sheffieldwhite
New Member
It's safe to say that heading into the game on Saturday, spirits are not high 'in the camp' at PNE, nor on the terraces.
After a very good 7th placed finish last time around, 2 points off the play-offs, fans expected the manager to be backed by the owner, Trevor Hemmings, to bring in a big striker following the sales of Hugill (£9m) and Cunningham (£4m).
History repeated itself unfortunately (this happened under Billy Davies), as the owner did not sanction any serious cash for a striker to be brought in (specifically a target man to replace Hugill). He didn't sanction £1.5-2m for Kieffer Moore, or the wages to sign Cameron Jerome on loan. This despite making £12-13m this year alone on selling players.
Promising young players such as Ryan Ledson and Jordan Storey were signed, but they aren't first team material yet. Cunningham was replaced by Andrew Hughes from Peterborough, who looks decent but is not an upgrade. Another Irish punt in Graham Burke was signed, but nobody knows his qualities or best position.
Then, without coming even close to signing a striker all summer, a week before the season started Sean Maguire, our only decent one, was ruled out for 2 months with a hamstring injury. Billy Bodin did his ACL in training and was ruled out for 6 months. This led to 2 quick fire loan signings from Man City in Lukas Nmecha and Brandon Barker. Barker looks decent, Nmecha very raw and not capable yet of leading the line every week at this level. Louis Moult has been shocking and is lightweight. We have missed Hugill's physicality greatly.
As a result of all these problem such as lack of ambition and investment, and injuries, we have been awful going forwards and shockingly lightweight. We have now also started conceding goals, with our keeper Rudd totally out of form.
Ben Pearson, our best player and probably the stand out holding midfield player in this division (turned down £12.5m from Stoke in the summer for him) will be banned for this game, but Ledson will be back to play that role.
Him, Browne, and probably Robinson (who I'm told you bid for in the summer), will most likely not be here next season, another frustration for the fans as this season was probably the last with this group where the stars looked aligned if we invested in forwards. Instead it now looks about survival then selling.
The owner is now coming in for a lot of flak, about transfers and also about a proposed training ground development which the fans helped get through planning. There is a housing development next to it going ahead (he's wanted houses on the site for years) but is now stalling seemingly on the training ground. It's unacceptable. All this whilst he scuttles back off to the Isle of Man, and the staff faced the music at the fans' forum on Monday.
Said forum became very heated and punches were exchanged between supporters, and you need only look at our forum to see how high the tensions are and how split the fan base is right now.
So yes basically all in all a terrible summer transfer window and pre-season and a shocking start in the league. To finish 7th and have all the problems we do now is shocking management right from the top. The owner tried to get us to stand still, showing no ambition to kick on, and now we are falling backwards, as you do in football when you try to stand still.
I'd expect a comfortable win for the Blades on Saturday. You won't have to play very well to do so. I'd be amazed if we pull something off but I suppose stranger things have happened in this division.
After a very good 7th placed finish last time around, 2 points off the play-offs, fans expected the manager to be backed by the owner, Trevor Hemmings, to bring in a big striker following the sales of Hugill (£9m) and Cunningham (£4m).
History repeated itself unfortunately (this happened under Billy Davies), as the owner did not sanction any serious cash for a striker to be brought in (specifically a target man to replace Hugill). He didn't sanction £1.5-2m for Kieffer Moore, or the wages to sign Cameron Jerome on loan. This despite making £12-13m this year alone on selling players.
Promising young players such as Ryan Ledson and Jordan Storey were signed, but they aren't first team material yet. Cunningham was replaced by Andrew Hughes from Peterborough, who looks decent but is not an upgrade. Another Irish punt in Graham Burke was signed, but nobody knows his qualities or best position.
Then, without coming even close to signing a striker all summer, a week before the season started Sean Maguire, our only decent one, was ruled out for 2 months with a hamstring injury. Billy Bodin did his ACL in training and was ruled out for 6 months. This led to 2 quick fire loan signings from Man City in Lukas Nmecha and Brandon Barker. Barker looks decent, Nmecha very raw and not capable yet of leading the line every week at this level. Louis Moult has been shocking and is lightweight. We have missed Hugill's physicality greatly.
As a result of all these problem such as lack of ambition and investment, and injuries, we have been awful going forwards and shockingly lightweight. We have now also started conceding goals, with our keeper Rudd totally out of form.
Ben Pearson, our best player and probably the stand out holding midfield player in this division (turned down £12.5m from Stoke in the summer for him) will be banned for this game, but Ledson will be back to play that role.
Him, Browne, and probably Robinson (who I'm told you bid for in the summer), will most likely not be here next season, another frustration for the fans as this season was probably the last with this group where the stars looked aligned if we invested in forwards. Instead it now looks about survival then selling.
The owner is now coming in for a lot of flak, about transfers and also about a proposed training ground development which the fans helped get through planning. There is a housing development next to it going ahead (he's wanted houses on the site for years) but is now stalling seemingly on the training ground. It's unacceptable. All this whilst he scuttles back off to the Isle of Man, and the staff faced the music at the fans' forum on Monday.
Said forum became very heated and punches were exchanged between supporters, and you need only look at our forum to see how high the tensions are and how split the fan base is right now.
So yes basically all in all a terrible summer transfer window and pre-season and a shocking start in the league. To finish 7th and have all the problems we do now is shocking management right from the top. The owner tried to get us to stand still, showing no ambition to kick on, and now we are falling backwards, as you do in football when you try to stand still.
I'd expect a comfortable win for the Blades on Saturday. You won't have to play very well to do so. I'd be amazed if we pull something off but I suppose stranger things have happened in this division.