FAO The Knockers

[shorehamview]

I'm not really a "knocker" or a "clapper", I tend to think of myself dwelling in the middle ground that's too big to be called "the fence". This is intended merely as a question to those who don't like Blackwell regardless of what he's done so far.

Consider this. Blackwell was appointed after one of our worst managers ever, and almost reached the play-offs. McCabe gave him an extended contract, and United made the play-off final the following season. Blackwell has since been instructed to trim the wage expenditure and to have United around the play-offs. This he has done.

The only fair criticism of Blackwell is the style of football we play. We have narrowly missed promotion - if Birmingham hadn't beaten us in the dying minutes of our first match then we may have gone up automatically and not them.

So if we do sack Blackwell now, firstly we will have to pay up his contract, and then say to the next chap in that his predecessor achieved everything the chairman asked of him, yet still got the chop. Still want the job?

This isn't a blind defence of Blackwell - I admit the football we play is as exciting as watching a man hit a plank with a spanner - but what is the reasonable alternative? It's all very well shouting "Blackwell out!" but who do you get in after you've sacked the man who did everything you asked him to?
I agree that something needs to change, but simply sacking Blackwell isn't the simple answer many think it to be.

Please try and answer this with a reasoned argument why you want rid, and what the alternatives are. Try to extend this beyond "he's a clown/he's shit/hoofwell/fatwell".

 

[LouTheBlade]

A fairly considered and realistic view here. Some points I agree with, some I dont. Up to recently I have been like yourself, sitting on the fence but I have now grown tired of United's constant cycle of mediocrity. The current issues have been caused largely by the football club board but the fans dissatisfaction on the pitch is in some small part down to the manager as well and I wont have anyone tell me otherwise.

Blackwell can I just stress - is not a clown, nor is he a shit manager. He is a manager who under difficult circumstances (those circumstances have only been recent) has made some big errors in judgment that he could have avoided to save himself a lot of hassle. The biggest is his adopted style of football which appears to consist of 40 yard balls down the throad of the biggest centre forward he has available. Some argue and so would he, that he is playing to the strengths of what he has available. I could not disagree more. He would enjoy much more success and adulation playing to our ACTUAL strengths and passing the ball a little more. We have players like;

James Harper
Lee Williamson
Jamie Ward
Henri Camara
Darius Henderson

Who are all very good footballers when given the opportunity to express it. We played much better football in parts last season and did very well with, in some cases worse players. He needs to do himself a real favour and get down to the basics of passing and moving because he can do it - his leeds side played reasonable football and so did the United side he used to train under Warnock. The problem is I dont think he has the courage to do it off his own bat. I hope he proves me wrong.

Yes, he probably has done well to have us around the playoffs under the restrictions he has been faced with recently but we havent lasted the course yet and the proof will be over the next three months. I dont necessarily want rid but he needs to perform a minor miracle right now its as simple as that. Sounds harsh but he's been dealt his hand now and must do something with it, other managers work under difficult circumstances so he has to as well and has to achieve under them.

The Birmingham argument doesnt really mean a lot to me because we dropped points in other games and its all if's and but's. Hindsight is not something you can justify failure with. As for the McCabe targets - they were his targets and a manager must aim to exceed expectations - if he is any sort of a professional. Thats where he needs to show some determination and win over his so called "knockers."

 

[JohnDenver]

A point of order - Darius Henderson isn't a footballer. He's just a battering ram rendered out of human flesh. Doctor Frankenstein would be proud of his lumbering creation if only it didn't break down every five minutes.

 

[HoodedClaw]

For me he's had a good go, but we seem to be making backward strides now and he seems unable to change it.

When he first joined after Robson we played some reasonable stuff (fantastic stuff if you compare directly with the crap he has us playing now) and we had a real go, but its gone steadily backwards from there.

We've all seen how much better we look when we try to be constructive with the ball instead of just trying to find Hendo with it all the time, so why does he not try to follow this method of playing?? As soon as Hendo is able to walk again he's back in the team and we revert to type. Not Hendos fault IMO as I think he would be even better if he was given half a chance to win the ball.

I lost all respect for him when he tried to resign after the play off final, he admitted himself that he could do no more. It was McCabes second big mistake, after letting the pieman talk him into the Robson debacle, talking him out of it. If he'd gone as far as he thought he could with a supposed better squad, and McCabe knew we had to make cuts, then why keep the man on to work with a supposedly inferior squad??

I really hope he resigns at the end of the season as I would not want us to pay him a penny over his wages. On the who to replace him front Im not sure. O'Driscoll could do a job maybe but I personally think he is the antithesis of Blackwell. Loves to pass it round and play football the way its meant to be played but also doesnt have a plan B. Personally I dont think there will be any shortage of applicants for the job whether KB has done wht the board wanted or not. Advertise the job, I think the number of applicants would be quite large. For me the successful applicant needs to be able to do two things IMO:

Get us playing entertaining football

and

Integrate the Academy into the club more. If players from the academy are used it helps to keep the costs down ie transfer fees etc but it may also help repair the bond between fans and club that seems to be slowly being eroded by Blackwell.

Overall I agree that sacking KB isnt the simple answer many think it will be, to me its just the first part of the overall answer. The issue is much more complex than just the style of football he has us playing and so will require a complete change in attitude by the club such as us operating more as an entity not as separate departments, First Team, Academy, Scouting etc amongst other things.

 

[lenners]

A point of order - Darius Henderson isn't a footballer. He's just a battering ram rendered out of human flesh. Doctor Frankenstein would be proud of his lumbering creation if only it didn't break down every five minutes.

Another point of order.
Darius Henderson: 22 league games 2009/10 - 11 goals.

 

[Torrix1889]

As I have said in many other threads it’s not where we are now, it’s where we are going. I can’t see us making any progress in the next 6, 12 or 18 months time under Blackwell but I can see us going backwards. I think he will be here until the end of the season regardless, but then what?

With Blackwell still in charge, a scenario for next season when, (and here’s where I sound like a broken record!) we are averaging crowds under 20,000. McCabe and Birch call for yet another cull of players to reduce the wage bill and the quality and depth of the squad is further depleted. We languish around mid-table at best and the quality of football deteriorates even further. After 3 or 4 “shoes off” car-park demonstrations McCabe finally succumbs and sacks him.

Of course there could be another scenario for next season in that we clear the decks of loan players, players out of contract and players Blackwell has fallen out with, (I think someone said that would leave us with a senior squad of about 15!) and McCabe lets Blackwell recruit 7 or 8 players with a modest budget. Blackwell then builds the team he wants without the loans and disruptive players, (!). This of course could go either way and he could of build a team of young hungry players and turn things around but knowing Blackwells awful track record in the transfer market would you trust him to put things right? Chances are nothing would change and as above after a while he’s sacked.

If things aren’t going to improve then what’s the point of dragging it out? Let him stay until the summer when hopefully he will hold his hands up, (I wish he had the grace of Stuart McCall at Bradford) and say “I’ve done my best but that’s it, I can’t take the team any further” and resign. THEN clear the loan signings out and anyone not worthy of having their contract renewed, recall players who are at other clubs and let a new manager build a side to take things forward, it might just create a bit of a buzz around BDTBL again and put another few thousand on the season ticket sales.

As far as replacements are concerned we missed the boat for a high-profile manager when we appointed Robson. We now can’t afford or are neither attractive to the Curbishly’s, Coppells etc so my preference would be O’Driscoll or a young manager like Lee Clarke at Huddersfield. Get rid of Ellis as well but keep hold of Speed at all costs.

 

[Torrix1889]

Another point of order.
Darius Henderson: 22 league games 2009/10 - 11 goals.

4 of which are pens, hardly prolific.

 

[JohnDenver]

Another point of order.
Darius Henderson: 22 league games 2009/10 - 11 goals.

I never said he wasn't useful in his own inelegant way.

But James Harper, Lee Williamson, Jamie Ward and Henri Camara are all "footballers" of very different sort to old Lurch there.

 

[lenners]

4 of which are pens, hardly prolific.

Aye, 1 in 2, poor effort.

 

[lenners]

I never said he wasn't useful in his own inelegant way.

But James Harper, Lee Williamson, Jamie Ward and Henri Camara are all "footballers" of very different sort to old Lurch there.

Have they scored 11 between them?

 

[Torrix1889]

Have they scored 11 between them?

14 League and cup

 

[JohnDenver]

Have they scored 11 between them?

I don't know. But I do reserve the right to characterise Hendo as I have. A sometimes very effective - but often injured or suspended - blunt instrument of a player with relatively little finesse. Very different to the others on the list.

 

[lenners]

14 League and cup

12 in the league, I'm impressed.

 

[lenners]

I don't know. But I do reserve the right to characterise Hendo as I have. A sometimes very effective - but often injured or suspended - blunt instrument of a player with relatively little finesse. Very different to the others on the list.

He's been more effective than any of the others on your list who have also all been injured for significant periods of the season.

 

[Torrix1889]

Henderson typifies everything that is wrong about our style of play at the moment, if that's the future we may as well switch the lights off and pack up now.

 

[lenners]

Henderson typifies everything that is wrong about our style of play at the moment, if that's the future we may as well switch the lights off and pack up now.

Aye, he's rubbish.
If only we played football that Ched Evans'd get a hatful.

 

[Torrix1889]

Aye, he's rubbish.
If only we played football that Ched Evans'd get a hatful.

As long as we have Blackwell in charge I guess we will never know Lenners

 

[Grecian2000]

I was not unhappy to see Blackwell arrive at the Lane (I wasn't wetting my kecks either) and in his first half season I thought he did a good job and got us into a position we had no hope of being in when he arrived. It was quite right that he got a shot at a full season.
BUT. He inherited a good group of players who had been poorly managed and were extremely unfit. He didn't create a huge difference in style but they were far fitter and could last for 90 minutes which under Robbo they never could. We attacked down the wing with Cotterill (who replaced the diabolical Martin) and he produced the ammo for Beattie and Sharp to score. It all looked good.
My one nagging doubt was that we had to win at Southampton to stand a chance of qualifying for the play-offs and they needed to win to give themselves a chance to stay up. We couldn't do it.

My "worries" began the first game of the following season. We had been the form team of the Championshipin the final few months and Birmingham would have the inevitable relegation hangover. Time to go and get at them?
NOT SO. Cotterill was replaced by Halford (a theme I shall return to) and we were desperately NEGATIVE (a theme I shall return to) and we deservedly got beaten in the last minute. I say deservedley rather than unluckily because we set out to get a draw and to me, if you do this, then you don't deserve to get anything from the game.
My worries continued as he kept playing Halford on the wing and Cotterill could only get a game from the bench. This was, in my view, a very negative way of playing.
Away from home we were very negative and boring. This brought us a long unbeaten away run (too many draws that we never tried to turn into wins) but had me coming away from most games shaking my head at our lack of ambition.
I didn't care for Warnock doing defensive away in the Premier, I could certainly never remember us being so dull in a lower league (especially with the players on board).
The signing of Henderson to replace Beattie was an enormous worry because his presence only meant one thing, the Hoof was here.

I abandoned the away games after Forest as I really couldn't believe we could be so poor and unambitious in the way we set up and played the game. The fact we won was seen as justification for the tactics. To me, if that is the way we want to play, then I want no part of it.
Luckily the back end of the season saw Naughton playing out of his skin and Cotterill get a bunch of games (at home) and at least we played with some decent width and scored some goals.
I came out of my away exile for Palace and we once again failed a "must win". The less said about Wembley the better.

This season has been horrible. I have enjoyed maybe three halves of football all season. Is that anyway to spend your leisure time?
If we were playing with a freedom and a style I enjoyed I wouldn't care. I would bemoan some of our results but I would generally enjoy my day. To see us play continuous Hoof, wingers sat on the bench to be replaced by workhorses and Monty roam the middle with his boots on the wrong feet, is now too much.
I bought my first season ticket just after I started my first job in 1976. Lord Hoof will be the straw that means I bought my last in 2009. I'm not a "want it now" sort of person (fucking good job after 47 years of watching us) but if I'm not going to get "it", the least I want is to see us play football.

As to what next.

Well as someone posted a couple of days ago, we need a philosophical rebuilding of the club. The "Blades Way" should be football first and this should run throughout the club from top to bottom.
From academy to first team we want passing, movement, width and pace. We don't want Hoof and run and battle and hoof and run . . .

 

[Blade]

Actually from what I work out if you include the cups it's 11 in 25 games, 3 of which have been penalties (2 at barnsley and 1 against west brom unless i'm missing one...)

Whilst having a rate of a goal in open play every 3 games is better than I thought we'd get from him I feel overall our game is hindered more tahn helped by his presence in the side. This is something I felt before he played for us and something I still feel despite his goals this year. Think how many attacks come to an end because of his persistent fouling (and to be fair fouls when no offence is committed); think how much extra pressure that puts on our defence and how many goals we may have conceded because of this and I think you get a better picture of the worth of him playing.

What I also fundamentally disagree with is that he walks into the team every time he's anywhere near available and rarely dropped (saturday aside) even when playing poorly and contributing nothing.

We have to look to find a balanced attack soon and stop changing things for the sake of it. Evans may be wank he may be good but he certainly isn't going to get better playing 55 minutes every 2/3 games alongside Cresswell or Henderson. The times we've seen the most from him in my view are those when he's had Camara with him or at least Ward playing more centrally, for once we've actually looked like our strikers are trying to form a relationship.

Back to topic - It's not just the style of football under Blackwell that people can complain about and I don't think it's fair to say this is the only area available for fair criticism. There are regular reports from the academy that the coaches don't get on with him, that the younsters are ignored by him or the reports that the more sensitive players are bullied.

Then for me one of the biggest areas for criticism is his lack of ability to get in tune with the fans or at least try and form a bond with us and inspire the fans to keep on track. Throughout so many occasions over his tenure I just feel either his personality or his decisions have made it difficult to

a) like him
b) genuinely understand what he's doing tactically and more long term in terms of transfer policy
c) get behnid the man

Comments such as fans not understanding complexities of football to explain erratic decisions or poor performances really annoyed me at the time. Most of us are not stupid and once you start to suggest fans are because they're unhappy with a performance you are on a slippy slope. His persistent negativity/excuse making is also a trait I'd feel we'd be better without - I seriously can't recall many times I've listened to him and felt more enthusiastic about a forthcoming game or the season as a whole yet nearly every week he says something that I feel makes me annoyed, something that is either untrue or something severely wayward (mainly regarding performances). His excuse making knows few boundaries - even if an excuse this week may contradict one made last week it doesn't stop him making it. Even if the excuse can be redirected back to him as the man in the middle and with overall responsibility for managing our squad, transfers, cover etc then that doesn't seem to stop him making it.

To finalise; of course sacking Blackwell alone is not the answer. We must look to bring in someone who can take us further, improve the performances we are churning out whilst also making us more consistent and have us competing at the top end of the table. What I think is becoming more and more obvious is that keeping Blackwell isn't the answer either. In the long run performances like we've been pumping out for the last year at least will only result in us moving backwards. Even if we were extermely lucky and scraped together a promotion I for one would be shit scared of giving Blackwell any funds for the premier league and feel without a doubt that would be a level he would not be able to compete at as a manager. In my view therefore we are much better making the decision that will set us free to really move forward and get rid of him and look to get someone in.

The biggest question mark to this view are with the details of any supposed takeover/investment - should it be a short time off and look impending then it may not be wise to get rid now and bring in someone in the interim until someone else is in charge of the club so I can see why they may be being cautious. My concern is that this call for investment may see a return in the next few months, it may take years and many of us are going to get seriously fed up of the current fare served up if it continues.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

4 of which are pens, hardly prolific.

Beattie last year got 12 goals in 23 games, with 5 of those penalties, and was also considered prolific.

I think Henderson is playing as well as he can. Unfortunately, I also think we play far worse as a whole with him in the team. The best football played lately has been with Evans and Cresswell as a pairing - I'm surprised we decided to ditch it the minute Henderson regained fitness.

 

[Grecian2000]

The best football played lately has been with Evans and Cresswell as a pairing - I'm surprised we decided to ditch it the minute Henderson regained fitness.

Surprised? Really?

I was pissed off in spades but not in the least surprised.

 

[Ollessendro]

The only fair criticism of Blackwell is the style of football we play......

So if we do sack Blackwell now, firstly we will have to pay up his contract, and then say to the next chap in that his predecessor achieved everything the chairman asked of him, yet still got the chop. Still want the job?

Your first point is wrong, wrong, wrong Shoreham. There are countless reasons as to why KB shouldn't be the manager. These are not because I don't like him, or because he is fat, or because he is a southener, etc etc. The reasons why so called 'knockers' can be critical of him is:

- style of football (as you pointed out)
- man management
- not getting the best out of players
- no plan B
- his piss poor use of substitutes
- lack of long term planning
- poor tactics
- awful judgment
- not learning from mistakes
- poor team selection (and sticking with the same players, such as Quinn, Henderson etc regardless)
- unwillingness to change things when they aren't working

Personally I couldn' give a toss whether Blackwell is arrogant, deals with the media badly, is self righteous la de da. The reason I don't want him manager of Sheffield united is because he is not a very good manager. His win record is good, but it could be oh so much better.

Your second point is a very good one though Shoreham. We can't afford to sack him. tricky Trevor said a) we can't afford to do it (in as many words) and b) he was doing a great job.

Blackwells main asset is that he is a 'yes' man. He has (and will continue) to do eveyhthing the board has told him to. Kev, 'decreasre the wage bill; ... 'yes boss'. 'Kev, i'm selling your best players'. 'Ok, now worries boss'. 'Kev jump through a hoop', yes boss' and la de da. I have to give KB credit for this, as he has put up with a lot of shit. Most managers would have got fed up and fecked off by now. This doesn't mean he is the righ manager for the job, but the board will see it that way. There is absolutely no way thet McCabe will sack our kevin, for all the reasons stated in that last paragraph!!??

bugger :blink:

 

[Torrix1889]

Your first point is wrong, wrong, wrong Shoreham. There are countless reasons as to why KB shouldn't be the manager. These are not because I don't like him, or because he is fat, or because he is a southener, etc etc. The reasons why so called 'knockers' can be critical of him is:

- style of football (as you pointed out)
- man management
- not getting the best out of players
- no plan B
- his piss poor use of substitutes
- lack of long term planning
- poor tactics
- awful judgment
- not learning from mistakes
- poor team selection (and sticking with the same players, such as Quinn, Henderson etc regardless)
- unwillingness to change things when they aren't working

Personally I couldn' give a toss whether Blackwell is arrogant, deals with the media badly, is self righteous la de da. The reason I don't want him manager of Sheffield united is because he is not a very good manager. His win record is good, but it could be oh so much better.

Your second point is a very good one though Shoreham. We can't afford to sack him. tricky Trevor said a) we can't afford to do it (in as many words) and b) he was doing a great job.

Blackwells main asset is that he is a 'yes' man. He has (and will continue) to do eveyhthing the board has told him to. Kev, 'decreasre the wage bill; ... 'yes boss'. 'Kev, i'm selling your best players'. 'Ok, now worries boss'. 'Kev jump through a hoop', yes boss' and la de da. I have to give KB credit for this, as he has put up with a lot of shit. Most managers would have got fed up and fecked off by now. This doesn't mean he is the righ manager for the job, but the board will see it that way. There is absolutely no way thet McCabe will sack our kevin, for all the reasons stated in that last paragraph!!??

bugger :blink:

Unless we vote with our feet and our wallets which is propping up his property empire at the moment.......

 

[shorehamview]

Your first point is wrong, wrong, wrong Shoreham. There are countless reasons as to why KB shouldn't be the manager. These are not because I don't like him, or because he is fat, or because he is a southener, etc etc. The reasons why so called 'knockers' can be critical of him is:

- style of football (as you pointed out)
- man management
- not getting the best out of players
- no plan B
- his piss poor use of substitutes
- lack of long term planning
- poor tactics
- awful judgment
- not learning from mistakes
- poor team selection (and sticking with the same players, such as Quinn, Henderson etc regardless)
- unwillingness to change things when they aren't working

Fair enough, although I'd lump most of those in the "style" category.

As far as man management goes then that's purely speculative - none of us who post on here have been managed by him, and so it's conjecture and just plain guess work that his man management skills are lacking. They probably are, but we have no actual proof. Who can say that he's the baddie in it all - it wouldn't be the first time professional footballers have had a mardy after all.

All the rest can be grouped together in the "style" section - it covers a lot more than 4-5-1 or 4-4-2. The team selection isn't necessarily poor, it's more that the team is being asked to do one thing - hoof the fucker - when perhaps it might be more than capable of getting it on the floor and passing to feet.

I get what you mean though, and it is getting harder and harder to find any enjoyment in a United performance at all. Even when we beat teams we look crap. When the opposition fans sing "One-nil and you still look shit" you find yourself nodding in agreement and thinking "Yes, you are right, we do. Not as shit as you though."

And that will sum up our season. Not as shit as most of the others.

 

[Micalijo]

Very difficult for me to offer anything more to the excellent stuff above.

So I won't other than to say there is no excuse for the football we have to watch.

Can anyone look back to the time of the Wall Street Crash to see if our manager of the time made such pathetic excuses as we hear now.

If I had to make one complaint only about Blackwell, it is his total disregard for the fans and the shite he spouts about the number of chances we created.

 

[Big Mart]

Consider this. Blackwell was appointed after one of our worst managers ever, and almost reached the play-offs.

Not necessarily one of the worst managers ever, one of the worst records I'll grant you, but he was never given a chance so I'll pass on that one. As to "almost reaching the play offs" well almost wins you nothing. It didn't increase the calibre of player wanting to sign for us and it didn't win us anything. Almost getting in the play offs, almost getting relegated, almost treading water, pretty much all the same to me.

McCabe gave him an extended contract, and United made the play-off final the following season. Blackwell has since been instructed to trim the wage expenditure and to have United around the play-offs. This he has done.

And therein lies the reason he's still here, he's cheap. He does as he's told, he doesn't make waves, and he's a brown nose so Superblade (wanker more like) loves him. Couldn't have found anyone better could the chairman, because whilever we're crap on the pitch it deflects the heat off him for a while.

The only fair criticism of Blackwell is the style of football we play. We have narrowly missed promotion - if Birmingham hadn't beaten us in the dying minutes of our first match then we may have gone up automatically and not them.

Nope, whilst the style of football we play is more than worthy of criticism, the fact that we've come close but won nothing renders him a failure. You win nowt for nearly, so far under Blackwell we've won nowt.

So if we do sack Blackwell now, firstly we will have to pay up his contract, and then say to the next chap in that his predecessor achieved everything the chairman asked of him, yet still got the chop. Still want the job?

And football being football, you'll have at least a half dozen willing to say yes to that.

This isn't a blind defence of Blackwell - I admit the football we play is as exciting as watching a man hit a plank with a spanner - but what is the reasonable alternative? It's all very well shouting "Blackwell out!" but who do you get in after you've sacked the man who did everything you asked him to?
I agree that something needs to change, but simply sacking Blackwell isn't the simple answer many think it to be.

You get a new man in and you accept that he's the expert on the playing front, you follow his judgement, and I'm sorry but you have to back him financially, otherwise you may as well stay as you are, scrape through this season and get ready for a relegation scrap next time out, because with this manager, this set of players, we're only heading one way.

Now if that makes me a Knocker then a Knocker I am but you know what? I'm just fed up of being expected to put up with shit just because we're a resilient bunch, because we're better than the scum at S6, because we shouldn't expect too much because that's what being a Blade's all about. It isn't, and it's about time the club realised that and stopped treating us like twats.

Blackwell OUT, and this is typed before tonights game so if we win 4 - 0 will anything change? Will it bollocks, we need a change and we need it now.

:gallop:

 

[Ollessendro]

Not necessarily one of the worst managers ever, one of the worst records I'll grant you, but he was never given a chance so I'll pass on that one. As to "almost reaching the play offs" well almost wins you nothing. It didn't increase the calibre of player wanting to sign for us and it didn't win us anything. Almost getting in the play offs, almost getting relegated, almost treading water, pretty much all the same to me.



And therein lies the reason he's still here, he's cheap. He does as he's told, he doesn't make waves, and he's a brown nose so Superblade (wanker more like) loves him. Couldn't have found anyone better could the chairman, because whilever we're crap on the pitch it deflects the heat off him for a while.



Nope, whilst the style of football we play is more than worthy of criticism, the fact that we've come close but won nothing renders him a failure. You win nowt for nearly, so far under Blackwell we've won nowt.



And football being football, you'll have at least a half dozen willing to say yes to that.



You get a new man in and you accept that he's the expert on the playing front, you follow his judgement, and I'm sorry but you have to back him financially, otherwise you may as well stay as you are, scrape through this season and get ready for a relegation scrap next time out, because with this manager, this set of players, we're only heading one way.

Now if that makes me a Knocker then a Knocker I am but you know what? I'm just fed up of being expected to put up with shit just because we're a resilient bunch, because we're better than the scum at S6, because we shouldn't expect too much because that's what being a Blade's all about. It isn't, and it's about time the club realised that and stopped treating us like twats.

Blackwell OUT, and this is typed before tonights game so if we win 4 - 0 will anything change? Will it bollocks, we need a change and we need it now.

:gallop:

Spot on Mart.

 

[super_pig]

>The only fair criticism of Blackwell is the style of football we play
yes but this is the most important aspect.. it isn't just because it looks nice.. it is because it is the most effective method.. i've come to the recent conclusion that i don't care if we play hoofball (deane and agana style) .. problem is we can't even do that. i prefer to call our style ice hockey football.. we physically basically batter teams to death.. this will always ensure us of mid table, even the play offs if we're lucky, but a decent outfit will always outplay us on the day

 

[super_pig]

just read grecian's post .. we have had parallel experiences mate..did i write that myself?. .right down to the forest match that stopped me going to away games.. that is IT in a nutshell
bravo.. great post mate.. make this a sticky.