League One gossip: Manchester City line up £3m bid for Sheffield United starlet

[Keen Blade]

To answer WHF , since I am not actually inside the minds of the Prince, McCabe, Phipps & NA , an assessment of the facts and the application of my imagination is the only way I can form my opinions of why the Club is under-achieving so badly at the moment , after promising so much last summer. (but I admit I love a good conspiracy theory !).

Blade 58 , see above - of course they are just my opinions , but it is NA himself who keeps saying that he is under pressure to downsize the squad and the media (well Radio Sheffield) have picked up the "June Clearout" mantra. Most fans could reel-off a list of current players who have no realistic place in a promotion-winning team yet they are all still here.

Having watched the squad become an ever-less convincing prospect for promotion , I can't be alone in feeling that our ship is rudderless at the moment , leaving it prone to collapse unless we get proactive in this window.

FFS , we have only one winger in the squad and he doesn't get a game (JCR). Hammond is an old slowcoach mate of NA's who couldn't catch a cold and should be sent-off nearly every match , but he is the only "feisty" midfielder we have. Sammon couldn't hit a barn door with a banjo. Collins is aging and full of mistakes. Baxter would be OK if the opposition kindly agreed to play at his pedestrian pace.

I mean , can you see this lot getting anywhere near promotion when compared to the young and feisty sides who have beaten us this season.

And in terms of striking fear into the opposition , just dig out your footage of a Bassett or Warnock outfit !

Just saying , like !

 

[Keen Blade]

ship prone to collapse ? sorry , I mean hit an iceberg and sink downwards

 

[Bladesman]

We could cash him on him now if City fancy a gamble.

Although I doubt they are genuinely interested.

 

[Cyprus Blade]

Can't afford to nurture and protect him? He'll be on next to nothing compared to some of our players, mate.

Worth remembering as well that, at 19, he won't factor in FFP calculations. I lost my father recently and I am 60 and he was 92 and am still gutted - I feel for him losing his so young.

 

[madeinsheffield]

I read a rumour the pigs are thinking of 'financially outmuscling city' and bidding £3.1m......

Their words, not mine

 

[super_pig]

Kev will probably take a Mars bar and a can of coke

 

[sheffielder]

I read a rumour the pigs are thinking of 'financially outmuscling city' and bidding £3.1m......

Their words, not mine

Do you remember when you were a lad, and there was a choice to be made. Just reminds me what a set of ***** they are when it comes to football. I have people at work that I didn't even knew liked football for the last 15 years wanting to talk to me about them.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Following-on from my "let's pay off the dead-wood and de-clutter" post on another thread , this is the problem :

The board have quite rightly been whinging-on at NA to slim-down the squad.
NA hasn't come out and stated to the board which players he wants to move-on or (as radical as it sounds) pay-off , using the bonus FA Cup cash ("they're all hard-working professionals").
If NA won't tell the board which of the ones whose contracts are up in June are the "dead-men walking" TODAY , the board are going to get fed-up of asking him , and start making their own decisions (God help us !)

So the board have a look at the recent teamsheets and see that Adams isn't starting.
"My goodness" , they say to themselves , "here's a few £m that isn't even in the first eleven !"
And true to their history , the cash-hungry board , who can't see beyond the end of their noses (because they're still getting 20,000 crowds so WTF ?) cave-in at the first whiff of cash.

Our transfer-dealings become entirely REACTIVE instead of being PROACTIVE , because NA won't nail his colours to the mast and at least give the impression to the board that :
A) he knows who is is best 11 and best 18 ; and
B) he knows who he would immediately and decisively jettison , if he could pay them off today.

So the 2 owners who aren't even in the UK are not "well-managed" by NA and when they get an offer for any of our better players (who are naturally worth £money) they can say :
"Well , we can't keep paying 43 professionals............and NA never really told us who he wanted to get rid of ......nor did he tell us who we absolutely must NOT get rid of...........so we just got rid of the players for whom we had an offer ..............sorry fans , what else were we supposed to do ?

Is Adams part of NA's plans or not ?
Is Baxter part of NA's plans or not ?
Is Collins part of NA's plans or not ?
Is McEveley really a captain, with his immature tackles , or does NA have the balls to change it to Brayford ?
Is Reed part of NA's plans or not ?
I could go on and on - but the gist is that NA appears to be indecisive about most of the squad.

And this would be OK - to roll along rudderless till June - if it were not for the fact that NA keeps saying he wants to achieve promotion NOW - RIGHT NOW , if not before !

Nigel , you will never get a winning team/squad , let alone promotion , until you act more decisively and give the board some confidence in your strategy.
If I was your Chairman or Chief Exec , I would be tearing my hair out !

Loads of conjecture which is extremely unlikely to be accurate. I can’t imagine that NA hasn’t given indications of who he wants moved on and who are not part of his plans. He’s been here 7 months and has loaned out McNulty, DCL, Alcock, Higdon, Banton, McDonagh, Brooks, Hamilton and Kennedy. ALcock’s been made permanent and McNulty to the end of the season. There’s talk of Higdon to Carlisle & Kennedy to Shrews. There’s rumours that J. Wallace, Scougall and JCR have been told they can find new clubs. I think we can therefore deduce that McNulty, Alcock, Kennedy, Higdon, Wallace, JCR and Scougall have all been deemed surplus to requirements. I suspect Cuvelier will find himself in the same boat. Collins and McEveley are being used so likely to be kept until their contracts expire unless we get offers for them. Adams, Wallace, McGahey and Reed are youngsters being used sporadically. That is perfectly normal. They are young, inexperienced players who add depth to the squad and will hopefully develop into first team regulars. I think we’d consider offers for just about any player. Hopefully everyone at the club will know that Adams is perceived to have the biggest potential in the squad and that Brayford and Sharp are currently key players. I expect Flynn, Collins, McEveley, Baxter etc. will continue to be used as part of the first team squad until their contracts expire in the summer unless we get decent offers for them.


In addition to what we know and have seen suggested, Adkins has talked about having to have private conversations with those being moved on which further dispels this theory.

 

[1danewhitehouse]

"Well , we can't keep paying 43 professionals

In his latest interview NA said we had 46 pros, hopefully he got his figures wrong or he has unearthed another three they forgot about

Maybe Alcock was counted as minus 3? He must have been paying some serious subs? Which Jim later counted as "investment and reinvestment"

 

[1danewhitehouse]

As Ilkeston are entitled to 25% of any fee, perhaps we need to be a bit cleverer here if we do sell him. Player exchange? Either on loan or permanent? If it’s city, we’re probably looking at loans?

“Sure City, take Che for a million but give us Patrick Roberts, Brandon Barker and Thierry Ambrose on loan for the rest of the season in exchange”?