'Memries' October 8th 2013: David Weir's low point

[1973Blade]

The Johnstone Paint Trophy didn't provide much of interest for Blades fans. But five years ago today a particularly shocking 1-0 home defeat to Hartlepool United led to the end of David Weir's brief tenure as Blades manager.
It was difficult listening to his post match interview, as he appeared close to a break down and it seemed kind to out him out of his misery. Which was a pity because his opening game, a 2-1 win against Notts County went so well.
Looking back at the team it was mixed, there were definitely some decent players in there who have since progressed.:
1. Mark Howard, weak on shots now goalkeeper at Blackpool
2. Neill Collins, always felt he was a bit of a fall guy although not as good as when playing alongside Maguire. Now at Tampa Bay Rowde.
3. Daryl Westlake a disaster at right back, now playing for Stourbridge.
4. Conor Coady, rated him straight away, good in midfield, now doing a good job at the back as Wolves captain.
5. Harry Maguire, fantastic defender for us and now England hero.
6. Simon Lappin, was not as bad as some who played briefly on the left for us, OK going forward but quite lightweight. Now at Wroxham
7. Michael Doyle, always gave100% loved for his Cockney dance. Now at Coventry
8. Marlon King, disastrous signing in terms of his play and in PR. Has been in prison since not sure what he is up to now (the less we know the better probably)
9. Jamie Murphy, great skillful winger for us, pity we didn't have him for longer, now at Ranagers
10. Jose Baxter, wasted his talent for us due to drugs, now making a return at Oldham
11. Lyle Taylor, fast, promising, but couldn't shootNow at Charlton
The subs were:
Ryan Hall, briefly with us on loan, now at Eastbourne Borough
Joe Ironside, tried but didn't look like he would make it. Now at Kidderminster
Stephen Mcginn, non descipt midfielder now at St Mirren
George Willis, reserve keeper now at Boston
Matt Hill, always tried, popular. Now at Bradford Park Aveneue

 

[TJB.]

"You won't believe which STI this Sheffield United memory was compared to. Click here to find out."

 

[JPBrods]

That was such a bizarre season. I remember we lost 3-0 to Crewe in February and I really thought we were heading down. That result might have put us bottom I recall. Fast forward a few months later and we're leading a Premier League side at half time in the FA cup semi final at Wembley, winning week in week out and pushing to go up.

If we'd finished in the play-offs that season we would have ended the League One nightmare so much sooner. We wouldn't have stumbled upon our Chris though.

 

[raul]

Shame about Joe Ironside - always though he had something about him. Wish he'd had a longer run at it.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Shame about Joe Ironside - always though he had something about him. Wish he'd had a longer run at it.

Going for a big one?

 

[billyblademan]

There wasn't many in the crowd that night (just the South Stand open I believe), but something happened at Full Time that I've never seen before or since. And by 'something', I mean 'absolutely nothing'. The 2 or 3 thousand hardcore Blades who were there were just stunned into silence. Nobody moved from their seats for a good 30 seconds or so it seemed. There was then some half hearted 'Weir out' chants, but realistically, everybody knew that was the end and it just felt unnecessary.

His interview afterwards is a complete classic of course - I can only assume he knew his fate, because if not, that embarrassment certainly sealed it.

A bizarre night all round.

 

[JohnDenver]

Matt Hill, always tried, popular.

sitwell

 

[JohnDenver]

Going for a big one?

View attachment 45012

He hasn’t even chummed the water, he’s gone straight to the harpoon...

 

[Sheffsteel]

Still remember Weirs first game in charge.

Home to Notts County, a brilliant performance in a 2-1 win playing some great possession based football.
Kevin McDonald was pulling all the strings and it all looked so promising, was convinced we’d have a great season.

A few days later we were told McDonald had a special clause in his contact and was sold to Wolves for a knock down £300K.
McDonald had just signed a long contract extension but the SU representative allowed McD’s agent to put in this stupid clause.

Losing McDonald was a massive loss, we continued to play the patient possession based passing game
But it was too slow and easy to defend against. We overplayed in defense and lost some goals through defensive howlers.

Felt really sorry for Weir as towards the end he looked ill and you felt was going to burst into tears during his post match interviews after yet another loss. It felt kind of morbid listening to him as he seemed close to a mental breakdown.

 

[sitwell]

There wasn't many in the crowd that night (just the South Stand open I believe), but something happened at Full Time that I've never seen before or since. And by 'something', I mean 'absolutely nothing'. The 2 or 3 thousand hardcore Blades who were there were just stunned into silence. Nobody moved from their seats for a good 30 seconds or so it seemed. There was then some half hearted 'Weir out' chants, but realistically, everybody knew that was the end and it just felt unnecessary.

His interview afterwards is a complete classic of course - I can only assume he knew his fate, because if not, that embarrassment certainly sealed it.

A bizarre night all round.

Im sure I was on the JSS ,it was expected to be honest ,not that upsetting. I was more bothered by the defeat at Rotherham previous ,when at 3-1 down with 5 minutes to go Mark Howard wanted to kick it long at that prick Weir insisted on Maguire coming back and having it rolled out to him ,losing it and making him look a crap player. That night I went to see Leonard Cohen and thought he should have written a song about it.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Still remember Weirs first game in charge.

Home to Notts County, a brilliant performance in a 2-1 win playing some great possession based football.
Kevin McDonald was pulling all the strings and it all looked so promising, was convinced we’d have a great season.

A few days later we were told McDonald had a special clause in his contact and was sold to Wolves for a knock down £300K.
McDonald had just signed a long contract extension but the SU representative allowed McD’s agent to put in this stupid clause.

Losing McDonald was a massive loss, we continued to play the patient possession based passing game
But it was too slow and easy to defend against. We overplayed in defense and lost some goals through defensive howlers.

Felt really sorry for Weir as towards the end he looked ill and you felt was going to burst into tears during his post match interviews after yet another loss. It felt kind of morbid listening to him as he seemed close to a mental breakdown.

Putting the clause in was the only way he would sign.

 

[Sean Thornton]

The Johnstone Paint Trophy didn't provide much of interest for Blades fans. But five years ago today a particularly shocking 1-0 home defeat to Hartlepool United led to the end of David Weir's brief tenure as Blades manager.
It was difficult listening to his post match interview, as he appeared close to a break down and it seemed kind to out him out of his misery. Which was a pity because his opening game, a 2-1 win against Notts County went so well.
Looking back at the team it was mixed, there were definitely some decent players in there who have since progressed.:
1. Mark Howard, weak on shots now goalkeeper at Blackpool
2. Neill Collins, always felt he was a bit of a fall guy although not as good as when playing alongside Maguire. Now at Tampa Bay Rowde.
3. Daryl Westlake a disaster at right back, now playing for Stourbridge.
4. Conor Coady, rated him straight away, good in midfield, now doing a good job at the back as Wolves captain.
5. Harry Maguire, fantastic defender for us and now England hero.
6. Simon Lappin, was not as bad as some who played briefly on the left for us, OK going forward but quite lightweight. Now at Wroxham
7. Michael Doyle, always gave100% loved for his Cockney dance. Now at Coventry
8. Marlon King, disastrous signing in terms of his play and in PR. Has been in prison since not sure what he is up to now (the less we know the better probably)
9. Jamie Murphy, great skillful winger for us, pity we didn't have him for longer, now at Ranagers
10. Jose Baxter, wasted his talent for us due to drugs, now making a return at Oldham
11. Lyle Taylor, fast, promising, but couldn't shootNow at Charlton
The subs were:
Ryan Hall, briefly with us on loan, now at Eastbourne Borough
Joe Ironside, tried but didn't look like he would make it. Now at Kidderminster
Stephen Mcginn, non descipt midfielder now at St Mirren
George Willis, reserve keeper now at Boston
Matt Hill, always tried, popular. Now at Bradford Park Aveneue

Ryan Hall. Curtis's tip for the top.

Mind you, for a bloke who blasted United for not signing Paul Pogba and letting Crewe get him, he wasn't the sharpest tool in the box.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Putting the clause in was the only way he would sign.

Guessed that but realistically that clause meant McDonald could leave whenever he wanted, so in real times he’d made no commitment to us and we had to protection.

Why fool the fans giving false hope, don’t think Wilder would have stood for it, he’d have said let him go and let’s prepare without him.

 

[Stretch]

Still vividly remember that interview. An ashen faced Weir simply repeating ''we're dissapoiinted'' in response to the questions.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/24462513

Felt so sorry for him. He tried but was another to fall foul of the atrophy that was United at the time.

Jump forward 5 years and things couldn't be more different.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Im sure I was on the JSS ,it was expected to be honest ,not that upsetting. I was more bothered by the defeat at Rotherham previous ,when at 3-1 down with 5 minutes to go Mark Howard wanted to kick it long at that prick Weir insisted on Maguire coming back and having it rolled out to him ,losing it and making him look a crap player. That night I went to see Leonard Cohen and thought he should have written a song about it.

I always thought his entire written repertoire was about being a Blade 1976-2015.

 

[BushBlade]

Guessed that but realistically that clause meant McDonald could leave whenever he wanted, so in real times he’d made no commitment to us and we had to protection.

Why fool the fans giving false hope, don’t think Wilder would have stood for it, he’d have said let him go and let’s prepare without him.

He was on big wages and I think we thought it was unlikely any club in L1 could match them and no one in the championship rated him. My understanding of the situation was that his first contract was for very high wages and we weren’t prepared to match that for a longer contract. We offered him less than he was on so he’d only accept with a release clause.

Re the first game v County. We were lucky to win that. We got off to a good start and then let them back into it. I thought we looked fragile at that stage and a decent team would have gone on to beat us. As it was, County were shit, stupid foul on KMac gave us the points. We flattered to deceive and I hoped we’d use the momentum from the win to push on.

Obviously we then lost KMac. I lost faith when he tried to shoehorn Taylor into the side instead of Porter. Porter had done OK and didn’t deserve dropping. A manager might have got away with that if Taylor had been fantastic but he was no better than Porter, not as good imo.

Weir was an idiot; crap man management, crap recruitment and inflexible and crap tactics. The ungrateful prick didn’t even have the grace to acknowledge the supporters at Brentford who were singing his name despite the shitshow we were getting on the pitch.

 

[Gin&Juice]

What was the game where he played Ironside on his own up front? Fucking Weir, he was broken and irrational by then.

 

[Wooden Blade]

County had a man sent off during first half didn't they ? That puts Weir's tenure in charge, that his only victory came against 10 men, into perspective !

 

[BerksBlade]

6. Simon Lappin, was not as bad as some who played briefly on the left for us, OK going forward but quite lightweight. Now at Wroxham

"quite lightweight"? Lappin was pretty much the dictionary definition of lightweight. His most (only?) redeeming feature was that he wasn't Jordan Stewart or Marcus Williams. Signing Bob Harris was like getting Marcelo or Ashley Cole in comparison!

 

[Grappler]

I will always remember Weir saying something along the lines of "Marlon King will not be coming to Sheffield United", when asked by Radio Sheff, and then the following week, guess who turned up.........

He must have realised then that he had no clout whatsoever at the club.

 

[dc_blade]

Still vividly remember that interview. An ashen faced Weir simply repeating ''we're dissapoiinted'' in response to the questions.

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/24462513

Felt so sorry for him. He tried but was another to fall foul of the atrophy that was United at the time.

Jump forward 5 years and things couldn't be more different.

I've just watched that for the first time in five years and to say it's uncomfortable viewing would be a massive understatement. His inability to make eye contact or answer the questions in complete sentences are almost childlike. Now that the trauma has faded I feel sorry for the guy--clearly just totally temperamentally unsuited for management.

 

[Grappler]

I've just watched that for the first time in five years and to say it's uncomfortable viewing would be a massive understatement. His inability to make eye contact or answer the questions in complete sentences are almost childlike. Now that the trauma has faded I feel sorry for the guy--clearly just totally temperamentally unsuited for management.

Would he have succeeded with the current group of players?, wasn't he trying to bring in a similar 3 5 2 set up?, I seem to remember him saying that we had to move away from 4 4 2 and play a more modern system, people were saying our players could not do that, or could not understand the role they had to do in that system. When you look at the playing staff he had, no wonder the guy seemed shell shocked. Marlon fucking King.........

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Wasn’t it the birth of a new era of football at the Lane? After the previous seasons ending with muck and nettles in charge?

Pinchy may help.

 

[BushBlade]

Would he have succeeded with the current group of players?, wasn't he trying to bring in a similar 3 5 2 set up?, I seem to remember him saying that we had to move away from 4 4 2 and play a more modern system, people were saying our players could not do that, or could not understand the role they had to do in that system. When you look at the playing staff he had, no wonder the guy seemed shell shocked. Marlon fucking King.........

No, he wouldn’t. As soon as he set them up to defend corners with everyone back and no out ball they’d think he was a fucking idiot and lose faith in him.

 

[Blade82]

The Carlisle away defeat was grim & was the lowest point with him in charge imo

Don’t know why I’ve put myself through it but just listened back to his post match interview.... wow, couldn’t be more different than what we have now with wilder

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/23999217

 

[Bladesway]

Still remember Weirs first game in charge.

Home to Notts County, a brilliant performance in a 2-1 win playing some great possession based football.
Kevin McDonald was pulling all the strings and it all looked so promising, was convinced we’d have a great season.

A few days later we were told McDonald had a special clause in his contact and was sold to Wolves for a knock down £300K.
McDonald had just signed a long contract extension but the SU representative allowed McD’s agent to put in this stupid clause.

Losing McDonald was a massive loss, we continued to play the patient possession based passing game
But it was too slow and easy to defend against. We overplayed in defense and lost some goals through defensive howlers.

Felt really sorry for Weir as towards the end he looked ill and you felt was going to burst into tears during his post match interviews after yet another loss. It felt kind of morbid listening to him as he seemed close to a mental breakdown.

I still blame the much lauded KMac for the whole sorry debacle. Cunt. We unfortunately based a whole plan around him and then he fucked off having signed a contract 5 minutes previous.

Weir was another one of our leaders inspired management choices. Just picking managers as if in some sort of unlucky dip.

 

[grafikhaus]

I've just watched that for the first time in five years and to say it's uncomfortable viewing would be a massive understatement. His inability to make eye contact or answer the questions in complete sentences are almost childlike. Now that the trauma has faded I feel sorry for the guy--clearly just totally temperamentally unsuited for management.

Making my way to my seat before that October 8th 2013 game (Johnstones's Paint v Hartlepool, lost 0-1) I saw that a Radio Sheffield bloke was sat in my seat with recording equipment. It was well before the kick-off and the crowd was 4,189 so no problem. On my way into the ground, that horse-faced bird from Look North who normally does rugby was collaring fans and asking for their views on Weir. To be fair, the RS guy was very fair and the bloke who sits behind me was also there - offering support for DW. When it was my turn, I said that the results so far were ridiculous and he had to go.

No room for sentiment, we've had more than our share of crap managers and Weir was just the latest. No sympathy from me.

 

[boo radley]

The Carlisle away defeat was grim & was the lowest point with him in charge imo

Don’t know why I’ve put myself through it but just listened back to his post match interview.... wow, couldn’t be more different than what we have now with wilder

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/23999217

Wow listening to that one, Our super chairman should have got rid after that interview. His pride however, having publicly stated how careful he was going to be in that appointment would obviously not let him.

 

[BushBlade]

I still blame the much lauded KMac for the whole sorry debacle. Cunt. We unfortunately based a whole plan around him and then he fucked off having signed a contract 5 minutes previous.

Weir was another one of our leaders inspired management choices. Just picking managers as if in some sort of unlucky dip.

I blame KM for all of it, or whoever was supposed to be running the club at the time. We lowballed KMac (I’m not a big fan of his either) on his contract and got what we deserved.

We couldn’t recruit a decent manager, even McCall turned us down. I’m going to type that out. Sheffield United couldn’t attract a decent manager. How could that be? I can only assume that the chairman’s expectations were far greater than his wallet. And this was after he’d sacked Wilson and instead of replacing him with a better manager, like the pigs did when they sacked Megson, he appointed Morgan.

He’s lucky he’s had two Blades willing to walk over broken glass to manage us and keep getting us out of the shit.

 

[BerksBlade]

I blame KM for all of it, or whoever was supposed to be running the club at the time. We lowballed KMac (I’m not a big fan of his either) on his contract and got what we deserved.

Weir must have known about the release clause in KMac's contract? Yet he carried on building a team around a player who would be off at the first sign of a half-decent offer. No hint of a "Plan B". We just looked so easy to beat and Weir didn't have a clue how to fix it.