Darren Smith Out

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

Not bothered about him, he’s just a gobshite.
It’s his organ grinder who needs to go, and pronto.

 

[Rodley]

I fully back Hecky. But he should be voicing those concerns with PA and the board. Its then PA's decision to make the decision whether to continue sharing information or not. If Hecky has asked then PA should respect his opinion.

However, it is NOT those on twitters fault if information continues to be shared, they've done nothing wrong. Some of the abuse they've all received is shameful.

Fundamentally, we are all on this forum to gossip about rumours and love some itk information, so maybe we all need to stop posting too?

I think the silly nonsense posted on the Rumour Mill section is hardly a big issue, it only ever got out of hand when RC posted and the club (presumably) nipped it in the bud.

It’s up to the individual in question whether they put the information into the public domain. It’s their choice to put it out there and I guess, in the context of Hecky’s comments, determine whether it’s in the clubs best interests or not.

I’ll not labour the point any more.

 

[mcbladeface]

I don't think he necessarily helps. He would argue and probably have a point that he doesn't ever break news and has only ever confirmed (or denied) stuff that's already out there from journalists/whoever. He'd also argue that therefore no harm is done. Maybe not but you can see how it could.

Some random rumour we are after someone is one thing but having someone with clear ties to the top of the club then confirming it and even saying how far along talks actually are isn't helpful if its a signing we're actually competing for. I'm sure other clubs will probably have plenty of sources to let them know things like that anyway and don't have to rely on some random bloke on twitter but let's face it, we need all the help we can get. Why add another disadvantage to our already hefty collection just because some of our fans are too impatient to wait it out?

 

[CPB]

What I do find interesting with Darren is that over the course of the summer he's gone from stating we've got:

• "good transfer policy and the prince and management are content in it."
• "Slimane, Larouchi and Traore are all good signings but not necessarily slotting straight into first team"
• "N'Diaye going we did everything we could but the one club that could tempt him came in" (Can appreciate that this summer)
• "We have a few signings waiting to sign when N'Diaye leaves"
• "We might sign 1 more before Palace"
• "Prince, Heckingbottom and club are concerned at the lack of quality currently in the squad that won't be improved upon till end of window"
• "Can't keep Sander because he won't sign a new deal so going to sell"
• "Squad is lacking quality, whilst it might not be good right now we will look back in 3-4 years as a window that set us up for the next few years"
• "I also don't agree with the policy of selling before replacements are ready to come in"

Darren is apparently Prince's mate, and will still back him to the hilt. But I think it's almost fair to say that even he is struggling to spin it much now.

Remember seeing something that Darren said a few weeks back was that as a club our first enquiry about players contracted to other clubs is to always ask "can we loan them first".
Unless that player is reasonably going to be allowed to either leave on loan or loan to buy it's makes the club look foolish.
Take Akpom or Hamer for instance, no way those clubs would entertain that.

 

[Davalon]

K

Why would Sheffield United’s first team manage have a random bloke in Spain’s phone number?
Paul Heckingbottom has been on the record as saying it’s not helpful to the Club, yet people want it carrying on because they might get to hear a rumour. Pathetic.

Nailed it.

Each to their own but I can't get my head around grown men being so supportive of someone they don't know just because they like to ask him questions on social media.

 

[Yogi]

My thoughts on Darren are well documented so I’ll keep it brief. The bloke is a snake oil salesman who’s sole purpose on Twitter is to manipulate the fan base on behalf of the Prince not the club the Prince.

The first team manager of the club has publicly called for it to stop for it to have got to that point with a man as reserved as Hecky it will have been said in private many times and yet the behaviour continues. The Prince is prioritising his relationship with Darren Smith and the PR benefits he gets from it over his relationship with the first team manager of Sheffield United Football Club. I don’t know if anymore needs to be said.

 

[Proper Blade]

My thoughts on Darren are well documented so I’ll keep it brief. The bloke is a snake oil salesman who’s sole purpose on Twitter is to manipulate the fan base on behalf of the Prince not the club the Prince.

The first team manager of the club has publicly called for it to stop for it to have got to that point with a man as reserved as Hecky it will have been said in private many times and yet the behaviour continues. The Prince is prioritising his relationship with Darren Smith and the PR benefits he gets from it over his relationship with the first team manager of Sheffield United Football Club. I don’t know if anymore needs to be said.

The whole situation is bizarre. Darren spends an incredible amount of time bickering with fans on Twitter - so much that it wouldn't surprise if he was being paid for it.

The manager of the club has called for it to stop, but because Darren seems to love the attention so much he just can't quit.

I hadn't really paid much attention to him until recent months. He speaks as if he's an experienced football administrator, but a lot of the stuff he says is suspect to say the least. Yesterday he suggested we might have let Burnley sign Berge with the agreement that they pull out of the race for Souza. Does that actually happen in football? It seems incredibly unlikely to me.

Has he worked in football before, or is he literally just a random accountant in Spain? What a weird, weird state of affairs.

 

[Foxy]

Exactly, to think we are going to get a player by keeping quiet about it is a bit niave.

It’s cost us signings before (I’m not specifically talking about current manager and “ITKs”).

 

[Yogi]

The whole situation is bizarre. Darren spends an incredible amount of time bickering with fans on Twitter - so much that it wouldn't surprise if he was being paid for it.

The manager of the club has called for it to stop, but because Darren seems to love the attention so much he just can't quit.

I hadn't really paid much attention to him until recent months. He speaks as if he's an experienced football administrator, but a lot of the stuff he says is suspect to say the least. Yesterday he suggested we might have let Burnley sign Berge with the agreement that they pull out of the race for Souza. Does that actually happen in football? It seems incredibly unlikely to me.

Has he worked in football before, or is he literally just a random accountant in Spain? What a weird, weird state of affairs.

It is very very bizarre. I can’t speak to his professional background beyond the fact he does appear to be an accountant.

The Prince said in his interview with SUW that he was happy with the favourable commentary Darren provided during the takeover court case and so I assume that’s when the relationship began although I’m not in a position to know for sure.

He definitely loves the attention to the point where he’s almost trolling now. He’s certainly revelling in the attention he’s got from the golfing community after Matt Fitzpatrick called him out there other day. That said by continuing to feed him legit information the Prince condones his behaviour. He must either value him very high personally or highly value the PR role he plays because otherwise you wouldn’t think it worth the hassle he brings.

 

[BigBed]

Id happily pay a few quid to see McCall kick him in the bollocks with hobnail pit boots on.

 

[awblade]

Id happily pay a few quid to see McCall kick him in the bollocks with hobnail pit boots on.

I saw the "McC" and thought you were going to say McCabe then..

I don't mind who steps up to do it though!

 

[georgebernardshaw]

But how do we know that all the information given to Darren is true? It wouldn’t surprise me if the Prince uses Darren to spread false information to help the club.

The Prince isn’t as stupid as some of our fans seem to think he is!

He couldn’t possibly be…

 

[CaptainMorgans]

We "got Brexit done" on far less of a majority.
How do we go about getting rid of the Prince's Pet?

 

[Tarqs]

We "got Brexit done" on far less of a majority.
How do we go about getting rid of the Prince's Pet?

I'm just shocked there's 50 odd people that actually back his narcissistic behaviour.

 

[BerksBlade]

My thoughts on Darren are well documented so I’ll keep it brief. The bloke is a snake oil salesman who’s sole purpose on Twitter is to manipulate the fan base on behalf of the Prince not the club the Prince.

The first team manager of the club has publicly called for it to stop for it to have got to that point with a man as reserved as Hecky it will have been said in private many times and yet the behaviour continues. The Prince is prioritising his relationship with Darren Smith and the PR benefits he gets from it over his relationship with the first team manager of Sheffield United Football Club. I don’t know if anymore needs to be said.

Indeed. Hecky has said it doesn't benefit the club, and yet the chump can't help himself. He needs to be told to STFU pronto.

 

[Houston_Blade]

It is very very bizarre. I can’t speak to his professional background beyond the fact he does appear to be an accountant.

He’s probably got another Twitter handle discussing the tax affairs of his top clients. Anything for attention.

 

[Davalon]

Maybe he posts on here. There's one or two who fit the bill

 

[ThatJa]

It’s cost us signings before (I’m not specifically talking about current manager and “ITKs”).

How and why could someone posting about a player potentially joining us on a forum/twitter end up with us not getting said player?

 

[Dandulum]

I hate twitter

 

[loyalblade95]

How and why could someone posting about a player potentially joining us on a forum/twitter end up with us not getting said player?

Because transfer dealings are meant to be conducted with some degree of confidentiality around the finer details, like fees, wages, add-ons, sell-on clauses etc.

You only really find out about those finer, specific details (with the exception of the exact fee hence the undisclosed part) after the transfer has been completed because there's no need to keep them secret after the signing has been completed.

In the end signings are essentially just business transactions between clubs so certain details have to be kept private at first.

 

[BrisBlade]

It's a bit of a conundrum: A lot of fans have an insatiable appetite for 'inside information', but also hold a view said information should be kept confidential.

Not a judgement, more an observation (and something I struggle with myself).

 

[Champagneblade]

I'm surprised so many are that fussed.

If you don't want to listen you don't have to.

I think he stops short of letting the cat out of the bag. It seems he either validates something already reported or knocks it on the head.

The angle at which folk present things, I'd hope most can reconcile that info coming from a player will have the slant of the player and info coming from the Board will have theirs.

I also doubt Hecky, who does very little on social media, has a deep insight as to what Darren says or not. He's probably not a fan of the Club communicating through unofficial channels on social media, but as long as it doesn't cost us a player, other than answering a direct question put to him by RS, I'd be surprised if he gave it a second thought!

I'm far more concerned with the XI for Saturday and getting 3 points than anything Darren says, unless he starts costing us deals.

 

[Woodhouseblades]

Unfortunately Darren won’t call it a day on twitter as this is all about his ego. He loves the attention he’s getting from this, even after the manager has clearly said in interviews this isn’t helping.

What other premier league club goes off like this? Surely it isn’t right for the sale of our best players to be confirmed by the owners mate on twitter before the club have officially announced it!

He’s a mouth piece for the Prince and just pumps out his spin. Anyone who challenges him he shoots down with a sarcy comment.

This is the part of the season where the fan base should be pulling together and getting behind the team. However the fanbase is more toxic and split than ever before and I really think having the owners spin doctor on twitter is just adding fuel to the fire.

 

[Mumbo]

I hate twitter

I hate twitter

That just about sums it up for me.

 

[CPB]

Just a thought but how does he find the time to be on Twitter so much purely as Prince PR for the most part?

Is he retired?

 

[NerdyBlade]

So why is Darren Smith talking about tactical and positional stuff i.e where Osborne was asked to play? Leaking transfer targets is one thing, tactical stuff is a whole other shitty ballgame

 

[FriethBlade]

My honest view for what it's worth is thst his knowledge and impact is massively overblown. I don't believe for one minute it's as much as he claims or lots on here seem to think. He may get the odd snippet but nothing concrete and certainly not all the time.

All the links are obvious and often in the press so I really don't see how this harms our transfer dealings. If anyrhing, if he is being uesd, which i doubt, I'd expect him to be used as a smokescreen and fed incorrect information.

The jury on PA will sit at the end of the window and the signing of Hamer has moved the pendulum towards the centre as I believe Hamer on 4 years is worth more to us than Berge on 1 year. Sign Archer and/or Akprom and 2 good loanees and I don't think we can complain too much.

 

[Sean Thornton]

G

So why is Darren Smith talking about tactical and positional stuff i.e where Osborne was asked to play? Leaking transfer targets is one thing, tactical stuff is a whole other shitty ballgame

miffed at Hecky? He does have thin skin and a mardy streak.

 

[Sean Thornton]

My honest view for what it's worth is thst his knowledge and impact is massively overblown. I don't believe for one minute it's as much as he claims or lots on here seem to think. He may get the odd snippet but nothing concrete and certainly not all the time.

All the links are obvious and often in the press so I really don't see how this harms our transfer dealings. If anyrhing, if he is being uesd, which i doubt, I'd expect him to be used as a smokescreen and fed incorrect information.

The jury on PA will sit at the end of the window and the signing of Hamer has moved the pendulum towards the centre as I believe Hamer on 4 years is worth more to us than Berge on 1 year. Sign Archer and/or Akprom and 2 good loanees and I don't think we can complain too much.

I don’t see lots on here in awe of him. The opposite in fact.

In the two SUWay appearances about the accounts he said nothing not already discussed on here.

 

[FriethBlade]

I don’t see lots on here in awe of him. The opposite in fact.

In the two SUWay appearances about the accounts he said nothing not already discussed on here.

Not in awe of him but there's plenty of discussion including specific threads. He's been built into something he isn't. I think he's a genuine Blade who happens to be partially ITK and Iike anyone who attains that position for a while it attracts a lot of negativity.