Getting it wrong with Wilson, Weir and Clough could save Adkins

[madeinsheffield]

Jags captained England a couple of months ago, I'd consider that successful

 

[Woodwardfan]

“I expect Danny Wilson to be with us for a very long period of time”, said Kevin McCabe upon Wilson’s appointment in May 2011.


McCabe took a huge gamble in appointing Wilson, incurring the wrath of supporters in doing so. A combination of Wilson’s quietly assured and dignified demeanor, allied with positive performances and results meant most supporters were eventually won over.


Wilson inherited a relegated team but a squad, which nonetheless contained plenty of talent. He was given strong financial backing, initially by McCabe with a focus on gaining promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt. Jamie Ward was the only key player sacrificed from the Championship squad and his loss was compensated with some useful additions in the likes of Kevin McDonald, Jean-Francois Lescinel and Ryan Flynn.


The season started brightly and The Blades developed an aura of invincibility due in large part to Wilson’s ability to leverage the considerable attacking talent at his disposal in Messrs Lowton, Quinn, Williamson and Evans. 2012 had the smell and feel of a promotion season until Wilson and the Blades were dealt a mortal blow when Evans was sent down. In his absence, they failed to win any of their final three league games.


Following the customary play-off final defeat McCabe decided it was time to make serious cost savings and the squad that came within a whisker of winning promotion was butchered with Lowton, Quinn and Williamson amongst those moved on. Evans (29), Williamson (13) and Lowton (6) had accounted for 48 of The Blades’s 92 league goals in the previous season, while Quinn had the highest number of League One assists to his name.


With his attacking assets stripped, Wilson adopted a more cautious approach in his second season based on a strong defensive unit. The Blades proved difficult to beat, remaining unbeaten for the first 16 games of the 2012-13 campaign, until a 1-0 reverse at MK in mid-November, and topped the table at Christmas.


Whilst The Blades were a strong defensive unit - conceding only 36 goals in 41 league games prior to Wilson’s sacking - rebuilding his attacking capability was always likely to prove more challenging. The signing of Blackman looked inspired as he scored at just under a goal every two games and Shaun Miller had just found his stride prior to sustaining a cruciate injury. The Blades scored 39 goals in 28 games prior to Blackman’s sale at the end of the 2013 January transfer window and just 17 in 18 games following his departure. His replacement, Jamie Murphy, would ultimately prove an inspired signing by Wilson but he took time to adjust to the requirements of League One following his arrival from Scottish football.


Despite topping the table at Christmas, The Blades’s form in the second half of the season remained just short of that required to sustain a top two position and following Blackman’s exit goal scoring became even more of a problem.


In truth, some of the football played in Wilson’s second term was dull and uninspiring, particularly in the wake of the previous season’s exploits. That said, Wilson’s ability to reengineer his team and maintain a promotion challenge despite losing most of his key players, should be lauded.


McCabe, sacked Wilson 23 months into his reign, but was courteous enough to “thank Danny and Frank for all their endeavours and hard work over the past two seasons.” Except it wasn’t two full seasons because there were 4 games left and The Blades were sitting comfortably in the play off places, still within striking distance of the top two. This was a sacking caused not by fan revolt or a rational assessment of performance and prospects but by the owner’s desperation.


McCabe’s hoped for upturn in form never materialised and The Blades exited the Play-offs with a pitiful performance and defeat at Yeovil. The timing of Wilson’s sacking made little sense at the time and looks even more misguided with the benefit of hindsight.


The ignominy of another season in the third tier and its financial implications caused McCabe to blink and Wilson, with his 52% win record, was gone.


Two months later, after wowing the club’s hierarchy with his presentation skills and master plan for success, David Weir was appointed………. and promptly sacked after winning only one of his first 13 games in charge. Supporters and executives were united in the need to make this particular change.


Next up, after protracted negotiations, was Nigel Clough. In contrast with the furore surrounding Wilson’s appointment Clough was a popular choice amongst supporters and McCabe welcomed a manager with “an outstanding pedigree in the game……………who can provide stability, energy and confidence in the playing side.”


McCabe’s point about “stability” was pertinent given he’d appointed 8 managers (including 2 caretakers) in 5 post-Warnock years and sacked 7 of them (Gary Speed being released to take the Wales job).


Clough quickly affirmed the wisdom of his appointment, taking a revitalised Blades from the bottom 3 to the edge of the play offs and an FA Cup semi-final thrown in for good measure – all within a matter of 8 months. Prospects seemed set fair for a charge to promotion in 2015 until defensive lynchpin Maguire was sold to Hull just prior to the start of the new season. Clough’s failure to replace him played a huge role in wrecking any promotion hopes.


After a sticky start to the 2014-15 campaign, “stability”, was a point picked up again by the club’s hierarchy, in September 2014, when Jim Phipps described English football’s propensity for sacking managers as a “curse on the sport.” When asked what the consequences for Clough would be if the Blades failed to gain promotion, he said, “if we don’t go up (this season), I’ll probably be sat in California licking my wounds but, joking aside, Nigel’s place is secure. “ Indeed Phipps confirmed how he would be “tickled pink” if Clough stayed in situ at The Blades for 20 years and that The Blades had appointed a manager “with whom we can sleep at night!“


McCabe and Phipps were convinced that, in Clough, they had the right man to steer The Blades for the longer term and build a footballing dynasty from the Academy upwards. Phipps continued:

“We have transformed the culture of how we make decisions and how we run the football club; a lot more power to the manager and the front-office management, a more hands-off approach from the board.” Phipps’s new “hands off” approach clearly seemed to be working as planned when he confirmed: “There has been nothing to make me think we don’t have the right people aboard. We have a good long-term solution in hand.


Despite a sticky start to the 2014-15 season Phipps remained unperturbed, noting: “The record over the course of nearly a year since Nigel has been here is outstanding.


“All we need to do is give him the time and resources. My guess is we will be smiling and collecting a promotion cheque, then dealing with the next layer of investment.”


Fast-forward to May 2015 and the anticipated smiles had turned to grimaces after another Play-off defeat at the hands of Swindon Town. Clough was transformed from savior to scapegoat in a matter of 8 months as Phipps seemed intent on shifting the burden of blame away from his own doorstep: "… some of the current problems in the side (its size, for example) are byproducts of our trying as a board to be true to our approach, in circumstances where we allowed the Technical Board process to be thoroughly undermined by a gaffer who was not interested in the process; hence, some of the excesses (recruiting in quantity, signing injured players etc). We should have seen what was happening (the excesses anyway) and responded to them more quickly.”


This statement begs many questions of Phipps and the club’s board. In September 2014, almost a year into Clough’s reign, we were told: “There has been nothing to make me think we don’t have the right people aboard.” If we assume the “injured players” he refers to are James Wallace and Paul Coutts: Wallace was signed in June 2014, seemingly, as a cheaper alternative to Conor Coady. Coutts was signed in January 2015 and, despite his previous injury record, is still on course to make 30+ appearances within his first calendar year for The Blades.


Phipps also made reference to Clough signing too many players resulting in an excessive squad size. During his tenure, ins and outs, (excluding loan signings) were as follows:


Signed: Scougall, Harris, JCR, McNulty, Basham, Wallace J, Butler, Davies, Alcock, McGahey, Higdon, McEveley, Turner, Adams, Wallace K, Coutts, Brayford, Done (18)



Outs: King, Williams, McMahon, Barry, Brandy, Westlake, Hill, Miller, McGinty, Whitehouse, Johns, Hodder, Smith, Taylor, Maguire, Butler, Ironside, Porter, McGinn (19)



On the question of numbers it becomes clear that whilst Clough may not have resolved Phipps’s alleged problem of an inflated squad, it was not of his making and he was only at the club for 19 months.


It would also be hard to argue that Clough’s transfer dealings didn’t improve the quality of the squad he inherited. With the exception of Maguire, who Clough did not want to lose, there is a strong case that every like for like replacement was an improvement on the player shipped out (though Higdon v Porter is a close call!). That’s not to say all have been outstandingly successful, and a few have been very disappointing, but the idea, proffered by some, that Adkins inherited a load of deadwood from Clough does not bear close scrutiny.


Phipps and his board had been happy to provide Clough with the authority and headroom to run the football side with little interference. A year after his appointment, Phipps reiterated how he was delighted with the progress made and confident that, in Clough and his staff, The Blades had “a good long-term solution in hand.”


Clough was sacked a few months after this accolade and criticised by Phipps for his transfer dealings and lack of enthusiasm in the Technical Board “process.” Clough and the club’s supporters could be excused for being thoroughly confused by the conflicting messages emanating from Jim Phipps.


Shortly after Nigel Adkins’s appointment, Phipps said:


"In appointing a new football manager last summer, we specifically set out to find a gaffer who would help us re-establish a process that would prevent the repetition of the same mistakes. I am very happy with the progress we have made on this particular front and believe the fruits of the Technical Board process will show themselves over time, if we stick to the process.”


The “process” referred to – apparently aimed at preventing a repeat of Clough’s alleged but unsubstantiated failings in the transfer market – has thus far yielded: Martyn Woolford and Billy Sharp, plus the loan signings of Conor Sammon, David Edgar and Dean Hammond. Whilst I am not suggesting that all of these signings have been disastrous, they currently look very expensive for what they have delivered, and evidence to date suggests they have not been successful in improving the team.


Which brings the role of Phipps’s much vaunted Technical Board sharply into focus. What has it added to the process of player recruitment? Maybe Clough’s disdain was well founded. Without the “process”, Wilson signed Jamie Murphy and Clough signed Che Adams – players discovered from lower leagues at minimal cost and with resale potential running into millions. By contrast, Adkins’s signings are all players who can no longer cut it at a higher level but who doubtless arrive with Championship wage expectations.


On the issue of player fitness: Woolford arrived having missed a pre-season and Hammond badly lacking in match fitness. Edgar has managed to participate in just over 50% of league games since his arrival due to a recurring hamstring problem and the demands of international duties.


In November 2015 after a deeply disappointing start to the season, Phipps said: “You have to hold tight and have faith. Making constant changes is not how high performance organisations work.”


Phipps’s linkage between high performance organisations and avoiding constant change is generally true. Building success for the longer term requires the establishment of good organisational habits and the opportunity to learn from occasional failure – something which every regime, however successful, whether in sport or wider business, will experience if it stays around long enough.


The irony of Phipps’s words could not be greater given the Blades’s current plight and the club’s recent trigger-happy treatment of managers. Wilson’s sacking was neither demanded nor anticipated by most supporters – an apparently desperate roll of the dice from an increasingly hapless chairman. Similarly with Clough, who, despite some unfathomable blunders in his second season, retained the support of two thirds of the fan base to lead the team into 2015-16.


So onto Adkins, who would surely be under serious pressure, were it not for the Blades’s lamentable record in post-Warnock managerial selection and its failure to “hold tight and have faith” when things get tough.


Six months into Wilson’s and Clough’s role a pattern of play had been established which was yielding positive results. Promotion under both seemed likely. At a similar juncture under Adkins The Blades appear as a team devoid of pattern and confidence and results are poor. Supporter morale is at its lowest ebb since relegation in 2011.


Nigel Adkins arrived with impressive credentials for the task in hand and was a popular appointment amongst The Blades faithful. Despite his worrying start, he deserves the wholesome backing and support of the board to turn things around and achieve the objective of building a team capable of a serious promotion challenge. In the event that he moves his team onto an upwards trajectory he must then be allowed to make occasional mistakes and his team suffer lapses in form – a luxury afforded to neither Wilson nor Clough.


When asked if Adkins, who has a three-year contract, would still be manager next season, even if United remain in League One, Phipps answered: “That is the only logical conclusion. We’ve got to build stability.”


Maybe the club’s “logic” has changed and mistakes of the recent past have been evaluated. We should also consider the possibility that Phipps and co realise their credibility is on the line and they simply cannot afford another managerial failure having bungled the last three. The reckless appointment of Weir and sacking of Wilson and Clough may well prove to be Adkin’s salvation – at least in the short term.


Alex Ferguson always maintained that the most important person in a football club is the manager. I used to believe him but recent experience of our beloved Blades has changed my mind. The most important person in a football club is the person who appoints and removes the manager.


Kevin McCabe is a Blade to his core and has put more money into the club than every other owner combined in the club’s long history. He has also proved consistently inept in his decision making surrounding team management.


Jim Phipps appears to be a thoroughly decent, well-intentioned human being. He has dramatically improved channels of communication between the club and its support base and seems to genuinely care. I am pleased to have him as part of our club. However, he has no track record in making decisions regarding football management and his rhetoric and contradictions on the subject are verging on embarrassing.


The “stability” talked about, but not implemented, by McCabe and Phipps is desperately needed but it can only be achieved with the right people making good decision on and off the field.

Extremely well written, pertinent and accurate post which tells the story of a difficult period in our history. A period which followed an even more critical few years of our history in which we were cheated out of our big chance in the Premier League and then proceeded to blow all the Parachute Payments and the substantial award of damages for the West Ham cheating. In that period SUFC past players and managers have made a lot of money out of us without contributing anything much worthwhile.

In my opinion the O.P. is kind to Clough and in particular Wilson, but not unreasonable views.

However, Weir was not appointed by "Phipps and Co." who have only appointed the two managers.

McCabe told Weir the club had to "pay it's way" and he had to slash the wage bill, exit any high paid players and replace with youth from within or low earning imports. For an embarrassing period he could not find an experienced manager to join us, even though Stuart McCall would have given his hind teeth to come back to the club under fair circumstances. It was "Mission Impossible" and his days were numbered anyway when "Phipps and Co." became joint owners with a different game plan.

Adkins has made an inauspicious start and no doubt he is as shocked as we are. His confidence will have been low after the Reading experience and these past 6 months will have knocked him and his support staff even more. I agree his signings are poor value as yet and we still have no pace.

Adkins has a really good C.V. prior to Reading and 4 promotions is 4 more than Clough and 3? more than Wilson had ever achieved. After leading Southampton to two promotions the football world was shocked when they chose to release him after only a few months in the Premier League and maybe they knew him better than anybody. However the Prem is a different "kettle of fish" to L1 where Adkins has 3 of his 4 promotions and he should have what it takes to be successful at this level.

It could be that Adkins has not recovered his confidence since being ditched by Southampton and sometimes apparent injustices can have long lasting effects on an individual's state of mind ( the Tevez cloud still hovers over us!). The squad he inherited had numerous Clough signings including a number who had played for him at previous clubs and were here because of that connection; that latter group was always going to feel let down, maybe even totally "offside". The rest of the squad was a mixed bag and rightly or wrongly the key man Murphy left us. Key players Done and Brayford couldn't play for months. Harris, Coutts and the usual suspects added to that long term injury list.

Any manager should be given two years before being judged, however within a year there can be loud warning bells ringing and Phipps prides himself on keeping his ear to the ground. He will know what the spirit is like in the dressing room and let's face it there must have been some harsh words after that Shrewsbury defeat which just might have been the first our players saw of Adkins temper. He looks as though he likes to lead by encouragement but that night might have been his "nadir". Clough had that low point at Crewe and such lows can often be a springboard. Let's hope so but right on cue Jose Baxter friggs it up yet again.

In amongst all this I worry about how the prince perceives the football club, it's officials and it's supporters. No doubt KM has legally committed the prince to a certain level of investment but who's to say he won't take a view that it would be foolish to throw good money after bad. What's to stop him saying " Ah well, we tried and we failed. Let's write off to experience the £12m or whatever sum he has committed to. From now on the club has to pay it's own way or go out of existence" So much depends on Adkins to make Bramall Lane a happier place. All of us recall Adkins stating time and again that it is "imperative that we gain promotion this season"; so many times that there must be a serious consequence if we do not go up perhaps.

 

[Barry Butlin]

Harry Maguire played 11 times for Hull, Kevin Mcdonald 7 games this season for Wolves can't get in the team, Lee Morris, Wayne Quinn, Curtis Woodhouse, Jordan Slew, Mat Lowton on the bench for Burnley, Michael Tonge. 15 Million for that lot. I'm happy with that!!!!!

 

[Barry Butlin]

Yes forgot about Jags so him and the two Klye's but other than the two Spanish giants who's not a selling club?

 

[Barry Butlin]

Although Jags would only sign a new contract if we put in a 3M sale clause so he did shaft us!!!!

 

[mosbolad]

I just don't see the objectivity that others do: the title is about Adkins being "saved" for a start.



This just doesn't follow.

A>B does not imply that A is not deadwood.

More colloquially : Crap players are better than dreadful players doesn't alter the fact that they're crap.



This just presumes McCabe's reasoning and then states it as a fact. Unless there's a source for this it's not valid.



Woolford has been poor - but is solid defensively and it wasn't that much of a surprise to me that he started on Satdi. Offers almost nothing going forwards though.

Billy is a League above McNulty - it's embarrassing to even have to write that
Sammon - better than Davies - on balance yes
Hammond - better than Collins - track record suggest this is a possibility
Edgar - well as we played most of the end of last season without a centre half if he played one game he'd be an improvement.



Selective and dismissive. A big swipe at the ball from the edge of the box and it's ended up in the stands.

There's more of the same in the rest of it.

There's some sense in amongst all this but for me overall it's a poor performance, especially second half. 4/10.

Trust you Fatty!

 

[LA Blade]

Well written, and remember Kevin McCabe said of NA this time we have the cream of the cream

 

[alcoblade]

Well written, and remember Kevin McCabe said of NA this time we have the cream of the cream

To be fair to him I think a large majority of fans, including me, agreed with him.

UTB

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

Jim Phipps appears to be a thoroughly decent, well-intentioned human being. He has dramatically improved channels of communication between the club and its support base and seems to genuinely care. I am pleased to have him as part of our club. However, he has no track record in making decisions regarding football management and his rhetoric and contradictions on the subject are verging on embarrassing.

Just reread the post and this, which I take to be the main conclusion, doesn't hold water at all imo.

Presumably Jim was involved in sacking Clough and appointing Adkins.

Based on the evidence available at the time (which is when it should be judged) taking these together this was a huge step forward. I think in Adkins we have a manager big enough for where we want the club to be. For me he's a top Division 2 manager, at least, at an eternally (it seems) third division club.

Based on Adkins' tenure so far I'd say he could be the biggest step forward we have taken in years.

Though you have to acknowledge results on the pitch have been very poor - there are good reasons to think this will turn, but as a hardcore atheist there's more faith involved here than I'm comfortable with.

There are questions for Jim to answer on his support for Clough - those questions may have good answers - but most of the rest of the OP I can't agree with.

 

[The Bohemian]

Just reread the post and this, which I take to be the main conclusion, doesn't hold water at all imo.

Presumably Jim was involved in sacking Clough and appointing Adkins.

Based on the evidence available at the time (which is when it should be judged) taking these together this was a huge step forward. I think in Adkins we have a manager big enough for where we want the club to be. For me he's a top Division 2 manager, at least, at an eternally (it seems) third division club.

Based on Adkins' tenure so far I'd say he could be the biggest step forward we have taken in years.

Though you have to acknowledge results on the pitch have been very poor - there are good reasons to think this will turn, but as a hardcore atheist there's more faith involved here than I'm comfortable with.

There are questions for Jim to answer on his support for Clough - those questions may have good answers - but most of the rest of the OP I can't agree with.

I appreciate you taking the time to read my post twice as it took a bloody age to write!

As co- chairman, and the Prince's rep, Phipps certainly should have been involved in Clough's sacking and Adkins's appointment.

I also hope beyond hope that you're right about Adkins and whilst he wasn't my no1 choice as Clough's successor, I wasn't disappointed when he got the job. His cliched style is likely to polarise the dressing room and his success will probably depend on his ability to quickly assemble a squad in his image - in many respects the polar opposite of Clough's (which may explain the current malaise).

 

[Ginger Gnome]

Back in the summer all we needed was two centre backs, a replacement for Doyle and a goalscorer. That combined with a more positive approach should have been enough for a successful season. Instead Adkins signed a crap winger, a ropey centre back, Porter Mk III, and a goalscorer, then dithered for months before signing an unfit midfielder who was good 5 years ago. The tactics aren't any better either, playing the same rubbish knocking the ball around the defenders possession football that so many awful Premier League sides have employed when we knocked them out of cups. Adkins also persists with 4-4-2 most of the time when all our central midfielders are better suited to 4-5-1 or 4-3-3.

Based on Adkins' tenure so far I'd say he is the biggest step backwards we've taken in years, At least with Weir you could see what he was trying to do, but tried to do it far too quickly and didn't have the players to pull of the style he wanted to play. The biggest argument in favour of keeping Adkins seems to be that we can't keep sacking managers and he got clubs up before, rather than anything he has actually contributed positively to the club since his arrival.

 

[metalblade]

Brayford £2M way off the mark sunshine!!!!

Not according to Jim Phipps ............... errr Sunshine !!!! and I said close to £2m

 

[1889]

I appreciate you taking the time to read my post twice as it took a bloody age to write!

As co- chairman, and the Prince's rep, Phipps certainly should have been involved in Clough's sacking and Adkins's appointment.

I also hope beyond hope that you're right about Adkins and whilst he wasn't my no1 choice as Clough's successor, I wasn't disappointed when he got the job. His cliched style is likely to polarise the dressing room and his success will probably depend on his ability to quickly assemble a squad in his image - in many respects the polar opposite of Clough's (which may explain the current malaise).

I was told by someone close to the club at that time, that Phipps and co were happy to retain Cloughs services for another year, hence his involvement in the selection of the retained list etc, but McCabe intervened and insisted that he should be relieved of his managerial duties? Obviously, I don't know if that's true, but it does seem to fit with the circumstances of his sacking

 

[Jan Age]

Can we all at least agree on one thing; until there is someone with footballing nouse and of good standing in the game on the board we are going to struggle.

Maybe two things...

Whilst as the OP mentions. Jim Phipps is a lovely bloke who makes lots of effort he is more like a fanboy of an unofficial fan club than a chairman

 

[Hunkerby]

I was told by someone close to the club at that time, that Phipps and co were happy to retain Cloughs services for another year, hence his involvement in the selection of the retained list etc, but McCabe intervened and insisted that he should be relieved of his managerial duties? Obviously, I don't know if that's true, but it does seem to fit with the circumstances of his sacking

Although this sounds very plausible it's odd that Phipps was so critical of Clough on his Facebook page back in October if this is true.

 

[Tezza1889]

“I expect Danny Wilson to be with us for a very long period of time”, said Kevin McCabe upon Wilson’s appointment in May 2011.


McCabe took a huge gamble in appointing Wilson, incurring the wrath of supporters in doing so. A combination of Wilson’s quietly assured and dignified demeanor, allied with positive performances and results meant most supporters were eventually won over.


Wilson inherited a relegated team but a squad, which nonetheless contained plenty of talent. He was given strong financial backing, initially by McCabe with a focus on gaining promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt. Jamie Ward was the only key player sacrificed from the Championship squad and his loss was compensated with some useful additions in the likes of Kevin McDonald, Jean-Francois Lescinel and Ryan Flynn.


The season started brightly and The Blades developed an aura of invincibility due in large part to Wilson’s ability to leverage the considerable attacking talent at his disposal in Messrs Lowton, Quinn, Williamson and Evans. 2012 had the smell and feel of a promotion season until Wilson and the Blades were dealt a mortal blow when Evans was sent down. In his absence, they failed to win any of their final three league games.


Following the customary play-off final defeat McCabe decided it was time to make serious cost savings and the squad that came within a whisker of winning promotion was butchered with Lowton, Quinn and Williamson amongst those moved on. Evans (29), Williamson (13) and Lowton (6) had accounted for 48 of The Blades’s 92 league goals in the previous season, while Quinn had the highest number of League One assists to his name.


With his attacking assets stripped, Wilson adopted a more cautious approach in his second season based on a strong defensive unit. The Blades proved difficult to beat, remaining unbeaten for the first 16 games of the 2012-13 campaign, until a 1-0 reverse at MK in mid-November, and topped the table at Christmas.


Whilst The Blades were a strong defensive unit - conceding only 36 goals in 41 league games prior to Wilson’s sacking - rebuilding his attacking capability was always likely to prove more challenging. The signing of Blackman looked inspired as he scored at just under a goal every two games and Shaun Miller had just found his stride prior to sustaining a cruciate injury. The Blades scored 39 goals in 28 games prior to Blackman’s sale at the end of the 2013 January transfer window and just 17 in 18 games following his departure. His replacement, Jamie Murphy, would ultimately prove an inspired signing by Wilson but he took time to adjust to the requirements of League One following his arrival from Scottish football.


Despite topping the table at Christmas, The Blades’s form in the second half of the season remained just short of that required to sustain a top two position and following Blackman’s exit goal scoring became even more of a problem.


In truth, some of the football played in Wilson’s second term was dull and uninspiring, particularly in the wake of the previous season’s exploits. That said, Wilson’s ability to reengineer his team and maintain a promotion challenge despite losing most of his key players, should be lauded.


McCabe, sacked Wilson 23 months into his reign, but was courteous enough to “thank Danny and Frank for all their endeavours and hard work over the past two seasons.” Except it wasn’t two full seasons because there were 4 games left and The Blades were sitting comfortably in the play off places, still within striking distance of the top two. This was a sacking caused not by fan revolt or a rational assessment of performance and prospects but by the owner’s desperation.


McCabe’s hoped for upturn in form never materialised and The Blades exited the Play-offs with a pitiful performance and defeat at Yeovil. The timing of Wilson’s sacking made little sense at the time and looks even more misguided with the benefit of hindsight.


The ignominy of another season in the third tier and its financial implications caused McCabe to blink and Wilson, with his 52% win record, was gone.


Two months later, after wowing the club’s hierarchy with his presentation skills and master plan for success, David Weir was appointed………. and promptly sacked after winning only one of his first 13 games in charge. Supporters and executives were united in the need to make this particular change.


Next up, after protracted negotiations, was Nigel Clough. In contrast with the furore surrounding Wilson’s appointment Clough was a popular choice amongst supporters and McCabe welcomed a manager with “an outstanding pedigree in the game……………who can provide stability, energy and confidence in the playing side.”


McCabe’s point about “stability” was pertinent given he’d appointed 8 managers (including 2 caretakers) in 5 post-Warnock years and sacked 7 of them (Gary Speed being released to take the Wales job).


Clough quickly affirmed the wisdom of his appointment, taking a revitalised Blades from the bottom 3 to the edge of the play offs and an FA Cup semi-final thrown in for good measure – all within a matter of 8 months. Prospects seemed set fair for a charge to promotion in 2015 until defensive lynchpin Maguire was sold to Hull just prior to the start of the new season. Clough’s failure to replace him played a huge role in wrecking any promotion hopes.


After a sticky start to the 2014-15 campaign, “stability”, was a point picked up again by the club’s hierarchy, in September 2014, when Jim Phipps described English football’s propensity for sacking managers as a “curse on the sport.” When asked what the consequences for Clough would be if the Blades failed to gain promotion, he said, “if we don’t go up (this season), I’ll probably be sat in California licking my wounds but, joking aside, Nigel’s place is secure. “ Indeed Phipps confirmed how he would be “tickled pink” if Clough stayed in situ at The Blades for 20 years and that The Blades had appointed a manager “with whom we can sleep at night!“


McCabe and Phipps were convinced that, in Clough, they had the right man to steer The Blades for the longer term and build a footballing dynasty from the Academy upwards. Phipps continued:

“We have transformed the culture of how we make decisions and how we run the football club; a lot more power to the manager and the front-office management, a more hands-off approach from the board.” Phipps’s new “hands off” approach clearly seemed to be working as planned when he confirmed: “There has been nothing to make me think we don’t have the right people aboard. We have a good long-term solution in hand.


Despite a sticky start to the 2014-15 season Phipps remained unperturbed, noting: “The record over the course of nearly a year since Nigel has been here is outstanding.


“All we need to do is give him the time and resources. My guess is we will be smiling and collecting a promotion cheque, then dealing with the next layer of investment.”


Fast-forward to May 2015 and the anticipated smiles had turned to grimaces after another Play-off defeat at the hands of Swindon Town. Clough was transformed from savior to scapegoat in a matter of 8 months as Phipps seemed intent on shifting the burden of blame away from his own doorstep: "… some of the current problems in the side (its size, for example) are byproducts of our trying as a board to be true to our approach, in circumstances where we allowed the Technical Board process to be thoroughly undermined by a gaffer who was not interested in the process; hence, some of the excesses (recruiting in quantity, signing injured players etc). We should have seen what was happening (the excesses anyway) and responded to them more quickly.”


This statement begs many questions of Phipps and the club’s board. In September 2014, almost a year into Clough’s reign, we were told: “There has been nothing to make me think we don’t have the right people aboard.” If we assume the “injured players” he refers to are James Wallace and Paul Coutts: Wallace was signed in June 2014, seemingly, as a cheaper alternative to Conor Coady. Coutts was signed in January 2015 and, despite his previous injury record, is still on course to make 30+ appearances within his first calendar year for The Blades.


Phipps also made reference to Clough signing too many players resulting in an excessive squad size. During his tenure, ins and outs, (excluding loan signings) were as follows:


Signed: Scougall, Harris, JCR, McNulty, Basham, Wallace J, Butler, Davies, Alcock, McGahey, Higdon, McEveley, Turner, Adams, Wallace K, Coutts, Brayford, Done (18)



Outs: King, Williams, McMahon, Barry, Brandy, Westlake, Hill, Miller, McGinty, Whitehouse, Johns, Hodder, Smith, Taylor, Maguire, Butler, Ironside, Porter, McGinn (19)



On the question of numbers it becomes clear that whilst Clough may not have resolved Phipps’s alleged problem of an inflated squad, it was not of his making and he was only at the club for 19 months.


It would also be hard to argue that Clough’s transfer dealings didn’t improve the quality of the squad he inherited. With the exception of Maguire, who Clough did not want to lose, there is a strong case that every like for like replacement was an improvement on the player shipped out (though Higdon v Porter is a close call!). That’s not to say all have been outstandingly successful, and a few have been very disappointing, but the idea, proffered by some, that Adkins inherited a load of deadwood from Clough does not bear close scrutiny.


Phipps and his board had been happy to provide Clough with the authority and headroom to run the football side with little interference. A year after his appointment, Phipps reiterated how he was delighted with the progress made and confident that, in Clough and his staff, The Blades had “a good long-term solution in hand.”


Clough was sacked a few months after this accolade and criticised by Phipps for his transfer dealings and lack of enthusiasm in the Technical Board “process.” Clough and the club’s supporters could be excused for being thoroughly confused by the conflicting messages emanating from Jim Phipps.


Shortly after Nigel Adkins’s appointment, Phipps said:


"In appointing a new football manager last summer, we specifically set out to find a gaffer who would help us re-establish a process that would prevent the repetition of the same mistakes. I am very happy with the progress we have made on this particular front and believe the fruits of the Technical Board process will show themselves over time, if we stick to the process.”


The “process” referred to – apparently aimed at preventing a repeat of Clough’s alleged but unsubstantiated failings in the transfer market – has thus far yielded: Martyn Woolford and Billy Sharp, plus the loan signings of Conor Sammon, David Edgar and Dean Hammond. Whilst I am not suggesting that all of these signings have been disastrous, they currently look very expensive for what they have delivered, and evidence to date suggests they have not been successful in improving the team.


Which brings the role of Phipps’s much vaunted Technical Board sharply into focus. What has it added to the process of player recruitment? Maybe Clough’s disdain was well founded. Without the “process”, Wilson signed Jamie Murphy and Clough signed Che Adams – players discovered from lower leagues at minimal cost and with resale potential running into millions. By contrast, Adkins’s signings are all players who can no longer cut it at a higher level but who doubtless arrive with Championship wage expectations.


On the issue of player fitness: Woolford arrived having missed a pre-season and Hammond badly lacking in match fitness. Edgar has managed to participate in just over 50% of league games since his arrival due to a recurring hamstring problem and the demands of international duties.


In November 2015 after a deeply disappointing start to the season, Phipps said: “You have to hold tight and have faith. Making constant changes is not how high performance organisations work.”


Phipps’s linkage between high performance organisations and avoiding constant change is generally true. Building success for the longer term requires the establishment of good organisational habits and the opportunity to learn from occasional failure – something which every regime, however successful, whether in sport or wider business, will experience if it stays around long enough.


The irony of Phipps’s words could not be greater given the Blades’s current plight and the club’s recent trigger-happy treatment of managers. Wilson’s sacking was neither demanded nor anticipated by most supporters – an apparently desperate roll of the dice from an increasingly hapless chairman. Similarly with Clough, who, despite some unfathomable blunders in his second season, retained the support of two thirds of the fan base to lead the team into 2015-16.


So onto Adkins, who would surely be under serious pressure, were it not for the Blades’s lamentable record in post-Warnock managerial selection and its failure to “hold tight and have faith” when things get tough.


Six months into Wilson’s and Clough’s role a pattern of play had been established which was yielding positive results. Promotion under both seemed likely. At a similar juncture under Adkins The Blades appear as a team devoid of pattern and confidence and results are poor. Supporter morale is at its lowest ebb since relegation in 2011.


Nigel Adkins arrived with impressive credentials for the task in hand and was a popular appointment amongst The Blades faithful. Despite his worrying start, he deserves the wholesome backing and support of the board to turn things around and achieve the objective of building a team capable of a serious promotion challenge. In the event that he moves his team onto an upwards trajectory he must then be allowed to make occasional mistakes and his team suffer lapses in form – a luxury afforded to neither Wilson nor Clough.


When asked if Adkins, who has a three-year contract, would still be manager next season, even if United remain in League One, Phipps answered: “That is the only logical conclusion. We’ve got to build stability.”


Maybe the club’s “logic” has changed and mistakes of the recent past have been evaluated. We should also consider the possibility that Phipps and co realise their credibility is on the line and they simply cannot afford another managerial failure having bungled the last three. The reckless appointment of Weir and sacking of Wilson and Clough may well prove to be Adkin’s salvation – at least in the short term.


Alex Ferguson always maintained that the most important person in a football club is the manager. I used to believe him but recent experience of our beloved Blades has changed my mind. The most important person in a football club is the person who appoints and removes the manager.


Kevin McCabe is a Blade to his core and has put more money into the club than every other owner combined in the club’s long history. He has also proved consistently inept in his decision making surrounding team management.


Jim Phipps appears to be a thoroughly decent, well-intentioned human being. He has dramatically improved channels of communication between the club and its support base and seems to genuinely care. I am pleased to have him as part of our club. However, he has no track record in making decisions regarding football management and his rhetoric and contradictions on the subject are verging on embarrassing.


The “stability” talked about, but not implemented, by McCabe and Phipps is desperately needed but it can only be achieved with the right people making good decision on and off the field.

Impressive and accurate, this is why we have social media... Spot on

 

[Revolution]

When Wilson was sacked near the end of the year, I got the impression McCabe was imitating what Wednesday had done the season before.
Didn't they got rid of a manager and get promoted using 'New Manager Syndrome' the season before? only it wasn't changing the manager that had got them promoted at all........

.............wasn't the real malady actually 'best goal-scorer convicted of rape' disease? and that afflicted their nearest (promotion) rivals.

I think you're right - not least because, when asked by Radio Sheffield at the press conference announcing Morgan's appointment, McCabe was unable to articulate why Wilson had been fired beyond the fact that we weren't winning at home.

Of course we weren't winning at home. We were playing Forte and Ironside up front. Who's fault was that?

McCabe wanted the boost the pigs got when megson went. Shame he'd stripped the squad of goal scorers.

Clough's sacking was baffling but Wilson's was lunacy.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Who ever gets us out of league one will seemingly have a job for life.

 

[Smirth]

Harry Maguire played 11 times for Hull, Kevin Mcdonald 7 games this season for Wolves can't get in the team, Lee Morris, Wayne Quinn, Curtis Woodhouse, Jordan Slew, Mat Lowton on the bench for Burnley, Michael Tonge. 15 Million for that lot. I'm happy with that!!!!!

Harry Maguire has played 13 times for Hull this season alone.
Kevin McDonald has played in all bar one of Wolves league games this season.

Don't believe everything that is written on Wikipedia.

 

[Woodwardfan]

I think you're right - not least because, when asked by Radio Sheffield at the press conference announcing Morgan's appointment, McCabe was unable to articulate why Wilson had been fired beyond the fact that we weren't winning at home.

Of course we weren't winning at home. We were playing Forte and Ironside up front. Who's fault was that?

McCabe wanted the boost the pigs got when megson went. Shame he'd stripped the squad of goal scorers.

Clough's sacking was baffling but Wilson's was lunacy.

Memories fade and bad managers become good ones sometimes.

Wilson had been a manager for many years and had a C.V. of one promotion and more relegations. He was a sensation at Barnsley as a young manager but failed badly everywhere else.

He fluffed it in his first season despite inheriting a very strong squad and in which a lad suddenly woke up to his responsibilities as a striker and scored 30 goals or more. Unfortunately the striker failed to assume his responsibilities as a human being and got himself into trouble for behaving like a crazed animal. ( where did those words come from, I surprise myself sometimes!!) and missed the last 6 games. Wilson's second season was appalling.

This summer the club was criticised by those who said the new managerial appointment was made too late for him to prepare well for the new season. That obviously shouldn't have been the case after Wilson was sacked when he was. However nobody wanted the job and Weir arrived in June just like Adkins.

 

[Revolution]

Wilson's second season was appalling.

When Wilson was fired, United were in 4th place, with a record of W17 D17 L7.

To replicate that this year, we will need to win 9, draw 11 and lose none of the next 20 league games.

Appalling? really?

 

[carthesis]

I think basing your game around a prolific striker before losing him in the final straight (for rape) qualifies as unlucky, though I take your point about the other players.

The pigs had grasped what our new ethos followers had demanded that we dropped, physical presence (spit), hence were well tooled up to overtake us.

The following season, the Christmas sale of Blackman was such an obvious self destruct button, that only a clueless chairman would have pressed it. Enter Kevin McCabe.

UTB

Also recall that Evans, as useful as he was most of the season, started it very poorly. For the first 10 or so games he was pretty useless as he had been in the Championship the year before, and it was only after Matty Phillips came in on loan (and then annoyingly went back never to be seen in a Blades short again) that Evans picked up his game and realised what he could do to defenders in this league.

 

[Woodwardfan]

When Wilson was fired, United were in 4th place, with a record of W17 D17 L7.

To replicate that this year, we will need to win 9, draw 11 and lose none of the next 20 league games.

Appalling? really?

Like comparing apples with pears. Player quality-wise we have gone way backwards.

 

[grafikhaus]

An exceptionally well presented post which, if anything, shows just how poorly we've been run post-Warnock. While some will defend Wilson, Blackwell, even Clough the 'football' was utterly tedious and even Man. U fans are tired of the dross served up by Van Gaal. Yes, various managers have been cut off at the knackers by the panic selling of key players but that happens to most managers. (and one that could be nailed at the manager's interview stage by stating that such actions by the board wouldn't be tolerated). But that's one of United's many problems. They don't want a manager. They want a yes-man.

But let's look at the '...could save Adkins' part of the thread. His appointment, like most things United, was an entirely reactive action by our board. Another manager goes and we're left scrambling about for anybody who may have had a degree of 'success' in the dim and distant past (Forgetting, of course, all the failures). Far from being 'the cream of the cream', Adkins was out of work when we got him - hardly indicative of a mad scramble for his services. I'm convinced that, post-Reading, Adkins had decided to hang up his managerial boots and live off the wealth he's no doubt accrued from a lifetime in football. When United called (no doubt with an extremely attractive package), it was too good to resist. BUT...he'd 'hung up his boots' and spent 6 months out of the game. This would have left him unaware of players available, the loss of contacts etc. In other words, he wasn't able to join United and hit the ground running, something we - halfway into the season - are still paying for.

After the Scunthorpe game on Saturday, we can write a 'half tem report' on Adkins. It won't make for good reading. His results and signings have been dire. The consensus is that only 3 - maybe 4 - players are worthy of a place. So what's been achieved in the last 6 months? (It is possible to make an impact. Look at Ferguson at Donnie.) Meanwhile, we're still being fed bull like 'still not sure of my best team'.

 

[blade too long]

Football now has altered greatly , long term tenures are a thing of the past
Stability, IS HAVING A MANAGER FOR A FULL 2 SEASONS NOW
Apart from Arsene Wenger the length of managers tenures throughout football is averaging 14 months
We are just no different , managers are very reliant on results, in the past the money played no paart in a managers tenure-
Now string 8 poor results together and its out you go.
Villa wasted no time in elbowing the man who saved them last season

http://www.thesackrace.com/news/28th-august-2012/20122013-managerial-casualties

25 managers have bitten the dust before xmas out of 92
when I started watching football it was 10 years to sack 25 managers

 

[Revolution]

Apples and pears.

What?

 

[Revolution]

Like comparing apples with pears. Player quality-wise we have gone way backwards.

Really?

We have the same keeper and better forwards. We have no Maguire but we had no Brayford equivalent then. I accept midfield is worse.

I'd need to think about it more but I'm not sure it's that clear cut.

 

[Darren]

Also recall that Evans, as useful as he was most of the season, started it very poorly. For the first 10 or so games he was pretty useless as he had been in the Championship the year before, and it was only after Matty Phillips came in on loan (and then annoyingly went back never to be seen in a Blades short again) that Evans picked up his game and realised what he could do to defenders in this league.

Indeed. Porter was being picked ahead of him as late as 22nd October (I distinctly recall the game that date at Orient when we conceded a 97th minute equaliser due to a howler from Simmo - we had Cresswell and Porter up front and Evans was sub).

 

[Rodders]

Indeed. Porter was being picked ahead of him as late as 22nd October (I distinctly recall the game that date at Orient when we conceded a 97th minute equaliser due to a howler from Simmo - we had Cresswell and Porter up front and Evans was sub).

It was the game away at Bournemouth we won 1-0 at the start of December that Ched's goal-scoring run started. Don't forget as well as the Leyton Orient game, there was also the diabolical defeat at Stevenage and the bore-fest at home to Carlisle in November. Promotion wasn't looking anything like a decent possibility until the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Darren]

It was the game away at Bournemouth we won 1-0 at the start of December that Ched's goal-scoring run started. Don't forget as well as the Leyton Orient game, there was also the diabolical defeat at Stevenage and the bore-fest at home to Carlisle in November. Promotion wasn't looking anything like a decent possibility until the 2nd half of the season.

We won 2-0 at Bournemouth on 17/12/11 and both were own goals

The goalscoring run actually started at Stevenage on 5/11/11 when Evans scored. He then got 14 in next 14 league and cup games scoring in 11 of them.