OK - in the absence of WHF here is what I managed to bullet point - took me nearly three hours (replaying and replaying to try and make stuff out so apologies if I got any of this wrong). RS questions in a piggy blue. JB in red.
Jim thanks for joining us – a lot of Sheffield United fans are getting in touch with the show tonight, getting in touch on social media. They are very unhappy that the team has not been active in the JTW. What would you like to say to the Blades fans tonight?
· Had hundreds maybe a thousand messages today. Has read through various forums.
· We hear you loud and clear. (We didn’t hear JP loud and clear though thanks to RS)
· Disappointed in not getting our targets in the transfer window.
· Want to be in a spot that’s more confidence inspiring than the one we are in.
· This isn’t exactly the outcome we wanted.
· I think for those that assume it’s the end of the world that’s taking it a little too far.
· We can get to where we want to go but from here it’s going to take some effort.
· We’ll hear from the gaffer, what he has to say, this week and I am sure that we’ll all try to come together at the club to respond to our circumstances
· The furthest thing from our minds is to fob the fans off . ( Interrupted by RS)
Jim sorry to interrupt, one of the things that the fans have asked us about, look I’ve just had a tweet here from James, and he says that it was said that the Jamie Murphy would be re-invested and he says that it hasn’t. He says that this is a lie and a lot of Sheffield United fans are asking why hasn’t the Jamie Murphy money been spent on new players this window.
· I said the money from that transaction would be used in first team football, that’s where it is, that’s where it will be. It’s not a lie.
· We did try to do transactions this window. We didn’t get our targets. That’s quite obvious. That’s what we are all upset about.
· There’s no evidence of a lie, there is no certainly intention to deceive, it wasn’t a false statement. It’s not a false statement now.
· The money will be used on first team football. Other resources were available also to serve in this window. We just didn’t get our targets.
· And that’s not good. Unintelligible but think it was (Especially for those ????) who do that part of the work.
On that point we had a question from Simon who is a Blade and he wants to know essentially who does Nigel Adkins work with now to complete transfers, you know, in the past it was Nigel Adkins with Mal Brannigan , before that Nigel Clough with Mal Brannigan. Who does Nigel Adkins go to and say these are the players I want and who ultimately makes the final decision as to whether those players will be signed.
· Well it’s in press release we made - the personnel changes. We talked about the people involved there. That’s been true since then.
· We have been working to build a Technical Board that provides support.
· Certainly we are not as far along that development as we want to be. More progress needs to be made this month.
Is the communication at the club since those changes, is it good? Would you describe it, are people working well together?
· Oh yes. It’s not an issue in the slightest.
· They are working cohesively as a team.
· The people who are involved in the day to day know their jobs well and are doing them well.
In the statement that you put out it did say that promotion was imperative towards the end and when the club didn’t win promotion last season ultimately there was a managerial change. Is the club thinking more long term now, is that what we need to read from this JTW. Whatever happens this year are you going to be building for the long term with NA?
· I don’t think that is even a question
· We can’t be talking about changes there.
· We have so much work to do to get to where we want to be.
· Far from the finished product yet.
Have Kevin MCcabe and the Prince fallen out. Are you all still communicating as you need to :
· No. It’s absolutely fine. I have answered that several times today.
Where is the game-changing money, who runs the club and why does the club build the fans up for a fall.
· People have high expectations. We don’t set out to raise people’s expectations.
· We try to be careful about what we say and yet sometimes this is interpreted as not saying enough. Sometimes it’s twisted and turned into somewhat grander expectations than I had wanted.
· We are committed to taking the club up and investing sensibly and we have tried to do that.
· In the summer we brought in Billy Sharp and others, in the window before that Done and Brayford.
· Tried to do things that make sense
· We haven’t got everything right.
· We haven’t got to where we want to be for the amount of time and money put in.
· Nothing for it but to re-double our efforts, to build our understanding of things that need improving and to put our trust in those who we think can do the job.
· Board fully supports NA.
· Nigel knows where he wants to take the club
· Board supports the vision
· Shares supporters’ frustration that we aren’t in the right spot and not making progress we should be making.
· But we move forward, sharply, crisply and don’t give into the emotional part of not having what we want.
· There are things that we need to do better. Some things for some time. I am not happy we haven’t been able to deal with them.
· There are some positives, some of the results since December with a settled side have gotten better. Players starting to play together.
· Fully behind the gaffer.
