Fans and Forum Members need to decide whose side we are on.

[robbiez666]

Fair comment. I suppose it's my own sense of a reasonable time. Thing is this weekend has been alarming.

I've genuinely not seen or heard anyone questioning his appointment or saying he should go. I think people are just bewildered by the performance and the fact he expected that team to do anything.

There's been some horrible overreactions though it would seem, and we need to stamp that out.

 

[sportinguista]

Having witnessed the abject capitulation at Gillingham on Saturday, I think the fans had a right to express their discontent at the team as a whole. And they did with some jeering at half time and more at full time. I was once told vehemently by a drunken man at the Wolves playoff final that "you never boo the Blades" but plenty did on Saturday. However, I think singling out individuals who are underperforming and venting spleen directly at them is never going to produce a positive result is it? Let's face it, George had a total nightmare but I don't think he needed loads of people pointing it out to him in such a way. So, whilst I agree with many here that criticism was deserved for Saturday's showing, I believe that thre manner of some of that critique ought to be reigned in a bit...it's one game into the season...we got a leathering, but there's time to sort it and we should give the man in charge that time to get it sorted. Yes be critical, but please let's be constructively critical, not destructively (abusively) critical.

 

[Barney]

Nobody has questioned the fact that Adkins deserves time. The only thing the fans were upset about was the lack of effort and poor performance on Saturday, the latter being brought about by what seems like a recruitment drive that has so far not granted most blades' wishes of how they wanted to see positions filling.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

I agree with what you are saying Woodward.....the issue is almost certainly the years of disappointment and nonsense we've had to endure, we ( including you presumably) are sick of the false dawns and overhype at the beginning of every season....we all fall for it.....but If we took off our rose tinted spectacles we could see that we have a squad of rubbish barring 4 players, who are never going to win anything.
I do however agree that the constant over reaction to one defeat is exhausting and counter productive.
My feeling is this season we cannot fail....so the pressure is on.

I'm going to disagree, I think the squad overall isn't too bad for the third division, it's just the know gap at the back and the slow response from the club to plug it that drives me insane.

Fail? This season is shit or bust.

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

Are you a father?

Nigel Adkins is NOT my love-child, if that's what you're getting at. (Despite any rumours to the contrary...)

 

[Pinchy]

I've genuinely not seen or heard anyone questioning his appointment or saying he should go. I think people are just bewildered by the performance and the fact he expected that team to do anything.

There's been some horrible overreactions though it would seem, and we need to stamp that out.

The gem was "sort it out or fuck off.." aimed at a manager who arrived to universal acclaim.

That sort of puerile tantrum after one game (however bad - and it was dreadful) is excruciatingly embarrassing and makes a mockery of the ludicrous "best fans in the land" claim we hear from time to time.

 

[Bartleby]

most blades' wishes of what positions they wanted to see filling before the first game.

you can't always get what you want. Transfer window ends in 3 weeks time and Adkins has pointed that out a few times that he expects the last few days of that to be a key period as, bonkers though it is, that's how it often works.

 

[Barney]

you can't always get what you want. Transfer window ends in 3 weeks time and Adkins has pointed that out a few times that he expects the last few days of that to be a key period as, bonkers though it is, that's how it often works.

Hope so.

 

[Grecian2000]

"Fans and Forum Members need to decide whose side we are on."

I think you'll find it's Sheffield United. No surprises there then, apart from the seemingly constant need to keep asking.

 

[Deleted member 875]

Guess what, I wanted Sheffield United to do well.

Having a positive board, chairman, manager or tea lady is neither use nor ornament if the continual stream of abject performances continue well in to this season, and the habitual weaknesses are addressed.

One positive and decisive step today was bringing in David Edgar, he might be just what we are looking for, or he might just be another average journeyman who fits right in to what we already have, but at least we are doing something

 

[Woodwardfan]

Guess what, I wanted Sheffield United to do well.

Having a positive board, chairman, manager or tea lady is neither use nor ornament if the continual stream of abject performances continue well in to this season, and the habitual weaknesses are addressed.

One positive and decisive step today was bringing in David Edgar, he might be just what we are looking for, or he might just be another average journeyman who fits right in to what we already have, but at least we are doing something

69 days, four signings, maybe not in the sequence that people who know better may agree with, but it's one every 17.2 days. Not enough even though we have a bloated squad already? Oh, we lost a game and joyful Friday turned to Armageddon inside 24 hours.

Transfer window ends in 21 days. Keep calm Blades.

Footnote: How can the Board be funding all these wages? Even they have been under fire lately.

 

[Bartleby]

Having witnessed the abject capitulation at Gillingham on Saturday, I think the fans had a right to express their discontent at the team as a whole. And they did with some jeering at half time and more at full time.

I agree, I think booing at the end of each half of a shit performance is acceptable. Personally I won't boo a team for a bad performance if I think they gave it their best, but if they show evidence that they don't give a shit then I will.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

The gem was "sort it out or fuck off.."

Really? That's almost comical.

 

[Sheffsteel]

In a season there will be loads of battles.
We'll win some and we'll lose some but all that matters is that we win the war.

I'd hate to be in a battle with many of our fans.
Lose 1 battle and it's we may as well pack in and surrender.

My attitude is let's learn from the Gillingham match and come back stronger....there's still plenty of time.

 

[Kev Gee]

I think maybe Adkins has thought that the players were better than they are?
Certainly better than losing 4-0 at Gillingham. Which ever way you look at it. losing 4-0 at Gillingham is inexcusable & then compounded by one of the players saying they lacked 'heart'......heart in the first fucking game???

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

In a season there will be loads of battles.
We'll win some and we'll lose some but all that matters is that we win the war.

I'd hate to be in a battle with many of our fans.
Lose 1 battle and it's we may as well pack in and surrender.

My attitude is let's learn from the Gillingham match and come back stronger....there's still plenty of time.

At this moment in time i would hate to be in the trenches or in battle with many of our players. Said the same last season , lets hope it changes.

UTB

 

[Woodwardfan]

I think maybe Adkins has thought that the players were better than they are?
Certainly better than losing 4-0 at Gillingham. Which ever way you look at it. losing 4-0 at Gillingham is inexcusable & then compounded by one of the players saying they lacked 'heart'......heart in the first fucking game???

I agree that was a provocative comment by Basham and can be nothing but a worry. He personally was part of the rearguard in all 3 goals from the set-pieces by the way.

For the first goal has anybody ever seen a keeper the wrong side of the scorer on the line, totally unsupported by Collins and Basham who were both beaten on the line by the simple throw. Why was there nobody guarding the keeper? No brain, never mind "no heart". One of the strangest and daftest goals ever and the manager said we were ready for the long throws. No excuse for Long but incredibly negligent by the defenders.

 

[Deleted member 875]

69 days, four signings, maybe not in the sequence that people who know better may agree with, but it's one every 17.2 days. Not enough even though we have a bloated squad already? Oh, we lost a game and joyful Friday turned to Armageddon inside 24 hours.

Transfer window ends in 21 days. Keep calm Blades.

Footnote: How can the Board be funding all these wages? Even they have been under fire lately.

Who do you deem to be the people who know better?

Don't you think it should be in the boards interest to move on some of the flotsam and jetsam that our squad has acquired over the last 2 years?

 

[Tyler Durden]

I don't think it's right at this stage to direct our frustration at Nigel Adkins. If the weaknesses in our game that he's been working on in training this summer haven't been addressed in actual games then the players themselves need to ask some serious questions.
Sure we can criticise his tactical approach and decision making at Gillingham but the team are still an unknown quantity to him, pre-season only gives you an idea of the players fitness and potential. Whether we like it or not, the next few games will be a period of adjustment. He doesn't have much time to work out his best team and gameplan.
That's not easy, I would argue that Clough went for 2 years never knowing his best team or tactical approach which is why he had to go.
Adkins has to learn this in a couple of weeks if we are serious about promotion. Right now he needs our backing 100%

The players deserve no such sympathy, their mentality is pathetic and it's certainly not a problem with confidence, quite the opposite. It's a problem of thinking you can stroll your way to the top without getting stuck in. Pure unjustified arrogance in my view.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

The problem we have is more down to Clough than to Adkins He bought too much of the same and got it wrong and we are contractually saddled with it. They won't be easy or cheap to move on. The team Adkins is working with at the moment is 90% Clough's This is going to take time to put right I fear. Let's hope there is enough left in the transfer kitty to at least get the basic structure of the first 11 right so we can stay in and around. I'll stick with my original forecast of play-offs though as I think there is too much to do structurally to be thinking of automatics.

 

[Jehovah]

The day I don't lose the plot after getting swept aside by fucking Gillingham, is the day I pack in football for good.

 

[Grecian2000]

The problem we have is more down to Clough than to Adkins He bought too much of the same and got it wrong and we are contractually saddled with it. They won't be easy or cheap to move on. The team Adkins is working with at the moment is 90% Clough's This is going to take time to put right I fear.

Time to put right?

We finished 5th last season didn't we? Not many managers get the luxury of a team that finished in the top quarter of the division as a starting point.
Most people were of the opinion a couple of CB's and a couple of other players and we were in with a great shout. We've got one of the CB's today (a week late perhaps) but we can't be that far off with most of the players we've got.

 

[pommpey]

Simple statement and I do not intend to elaborate other than to say that each and every one of us should decide whether we wish Adkins success in S2. If we do then we need to control our behaviour. Any new manager deserves the full, committed support of the home crowd, forum members, Facebook and Twitter posters et al for a "honeymoon period" of 12 months.

Why? Is that the levity we afforded Wier? Well, with us rock bottom and a team what looked like it didn't even know how to play football, I am glad he was booted out, the clueless wanker. The reason our behaviour isn't controlled and we are pissed off is because since Warnock (remember him?) we have had eight false dawns thank-you-very-much and people who seem to share your seemingly boundless optimism are once again laying the palm leaves at the feet of the new(est) messiah as he comes down Shoreham Street. Strange, because those who showed discomfiture as the new season rolled in and our line up remained largely the same were lambasted as negative (once again ... see also the past eight years) and wanting us to lose and fail. How bloody preposterous.

If the man and his support team can't show progress after 12 months then they deserve criticism. The fans' reaction to a single defeat this week has been embarrassing and makes me wonder whose side some folk are on. Or is it some kind of Blades personality disorder brought about through decades of disappointment. Certainly the keyboard over-rules the brain after one single defeat.

It's none of the above at all, so cool your jets trying to make us cynics out as somewhat not-all-there. Unless you need a graphical and statistics-based reminder of our past few years and the amount of bled-out hope we hold, I trust you understand what that ninety minutes on Saturday actually meant to every Blades fan. And that means those who were quick to point out about a fortnight ago that the options at the centre of defence looked very much like the options at the centre of defence last season, the ones who failed to pick up a cross and block off a distance effort at BDTBL in the last but one game and the ones who let five past us in the last and ended any desire we had to face Preston at Wembley, when let's face it, the 4-0 scoreline in that eventuality would have been a blessing for us.

We have a positive Board, a positive manager with a track record of 4 promotions and not much failure; we have immense support but I question the mentality of our supporters frankly.

We have a barely-functional board which has bestowed upon us one of the biggest deceptions since Harry Bassett was zoom-focussed at the back of the meeting room and Sam Hashemi declared his love for the Blades in that 'United' documentary twenty odd years ago. People are pointing fingers at assumed GCIs, but I see none. I see a team still woefully underhorsepowered, despite the very good attributes of Adkins. I see a lot of 'Emperor's New Clothes' thinking. I see a lot of fingers being crossed. To paraphrase the great polemicist Christopher Hitchens: "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence". Except there is evidence to show here. It is four avoidable goals, all of them down to shit defending. The shit defending was pointed out just after Adkins joined and he seemed to brush it aside, to his downfall and our disappointment. It was there in the Newcastle and Hull games. And it is that disappointement, piled on top of years of disappointment that you see as the raw heat of anger this week.

P.S. The commitment of the Away Crowd is unquestioned, but not necessarily their behaviour, some of them anyway.

So what of other supporters? Y'know, those who live far away (and overseas) yet still call themselves Unitedites and don't draw a breath to think of other clubs who are wonderfully skilled and financed and offer seemingly attractive benefits from supporting them? You questioning their commitment? What of those who didn't go but who are season ticket holders at BDTBL? What of ALL Unitedites, fair or foul weather, but Bladesmen all the same? As long as they are reflective and not too pissed off with eight years of abject and dismal failure and acceptant of Saturday's performance, they are worthy in your eyes? I disagree. I think it is high time the board and the team (and to a lesser extent the manager) understand that the clock is ticking and there are many out there who are wholly fucked off with a big city team with big city gates and big city budgets putting in small town performances. The team as it stands is 'small town'. Saturday proved it. It's time you and they understood why this cannot continue.

pommpey

 

[blade.i.am]

I liked pommpeys post: partly for the stamina but mainly for the last 2 sentences. As far as I'm concerned this defeat is a valuable wake up call to the players, they can't possibly be as bad ever again this season - can they?

 

[metalblade]

Fans and Forum Members need to decide whose side we are on.

What the hell is this all about Woodwardfan is this another attempt to get the old clapper/slasher argument raging once more ? I think out of the many posts on this forum since Saturday tea time only a few have been overly critical of NA and one of those comments was clearly tongue in cheek. Sorry the main criticism has been directed at the players and rightly so after that heartless performance. Nothing to see here buddy try your old stomping ground of Blades Mad if you want to set fans at each others throats, they like that sort of shit over there you will fit right in when it gets personal calling fellow fans embarrassing is a bit rich coming from you.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Maybe it's my age or just because over 30 odd years you just get used to it, but I didn't go on Saturday, have to wait until Chessy next week which I'm still looking forward to, I saw the half time score and decided to go out and have a bottle of wine instead. Came back and just did that short weary laugh, the one I've done many times over the years when you feel let down and resigned. It's the letting yourself get optimistic and excited in pre-season, this is going to be our year (again), a new manager, one we actually wanted, a positive approach and then the big let down. I don't get as angry about it as some and I refuse to let it ruin my weekend. I still think Adkins is the best we could have got and I still have faith, but you do wonder, I can't help wonder why we have spent £500k on a striker I think we could have done without, or at least I think there were much bigger priorities such as a commanding CB or 2, a good keeper and possibly a commanding mid centre too. That's where we were lacking as was plain to see by anyone who attended last season, but then I thought, this manager knows what he's doing, perhaps he'll get the existing players playing better, with more discipline and organisation in defence, that's what he'll be working on in pre-season I told myself, the manager surely knows best, but after Gillingham, just one of many teams that will lump it in the box and try to bully us (and now even more will follow suit), it just makes you wonder, surely the management team knew what to expect? We've got Morgs for chrissake, one of the chief proponents in the dark arts of defending and I just think, what have they been doing on the training ground or is it that the players can't follow simple instructions? This team can play, we beat good teams in the cups last season, we played well and beat Preston in the league last season, they CAN do it. They defended well at Spurs in the cup despite giving away a penalty, they hadn't really looked like scoring against us until then so they CAN do it. I'll be there next week hoping Gillingham was a bad day at the office, a blip.

 

[Pinchy]

I liked pommpeys post:

I've got good news for you. You'll be getting it again...and again....and again...

Personally, I've read it before, many times. I didn't rate it first time and it hasn't improved by effluxion of time.

If you're a fan of self-importance, affectation, posturing, pious self-indulgent indignation, bile, repetition ad nauseam and unrelenting enthusiasm for misery (but nothing else) then he's the writer for you....

Don't look for any support for SUFC though. That chapter has yet to be written.

 

[pommpey]

I've got good news for you. You'll be getting it again...and again....and again...

Personally, I've read it before, many times. I didn't rate it first time and it hasn't improved by effluxion of time.

If you're a fan of self-importance, affectation, posturing, pious self-indulgent indignation, bile, repetition ad nauseam and unrelenting enthusiasm for misery (but nothing else) then he's the writer for you....

Don't look for any support for SUFC though. That chapter has yet to be written.

Hah. Bless you Pinchy. I suppose you have a pocket full of answers for the past few years, yeah?

In your eyes, no-one is allowed to express how and why they are pissed off, unless they are agreeing with you and you alone.

Tell you what, poppet. You can always 'ignore' my posts. It will hurt me >< this much.

You can't beat a nice smidge of personal attack when you've got fuck all better to say, can you luv?

Toodle-pip.

pommpey

 

[MiserableBlader]

Simple statement and I do not intend to elaborate other than to say that each and every one of us should decide whether we wish Adkins success in S2. If we do then we need to control our behaviour. Any new manager deserves the full, committed support of the home crowd, forum members, Facebook and Twitter posters et al for a "honeymoon period" of 12 months.

If the man and his support team can't show progress after 12 months then they deserve criticism. The fans' reaction to a single defeat this week has been embarrassing and makes me wonder whose side some folk are on. Or is it some kind of Blades personality disorder brought about through decades of disappointment. Certainly the keyboard over-rules the brain after one single defeat.

We have a positive Board, a positive manager with a track record of 4 promotions and not much failure; we have immense support but I question the mentality of our supporters frankly.

P.S. The commitment of the Away Crowd is unquestioned, but not necessarily their behaviour, some of them anyway.

I said he wouldn't know how about the squad till at least 10 games into the season.
That said I would expect him to have everything addressed by the end of January and promotion the outcome, barring 'extremis'.

 

[Lord Bos of Eckington.]

Fans and Forum Members need to decide whose side we are on.

What the hell is this all about Woodwardfan is this another attempt to get the old clapper/slasher argument raging once more ? I think out of the many posts on this forum since Saturday tea time only a few have been overly critical of NA and one of those comments was clearly tongue in cheek. Sorry the main criticism has been directed at the players and rightly so after that heartless performance. Nothing to see here buddy try your old stomping ground of Blades Mad if you want to set fans at each others throats, they like that sort of shit over there you will fit right in when it gets personal calling fellow fans embarrassing is a bit rich coming from you.

All fans are on the same side . Always are and always will be . Are the players on the blades side , and the same side , that should be the question.

Why were we so frustrated and annoyed just after one game - because we all saw a reoccurring pattern.

If you got additional points for faithful fans , we would be the top of any league.

This is the place to be critical , on this forum. Like it or like it not , the buck stops with Adkins .

Best manager we could have got , but only a fool makes the same mistake twice . First game , no heart , - come on , the players deserve all the critisism they have got . Us fans actually deserve a pat on the back.

Lets just keep away from any character assassinations.

URB