of paying him off.

I went to that. For a 'friendly' it was anything but. Me and my mate were in our usual spot at the back of the kop and I noticed there were a few unfamiliar faces. At some point a chant of 'The Wednesday' went up and I realised who these unfamiliar faces were, as they disappeared under a mass of punches from the big lads who used to stand in the same area.
As we were leaving and heading down Cherry Street we saw a huge mob of pigs heading towards us. We looked behind and heading from Shoreham Street was a big bunch of Blades. We were only school kids and these were proper blokes so we legged it down the car park and left them to it.

 

[LSF]

No. Loved Cec, hard as fuck on the field, nobody fucked with him off it, but he quite simply wasn't management material.
One of our all time heroes told me when Cec was caretaker, he asked a few of the senior pros what the team should be every week.

 

[Bladesince59]

Remember old "Tin Legs" like it was yesterday. Great right back but no manager for me.

 

[WalkelyFan]

Definitely no manager for me either.

 

[Kentblade]

Cecil Coldwell signed from Norton Woodseats.
Was a gentleman, used to frequent Lodge Moor post office where my Mum worked.
Very good full back and loyal servant to the Blades.
We will never know if he would have made a good manager but very involved as second man to Haslam.
A one club man after joining the Blades.
Performed a number of roles at the Lane.
Pleasure to watch a player like that.
UTB

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Not with a name like Cecil no

Nigel has been OK three times.

 

[United Aren't Back.]

Yes. I was a young un when he took over, he had two stints in charge, seems like yesterday A loyal servant to the club and a great coach. Not bad for £10 from norton woodseats.

Sheffield United
Will never be defeated.
The chant went up in 1977 78 during Cec's unbeaten run. I echoed the chant as well as the one of the Grunwick workers demanding more rights.. The workers
United
Will never be defeated.

 

[Aston max]

Unknown to me and my brother our old man and my uncle knew him from when they played at worksop town he was a absolute gent we bumped into hIm outside a game and you can imagine a excited 7 year old my dad then had to fend off a million questions about when he played

 

[Davalon]

Nigel has been OK three times.

First time it was until the boardroom did him over.

Second time started ok until Negative Nigel reappeared and last time Positive Nigel full of endeavour turned out to be full of shit.

As long we never appoint a Norman.

 

[JJ Sefton]

 

[Knackered Blade]

As you can see from my avatar, Cec is a special hero of mine. I was stopped once in town by a Radio Sheffield reporter, just after the death of Muhammad Ali. "Who is your sporting hero? he asked. My reply of Cec Coldwell had him flummoxed."Who?"
I explained that he was the regular right back and captain when I first started watching United. That he commanded respect from his team, led by example and expected 100% without question. He was rarely injured and was often ever-present in the season. He was a true team player.
I'm sure I'll get corrected if I'm wrong, but in 1963 he was on course for his usual 42 appearances, but he let a certain Len Badger make his debut for a Friday night home match against Leyton Orient. It was a measure of the man that he let Badger do that.

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Think I'm correct in saying Cec took over as caretaker boss after Squirrel got sacked when we second bottom of Division 2 in Autumn 1977. We then went on a great run that got us to the heady heights of 6th in December. At that time it was looking as if old Cec might just get the main job, as United were struggling to find a full-time manager - i think we might have been in for piggy Jack (Charlton) but he went to the sty instead. As someone has already mentioned we then lost 3 games on the spin in the new year, conceding 5 in each (off the top of my head Arsenal, Bolton and Sunderland???). That sort of nailed any chance of Cec getting the job ... of course it got much better when Sloppy Harry took over!!!!

One home game I do fondly recall in that run under Cec was the Spurs home game over the festive period, think we were 2-0 down but came back to get a point, also think the crowd for the game was well over 30k.

 

[originaltrueblade]

Growing up in Oughtibridge me and another lad were the only BLADES there so I grew up tough hating the pigs. It was on school holidays and someone said hey I think that’s Cec Coldwells car near bottom of Church Street. I ran and got my little autograph book and made sure my pen were working and waited from wherever he was to walk to his car. I waited and waited and waited then at last I saw him I ran like bloody hell down the hill. Now he had plenty of time to drive off but he didn’t he stood by the car waiting. Hello young fella he said (I was only 8) I was out of breath but he waited I shouted Cec Cec can I have your autograph. He took out this quality pen took my tiny autograph book and as he signed it he said. I didn’t think there were and Unitedites out here. Oh yes I said I love United. He signed the book and also wrote underneath “Cec Coldwell capt S.U.F.C. Next time at the Lane in John St outside entrance G Season ticket holders and players entrance he saw me with my Dad came over had a long chat. Dad said we are going to Tottenham next week hope we get a win. He said don’t get any tickets see me when you get there. At White Hart Lane he true to his word came out with tickets. My Dad and me became friends with a quality captain of the Blades. As I write this I know exactly where that little autograph book is

 

[Benny and the Blades]

For those too young to have been there, I suppose you could call him the 50\60s equivalent of Chris. Morgan..

A leader on and off the field, who got the Dooley treatment from our board...

 

[silverfox]

Indeed Cec was a gent. A quiet man and very thoughtful. I met him a few times when I was young as I worked on his car at Kennings.

Not sure if he would have been a great manager.

 

[Lane Ender]

He was manager when we lost at Sunderland by 5.
Got kicked to fuck that day at the old Roker glad to get back home that day

 

[Bladesthorpe]

It was so much easier in those days we knew what the defence was every game and none of them ever seemed to get injured and Cec was part of it.
Hodgy
Cec
Graham Shaw
Richardson
Joe Shaw
Summers
Football was completely different in those days so I would say it's nigh on impossible to compare managers.

 

[Seanshoreham]

Remember going to his testimonial game in 1966 - Cec and his wife were upset that only 9k attended and yes I agree, players wages weren't big then he deserved more

 

[Silent Blade]

but he quite simply wasn't management material.
.

Exactly what my dad said. My dad and I would go into disagreement about whether we should give him the job full time