Fleetwood, and the circle of life

[BazWainwright]

Watching tonight's game gave me an jarring sense of:

1. Anger and disappointment, but then again, I am a Blades fan, so pretty much used to that

2. We've seen all of this before.

United seen now to have completed the arc of shitness. We've actually returned to what we were some twelve, thirteen, maybe fourteen years ago. Fleetwood showed us that tonight. We might as well have been managed by late-stage Danny Wilson, David Weir, Nigel Clough or Nigel Adkins tonight for the gutless, inept, incompetent performance we put in. Did anyone think that most of our players were former Premier League and on the pitch for a big city club with American backers, playing a coastal village outfit in League Two with a stadium no better than say, Crawley Town or Boston United? Their will to win and not be overrun and our total inability to play football was the story of tonight and it used to happen regularly right through the dismal days of Weir/Clough/Adkins when we were once again stripped of talent by a dolt of an owner who'd sell the club cat for a go on someone's Raleigh Grifter and a rollie.

Think about it, apples for apples now: Is McGuinness any better than Collins? Is Tanganga better than Mceveley? Doherty for Alcock? What about RND for Bob Harris? In the middle of the park, it is difficult to argue Peck, Reidewald or Rothwell are any improvement on M Doyle, Scougall or S Quinn, Out wide or up front maybe you have some comparison with Donovan and Murphy but BBD, Ayew, Bamford, Campbell and Cannon are just carbon copy Porter, Flynn, Kitson, Higdon, Done, Sammon.

It really is that obvious.

What point am I making?

It's this: This is a 'circle of life' moment for the Blades. It works in cycles and this is another downswing. Over the past ten years we have had but two highspots, and several crushing downcomings and tonight showed us up exactly for what we are, a disorganised, demoralised pile of crap with players who are way past their prime and others who are just here for the wage managed by a bloke who simply does not have a single original footballing idea in his head, any more. We cling on desperately because 'he's a Blade' and 'cut him, and he's red and white all the way through' but the truth is (and we know it) that no one in their right mind would come to Bramall Lane given it's propensity for failure and its seemingly dismal magnetism for wankers like the current lot owning the club we love. We have a fantastic stadium and roughly half the city's humans as fans plus a heady ex-pat legion ... and a failing manager plus a squad of fraudsters in football kits we painfully and dutifully follow.

We all knew this was coming. Tonight was the proof.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

At this stage of the competition we knew we’d get a decent draw in the next round. Of course Arsenal would have dry bummed us, but for a club struggling financially, Wilder and his band footballing rejects have actually cost this club money.

 

[BladeByChoice]

At this stage of the competition we knew we’d get a decent draw in the next round. Of course Arsenal would have dry bummed us, but for a club struggling financially, Wilder and his band footballing rejects have actually cost this club money.

Usually I would agree with this, but lets not forget this would be a home match.
Had it been at the library they would have charged 25 quid and put 60k bums on seats, yes a good payday.

But at the Lane.

1. tenner a ticket to attract fans who won't come anyway
2. Kop closed
3. despite having the whole summer, still no roof on the BLUT so they would only get the lower tier
4. struggle to get more that 11k in the ground.

That payday soon starts to look look an amount that won't cover Arsenals petrol bill.

 

[metalblade]

Maybe a blessing we got knocked out Arsenal would have got a record score even with their B team against this shower.

 

[Working Class Hero]

Usually I would agree with this, but lets not forget this would be a home match.
Had it been at the library they would have charged 25 quid and put 60k bums on seats, yes a good payday.

But at the Lane.

1. tenner a ticket to attract fans who won't come anyway
2. Kop closed
3. despite having the whole summer, still no roof on the BLUT so they would only get the lower tier
4. struggle to get more that 11k in the ground.

That payday soon starts to look look an amount that won't cover Arsenals petrol bill.

I imagine all ties at that stage are on TV, so there would have been some money in it, but you're right, Premier League teams at Bramal Lane are no longer a thing that will bring out the big crowds.

Obviously there are reasons, but it shows how broken we are as a fan base.

 

[alcoblade]

Watching tonight's game gave me an jarring sense of:

1. Anger and disappointment, but then again, I am a Blades fan, so pretty much used to that

2. We've seen all of this before.

United seen now to have completed the arc of shitness. We've actually returned to what we were some twelve, thirteen, maybe fourteen years ago. Fleetwood showed us that tonight. We might as well have been managed by late-stage Danny Wilson, David Weir, Nigel Clough or Nigel Adkins tonight for the gutless, inept, incompetent performance we put in. Did anyone think that most of our players were former Premier League and on the pitch for a big city club with American backers, playing a coastal village outfit in League Two with a stadium no better than say, Crawley Town or Boston United? Their will to win and not be overrun and our total inability to play football was the story of tonight and it used to happen regularly right through the dismal days of Weir/Clough/Adkins when we were once again stripped of talent by a dolt of an owner who'd sell the club cat for a go on someone's Raleigh Grifter and a rollie.

Think about it, apples for apples now: Is McGuinness any better than Collins? Is Tanganga better than Mceveley? Doherty for Alcock? What about RND for Bob Harris? In the middle of the park, it is difficult to argue Peck, Reidewald or Rothwell are any improvement on M Doyle, Scougall or S Quinn, Out wide or up front maybe you have some comparison with Donovan and Murphy but BBD, Ayew, Bamford, Campbell and Cannon are just carbon copy Porter, Flynn, Kitson, Higdon, Done, Sammon.

It really is that obvious.

What point am I making?

It's this: This is a 'circle of life' moment for the Blades. It works in cycles and this is another downswing. Over the past ten years we have had but two highspots, and several crushing downcomings and tonight showed us up exactly for what we are, a disorganised, demoralised pile of crap with players who are way past their prime and others who are just here for the wage managed by a bloke who simply does not have a single original footballing idea in his head, any more. We cling on desperately because 'he's a Blade' and 'cut him, and he's red and white all the way through' but the truth is (and we know it) that no one in their right mind would come to Bramall Lane given it's propensity for failure and its seemingly dismal magnetism for wankers like the current lot owning the club we love. We have a fantastic stadium and roughly half the city's humans as fans plus a heady ex-pat legion ... and a failing manager plus a squad of fraudsters in football kits we painfully and dutifully follow.

We all knew this was coming. Tonight was the proof.

What's disappointing is that it's so predictable. At this stage clubs' try to cling on by signing players at the end of their life cycle, in the hope that "character" and experience will overcome it. But it comes at a price that they're expensive, and generate zero forward income for the club. Stoke have done it for years but their rich owners have footed the bill.

I'd hope that this is where Wilder would excel, but it seems the days (and his talent) of us scraping up and coming talent from the lower leagues has gone. We're now in a mess that will take several years, or big investment, to undo.

The best we can hope for is avoiding relegation - but maybe that's the reset that's needed. The big problem is trusting the current ownership to replace the manager correctly.

 

[BladeByChoice]

The best we can hope for is avoiding relegation - but maybe that's the reset that's needed. The big problem is trusting the current ownership to replace the manager correctly.

Any other season a relegation reset might do us some good, but not this one, we all know who's coming back up this season, and passing them on the way up while we are on the way down just can not be allowed to happen.

 

[Barnette]

So it seems the Wilder masterclass is still to get knocked out of all cups.

Does he give a monkeys what the fans want?

Personally all I want it to be entertained by a team that is trying to win. Didn't see that last night.

 

[bakeblade]

Watching tonight's game gave me an jarring sense of:

1. Anger and disappointment, but then again, I am a Blades fan, so pretty much used to that

2. We've seen all of this before.

United seen now to have completed the arc of shitness. We've actually returned to what we were some twelve, thirteen, maybe fourteen years ago. Fleetwood showed us that tonight. We might as well have been managed by late-stage Danny Wilson, David Weir, Nigel Clough or Nigel Adkins tonight for the gutless, inept, incompetent performance we put in. Did anyone think that most of our players were former Premier League and on the pitch for a big city club with American backers, playing a coastal village outfit in League Two with a stadium no better than say, Crawley Town or Boston United? Their will to win and not be overrun and our total inability to play football was the story of tonight and it used to happen regularly right through the dismal days of Weir/Clough/Adkins when we were once again stripped of talent by a dolt of an owner who'd sell the club cat for a go on someone's Raleigh Grifter and a rollie.

Think about it, apples for apples now: Is McGuinness any better than Collins? Is Tanganga better than Mceveley? Doherty for Alcock? What about RND for Bob Harris? In the middle of the park, it is difficult to argue Peck, Reidewald or Rothwell are any improvement on M Doyle, Scougall or S Quinn, Out wide or up front maybe you have some comparison with Donovan and Murphy but BBD, Ayew, Bamford, Campbell and Cannon are just carbon copy Porter, Flynn, Kitson, Higdon, Done, Sammon.

It really is that obvious.

What point am I making?

It's this: This is a 'circle of life' moment for the Blades. It works in cycles and this is another downswing. Over the past ten years we have had but two highspots, and several crushing downcomings and tonight showed us up exactly for what we are, a disorganised, demoralised pile of crap with players who are way past their prime and others who are just here for the wage managed by a bloke who simply does not have a single original footballing idea in his head, any more. We cling on desperately because 'he's a Blade' and 'cut him, and he's red and white all the way through' but the truth is (and we know it) that no one in their right mind would come to Bramall Lane given it's propensity for failure and its seemingly dismal magnetism for wankers like the current lot owning the club we love. We have a fantastic stadium and roughly half the city's humans as fans plus a heady ex-pat legion ... and a failing manager plus a squad of fraudsters in football kits we painfully and dutifully follow.

We all knew this was coming. Tonight was the proof.

It's becoming clear we need bottom out again with a stint in Div1 and restart with new owners, Management and backroom staff

 

[joe casey]

At this stage of the competition we knew we’d get a decent draw in the next round. Of course Arsenal would have dry bummed us, but for a club struggling financially, Wilder and his band footballing rejects have actually cost this club money.

Only money would have been TV money (which I agree is not to be sniffed at) - Carabao cup only pays teams per round from semis and even then the winners only receive £100k

 

[alcoblade]

Only money would have been TV money (which I agree is not to be sniffed at) - Carabao cup only pays teams per round from semis and even then the winners only receive £100k

A home sellout Against arsenal could at least have covered a quarter of Choudary's wages.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

In what’s shaping up to be a season of low expectations, a little spurt of cup glamour (even if we lose) against the reigning champions, might have added a touch of colour to the impending drudgery of this campaign.

 

[Racing Blade]

I'm baffled why people think we need a stint in L1, in order to 'reset'. There's a decent argument that West Brom, QPR, Norwich and (Saturday might suggest) Stoke have already bottomed out of their own troubles, without dropping into the lower half of the Football League.

The last spell took six seasons to end ffs! The first saw us drop to the 4th tier.

I don't know what it is about both Sheffield clubs. Apart from us and Wednesday, there's no decent sized club that's dropped to those levels, three or more times, in my 55 years of following football. We need to fight tooth and nail not to go there for a fourth time, not just wilt. West Brom escaped last season, Hull didn't the year before.

By the way, if we are dealing with some form of supernatural time cycle (akin to the ridiculously complicated, German Netflix series "Dark"), it's true path is for The Pigs to be waiting for us in L1. After looking forlornly useless at getting themselves out of trouble, prior to our relegation, our presence galvanises them, and becomes their springboard to promotion and a few subsequent years further up the leagues than us.

 

[Working Class Hero]

It's becoming clear we need bottom out again with a stint in Div1 and restart with new owners, Management and backroom staff

I don't think that'll help.

It's been rubbish since Billy Sharp was no longer our captain, and it was rubbish before he was captain.

There is only one solution to this situation.

 

[Racing Blade]

OK Hull did escape the year before!!

 

[SB_90]

i had the same thought in that id be fasinated to see what 2015 chris wilder who came to watch nigel adkins team at Christmas 2015 & was very critical of in his opening months of his 1st spell. would think of 2026 chris wilder

because both a bloated group with high wages, poor recruitment & many players who are less than the sum of their parts. i think he's become something that he hated

 

[singaporeblade]

Watching tonight's game gave me an jarring sense of:

1. Anger and disappointment, but then again, I am a Blades fan, so pretty much used to that

2. We've seen all of this before.

United seen now to have completed the arc of shitness. We've actually returned to what we were some twelve, thirteen, maybe fourteen years ago. Fleetwood showed us that tonight. We might as well have been managed by late-stage Danny Wilson, David Weir, Nigel Clough or Nigel Adkins tonight for the gutless, inept, incompetent performance we put in. Did anyone think that most of our players were former Premier League and on the pitch for a big city club with American backers, playing a coastal village outfit in League Two with a stadium no better than say, Crawley Town or Boston United? Their will to win and not be overrun and our total inability to play football was the story of tonight and it used to happen regularly right through the dismal days of Weir/Clough/Adkins when we were once again stripped of talent by a dolt of an owner who'd sell the club cat for a go on someone's Raleigh Grifter and a rollie.

Think about it, apples for apples now: Is McGuinness any better than Collins? Is Tanganga better than Mceveley? Doherty for Alcock? What about RND for Bob Harris? In the middle of the park, it is difficult to argue Peck, Reidewald or Rothwell are any improvement on M Doyle, Scougall or S Quinn, Out wide or up front maybe you have some comparison with Donovan and Murphy but BBD, Ayew, Bamford, Campbell and Cannon are just carbon copy Porter, Flynn, Kitson, Higdon, Done, Sammon.

It really is that obvious.

What point am I making?

It's this: This is a 'circle of life' moment for the Blades. It works in cycles and this is another downswing. Over the past ten years we have had but two highspots, and several crushing downcomings and tonight showed us up exactly for what we are, a disorganised, demoralised pile of crap with players who are way past their prime and others who are just here for the wage managed by a bloke who simply does not have a single original footballing idea in his head, any more. We cling on desperately because 'he's a Blade' and 'cut him, and he's red and white all the way through' but the truth is (and we know it) that no one in their right mind would come to Bramall Lane given it's propensity for failure and its seemingly dismal magnetism for wankers like the current lot owning the club we love. We have a fantastic stadium and roughly half the city's humans as fans plus a heady ex-pat legion ... and a failing manager plus a squad of fraudsters in football kits we painfully and dutifully follow.

We all knew this was coming. Tonight was the proof.

Yes i agree with all that. I certainly could tell this was coming and i feared when we were relegated the last time the cycle had started and we would become another Stoke/West Brom/Derby and meander around the middle of the Championship for a number of years now.
However, looking at the shite our great leader has assembled, i fear we are in a downward spiral to the league below.
The problem seems to be that he is a poor coach and now thinks he can get away with it by signing journey men...it didn't work last season and won't work this season either.
We are unfortunately in deep shit and as the owners are also as clueless we are stuck with him and his merry men.

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

Aarrh...but we have the international break coming up and all will be well..
Yea, until we loose shape at the back, build slower than a Boston Massachusetts road system (the big dig, look it up, it's a mess). There are a lot of problems with the club, everyone would agree but bottom line the players are not and haven't for a while been producing consistent performances. Coaching or players, they can not be happy either. Would like to see things turn around, as of now ....don't see it happening. Stoke away, here is the chance to , for a better term, give a sh1t. As a team....not hopeful

 

[Loco Blade]

Watching tonight's game gave me an jarring sense of:

1. Anger and disappointment, but then again, I am a Blades fan, so pretty much used to that

2. We've seen all of this before.

United seen now to have completed the arc of shitness. We've actually returned to what we were some twelve, thirteen, maybe fourteen years ago. Fleetwood showed us that tonight. We might as well have been managed by late-stage Danny Wilson, David Weir, Nigel Clough or Nigel Adkins tonight for the gutless, inept, incompetent performance we put in. Did anyone think that most of our players were former Premier League and on the pitch for a big city club with American backers, playing a coastal village outfit in League Two with a stadium no better than say, Crawley Town or Boston United? Their will to win and not be overrun and our total inability to play football was the story of tonight and it used to happen regularly right through the dismal days of Weir/Clough/Adkins when we were once again stripped of talent by a dolt of an owner who'd sell the club cat for a go on someone's Raleigh Grifter and a rollie.

Think about it, apples for apples now: Is McGuinness any better than Collins? Is Tanganga better than Mceveley? Doherty for Alcock? What about RND for Bob Harris? In the middle of the park, it is difficult to argue Peck, Reidewald or Rothwell are any improvement on M Doyle, Scougall or S Quinn, Out wide or up front maybe you have some comparison with Donovan and Murphy but BBD, Ayew, Bamford, Campbell and Cannon are just carbon copy Porter, Flynn, Kitson, Higdon, Done, Sammon.

It really is that obvious.

What point am I making?

It's this: This is a 'circle of life' moment for the Blades. It works in cycles and this is another downswing. Over the past ten years we have had but two highspots, and several crushing downcomings and tonight showed us up exactly for what we are, a disorganised, demoralised pile of crap with players who are way past their prime and others who are just here for the wage managed by a bloke who simply does not have a single original footballing idea in his head, any more. We cling on desperately because 'he's a Blade' and 'cut him, and he's red and white all the way through' but the truth is (and we know it) that no one in their right mind would come to Bramall Lane given it's propensity for failure and its seemingly dismal magnetism for wankers like the current lot owning the club we love. We have a fantastic stadium and roughly half the city's humans as fans plus a heady ex-pat legion ... and a failing manager plus a squad of fraudsters in football kits we painfully and dutifully follow.

We all knew this was coming. Tonight was the proof.

100% agree with that . So by Wilder fan boy logic and because im a life long blade and cos I know a bit about football from watching Jimmy Hill on match of the day am I not equally qualified to manage blades? Is it that easy then ? Might apply

 

[Bladesthorpe]

Man U lost to Grimsby last season, look at them now losing to Brighton after being 2 goals up.
What they have got is loads of money to put it right,we've got owners who have got fuck all to put Soccer woes right.

 

[ancientblade]

A home sellout Against arsenal could at least have covered a quarter of Choudary's wages.

we wouldnt have sold out even against arsenal our fanbase is in turmoil

 

[alcoblade]

we wouldnt have sold out even against arsenal our fanbase is in turmoil

An eighth of his salary then!