For goodness sake.......

[maidmarion]

what a load of moaners you lot are. Ok so we've lost our first match 4-0. What did you expect. We've been tipped for promotion, we'rethe biggest club in his league, we've hit a fantastic ground and a manager who has a proven track record of promotion from this league.
But we are Sheffield United, we never do things the easy way.
So we had a good pre season......we were all optimistic......but we still have lots of work to do.
This is where WE have to make a difference.
Stop slagging our players off....do you have somebody on your shoulder at work telling you you're rubbish when you make a mistake.....
If you are going to turn up to watch the team then support them. All this 'I've paid for me ticket I can slag em off if I want to .'...quite frankly , stop at home if that's how you feel.
Ok ....lets get behind them. Promotion is not a forgone conclusion, but with our HELP and support we could be the difference between winning and losing.
UTB

 

[ilovesufc]

...do the hippy hippy shake?

 

[metalblade]

I wondered who would be the first to come out with this type of OP

 

[robbiez666]

God, it's the fans at fault again. Bloody fans. Going to our matches and upsetting the pampered darlings.

It's not that we lost 4.0. I'd not be happy but these things happen sometimes. If it was a case of bad luck and being 'one of those days' most would just write it off as a bad day in the office. It's how we played and who played.

You can spout your mantra all you want, but the fact remains there's a lot inherently wrong with the squad and it has negligently not been addressed for over a year now.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

God, it's the fans at fault again. Bloody fans. Going to our matches and upsetting the pampered darlings.

It's not that we lost 4.0. I'd not be happy but these things happen sometimes. If it was a case of bad luck and being 'one of those days' most would just write it off as a bad day in the office. It's how we played and who played.

You can spout your mantra all you want, but the fact remains there's a lot inherently wrong with the squad and it has negligently not been addressed for over a year now.

No pleasure in saying told yer.

It was a train crash waiting to happen.


If we start the season with Collins and McEveley then get shut of Nigel and get someone in who knows what he's doing.

Surely agents know of our c/h situation, surely we are been offered players on a daily basis.

Come on Nigel get yer finger pulled out, we need three c/h's now.



GRUMPY BLADE, Jul 16, 2015

 

[Barney]

The difference between winning and losing is replacing the back 4 or sticking with them.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

God, it's the fans at fault again. Bloody fans. Going to our matches and upsetting the pampered darlings.

Collins having a dig at Long is, rightly, worth several pages he was our out of order - but a "fan" giving him dog's abuse from about 10ft away for most of the first half makes no difference?

 

[robbiez666]

Collins having a dig at Long is, rightly, worth several pages he was our out of order - but a "fan" giving him dog's abuse from about 10ft away for most of the first half makes no difference?

Personally, I would never do that. However, I get fed up of fans telling other fans how they should behave, both at matches and online.If you shout in a player's face from close by, you're an idiot. If you shout annoyance from a distance, it's not like the player will hear it.

I'm pretty sure buying 4 or 5 good players would make a hell of a lot more difference than the fans. Or not making Bluntman and Chronic Player Ambassadors.

If the players on the pitch can't be arsed then they deserve grief from people who have paid a lot of money to travel and watch them.

 

[Sirius]

God, it's the fans at fault again. Bloody fans. Going to our matches and upsetting the pampered darlings.

It's not that we lost 4.0. I'd not be happy but these things happen sometimes. If it was a case of bad luck and being 'one of those days' most would just write it off as a bad day in the office. It's how we played and who played.

You can spout your mantra all you want, but the fact remains there's a lot inherently wrong with the squad and it has negligently not been addressed for over a year now.

Whilst I agree with your post robbie, in my view it is still counter productive to exercise your freedom of choice to slag off the players during a game.

I am sure that it will not encourage them to do better, that is,those who are able to do better.

Yes, it is not easy to accept the level we are at but IMO. The vitriol should be kept in the bottle during a game, or addressed to the Directors and policy makers..
UTB

 

[Bartleby]

Whilst I agree with your post robbie, in my view it is still counter productive to exercise your freedom of choice to slag off the players during a game.

I am sure that it will not encourage them to do better, that is,those who are able to do better.

Yes, it is not easy to accept the level we are at but IMO. The vitriol should be kept in the bottle during a game, or addressed to the Directors and policy makers..
UTB

I agree. We all get passionate but football matches are one of the few places now where, if it's what floats your boat, you can get away with effing and blinding to your heart's content at someone while they are in the course of doing their job. In the workplace you'd be disciplined. In a shop or other public place you would be thrown out or arrested. Or you would simply get twatted, and you'd deserve it.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

If you shout in a player's face from close by, you're an idiot. If you shout annoyance from a distance, it's not like the player will hear it.

Are you seriously suggesting that Long wouldn't have been aware of what was going on in the stand behind him? There is absolutely no way that would have been the case Saturday. No way whatsoever.

 

[mattbianco1]

It was shocking some of the stuff that got shouted at him.

He's a 21yr old lad from Sheffield, playing for his boyhood team and has just dropped some clangers. He knows he's dropped them, Adkins knows, the board knows, we know. He didn't need such vile comments being thrown at him, he needed a pat on the back and some encouragement. The fact that he will inevitably be dropped should be enough punishment for the lad not 100s of grown men acting like neanderthals. Fans that he used to sit next to at home and away games.

Shameful.

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

It was shocking some of the stuff that got shouted at him.

He's a 21yr old lad from Sheffield, playing for his boyhood team and has just dropped some clangers. He knows he's dropped them, Adkins knows, the board knows, we know. He didn't need such vile comments being thrown at him, he needed a pat on the back and some encouragement. The fact that he will inevitably be dropped should be enough punishment for the lad not 100s of grown men acting like neanderthals. Fans that he used to sit next to at home and away games.

Shameful.

The forum is a great place to vent your feelings, never at the players like that.

 

[mattbianco1]

The forum is a great place to vent your feelings, never at the players like that.

Exactly. Write it here. Phone up Football Heaven or Tweet Phipps/Adkins.

He barely went for a cross after that first mistake. His confidence was shot.

Louis Van Gaal says he won't play De Gea until the "distraction" of interest from Real Madrid is over i.e. 1st September if he is still here. Imagine the distraction when you're being called a cunt on numerous occasions from your fans. Somebody say that to him in public and he turns around and twats you.

 

[Caseh]

I felt sorry for Long more than anything else, some of the abuse he was getting was unfair and unwarranted. He did crap. Everyone knows, but at the end of the day, he didn't pick himself. It's obvious he has confidence issues, which can be caused by things far away from the football pitch.

Give the lad a bit of support, slag Adkins off after the match. You know our fans are getting bad when the opposition fans are bringing up the abuse we give our own players.

 

[carthesis]

Exactly. Write it here. Phone up Football Heaven or Tweet Phipps/Adkins.

He barely went for a cross after that first mistake. His confidence was shot.

Louis Van Gaal says he won't play De Gea until the "distraction" of interest from Real Madrid is over i.e. 1st September if he is still here. Imagine the distraction when you're being called a cunt on numerous occasions from your fans. Somebody say that to him in public and he turns around and twats you.

I felt sorry for Long more than anything else, some of the abuse he was getting was unfair and unwarranted. He did crap. Everyone knows, but at the end of the day, he didn't pick himself. It's obvious he has confidence issues, which can be caused by things far away from the football pitch.

Give the lad a bit of support, slag Adkins off after the match. You know our fans are getting bad when the opposition fans are bringing up the abuse we give our own players.

While all this is true, and I agree entirely, at the end of the day he's a professional footballer, getting paid quite a lot of money by comparison to your average bod in the street. I'm not saying that as a result of that he should put up with horrid abuse - far from it - but as a professional, he either needs to sort his confidence issue to become effective, or he needs to consider getting out of the game, because if he doesn't he'll never be happy.

 

[super_pig]

i moan as much as anyone on here but booing the shirt is totally out of order.. even if Monty is wearing it

 

[Kenilworth]

what a load of moaners you lot are. Ok so we've lost our first match 4-0. What did you expect. We've been tipped for promotion, we'rethe biggest club in his league, we've hit a fantastic ground and a manager who has a proven track record of promotion from this league.
But we are Sheffield United, we never do things the easy way.
So we had a good pre season......we were all optimistic......but we still have lots of work to do.
This is where WE have to make a difference.
Stop slagging our players off....do you have somebody on your shoulder at work telling you you're rubbish when you make a mistake.....
If you are going to turn up to watch the team then support them. All this 'I've paid for me ticket I can slag em off if I want to .'...quite frankly , stop at home if that's how you feel.
Ok ....lets get behind them. Promotion is not a forgone conclusion, but with our HELP and support we could be the difference between winning and losing.
UTB

Not to be dicked 4-0 is what I expected
Some fight and resolve is the least we could have expected
I expected them to compete and win their individual battles
I (stupidly) expected us to create some chances and trouble their goal keeper - not two powder puff shots from Murphy and one other that Nelson could have dropped his hat on from the comfort of his deck chair in the early August sun.

People can understand a defeat if the team competes and loses out to a moment of brilliance or to a piece of bad luck but to capitulate like a Sunday League pub team when they are highly paid for this league, is frankly, unforgivable.
Carry on with your acceptance of mediocrity all you want. It's not going to make any improvements to this sorry lot.
If that's the best we can put out then this season is just going to be a continuation of the last 3 years of futile endeavour.
I have no confidence that Adkins has the backing to make the alterations necessary until contracts for the dross we have accumulated are at an end.

Humble pie in the freezer, waiting for the oven - but I suspect it will be out of it's use by date before I get an opportunity to eat any of it.

 

[crucialkneeligaman]

what a load of moaners you lot are. Ok so we've lost our first match 4-0. What did you expect. We've been tipped for promotion, we'rethe biggest club in his league, we've hit a fantastic ground and a manager who has a proven track record of promotion from this league.
But we are Sheffield United, we never do things the easy way.
So we had a good pre season......we were all optimistic......but we still have lots of work to do.
This is where WE have to make a difference.
Stop slagging our players off....do you have somebody on your shoulder at work telling you you're rubbish when you make a mistake.....
If you are going to turn up to watch the team then support them. All this 'I've paid for me ticket I can slag em off if I want to .'...quite frankly , stop at home if that's how you feel.
Ok ....lets get behind them. Promotion is not a forgone conclusion, but with our HELP and support we could be the difference between winning and losing.
UTB

Didn't the fans travelling down to Gillingham go with the intention of helping and supporting the team ?, didn't make any difference to the teams performance and a right kick in the nuts for those that went. The vast majority of our supporters have been loyal to the point of insanity, fat lot of good it appears to be doing, when the players either cannot be arsed or are not fit for purpose to use a trendy phrase.

 

[Rodley]

Hope we get David Edgar. A big strong talker at the back. Exactly what we need!

 

[super_pig]

i think it is ok for the fans to moan to a point. the point being when they become a hindrance to the team performance.. it would appear that some of 'us' overstepped the mark on saturday

 

[AlienBlade]

what a load of moaners you lot are. Ok so we've lost our first match 4-0. What did you expect. We've been tipped for promotion, we'rethe biggest club in his league, we've hit a fantastic ground and a manager who has a proven track record of promotion from this league.
But we are Sheffield United, we never do things the easy way.
So we had a good pre season......we were all optimistic......but we still have lots of work to do.
This is where WE have to make a difference.
Stop slagging our players off....do you have somebody on your shoulder at work telling you you're rubbish when you make a mistake.....
If you are going to turn up to watch the team then support them. All this 'I've paid for me ticket I can slag em off if I want to .'...quite frankly , stop at home if that's how you feel.
Ok ....lets get behind them. Promotion is not a forgone conclusion, but with our HELP and support we could be the difference between winning and losing.
UTB

Fact is the Players themselves have admitted it was down to a lack of heart and drive to win.... a big difference from the rhetoric they were peddling in the 24-48hrs before hand...

the exact same problems have occurred as last season

Long Fails to command his box
Strikers cut adrift and fed on scraps
failure to deal with set pieces

so what has Adkins brought to the fore... its all well and good telling us he is well aware of the situation..... I think Stevie Wonder and even the Who's Pinball Wizard's Tommy was well aware of the situation... his job is to do something about it....

he spent all his time bringing in an old boy or 2 (one's has managed before), a derby reject and of these three none were in the most obvious area we needed seeing too!

I refer people to the definition of insanity.... there is currently a reference to Sheffield United... (doing the same thing over an over again and expecting a different result)

one thing is sure.... the natives will get extremely restless if the same lack of heart transpires in the next game. Maybe the "arm round the lads" approach doesnt work with our set of lads...

 

[Grey Blade]

The level of abuse on Saturday had to be heard to be believed. It started behind me before the opening goal had even been scored. A Lady behind me remonstrated with several of the vocal minority to no avail. I imagine that all who were there felt let down and cheated by that performance but the anger and verbal abuse directed at certain players was ridiculous.

Apart from the bile directed at George Long, the moron shouting that Jamie Murphy was " an effing F****t" should be ashamed of himself

 

[Revolution]

While all this is true, and I agree entirely, at the end of the day he's a professional footballer, getting paid quite a lot of money by comparison to your average bod in the street. I'm not saying that as a result of that he should put up with horrid abuse - far from it - but as a professional, he either needs to sort his confidence issue to become effective, or he needs to consider getting out of the game, because if he doesn't he'll never be happy.

Quite.

The abuse is not nice. Some of it is vile. The easiest way to stop it? Stop making errors like that.

Long has been making unforced errors since his first couple of games with us in 2011. If he (a) can't cut those errors out and (b) can't stop what the crowd are saying affecting him, he has no business in our team.

To quote the old manager of the team I play in "If you don't like it, get good".

 

[BladeFisher]

I agree. We all get passionate but football matches are one of the few places now where, if it's what floats your boat, you can get away with effing and blinding to your heart's content at someone while they are in the course of doing their job. In the workplace you'd be disciplined. In a shop or other public place you would be thrown out or arrested. Or you would simply get twatted, and you'd deserve it.

Not sure about that. Take stand up comedians (well you could say we had 11 of them at Gillingham, but that is another point). It is legendary that you get some heckler. Probably drunk I accept, but it does happen.

The difference in football is that it is live entertainment. With the emphasis on entertainment. Now admittedly probably 80% of the crowd watching have a view on this or that and some 1% shout something in a match. But that is just that. In a boxing match don't the punters get 'excited'? Or do they sit there politely applauding when Ribcrusher Ron lands a heavy blow on agile Ade. It is live sport not a sermon from the Bishop of York.

 

[Fiery Blade]

Unfortunately, that is part of the territory of being a professional footballer !
Especially at a club like the Blades where the team have under performed for years and the large support expect better !
As the old saying goes ' If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen' !
These guys are paid handsomely for plying their trade as footballers, man up or ship out !!!

 

[Caseh]

I have no issues with people being told their useless at some point, everyone will get that. What is not on, is the 4/5 people right behind Long telling him they hope he dies, and another said they hope his family dies of Cancer.

That kind of stuff should never be shrugged off as the players fault for being crap, that kind of thing should never be accepted in any way.

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Personally, I would never do that. However, I get fed up of fans telling other fans how they should behave, both at matches and online.If you shout in a player's face from close by, you're an idiot. If you shout annoyance from a distance, it's not like the player will hear it.

I'm pretty sure buying 4 or 5 good players would make a hell of a lot more difference than the fans. Or not making Bluntman and Chronic Player Ambassadors.

If the players on the pitch can't be arsed then they deserve grief from people who have paid a lot of money to travel and watch them.

In a way I agree we shouldn't tell each other how to behave but Long was abused for most of the first half and it was well within earshot.

It seems obvious that it's going to affect him badly.

Personally I felt like I should say something to Long, in the end all I did though was support (most of) the team at the end by applauding them off, for reasons stated in another post.

 

[Bartleby]

Not sure about that. Take stand up comedians (well you could say we had 11 of them at Gillingham, but that is another point). It is legendary that you get some heckler. Probably drunk I accept, but it does happen.

The difference in football is that it is live entertainment. With the emphasis on entertainment. Now admittedly probably 80% of the crowd watching have a view on this or that and some 1% shout something in a match. But that is just that. In a boxing match don't the punters get 'excited'? Or do they sit there politely applauding when Ribcrusher Ron lands a heavy blow on agile Ade. It is live sport not a sermon from the Bishop of York.

Unfortunately, that is part of the territory of being a professional footballer !
Especially at a club like the Blades where the team have under performed for years and the large support expect better !
As the old saying goes ' If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen' !
These guys are paid handsomely for plying their trade as footballers, man up or ship out !!!

I agree with you both up to a point though it depends how far it goes. Some of the comedy clubs I've been in you probably would get twatted for some of the stuff that I believe has was shouted at Long on Saturday. It's not that many years ago that black players were getting abuse and it was regarded as normal part of the heat of the kitchen. That is something that we thankfully don't really hear any more. Wasn't a fan of Graham Taylor but he was right when he said "You're talking about another human being, just watch your language" as John Barnes was copping it from some knobhead.

 

[Bartleby]

but as a professional, he either needs to sort his confidence issue to become effective

he's hardly in a place where he's going to do that!

or he needs to consider getting out of the game, because if he doesn't he'll never be happy.

no he doesn't but if I was him, or his father, I would be thinking of getting him out of S2. Motherwell fans would be happy to see him back I bet. He's only 21, he has time to get over these issues and improve. A lot of goalies peak much later than outfield players.