Jimmy B
New Member
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 3
A walk in our once proud club shop yesterday made me realise that ive been missing something for the last two years by telling my self on a Saturday morning"it'll be a good day out"?! What id been ignoring and somehow hiding behind overdraft charges is now plain to see and sickening, the main reason i follow the blades now is the social aspect.
We've got last seasons offcasts at half price and our once 'proud' club colours on Buy one get one free deals! Funny thing is the only ones left are the big man sizes, forgive me for thinking that the big blades with the real balls would rather take advantage of homebase's BOGOF laminate flooring than buy not one but two dismal reminders of what an absolute failure last season was at all levels.
If anyone in power (maybe you make mr mccabes tax free tea in Belgium) even casts an eye on the opening sentence I would love you to tell me that I am only suffering from the dreaded 'Empty bag of dreams Syndrome'. I was warned about this blades side effect as a 5 year old when I sat in the south stand to watch my absolute hero's smash Nottingham Forest in what, at the time, felt like a home, a fortress and the best football stadium in the world! (Except my garden when mi Dad had cut the conifers!).
Wembley 93', first knock down. . .
Dad, "You'll get used to this son, its what we do us Blades".
Cue . . . Play Off heartache 1,2,3,4,5,6 later, FA Cup semi's, League Cup semi's, 'Big League' relegation, Secondary Big League relegation, 'THIS' League joint failure . . . You seeing a pattern?!
Im not for one minute expecting us to win everything, i just want logical things to happen and what I think (and every pride sapped Blade that stands with me) are sensible decisions to be made. Is common sense too much to ask for, especially when running what thesedays if were honest is 90% a business and 10% a fan thing. If I went on Dragons Den and said I'm looking for £30m (at least, 2 kyles, beattie, Tevez money to name a few) investment 'in' my football team with which the majority of this i'll build on projects which are for the long term greater good of the club. They will prosper and you'll get your money back and the team will tick along fine, if not we'll chuck a few loan signings in to steady the ship. . . . Well Mr McCabe its got to the point where even the Dragons that were listening are either already firmly OUT or are on the verge of being OUT!
Enough of the story, ive had time for this on the numerous long trips back from what would appear to be 'small', 'less fortunate' teams than us over the last two seasons.
I wont rant, i'll be sensible;
Firstly, I would like to understand the budget, if we have one, for next season. I think this is only fair seeing as I have already committed to a direct debit that i will probably again start to regret come The Tuesday night November fixtures with Crawley and Leyton Orient! Without going into too much detail and maths, can anyone just answer the question;
"Do we have a funds that will be able to make us competitive 'this' season?"
I thought about this after we could only 'hit the bar' against Yeovil, it mustve been their massive budget that was stopping us getting near the net. Look at this years play off finalists, Brentford & Yeovil, two teams who seem to have invested shrewdly in players from what are realistically clubs on our playing field at this moment in time (Paddy Madden from Carlisle Reserves, Clayton Donaldson from Crewe). Aldi tried to compete with the big boys and ultimately their failure to admit that they dont have a budget and maybe need to stay grounded meant that we were all eating Horse not Cow! Could we not strengthen like these teams and use them as a positive example of what on the surface seems doom and gloom?
Theres either a problem with the scouts or its a massive misjudgement. We seem to have always been good at developing youth but for some reason when someone has played somewhere else, we offer them whatever they want regardless of whether theyve got talent or not. We're that lad who has his first girlfriend and she's stunning but then goes to uni, she leaves, and we end up in the over 28's night with mutton carrying baggage! I like kitson but strangely he seems to fit that mould . . .
We always fail when contracts are involved! That word always gets pulled out that we know all to well as Blades, undisclosed. Thats more than likely because weve got rid of or bought something that we dont want anyone to know about!
Have you ever noticed that United always try something thats not working, over and over again. We hit a long ball in the first minute and it doesnt work so we persist with it until at least half time!! Its the same off the pitch, we try something thats not worked more than once thinking we might eventually get something out of it! Old dogs never learn new tricks.
The season where 'they' went up instead of us we had too many high earners who werent good enough to keep us in the championship but were 'worth a shot of getting us out of this league'! We did clear a lot of dead wood from the customary play off failure, Craig Beattie to name but one! (At the time of writing im still struggling to believe that he is taring Scottish leagues apart) the problem was, we made the same mistake and replaced the dead wood with dying wood. Higginbotham, Robson, Kitson . . . Forte!!! Robson and Kitson have been decent but is this type of player where we need to be looking? I love Macca but to an extent, is he becoming stale, dying wood? I know he had little if anything to play with last year but theres only so many times he can run parallel to the half way line and still struggle to weigh in with more than the odd goal?! We gave longer contracts to Doyle and Porter (the most dead of the dead wood) and even ended up naming one of them as club captain!
Speaking of 2012's dead wood, I , like every blade, was devastated when Ched went down but did we have a contingency, and what did we replace him with to make sure that the goals that wouldve got us out of this league would be there to fire us up at the more important second to me of asking. . . . Nothing?!! We'll chuck young Ironside in and expect him to be the next Deano shall we?! Forgive me, we got Blackman who was banging goals in which on Shoreham Street translates to 'how longs he gonna be here?' And 'what d'ya think we'll get for him?'. He went to the same glue farm as so many of the greats that my glorious United watching history has given me, via the M1 out of Sheffield!
Who is in charge of negotiating or transfer business at the lane, you are an absolute joke! Could we not even try and do what Palace did with Saha? To me good business is getting the best from your assetts, or is that me watching too much reality TV?
That brings me onto Another United favourite transfer market term, "his head was turned by the fame and money of the premiership". I for one have it on good authority that at least one of the local lads that came through at the lane and has gone on to better things 'never wanted to leave the lane'!
Lastly, onto the manager saga! Wilson should take some of last years blame. Did he have the brains and shrewdness in the transfer market? He was a bit unwilling to just go with the academy lads and was nervous about putting them in. And im blaming him for playing the Macca Doyle combo when everyone knows it needs to be macca and robson and then maybe some kids on the wings, Mcfadzean was the only positive at Yeovil! If we are going to suceed next year we will presumably need to do so on an even lower budget so that in mind, danny had his successes. After all we have been (forget how poor we have been) a goal or two away from the Championship whilst he was in charge.
Lets not kid ourselves, The next boss will need to be cheap and probably already linked to the club so they are willing to take a thankless job all for the 'love of the club'. Reg Holdsworth, Keith Curle, Stuart McCall. . . You can see it coming cant you. These guys are blades legends, they can all relate to our heartache and have probably at one point in their time at united suffered from the dreaded 'Empty bag of Dreams' Syndrome
One thing these lads need if they get the poison chalice is a clear idea of whether or not they can put their ideas into practice with a transfer budget, what the expectations will be, and whether or not they will be allowed to develop a team or for a change. Or once again will they be forced to replace their best players after they are sent down the M1 at Christmas with to be replaced by another 'too good at this level' charlie looking for his last pay day?!
I'll end on a positive, i for one will be looking at June's fixture list and planning my trips up and down the country because its what we do. We'll keep going, we'll keep spending and this year at least i'll not make the mistake of getting lost on the way back to the train station at Tranmere. . .
We know that wherever they step out onto the pitch they don't deserve us, the sell out crowd in some tinpot away end, but perhaps more importantly were all in desperate need of a cure for 'Empty bag of Dreams' syndrome!
To Mr manager, no pressure, 18,000 patients, one seemingly incureable disease . . . Come fill up our senses!
UTB
Jimmy 'S26' Blade
We've got last seasons offcasts at half price and our once 'proud' club colours on Buy one get one free deals! Funny thing is the only ones left are the big man sizes, forgive me for thinking that the big blades with the real balls would rather take advantage of homebase's BOGOF laminate flooring than buy not one but two dismal reminders of what an absolute failure last season was at all levels.
If anyone in power (maybe you make mr mccabes tax free tea in Belgium) even casts an eye on the opening sentence I would love you to tell me that I am only suffering from the dreaded 'Empty bag of dreams Syndrome'. I was warned about this blades side effect as a 5 year old when I sat in the south stand to watch my absolute hero's smash Nottingham Forest in what, at the time, felt like a home, a fortress and the best football stadium in the world! (Except my garden when mi Dad had cut the conifers!).
Wembley 93', first knock down. . .
Dad, "You'll get used to this son, its what we do us Blades".
Cue . . . Play Off heartache 1,2,3,4,5,6 later, FA Cup semi's, League Cup semi's, 'Big League' relegation, Secondary Big League relegation, 'THIS' League joint failure . . . You seeing a pattern?!
Im not for one minute expecting us to win everything, i just want logical things to happen and what I think (and every pride sapped Blade that stands with me) are sensible decisions to be made. Is common sense too much to ask for, especially when running what thesedays if were honest is 90% a business and 10% a fan thing. If I went on Dragons Den and said I'm looking for £30m (at least, 2 kyles, beattie, Tevez money to name a few) investment 'in' my football team with which the majority of this i'll build on projects which are for the long term greater good of the club. They will prosper and you'll get your money back and the team will tick along fine, if not we'll chuck a few loan signings in to steady the ship. . . . Well Mr McCabe its got to the point where even the Dragons that were listening are either already firmly OUT or are on the verge of being OUT!
Enough of the story, ive had time for this on the numerous long trips back from what would appear to be 'small', 'less fortunate' teams than us over the last two seasons.
I wont rant, i'll be sensible;
Firstly, I would like to understand the budget, if we have one, for next season. I think this is only fair seeing as I have already committed to a direct debit that i will probably again start to regret come The Tuesday night November fixtures with Crawley and Leyton Orient! Without going into too much detail and maths, can anyone just answer the question;
"Do we have a funds that will be able to make us competitive 'this' season?"
I thought about this after we could only 'hit the bar' against Yeovil, it mustve been their massive budget that was stopping us getting near the net. Look at this years play off finalists, Brentford & Yeovil, two teams who seem to have invested shrewdly in players from what are realistically clubs on our playing field at this moment in time (Paddy Madden from Carlisle Reserves, Clayton Donaldson from Crewe). Aldi tried to compete with the big boys and ultimately their failure to admit that they dont have a budget and maybe need to stay grounded meant that we were all eating Horse not Cow! Could we not strengthen like these teams and use them as a positive example of what on the surface seems doom and gloom?
Theres either a problem with the scouts or its a massive misjudgement. We seem to have always been good at developing youth but for some reason when someone has played somewhere else, we offer them whatever they want regardless of whether theyve got talent or not. We're that lad who has his first girlfriend and she's stunning but then goes to uni, she leaves, and we end up in the over 28's night with mutton carrying baggage! I like kitson but strangely he seems to fit that mould . . .
We always fail when contracts are involved! That word always gets pulled out that we know all to well as Blades, undisclosed. Thats more than likely because weve got rid of or bought something that we dont want anyone to know about!
Have you ever noticed that United always try something thats not working, over and over again. We hit a long ball in the first minute and it doesnt work so we persist with it until at least half time!! Its the same off the pitch, we try something thats not worked more than once thinking we might eventually get something out of it! Old dogs never learn new tricks.
The season where 'they' went up instead of us we had too many high earners who werent good enough to keep us in the championship but were 'worth a shot of getting us out of this league'! We did clear a lot of dead wood from the customary play off failure, Craig Beattie to name but one! (At the time of writing im still struggling to believe that he is taring Scottish leagues apart) the problem was, we made the same mistake and replaced the dead wood with dying wood. Higginbotham, Robson, Kitson . . . Forte!!! Robson and Kitson have been decent but is this type of player where we need to be looking? I love Macca but to an extent, is he becoming stale, dying wood? I know he had little if anything to play with last year but theres only so many times he can run parallel to the half way line and still struggle to weigh in with more than the odd goal?! We gave longer contracts to Doyle and Porter (the most dead of the dead wood) and even ended up naming one of them as club captain!
Speaking of 2012's dead wood, I , like every blade, was devastated when Ched went down but did we have a contingency, and what did we replace him with to make sure that the goals that wouldve got us out of this league would be there to fire us up at the more important second to me of asking. . . . Nothing?!! We'll chuck young Ironside in and expect him to be the next Deano shall we?! Forgive me, we got Blackman who was banging goals in which on Shoreham Street translates to 'how longs he gonna be here?' And 'what d'ya think we'll get for him?'. He went to the same glue farm as so many of the greats that my glorious United watching history has given me, via the M1 out of Sheffield!
Who is in charge of negotiating or transfer business at the lane, you are an absolute joke! Could we not even try and do what Palace did with Saha? To me good business is getting the best from your assetts, or is that me watching too much reality TV?
That brings me onto Another United favourite transfer market term, "his head was turned by the fame and money of the premiership". I for one have it on good authority that at least one of the local lads that came through at the lane and has gone on to better things 'never wanted to leave the lane'!
Lastly, onto the manager saga! Wilson should take some of last years blame. Did he have the brains and shrewdness in the transfer market? He was a bit unwilling to just go with the academy lads and was nervous about putting them in. And im blaming him for playing the Macca Doyle combo when everyone knows it needs to be macca and robson and then maybe some kids on the wings, Mcfadzean was the only positive at Yeovil! If we are going to suceed next year we will presumably need to do so on an even lower budget so that in mind, danny had his successes. After all we have been (forget how poor we have been) a goal or two away from the Championship whilst he was in charge.
Lets not kid ourselves, The next boss will need to be cheap and probably already linked to the club so they are willing to take a thankless job all for the 'love of the club'. Reg Holdsworth, Keith Curle, Stuart McCall. . . You can see it coming cant you. These guys are blades legends, they can all relate to our heartache and have probably at one point in their time at united suffered from the dreaded 'Empty bag of Dreams' Syndrome
One thing these lads need if they get the poison chalice is a clear idea of whether or not they can put their ideas into practice with a transfer budget, what the expectations will be, and whether or not they will be allowed to develop a team or for a change. Or once again will they be forced to replace their best players after they are sent down the M1 at Christmas with to be replaced by another 'too good at this level' charlie looking for his last pay day?!
I'll end on a positive, i for one will be looking at June's fixture list and planning my trips up and down the country because its what we do. We'll keep going, we'll keep spending and this year at least i'll not make the mistake of getting lost on the way back to the train station at Tranmere. . .
We know that wherever they step out onto the pitch they don't deserve us, the sell out crowd in some tinpot away end, but perhaps more importantly were all in desperate need of a cure for 'Empty bag of Dreams' syndrome!
To Mr manager, no pressure, 18,000 patients, one seemingly incureable disease . . . Come fill up our senses!
UTB
Jimmy 'S26' Blade
