Just can't get enthused

[Sheffsteel]

Really struggling to get enthused right now.

And it's not the results, it's the style, the model, the vision, the direction, the future plans etc.

I'm just not sure what as a club we're trying to be or what our identity is, both off and on the field.

Not sure if it's just me, my mental mind set or just the lack of communication, but I'm even noticing I'm even posting less frequently on here.

Anyone else feeling like this?

It’s all about results for 90% of fans.

Win a few and all of a sudden Wilder and the owners will be great.

Altho im different and I wasn’t exactly impressed with the style last season.

It’s weird how this season is quite similar to last season regards playing style. The good news is we’re generally controlling games but don’t create much last season or this season. We pass it around well but rely on the quality of Peck, Campbell and even Rak Sakyi to score goals from nothing.

Last season we had loads of tight matches that we battled and edged 1-0 or 2-1 and this season we’ve dropped our levels about 10% and have the same tight match but lose 1-0 and 2-1.

Also confidence plays a massive role and ours is really low.

 

[54yrblade]

The club is drifting, both on and off the field.

Tired, lacks effective leadership, communication, honest and introspective thinking, planning and professionalism.

A Sunday league mentality in a multi million pound, modern and cut throat business environment.

Currently reliant on a fan base that's going through the motions, a match day routine rather than passion.

God it's sad.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

The club is drifting, both on and off the field.

Tired, lacks effective leadership, communication, honest and introspective thinking, planning and professionalism.

A Sunday league mentality in a multi million pound, modern and cut throat business environment.

Currently reliant on a fan base that's going through the motions, a match day routine rather than passion.

God it's sad.

So many nails on so many heads.

 

[Tickhill Blade]

The club is drifting, both on and off the field.

Tired, lacks effective leadership, communication, honest and introspective thinking, planning and professionalism.

A Sunday league mentality in a multi million pound, modern and cut throat business environment.

Currently reliant on a fan base that's going through the motions, a match day routine rather than passion.

God it's sad.

And the fact they keep painting more and more of the Lane black, doesn't help anyone's mood!

 

[54yrblade]

And the fact they keep painting more and more of the Lane black, doesn't help anyone's mood!

If they can't enthuse us, even by being able to provide a decent sausage roll or get the mood up in the ground (safe standing - really?) they won't begin to understand the effect of environment on thinking and mood.

 

[Lane Ender]

The club is drifting, both on and off the field.

Tired, lacks effective leadership, communication, honest and introspective thinking, planning and professionalism.

A Sunday league mentality in a multi million pound, modern and cut throat business environment.

Currently reliant on a fan base that's going through the motions, a match day routine rather than passion.

God it's sad.

All true what you’ve posted but the fight against the drop and a return to a respectable league position keeps me going

 

[Deaneandagana]

To the 1980s supporter, football was a full-body experience: the crush of the crowd, the smell of the grass, the sound of 30,000 people singing in unison. Defeat hurt because it felt personal.

Today, the experience is more curated. Fans watch in high definition, track xG stats, and replay moments on demand. Emotion is mediated by technology; connection happens through screens. For some, that accessibility deepens engagement. For others, it flattens it. The spontaneity of the old game—the mud, the chaos, the collective catharsis—has been replaced by precision and polish.

Still, passion remains. Fans may chant less in stadiums, but they roar online. The form has changed; the feeling may endure but it’s not the same.

 

[Thrice]

It's a real shame that ownership did seem to try to take a risk and go in a new direction and it failed so miserably with Selles because there didn't seem to be any actual substance behind that decision.
For a brief moment during summer it did feel exciting like the dawn of a new era or something. That feeling is completely gone now and the direction of the club feels more backwards now than ever.

 

[BarcaBlade]

Said on another thread that I think we've been on a slow comedown since Covid. We hit such heights in such an incredible way. A bunch of lower league players went into the top flight and were in genuine contention for The Champions League before the league shut down. It was an absolutely crazy ride and even if we have a team that good again, it's unlikely to feel the same. That we had a blade manager and blade captain was huge and the fact it was the bulk of the L1 team that were sitting 5th in The Premier League was true fairytale stuff.

Reality has called now though and that's where the apathy comes in. The club feels as though it's peaked. "Win, lose or draw" and all that but fans aren't robots and you can't fake enthusiasm. We've been as high as we could feasibly go and since then it's all just felt really mundane. Miracles do happen in football, just not often. I think some people are so attached to Wilder because they're still chasing the dream that he gave us. I think other dislike him because he made them dare to dream at all. If United are to be successful again, it will have to be built on something more than a having a manager who has a few years of turning everything he touches into gold and right now the club doesn't seem to have any direction at all .


We're a club who have had a really good holiday but the hangover has well and truly kicked in. The passion and excitement will come back. It might even have to get worse before we are able to dream again but we will move on from that amazing period. It's just going to take time.

I did put forward the age/interest factor on another thread, but I'm also convinced that this has been accelerated and exaggerated for all by the fact that getting to the Premiership is pointless, apart from the money. I don't care about money, especially when I won't personally see any of it.

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

I just hoped we gone for something different when we appointed selles. Sign some decent players with pace which we aren’t used to but instead we just went back to the same old routine as a club sign random shit and hope they improve as season goes on . I agree on we’ve gone downhill since Covid

I keep saying we need to bring in pace and power. But I always get told “we don’t play that way”. It would be nice to try and play that way for a change - especially as the tactics haven’t worked at all this season.

 

[Valleyblade]

Really struggling to get enthused right now.

And it's not the results, it's the style, the model, the vision, the direction, the future plans etc.

I'm just not sure what as a club we're trying to be or what our identity is, both off and on the field.

Not sure if it's just me, my mental mind set or just the lack of communication, but I'm even noticing I'm even posting less frequently on here.

Anyone else feeling like this?

You're not trying fucking hard enough.

They need support.

 

[JayGreen17]

It’s totally depressing, lack of leadership from top to bottom, no direction or strategy is killing us, I didn’t even look up the scores on Saturday until after 8, it has the last relegation to league 1 written all over us.

What’s even worse is that I really don’t care, the apathy has totally set in.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Now we’ve been linked with Bamford I’m proper excited

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Following this shite show of a football club at the minute makes me think of the morning after you've been at the most amazing house party ever.

The first version of Wilder was too good and we rose too far too fast.

Now we're throwing all the empty drinks into bin bags and trying to step over piles of vomit.

I'd been trying to remember what music video it reminded me of for ages and then I realised it was Come Undone by Robbie.

 

[Rodley]

I did put forward the age/interest factor on another thread, but I'm also convinced that this has been accelerated and exaggerated for all by the fact that getting to the Premiership is pointless, apart from the money. I don't care about money, especially when I won't personally see any of it.

Ask Sunderland if it’s pointless, or Forest fans having had a European Tour, or our fans when we finished 9th. It’s hard but not unassailable.

 

[jimmymuir]

I just hope we go on a run in the FA Cup this season. I know we never do under Wilder, but it's the only thing that could bring fans some joy in a difficult year so far.

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

Really struggling to get enthused right now.

And it's not the results, it's the style, the model, the vision, the direction, the future plans etc.

I'm just not sure what as a club we're trying to be or what our identity is, both off and on the field.

Not sure if it's just me, my mental mind set or just the lack of communication, but I'm even noticing I'm even posting less frequently on here.

Anyone else feeling like this?

It’s not just you, I feel exactly the same and have started to miss games, and do you know what, I’ve found other stuff to do that’s more enjoyable. I’ll still go to games but just a lot less frequently.

Weirdly, it wasn’t Selles, despite him really struggling, it was the return of Wilder and the way how COH just capitulated, caved in, and ripped up their progressive vision for the football club.

We’ll stay up under Wilder but then what? I’d rather be at the bottom of a ladder I wanted to climb than just carry on with the status quo. I find Wilder, his signings, his way of playing, and all his bluster and excuses very tiring.

 

[Dkc]

I just hope we go on a run in the FA Cup this season. I know we never do under Wilder, but it's the only thing that could bring fans some joy in a difficult year so far.

How about beating the pigs?

 

[Dkc]

Weirdly, it wasn’t Selles, despite him really struggling, it was the return of Wilder and the way how COH just capitulated, caved in, and ripped up their progressive vision for the football club.

What is this 'progressive vision' you refer to? Trying to sell our best players? Never giving interviews or coming to games? Signing AI-identified talent from the Bulgarian second division? Appointing a new manager with two relegation battles on his CV without interviewing any other candidate?

'Progressive vision' or ill-informed arrogance?

 

[Rodley]

What is this 'progressive vision' you refer to? Trying to sell our best players? Never giving interviews or coming to games? Signing AI-identified talent from the Bulgarian second division? Appointing a new manager with two relegation battles on his CV without interviewing any other candidate?

'Progressive vision' or ill-informed arrogance?

Selles will be out of work in a fortnight. And the AI signings were an absolute joke.

We looked the opposite of progressive. We completely ripped up the progress to date and chased fools gold. Plenty of us drank the Kool Aid and thought it was all marvellous as well.

 

[MKY]

When you compare the relative fortunes of last seasons 2 play off finalists, it’s heartbreaking. I think it’s that specifically that’s really knocked the stuffing & the enthusiasm out of me. What came after with Selles & the desperate reappointment of Wilder has just compounded it. In one fell swoop we’ve managed to piss away several chances to become established in the prem by, as usual, having no plan & relying instead on the cult of personality. A while back I genuinely thought that we could create a gap between us & the pigs that would essentially unbridgeable for a generation. The tragedy now is that you can sense the pendulum swinging the other way. They look on course for a rebuild (albeit slow) whereas thanks to new fuckwit owners, we look like replacing them as the cities basket case football club. Forget so called corruption or ‘bad luck’ in the pof, our current trajectory is the consequence of years of rudderless leadership & just not being fit for purpose behind the scenes. For the first time in years I can’t be arsed to check results & feel nothing whatever the result. The whole experience is barren, devoid of enjoyment on any level & im sick of them ruining my weekends. This season reeks of relegation. The momentum is like trying to turn an oil tanker & I don’t think we’ll manage it. In the summer I was rubbing my hands in glee at the pigs plight & the prospect of spanking them in the derbies. How things change……

 

[Aston max]

I've followed my beloved blades for 63 years since my first game with my dad,uncle and big brother on John Street stand ,stood right at the front after my dad's instruction " don't move you little twat till I find you at the final whistle " even at 5 years old I had a problem with authority ( funny which way life takes you quite ironic in my case ) through getting passed over everyone's heads at the manure game because my dad couldn't get me through.
To now because of health issues I can no longer attend games.
But I just find my indifference scary I've got no faith in wilder ,the owners and it's like watching your wife giving birth and realising it's like watching your favourite pub burning down.

 

[Chris the Blade]

Can't believe the back of the Kop last Saturday. Whole groups of teenage kids just chatting with each other. Not even watching the game. And then that occasional moronic 'go on then' chant. What the heck is going on? Take me back to the seventies Kop. Different world. Real Blades. Modern day supporters. You can keep them.

 

[100% part time blade]

I think a factor that affects enjoyment of games is the absence of the feeling that we’ve beaten someone in a game we were not really expected to win.
In the last 150 games I think it’s happened maybe a couple of times. A couple of wins in the horror premier league season? - but they were tempered by the fact we were clearly relegated before Christmas.
Maybe the 5-2 win against Burnley - when was that?
Tottenham in the cup in May 2023 is the last genuine game I remember like that.
Before that you’re going back to a few wins in the other woeful premier league season - but we mostly weren’t there because of Covid.
There have been probably 200 games since we had a run of winning a couple of games a month that we weren’t really expected to win (because our opponents were better on paper, cost more, been above us for years… etc.).
That feels like a really, really long time.

 

[RWE]

Really struggling to get enthused right now.

And it's not the results, it's the style, the model, the vision, the direction, the future plans etc.

I'm just not sure what as a club we're trying to be or what our identity is, both off and on the field.

Not sure if it's just me, my mental mind set or just the lack of communication, but I'm even noticing I'm even posting less frequently on here.

Anyone else feeling like this?

Completely agree with this and what other posters have put. This seasons been my first year without a season ticket but the past 3 have been just as shit for me tbh (which I think proves it’s not just a results based outlook on whether people go or not). I think people forget that football is also an entertainment business which you’re paying your hard earned money to be entertained. Ask yourself “would I pay money to someone to make me feel like shit?” And if the answer is no then you can take a break without the guilt that can sometimes come with “unfollowing” your club. I post mainly on matchdays here to vent my anger and disappointment but once it’s out of the system I can check out and leave the emotion of football behind. Some people’s lives and hobbies are revolved around Blades and some people’s aren’t, both are fine. Just do whatever you thinks best for you.

 

[BarcaBlade]

Ask Sunderland if it’s pointless, or Forest fans having had a European Tour, or our fans when we finished 9th. It’s hard but not unassailable.

Totally agree. There are glimmers of hope. I'm not down and out, but just think that it adds to the general malaise.

More hunch than based on any evidence and plenty of teams have managed an extended run where their fans must have been delighted, whether teams like Fulham and Stoke in the past or Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth at present.

It's all fleeting, as the last addition to your list shows (our fans when we finished 9th). Ask them now and there's an slough of despond.

Our day may come or it may not. I'm in for the long run in either case

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

The downgrading of the squad is largely to blame, in my view.

We have a small number of players who could be quality and in any staring XI in this division, but when part of a shite squad and a shite season, we are dragging their standard down too (Campbell, Hamer, Burrows, Cooper, Tanganga, O'Hare).

Then, wrapped around that we have a few shite loanees (Bindon, Barry etc), some inexperienced players (e.g. Brooks), and no leaders, no spine to the side, no consistency, no creativity, very few goals, and no depth. Then we have some last minute, uninspiring, cobbled together and/or ageing newer recruits (Ings, Mee, Bamford, others).

When you consider that the spine previously included an in-form Cooper, Anel and Souttar, Souza and Blaster and an in-form Hamer, Campbell. That's some fall off.

 

[Tarqs]

Selles will be out of work in a fortnight. And the AI signings were an absolute joke.

We looked the opposite of progressive. We completely ripped up the progress to date and chased fools gold. Plenty of us drank the Kool Aid and thought it was all marvellous as well.

I think the signings since they scrapped that AI model haven't been any better - in fact when you consider the alleged costs for Mcguinness and Matos, combinded with the perm acquisitions of Reidewald/Ings/Chong, the daft wages offered to likes of Ogbene and now Bamford, the daft signing of Godfrey i'd argue it's worse.

 

[Rodley]

I think the signings since they scrapped that AI model haven't been any better - in fact when you consider the alleged costs for Mcguinness and Matos, combinded with the perm acquisitions of Reidewald/Ings/Chong, the daft wages offered to likes of Ogbene and now Bamford, the daft signing of Godfrey i'd argue it's worse.

Well we were late on the window and it’s slim pickings then.

With a clear run, the AI signings were a disaster.

 

[Tarqs]

Well we were late on the window and it’s slim pickings then.

With a clear run, the AI signings were a disaster.

Completely agree, as i've put elsewhere, it's a direction I wanted to go in, but their application was a disaster. In fact it was borderline impossible to get it soooo wrong. It's not like we didn't even spend.