Knill gone?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?




Danetheblade said:
With a team far superior than where it's finished. Missed out on getting into the play off positions around Christmas.
Click to expand...
The team fell away at a crucial period agreed. Im not sure we had a superior team. Our goalie was playing whilst clearly injured and other key injuries scuppered us IMO. The lack of quality in depth ultimately did for us which you could argue was a Wilder failing.
 
Cheesebored said:
The team fell away at a crucial period agreed. Im not sure we had a superior team. Our goalie was playing whilst clearly injured and other key injuries scuppered us IMO. The lack of quality in depth ultimately did for us which you could argue was a Wilder failing.
Click to expand...
I mean, ultimately, look at the teams that finished in the play offs, would you say the squad we had were better than say.. Hull, or Millwall? absolutely.
 
Alan Knill has been at least 50% of everything that happened to the club in the CWAK era.

The era, and it really has been some era, is over now.

How hard is it for someone in the club to put out a message of thanks to him and just a line as to whether it's a retirement of his decision making or another reason for his exit?

They can end the speculation, IF they want to.

It's a shambles.
 
L
54yrblade said:
Alan Knill has been at least 50% of everything that happened to the club in the CWAK era.

The era, and it really has been some era, is over now.

How hard is it for someone in the club to put out a message of thanks to him and just a line as to whether it's a retirement of his decision making or another reason for his exit?

They can end the speculation, IF they want to.

It's a shambles.
Click to expand...
Has his exit been confirmed?
 
Wards said:
You have to go and coach somewhere to get your badges anyway. It's not just classroom learning. He'll have got his experience somewhere - even if not in a full time role.

I'm not against bringing him in if he's good enough to do the job, but no-one on here knows that at all.
Click to expand...
It would be best if anything if Billy is going to be connected to the club to start within the academy. Although difficult to put into exact comparison James Beattie when he 1st tried coaching was at League 1 level with Accrington Stanley which lasted for 16 months with him leaving with a win ratio of 27.6% in 58 matches. He has then done assistant/1st team coach roles with Swansea, 'Boro, Leeds and Birmingham City amongst others, now he is a first team coach at Reading. He has been coaching for 13 years now and has taken him a while to progress to where he is at. Risking someone like Billy so early on isn't great, he needs to get experience either through the academy or lower leagues. He is only 40, plenty of time for him to develop some experience and have a go in 10 years or so.
 
KMC-1889 said:
The 90 point season was about scoring early and clinging on for dear life. Can’t remember if it was here or on X but someone posted our record against the ‘better’ teams that season and it was horrendous. People leaving on 70 mins because we couldn’t affect games in the last 20 mins.

The playoff games were a microcosm of the season, when the pressure was off we dominated and look strong, as soon as any pressure was applied we retreated and crumbled.
Click to expand...

1 win (Sunderland at home) 7 defeats in the 8 league (9 if you include Wembley) games against the teams immediately around us was simply not good enough.

We were very efficient, especially in the first half of the season at scoring and then seeing the game out against the average sides.

After Christmas, we had one of the biggest January spends but went from top of the form table to 5/6th in the second half of the season.

I’ve got a signed shirt from wilder and the league 1 promotion winners hung in my office. Genuinely the best time of my life following United up and down the country in that period. That team was front foot, in your face and constantly attacking. Recently our teams have tried to play 17 passes between goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders before even looking forward… by which time everyone’s marked and our key players doubled up on. The league one team wouldn’t do that because Bash and JOC were bombing down the wing before anyone had a chance to pass back to them. That was exciting. Current iteration of wilderball is anything but exciting.

I loved that period under wilder, really did. But also believe football has moved on. He hasn’t and he’s also squandered unbelievable amounts of money on absolute shite.

His die hard supporters struggle to understand that wanting a change in direction isn’t personal or hating him it’s about the football.
 
Pedro's Winger said:
Club's drifting aimlessly with uncommunicative owners, no sense of direction and a general sense of apathy.
The contrast with the other side of the city is pretty stark.
Stepping into the quicksands of another spell in the wilderness years.
Click to expand...
Club’s going to have an amazing 2026-27 with a fantastic team put together and a general sense of excitement.
The contrast with the other side is pretty much a million miles apart.
Stepping into the joy of another spell on the up.
 
LBA_Blade said:
It would be best if anything if Billy is going to be connected to the club to start within the academy. Although difficult to put into exact comparison James Beattie when he 1st tried coaching was at League 1 level with Accrington Stanley which lasted for 16 months with him leaving with a win ratio of 27.6% in 58 matches. He has then done assistant/1st team coach roles with Swansea, 'Boro, Leeds and Birmingham City amongst others, now he is a first team coach at Reading. He has been coaching for 13 years now and has taken him a while to progress to where he is at. Risking someone like Billy so early on isn't great, he needs to get experience either through the academy or lower leagues. He is only 40, plenty of time for him to develop some experience and have a go in 10 years or so.
Click to expand...
Get what you're saying but I don't necessarily agree. Mikel Arteta's first coaching role was assistant at Manchester City. Should he have gone and done 10 years away somewhere else before that?

It's the same with youth team players. Sometimes they need to go away to develop. Some are ready to step straight in.
 
Missing Spark said:
Club’s going to have an amazing 2026-27 with a fantastic team put together and a general sense of excitement.
The contrast with the other side is pretty much a million miles apart.
Stepping into the joy of another spell on the up.
Click to expand...
I'll have a pint of whatever you're drinking
 
Cheesebored said:
We finished halfway up a division we looked like slipping out of after a quarter of the season had passed?
Click to expand...

We also lost more games than any other in the division, (apart from our neighbours) plus we lost more points from a winning position than anyone else.
 
Last edited:



Missing Spark said:
Club’s going to have an amazing 2026-27 with a fantastic team put together and a general sense of excitement.
The contrast with the other side is pretty much a million miles apart.
Stepping into the joy of another spell on the up.
Click to expand...

I really applaud your optimism but can't see anything other than a repeat of last season. Granted we may not lose the first 5 league games but other than a flirt with the top 8 occasionally it's hard to see anything else but a mid to lower end finish. Hopefully we will have enough to avoid being pulled into a relegation scrap but it seriously wouldn't surprise me if it happened.
 
Dkc said:
Clearly it's Wilder's fault if that's the case. Knill's had enough of Wilder's pub league training methods
Click to expand...
I'm assuming you're being facetious :) but one of those I saw was stating health reasons (not necessarily that he's poorly)
 
I remember saying the last home game he looked a lonely figure stood by the players entrance and not getting involved in the game .It was like he could not wait to leave .Has this been simmering for a while and now coming out
 
I'll wait until any formal announcements of who the coaching staff will be but I'd like to think this was more about succession planning than anything else. It makes sense to introduce someone into the setup to work with Wilder who will ultimately take over when Wilder departs.
 
Wards said:
Get what you're saying but I don't necessarily agree. Mikel Arteta's first coaching role was assistant at Manchester City. Should he have gone and done 10 years away somewhere else before that?

It's the same with youth team players. Sometimes they need to go away to develop. Some are ready to step straight in.
Click to expand...
It's one of them with him being a blades fan and pretty much legend status for his era with Billy, I wouldn't want him to be thrown in the deep end and fail (not saying he would) It's a type of develop and see what we have got, I am sure there is a decent coach in there, personally I wouldn't use him as a forwards coach as you can't teach what Billy has which is natural poaching instinct especially to pros, nothing against him coming into to the fold as an assistant though it's about how we move forward 27/28 when Wilder's contract is up. We might end up with the class of the 2000's at the helm.
 
IdLiketoRogerMoore said:
It's all getting a bit silly now isn't it... You can tell it's the off season and we're all a bit bored!

If they wanted to get rid of him why would they come with some machivelian plot like this? They'd just sack him like they did 12 months ago! And on that theme, if they wanted rid, they'd have just sacked the whole lot of them.
Click to expand...

He's unlikely to resign so it'd make absolutely no difference. He'll just go back on gardening leave as he did post Wembley when sacked.They'd save the salaries on Knill and whoever else has left and have that to go towards the next appointees salaries. If they've pushed Knill out against Wilder's wishes (doubt it but not impossible) they may as well just sack him. Anything else would be doubling down on stupid and another shocking decision.
 
UTB Blade said:
I genuinely don't understand why they hate him. I just don't get it. Did they prefer being stuck in League One for what seemed like an eternity, getting our arses handed to us by Crawley, and getting knocked out of the play offs by Yeovil?

Wilder comes in, gets us out of League One at long last. Even gets us into the PL - in the top half of the PL, at one point, no less. And yet they hate him. I've never known a fanbase like it.

I go on the Sunderland and Middlesbrough forums, and the posters on both forums do the normal football fan thing of appreciating managers who've done well for them, and disliking managers who've done nothing for them.

And then I come back on here and it's backwards - one of our most successful managers ever is hated by a section of our own fanbase. It's weird. And what's even weirder is, they don't even recognise how weird it is. I can't get my head around it.
Click to expand...

They hated Bassett and Warnock too. It's a Sheffield United thing. In Wilder's case it's a tiny online minority though. A cult if you will. With Bassett it happened at the back end of his tenure and with Warnock it continued through his whole tenure really. I find the humour in it.
 
KMC-1889 said:
The 90 point season was about scoring early and clinging on for dear life. Can’t remember if it was here or on X but someone posted our record against the ‘better’ teams that season and it was horrendous. People leaving on 70 mins because we couldn’t affect games in the last 20 mins.

The playoff games were a microcosm of the season, when the pressure was off we dominated and look strong, as soon as any pressure was applied we retreated and crumbled.
Click to expand...
2024/25:
Against the other sides in the top 8
1780666133600.webp

Against the other sides in the top 6
1780666157901.webp

Against the top 4 (this is the one which killed us, both during the season and at Wembley)
1780666175480.webp
 
Davalon said:
Seen three separate people say it's Knill's own decision this morning 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...
This seems the most likely reason to me Davalon. Hes sixty and to be frank hasn't looked that well the last 6 months. He may have had enough and may also be thinking the game is leaving him behind a little bit and this is a good time to get out.

Very unlikely Wilder has jettisoned him and also very unlikely COH have, if they're unhappy they'd be more likely to sack Wilder or appoint a DoF than choose to get rid of the assistant manager.
 
nopigfansintown said:
He's unlikely to resign so it'd make absolutely no difference. He'll just go back on gardening leave as he did post Wembley when sacked.They'd save the salaries on Knill and whoever else has left and have that to go towards the next appointees salaries. If they've pushed Knill out against Wilder's wishes (doubt it but not impossible) they may as well just sack him. Anything else would be doubling down on stupid and another shocking decision.
Click to expand...
Like most things in life these days, its a vocal minority who are extremely noisy.

Don't get me wrong, most of the Utd fans I speak to in the 'real world' are completely meh about Wilder these days and I guess it's that indifference which is telling... Apathy doesn't drive shirt sales or attendance figures....
 



Keen Blade said:
FFS it's just a forum and it's just my impression from seeing changes in his demeanor before & during games
Click to expand...
I don't recall Knill's demeanour changing during the whole time he's been with us. He's always leaned on the dugout near the tunnel getting his own view of proceedings whilst Wilders more animated prowling of the technical area provides a contrast.
Knilly has a calm presence about him, always has had.
Quite where the " he's fed up, pissed off, lost interest " brigade have got that from is beyond me!

Maybe he's just retired eh....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ned the Donkey
Who was the Brains Behind that Corner Routine?
Replies
28
Views
5K
Blademan89
Blademan89
jono_t2000
2 weeks to make a plan
2
Replies
48
Views
3K
Tony Currie
Tony Currie
B
New DOF
Replies
0
Views
408
bakeblade
B
Tony Currie
First AI signing completed
Replies
28
Views
2K
Snowflake
S
Tony Currie
Choudhry and Clarke - Defensive upgrade
Replies
18
Views
3K
Pollingtonblade
P

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom