First time in a long time

[Greenwich Blade]

I feel the same as many others, but if we string a few wins together it will return. Even if we're 4 points off second spot I will be biting my nails again. We're not too far off that, but it seems like we're falling further away from the top two every game. We aren't the outstanding team in this division but we've got some players who we know can step up and perform better. Brayford's return could give us a big psychological boost. I hope he's on the bench at Barnsley.

I had a dream last night that Brayford's foot was back in plaster again. I also dreamed that I was on Death Row. This morning I woke up and realised it was all a dream, although having looked out of the window it would appear that I AM actually on Death Row - it's called Viola Avenue in Stanwell.

 

[Greenwich Blade]

Why would he do that? Barny may not be everyone's cup of tea but at least he is not abusive.

I wish he was abusive; he'd be a lot more interesting then.

 

[Greenwich Blade]

I had no intention of going up to Walsall on Saturday, largely due to one or two things going off on Death Row in Stanwell. I actually felt a sense of relief when I made the decision and had set the alarm in order to wake up in time for Danny Baker on 5 Live, something I was really looking forward to.

The thing is, I woke up three hours before the alarm went off, had a quick look on here, saw that thread about all the rubbish vehicles used for away days, checked on sufc.co.uk and read that tickets were available on the turnstiles, and so felt the urge.

Within an hour I had booked a £12 return on the Megabus and thirty minutes later was on my way.

As it turned out, I had a brilliant day because for me there is nothing like watching United away from home. On the train to the Bescot I had some fellow Blades rip the piss out of me for liking Prog Rock and another one accuse me of writing a letter to The Star. Added to that, there was an Oxfordshire Blade who said it was a pleasure to meet me.

As for the game itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it; this possibly means I'm easily pleased but precisely zero fucks are given over that. I thought it was an entertaining game in which we may have rode our luck at times, but I felt that we at least showed a bit of character, effort and determination, something sadly lacking all too often this season.

I was also entertained by the crowd; the caustic terrace humour is forever present on an away day. "I don't know what they do to the enemy but by god, they frighten me," said the Duke of Wellington about his men prior to the Battle of Waterloo, something I always think of as I look around the Blades following on the away end - even the old men look hard.

Perhaps my favourite bit though was after the ref had turned us down for yet another penalty and the West Mids Constabulary stationed themselves in front of us for all of five seconds before wandering off again. I suggested they should hang around for the next bad decision from the ref as it was surely not far away. One of the plod turned round and said, "He is a shit referee, this one; you should be 2-1 up by now." We then discussed the ref's failings further before I suggested he search out his car in the car-park and write him out a ticket.

The ultimate condemnation - the local coppers thought the ref was crap.

Ahem, anyway, I am so glad I went not least because for once a great day out was not ruined by 90 minutes of football. Even better, when I got home neither my record collection or home cinema system had been lifted by my retreating ex-flatmate.

It's just as a measure of things the fact that I nearly didn't go is a sign that I'm losing interest a bit.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Only a club as stupid as ours would be willing to let a man that has 5 incredibly poor signings to his name extend that to considerably more. Then there's the fans that will accept that then wonder how everything got ten times worse.

A manager capable of recruiting young, hungry, athletic players from league one and two. It really shouldn't be that much of an ask.

Adkins definitely isn't that, as proven by his horrible signings.

So now all 5 are incredibly poor? It was only four a week or so ago. Has Sharp dropped into that group after having a poor game saturday?


How many were incredibly poor when we went on that 4 game winning run when we only conceded one goal? Were Sharp, Sammon and Edgar all incredibly poor then? I suspect not. Good players don’t become bad players overnight.

I don’t agree with Adkins’ decision not to start Sammon alongside Sharp. Edgar is just getting fit again. Hammond hasn’t been great so far. Nor has he been as bad as some make out. Only Woolford looks an incredibly poor signing for me. The others rank somewhere between so-so and good.


No doubt it will have also gone completely over your head that these signings are all experienced players, 3 of which are on loan so are very much signings intended for the short term to supplement a bloated average squad to try to get us up this season. With the decks much clearer next season, with Turnbull working to identify targets overseas, the approach may be very different when it comes to the re-build. Perhaps he should have taken a longer term approach straight off but the temptation is to go with what you know sometimes as it feels safer. Especially when he knows he’ll have numpties like you screaming for him out if he’s not flying after a few weeks.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

I
I don't know about you, but there's no way I'd be willing to let a man proven to be woefully lacking in those key areas to be taking charge of a recruitment drive four to five times the size that of which he has failed miserably at already.

I don’t know about you but there’s no way I’d sack a man proven to be excellent at getting teams promoted from this division and who is, on paper, by far the best candidate we could have hoped to appoint and who wants to play attacking adventurous football when he’s only been in the job a few months. Especially when you consider the financial implications of that as well as the implications of how attractive the job will be if we prove ourselves to be so ridiculously trigger happy. Have you considered those factors? If we get rid of Adkins, do we also get rid of Turnbull, Wilkins etc.? How much would it cost to pay all of those off? What would it leave in the coffers for new players? Who would take the job knowing we’d sack them a few months in if they weren’t at the top of the league? Who is out there who might manage at this level that is better than Adkins? Have you considered all of these questions? Are you able to offer reasoned thoughts on these issues or is it as simple as “United are not doing well so I’ll thcweam and thcwean until I’m sick”?

 

[Dkc]

I think that very few are in favour of sacking Adkins. Not because results / performances haven't been disappointing, but because we're learning the hard way that sacking the manager doesn't necessarily lead to any improvement (Weir being the exception). In the old days clubs didn't sack managers after a poor season, often not even after relegation. They changed the players instead.

Today there is a need for boards / owners to be seen to be "doing something" as opposed to "doing nothing" - even if changing the manager is often just as likely to result in a drop in form as an improvement.

I supported sacking Weir and Robson - all the rest in recent memory should have been given more time imo. Even Micky Adams would probably have got us back up within three or four years.