D
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I have been doing a lot of research over the last couple of days on Nigel Adkins, both good and bad, and quite simply I'm amazed that we have managed to attract Adkins to Bramall Lane, and this is the first managerial appointment we have made in several year that has been unanimously well recieved by the supporters.
During the previous season, there was a distinct air of melachony and negativity in the air at Bramall Lane under Nigel Clough, almost a genuine sense that we was a big club, in the wrong division and if there was something we was desperately lacking last season, it was a lack of positive leadership coming from Nigel Clough. Nigel Cloughs football was just too negative, his press conference often were too negative and lacking in positivity that could lift spirits and provide a bit of encouragement to both players and supporters alike. Look how many times we lost a game, and he would hammer players in the media, and the player would disappear from view for weeks on end. It hardly inspires confidence in a lot of players, especially younger players.
A lot of the time last season we saw the side set up in a negative way, and resultantly you would see the performances where we would go out merely look to go out and avoid defeat rather than going out motivated enough to be able to express themselves, play to the best of their ability, and sometimes going out with such a negative mindset we went out there almost destined to lose from the kick off. When we did play well, and there was games where we did really well, and performed, more specifically in the cup games, it was when did seem to go out there and be inspired to play with freedom. One thing that is easily identifiable from Nigel Cloughs reign was an apparent lack, or distrust of any form of sports psychology, which was astounding as in the 21st century psychology plays such a huge part in day to day life, and improving performance in day to day life, so it doesn't seem to make much sense for a football team to lose it.
I think when it came down to it, and despite people mentioning of the often repeated mantra of stability, and that we shouldn't be sacking managers every season, there was something missing last season. There was just no tangible sense of us making any progress, despite us having the largest budget, best facilities and biggest fanbase in our division. We had effectively jumped from 7th place to 5th place when expectation had rightly been set a lot higher, yet what we got couldn't be termed as progress, more underwhelming disappointment, and at that conjecture it was absolutely the right to make a managerial change.
What we need from a manager is conversely different to what we required from a manager back in October 2013, back then we needed someone who could in and pragmatically rebuild a squad littered with misfits and underperforming players whilst simultaneously dragging us away from what would have been potentially a very embarrassing relegation to the 4th tier of English football. Clough adequately saw through that particularly remit, but what we need now to escape this division is totally different.
Ideally what we need from a manager is someone who can come in and build on the good work that Clough has already done, get the most out of what i personally considered a talented group of young players, a lot of whom wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. Hopefully what the new manager can bring is a sense of belief that we can win games, a manager who can motivate players to get the absolute best out them, and someone who can remove the fear of defeat with the aim of bringing confidence to a team who too often looked bereft of confidence. Last season we looked as good as anyone in this division when we played with confidence, but that was too often all too fleeting.
Nigel Adkins comes with an excellent CV. Beginning with his football career, he was nothing more than a journeyman pro, suffered a severe injury at 23, and was bright enough to have an eye on what he was going to do after his playing days were over. Therefore he qualified as a physiotherapist, and it whilst he was qualifying as a physiotherapist he ended his playing days at Bangor City, and the transition from Physio to Manager at Scunthorpe United means the fact he was player-manager at Bangor City and winning consecutive titles in the League of Wales whilst doing a degree in Physiotherapy in his late 20's is often overlooked.
It was at Scunthorpe United that he really made his name, firstly as he made the relatively uncommon jump from Physio to Manager which was notable as this rarely happens in football, where teams rarely look away from the names that are available on the managerial merry go round. Then he won the Divisional title to take Scunthorpe in to the Second Tier of English Football. It was whilst Scunthorpe came in the same Division as we had recently been relegated in to, that he first came to my attention, specifically in the dire 0-0 home draw against 10 men Scunthorpe who had been down to 10 men within 10 minutes, which also co-incidentally set in to motion the events that would see the removal of Brian Robson. I remembered the comments of Adkins after the match where he spoke about his own team, with a scary amount of enthusiasm, about how well that had performed, and how well they had done to come to a club of the relative size of Sheffield United to be able to come away with a draw. He led Scunthorpe United through their salad days, 2 promotions (including a play off final win) and a JPT Trophy final as well, as giving them 3 seasons in the Championship which in itself was quite an achievement when considering they are little more than a team you would expect to see bobbing around the lower reaches of the football leagues.
His first big managerial move was an intriguing one, as he was always destined to leave Scunthorpe for a bigger club, he was brave enough to make the move to a Southampton club that was struggling under Alan Pardew in the lower reaches of the 3rd Tier. The impact that he made at Southampton was quite astounding, as he led them to initally promotion in the same season that he took charge, he also led them to promotion the following season. Looking closely at what he did at Southampton, and you can see what he did there is exactly what is needed at Bramall Lane. He went down there and played fast, pressing attacking football. He got his team playing with the freedom of confidence, and by doing that he got the results that were required to take Southampton from League 1 to the Premiership. What is also interesting is that he built his side around a core of experienced players, mixed with a few younger, more talented players. I think at the end of his tenure he was unfairly dismissed as Southampton were clear of the relegation zone at the time of his dismissal and making headway up the table.
At Reading it seemed to be a bit of a poor career move for Nigel Adkins, undoubtedly his stock would have been high at the moment and very much the man in demand for a lot of clubs, and his next move could and should have been a move higher in the English game, i think it the current vogue for foreign coaches and the general theory there is a paucity of talented English coaches currently in the game that meant he never got the crack he might have got in a different era. Reading during the time he arrived there was a club going through a lot of upheavel, with John Madjeski wanting to sell up, and a Russian owner Anton Zingarevich taking charge, and offering Adkins the job with the promise of substantial funds to launch a Premiership push the following season after relegation, but these funds never materialised and Adkins was unable to take Reading in the direction they wanted to go.
What is also notable about Nigel Adkins is that he has been out of the game for 6 months, yet it is clearly apparent that he has used this time to take the effort to prepare himself for another job in football management. He is clearly a very positive man, it is very rare that you will hear that he has said anything negative, and not only is he a very positive man, he is also clearly a very intelligent man with a degree in Physiotherapy, as well as a whole raft of qualifications, the one that stands out is his qualifications in Sports Psychology that he gained at Scunthorpe when he was concerned about the number of injured players who would come in to see him feigning injury. This is notable as you tend to see a lot of managers who between jobs spend a lot of time on television involved in punditry and touting themselves for other jobs, rather than embarking of paths where they can improve on their own management skills. Nigel Adkins has done this.
I think what we will get is an intelligent and very highly qualified football manager. I think he is a manager who is unlucky not to have already gone a lot higher in the English game. I don't get the impression that we are getting a manager who will try and over-complicate things tactically, and will place greater emphasis on our own performance rather than anything anyone else does, and i do worry that if we go through a spell where things don't go the way we want them to it, it will lead to accusations that he is tactically naive.
I also think we have got a manager who offers a lot of positivity, but also a positivity that it will be easy for the fans and players to buy in to. We haven't had a manager who has been able to bring that to Sheffield United since Neil Warnock, the other plus side of that is that level of motivation is that it get the very best out of the players who play for him. Notably through his career he has got the very best out of players such as Billy Sharp, Jamie Paterson, Gary Hooper and Rickie Lambert, who also conversely have't really been anywhere near as prolific since as they were under the management of Adkins.
I'm very surprised that we have got Nigel Adkins, as i imagine there is a lot of sides, especially in the Championship who would jump at the chance at appointing Nigel Adkins as he is undoubted one of the most talented English managers there is. The reason i can think of why we have signed Nigel Adkins is that he has seen past the league position and seen the undoubted potential in Sheffield United, and that even though we are in League One, there is everything in place at the club that means under the right management we could easily still fit in as an established Premiership club, it is a great and intriguing challenge for the right manager and i think he has seen that.
To surmise, i think after a succession of managers coming in and out of the door who have occasionally fleetingly done well, but have often flattered to decieve, and who reigns have ended in disappointment when they haven't been able to awaken, revive and push the sleeping giant that is Sheffield United in the right direction. We have had 4 years in this Division, twice that in the doldrums since we got relegated in 2007, but i think now that we was brave in the sacking of Brian Clough, and i think we have done brilliantly to get Nigel Adkins. There is something about him that i find very easy to buy in to, and as we have been through a lot of lean times, i think under Nigel Adkins the good times are finally on the way back to Bramall Lane, and it feels good to have a lot of genuine hope and optimism after too long without it, and too many disappointments. I think we deserve it.
During the previous season, there was a distinct air of melachony and negativity in the air at Bramall Lane under Nigel Clough, almost a genuine sense that we was a big club, in the wrong division and if there was something we was desperately lacking last season, it was a lack of positive leadership coming from Nigel Clough. Nigel Cloughs football was just too negative, his press conference often were too negative and lacking in positivity that could lift spirits and provide a bit of encouragement to both players and supporters alike. Look how many times we lost a game, and he would hammer players in the media, and the player would disappear from view for weeks on end. It hardly inspires confidence in a lot of players, especially younger players.
A lot of the time last season we saw the side set up in a negative way, and resultantly you would see the performances where we would go out merely look to go out and avoid defeat rather than going out motivated enough to be able to express themselves, play to the best of their ability, and sometimes going out with such a negative mindset we went out there almost destined to lose from the kick off. When we did play well, and there was games where we did really well, and performed, more specifically in the cup games, it was when did seem to go out there and be inspired to play with freedom. One thing that is easily identifiable from Nigel Cloughs reign was an apparent lack, or distrust of any form of sports psychology, which was astounding as in the 21st century psychology plays such a huge part in day to day life, and improving performance in day to day life, so it doesn't seem to make much sense for a football team to lose it.
I think when it came down to it, and despite people mentioning of the often repeated mantra of stability, and that we shouldn't be sacking managers every season, there was something missing last season. There was just no tangible sense of us making any progress, despite us having the largest budget, best facilities and biggest fanbase in our division. We had effectively jumped from 7th place to 5th place when expectation had rightly been set a lot higher, yet what we got couldn't be termed as progress, more underwhelming disappointment, and at that conjecture it was absolutely the right to make a managerial change.
What we need from a manager is conversely different to what we required from a manager back in October 2013, back then we needed someone who could in and pragmatically rebuild a squad littered with misfits and underperforming players whilst simultaneously dragging us away from what would have been potentially a very embarrassing relegation to the 4th tier of English football. Clough adequately saw through that particularly remit, but what we need now to escape this division is totally different.
Ideally what we need from a manager is someone who can come in and build on the good work that Clough has already done, get the most out of what i personally considered a talented group of young players, a lot of whom wouldn't look out of place in the Championship. Hopefully what the new manager can bring is a sense of belief that we can win games, a manager who can motivate players to get the absolute best out them, and someone who can remove the fear of defeat with the aim of bringing confidence to a team who too often looked bereft of confidence. Last season we looked as good as anyone in this division when we played with confidence, but that was too often all too fleeting.
Nigel Adkins comes with an excellent CV. Beginning with his football career, he was nothing more than a journeyman pro, suffered a severe injury at 23, and was bright enough to have an eye on what he was going to do after his playing days were over. Therefore he qualified as a physiotherapist, and it whilst he was qualifying as a physiotherapist he ended his playing days at Bangor City, and the transition from Physio to Manager at Scunthorpe United means the fact he was player-manager at Bangor City and winning consecutive titles in the League of Wales whilst doing a degree in Physiotherapy in his late 20's is often overlooked.
It was at Scunthorpe United that he really made his name, firstly as he made the relatively uncommon jump from Physio to Manager which was notable as this rarely happens in football, where teams rarely look away from the names that are available on the managerial merry go round. Then he won the Divisional title to take Scunthorpe in to the Second Tier of English Football. It was whilst Scunthorpe came in the same Division as we had recently been relegated in to, that he first came to my attention, specifically in the dire 0-0 home draw against 10 men Scunthorpe who had been down to 10 men within 10 minutes, which also co-incidentally set in to motion the events that would see the removal of Brian Robson. I remembered the comments of Adkins after the match where he spoke about his own team, with a scary amount of enthusiasm, about how well that had performed, and how well they had done to come to a club of the relative size of Sheffield United to be able to come away with a draw. He led Scunthorpe United through their salad days, 2 promotions (including a play off final win) and a JPT Trophy final as well, as giving them 3 seasons in the Championship which in itself was quite an achievement when considering they are little more than a team you would expect to see bobbing around the lower reaches of the football leagues.
His first big managerial move was an intriguing one, as he was always destined to leave Scunthorpe for a bigger club, he was brave enough to make the move to a Southampton club that was struggling under Alan Pardew in the lower reaches of the 3rd Tier. The impact that he made at Southampton was quite astounding, as he led them to initally promotion in the same season that he took charge, he also led them to promotion the following season. Looking closely at what he did at Southampton, and you can see what he did there is exactly what is needed at Bramall Lane. He went down there and played fast, pressing attacking football. He got his team playing with the freedom of confidence, and by doing that he got the results that were required to take Southampton from League 1 to the Premiership. What is also interesting is that he built his side around a core of experienced players, mixed with a few younger, more talented players. I think at the end of his tenure he was unfairly dismissed as Southampton were clear of the relegation zone at the time of his dismissal and making headway up the table.
At Reading it seemed to be a bit of a poor career move for Nigel Adkins, undoubtedly his stock would have been high at the moment and very much the man in demand for a lot of clubs, and his next move could and should have been a move higher in the English game, i think it the current vogue for foreign coaches and the general theory there is a paucity of talented English coaches currently in the game that meant he never got the crack he might have got in a different era. Reading during the time he arrived there was a club going through a lot of upheavel, with John Madjeski wanting to sell up, and a Russian owner Anton Zingarevich taking charge, and offering Adkins the job with the promise of substantial funds to launch a Premiership push the following season after relegation, but these funds never materialised and Adkins was unable to take Reading in the direction they wanted to go.
What is also notable about Nigel Adkins is that he has been out of the game for 6 months, yet it is clearly apparent that he has used this time to take the effort to prepare himself for another job in football management. He is clearly a very positive man, it is very rare that you will hear that he has said anything negative, and not only is he a very positive man, he is also clearly a very intelligent man with a degree in Physiotherapy, as well as a whole raft of qualifications, the one that stands out is his qualifications in Sports Psychology that he gained at Scunthorpe when he was concerned about the number of injured players who would come in to see him feigning injury. This is notable as you tend to see a lot of managers who between jobs spend a lot of time on television involved in punditry and touting themselves for other jobs, rather than embarking of paths where they can improve on their own management skills. Nigel Adkins has done this.
I think what we will get is an intelligent and very highly qualified football manager. I think he is a manager who is unlucky not to have already gone a lot higher in the English game. I don't get the impression that we are getting a manager who will try and over-complicate things tactically, and will place greater emphasis on our own performance rather than anything anyone else does, and i do worry that if we go through a spell where things don't go the way we want them to it, it will lead to accusations that he is tactically naive.
I also think we have got a manager who offers a lot of positivity, but also a positivity that it will be easy for the fans and players to buy in to. We haven't had a manager who has been able to bring that to Sheffield United since Neil Warnock, the other plus side of that is that level of motivation is that it get the very best out of the players who play for him. Notably through his career he has got the very best out of players such as Billy Sharp, Jamie Paterson, Gary Hooper and Rickie Lambert, who also conversely have't really been anywhere near as prolific since as they were under the management of Adkins.
I'm very surprised that we have got Nigel Adkins, as i imagine there is a lot of sides, especially in the Championship who would jump at the chance at appointing Nigel Adkins as he is undoubted one of the most talented English managers there is. The reason i can think of why we have signed Nigel Adkins is that he has seen past the league position and seen the undoubted potential in Sheffield United, and that even though we are in League One, there is everything in place at the club that means under the right management we could easily still fit in as an established Premiership club, it is a great and intriguing challenge for the right manager and i think he has seen that.
To surmise, i think after a succession of managers coming in and out of the door who have occasionally fleetingly done well, but have often flattered to decieve, and who reigns have ended in disappointment when they haven't been able to awaken, revive and push the sleeping giant that is Sheffield United in the right direction. We have had 4 years in this Division, twice that in the doldrums since we got relegated in 2007, but i think now that we was brave in the sacking of Brian Clough, and i think we have done brilliantly to get Nigel Adkins. There is something about him that i find very easy to buy in to, and as we have been through a lot of lean times, i think under Nigel Adkins the good times are finally on the way back to Bramall Lane, and it feels good to have a lot of genuine hope and optimism after too long without it, and too many disappointments. I think we deserve it.
