Deadbat
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Today discuss the season month by month including look back at last summer and then some stats
Rest of week will be posted as below
Tuesday – Part 2 Board / Manager / Coaches / Academy
Wednesday – Part 3 Goalkeepers
Thursday – Part 4 Defence
Friday – Part 5 Midfield
Saturday – Part 6 Attack
Sunday – Part 7 Final awards / Conclusions
===
84 pages and 47,000 words! It should help any insomniacs! If anyone wants a full copy in advance then DM me on twitter (Deadbat_DB) or on here your e mail address and I will gladly send over....
2019/20 SUFC SCHOOL REPORT
As I have traditionally done at the end of the last few seasons; it is that time again when I write a review of the campaign and also compile a school report for the different sections of the club. I will look at how they have fared and what are the prospects for next season for each respective department of the club.
This one will be a bit odd and maybe a bit truncated due to the season effectively being two part and of course not ending the normal way with the strange three-month gap to games and then being behind closed doors.
I will begin with the review of the season and a breakdown of the club, board and manager/s.
Over the next few weeks, I will add to this with breakdowns of the players/squad at the club and do the same. I will look at contract situations (may be wrong with some of these so again come in if I have got any wrong) and what might happen to each area of the team.
Feel free to add comments/disagree/debate.....after each post I make. Certainly, some marks would have been quite a bit higher if I did it before lockdown but a quarter of the season was played so some who dropped off take a hit.
I have graded the board, the manager, players and the fans; in a traditional school report style of A+ to F- (every player who started at least one game- think I may have graded a few others too). Should really mark the new GCSE style numbering 1-9 but that would get really confusing!
I have had to grade players based on the games they did play so some players who played a lot more may still get a lower grade despite disproportionate number of games in comparison. I have also tried to discuss some of the u23 players. I have left out all the u18 eligible players and just concentrated on first team/u23’s and any loanee, both with us and those we have loaned out. Last seasons grades may be higher for some but I have had to mark on what they have done this year – so even though it is a higher level I have to mark them against what they have done and what they are up against.
Of course, whilst I have seen all the home games; I have seen half of the away games in person and every other game via streams/SKY/BT/Amazon etc so hopefully a bit fairer than years past when admittedly I have not seen every game. This time I do not believe I have missed a minute of action!
If I have missed anyone then please say. Feel free to weigh in with critique, opinions and even in some cases agreements!
Season review
The Blades of course had ended the previous 18/19 season in triumphant fashion as they achieved promotion after a fantastic late run that saw them see off Leeds to go up as runners up to Norwich City. It was some of the best 2-3 weeks of most Unitedites supporting lives. Indeed, for many of the younger fans, none had probably seen a period like it. From the game against Forest when we won 2-0 to Leeds somehow losing to Wigan at home; onto the Easter Monday with the spanking of Hull City mixed in with Leeds losing again, this time at Brentford. It meant a win against Ipswich and United were nearly there; this seemed so remarkable as less than two weeks previous it looked as if we had blown it with the late Millwall goal at the Lane. That week seemed to go on forever before United in the biggest game for years easily beat Ipswich in front of a giddy home crowd. The scenes down London Road and around Sheffield that evening confirmed it was basically done. Leeds failure to beat Villa the next day sealed it and United were up!
More jubilation ensued with the players and fans mixing in the Copthorne that afternoon/evening. Pictures and videos of the likes of Richard Stearman, Paul Coutts and latterly the John Egan chant at the player of the year awards ceremony, engulfed the social media streams. This continued almost every day the next week with videos of players in and around the city at various official and unofficial celebrations being seen. A week later and the Blades drew at Stoke but more superb and memorable scenes occurred both at the game and back in the car park. The open top bus tour and town hall civic reception topped off an unforgettable time and season. The players headed for Las Vegas again to round off the celebrations but it was not long before attention turned to the next season as the reality hit home when the fixtures came out of whom United would actually be lining up against.
Off the field; it seemed the courtroom battle would rage over the summer months with daily updates not exactly painting a great picture for either side although it seemed clear from the reports coming out; that Mr McCabe’s reputation both within the club and amongst fans was taking somewhat of a bettering. It would not be till September when the courts ruled in favour of Prince Abdullah (more on this in the boardroom).
In terms of transfer business, it was only a day after the parade when it was announced that a few popular players namely Paul Coutts and Martin Cranie would not be back. The Coutts one was not a surprise due to his struggles to get regular minutes after such a long time out but still sad all the same. Many felt Cranie may get an extra year but then the argument against this was that as decent as he’d been, we would need better quality in the squad at a higher level. Coutts went to Fleetwood to join up with Ched Evans who also moved on, whilst Cranie went to Luton. Evans and Coutts have both done well, being key players for Fleetwood but they missed out on promotion. Cranie has had a few injuries in a struggling side at Luton but was celebrating at the end of the season as they stayed up.
A few other less notable players moved on as out of contract players and none have been particularly successful really since they moved on.
Daniel Lafferty albeit back to his home country (Shamrock Rovers) but at a much lower level. Caolan Lavery (Walsall) more injuries and limited games. Conor Washington (Hearts) in and out of the team as they got relegated. Samir Carruthers (Cambridge) rarely played, took a leave of absence and now been released and Jake Bennett (Alfreton) – non league. As the summer went on and right up to the start of the season, we saw players moved out on loan. Nathan Thomas to Carlisle again (went to Gillingham first but then this was ended before he played), Ben Heneghan to Blackpool and Jake Eastwood to Scunthorpe. Thomas has been one of Carlisle’s best players and you would think with his contract up he may go full time to Brunton Park. Ditto for Heneghan who has been a regular at Blackpool. Both were punts by Wilder a few years ago but United’s rapid ascent has meant we have surpassed players at this level. A few young players went on loan with Regan Slater struggling again at lowly Scunthorpe, Tyler Smith doing ok at Bristol Rovers and Doncaster with a few goals but never a regular. The best of the lot was Rhys Norrington Davies who was one of Rochdale’s best players according to the fans. Ricky Holmes remained on the books as did Leon Clarke but the former looks now set to pack in due to injury whilst Clarke at least had a bit part for United but another who seems set to now move on.
The loan players Kieran Dowell, Scott Hogan, Gary Madine, Marvin Johnson and Dean Henderson went back. The latter would eventually return after a long drought out summer where it seemed he would not return, then would, then it was off again. He was seen as a key signing/returnee and his one-year loan extension was warmly received by Blades’ fans. He had been a massive part of the promotion and had already earned hero status on and off the field.
The others I do not think many expected to return. With Dowell, maybe a few thoughts that he might come back but the fact we could only have two loans from other Premier League clubs, did not help his cause. I personally, had not seen enough of him even at the lower level to think he would be a success and he ended up at Derby. He did effectively nothing here and then went to Wigan where he did not play much but then ended up getting in and going on a scoring spree. He does have another year left on his contract at Everton but expect he will go back on loan in the Championship.
Madine went back to Cardiff and actually played a bit under Warnock and under Neil Harris but was eventually allowed to move on and went to Blackpool. I will be honest and felt he was better than League One level. He had done well at United albeit in limited game time but it seemed his lack of goals, discipline and maybe patch off the field record did not help. He has done ok at Blackpool but would expect him to do really as he is a handful and should thrive lower down the leagues.
Hogan ended up on loan at Stoke but he was not a regular but got 3 goals in 13 before he went on loan again, to Villa’s city neighbours Birmingham. He did really well here and started scoring again getting 7 in 8 games. It might well be he moves permanently to the Blues at some point.
The biggest surprise departure was Mark Duffy who had played 36 games the previous season and a key part of the successes of the last three seasons but fell out of favour and moved on loan to Stoke (more on this in the players section).
Throughout the season players in addition to those young players above, went out on loan included Kean Bryan and Jake Wright to Bolton and newcomers Robinson and Morrison (see below) to West Brom and Middlesbrough respectively.
In terms of incomers, United were now in a very different ball park and it seemed clear despite the board room wrangling, the two warring parties had agreed significant funds, at least for United’s history, to go into the market. Henderson came back albeit quite late on in the summer as I discussed above.
Progress was slow at first but in July things started to move and we saw the first big money signing was Kieron Freeman who came in from QPR. He had been excellent for a few years and seen at the time as a viable alternative to Mark Duffy in that number 10 role. Most Blades reacted positively to this signing. 5 million was widely reported to the be free and United had broken their transfer record but it was not long before this was broken again (and again) this summer.
Phil Jagielka returned on a free transfer from Everton the very next day. I think this was seen as a positive move to give experience and competition but also Premier League know how when the rest of the squad lacked much experience at this level. It seemed the defence was well set and in Fleck and Norwood, the midfield also but we still needed competition in these areas. It did feel like the striking areas with Madine/Hogan and other moving on needed a lot of work to add to the incumbents McGoldrick and Sharp and also some more quality in that attacking midfield role. This area then started to be addressed.
A few weeks later, Callum Robinson who had impressed at Preston although he had been injured for a period the previous season, was the next big money buy. Many felt it was the right kind of buy. Young and ability to improve and one of the better rival players in the Championship. This proved to be a bit of a blueprint for the chasing of others to follow Robinson after this. This was listed as undisclosed but thought to be around 7 million pounds – a significant investment for United and the type of money we had not seen before.
On the 21st July, United then signed Lys Mousset who had only scored 5 goals in 58 games for Bournemouth and most of those had come off the bench. It seemed a bit of a gamble and for a fee of around 10-11 million; most of the footballing world raised their eyebrows but he was clearly someone messrs Wilder, Knill and Mitchell had watched for a number of years. At 23 as he was when we signed, he clearly had his best years in front of him and they had seen some real potential when he was coming through French youth international football.
The Blades then signed versatility player Ben Osborn from Forest. Seemed a bit of an odd one as he had played 39 times for Forest but he too had not been always a first team guaranteed starter but Wilder felt he would provide good competition in midfield and down the left-hand side for Enda Stevens. Another who at 24 was coming into his prime.
The final big signing seemed to be the much sought-after main centre forward – United were linked with a number over the summer but it seemed Neal Maupay and Oli McBurnie were the men Wilder was turning his attention to. Bids seemed to go in for both and with agents/their own clubs and other clubs involved, it was a long process. The rumours were Maupay’s wage/agent demands meant Wilder eventually walked away and he ended up at Brighton but McBurnie remained a firm target and eventually in early August, Wilder got his man. A cool 17 million pounds it took but another young striker who had done very well the previous season and impressed in both games against United. A lot of fans were split on which striker they would have preferred. I felt at the time that McBurnie’s work rate and ability to help the team allied to his goals would maybe make him a better option than Maupay who might score more goals but also could be more of a luxury player. I have seen nothing to change my opinion that we made the right call and the respective goals of the players only tell one side of the story. I would rather look at the overall contribution and the league placings myself (more on that later).
Mo Besic was a signing under the radar, but came in as the second Premier League loan, on a season long loan spell from Everton to give competition in midfield. He was another that had not exactly been earning rave reviews at Boro although it seemed playing under Pulis had hindered him the previous campaign after doing well in a first stint there. He seemed another player that Wilder would try and reenergise and get the best out of.
Dutch keeper Michael Verrips also came into provide competition with Simon Moore for the goalkeeping department as we would undoubtedly need three keepers in the squad. His transfer from Belgium seemed a little protracted with his club claiming wrong doing in terms of his registration – something that seems to have gone quiet.
The 25-man squad was named and the surprise was that Duffy was not in it and of course as discussed above it then played out how it did. Leon Clarke had seemed set to move on but was given a place in it.
The friendlies had consisted of trips locally and abroad. The first official friendly came as the team were in a training camp in Portugal and United in front of over a 1,000 travelling Blades beat a strong Real Betis side 1-0 thanks to McGoldrick’s goal. United then returned to the UK and lost 2-1 at Burton with a late goal being conceded despite Sharp’s early goal. United then went to Northampton and won 2-0 with two Norwood penalties. Two local games saw emphatic wins the following week. Sharp scored a hat trick at Chesterfield with first goals for Freeman (L) and Robinson in the 5-0 rout. The Blades then hammered another local team, Barnsley, 4-1 at Oakwell with Osborn, Freeman and Robinson x 2 scoring. The final friendly, the week before the season, saw United go to Stade de Reims and a strong side beat the Blades 3-1, although Robinson scored yet again in a prolific pre-season.
We had a new sponsor USG, a new home kit and a smart new white away kit. The Lane was given renovations and had to get ready on and off the field with the new VAR rules also coming into effect. The sense of excitement around the club was palpable. The big fixtures seemed to be coming ever closer with an early season trip to Chelsea and home games against Liverpool and Arsenal pencilled in for the first few months.
The expectations for the start of the season from United’s own fans were very much along the lines of if we finish 4th from bottom, we would take that up as we knew it would be tough. Norwich had finished champions and many felt their style of football and youth/athleticism may see them have an edge at the higher level. Villa had spent a lot but mostly on unknown names albeit from the international market. Some blades felt we would surprise some teams. It was an odd one, as the last time we were up at this level in 06-07; the approach of Warnock allied to the quality in the squad many I had far less confidence in that team but the standard of the league and teams was significantly worse. Nowadays every team has multi-million-pound budgets and even so-called smaller teams like Bournemouth, Watford and Brighton could spend a lot more than us as were far more established. I was very cautious.
Deep down I thought we would surprise some and hoped we would go with a similar approach to some degree (formation and use of overlapping centre back) but temper it/reign it in when needed. I did not really want us to change much in terms of style or indeed personnel. I recognised we needed more quality and the signings we made, we definitely needed. The main thing was we had no idea how the likes of Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock etc would do. I always thought the strikers would be rotated and we would see some of the old guard with the new ones but again we had no idea if any of these would score goals as none had played much or really proved themselves at this level. I was concerned some it maybe a step too much in terms of pace, power, athleticism and skill. I was worried that our ascension up the leagues maybe meant it was a step too far for some. I would have taken any kind of survival I have to say.
A lot mocked the likes of Steve Nicol, Adrian Durham, Danny Mills and also Garth Crooks (his was more later on) but at the time was it so outlandish to say what they said. I am not sure we had much evidence to say we would do as well as we did apart from the fact Wilder is brilliant – it itself a pretty major factor. I did not get really angry when nearly every pundit, newspaper report, preseason predictions tipped us to go down. If it had been another club gone up and I looked at the squad and even if I admired the style, would I have had reservations about how it would work at the ultimate level? Absolutely. I probably would have thought that team may struggle and may go down with the lack of premier league experience, goals and quality at this top level. I maybe should have had more faith than the pundits whose approach was a little lazier. Still, I and many others would have still bristled a little at the almost universal approach to us saying we were cannon fodder and sure Wilder and the players read it all too and used it as motivation (as the phrase ‘stuck the papers on the wall’ that Egan penned alludes to).
I recall being massively excited as the week of the season came and United’s players seemed so giddy and almost bursting at the seams to get going as the first came closer.
Rest of week will be posted as below
Tuesday – Part 2 Board / Manager / Coaches / Academy
Wednesday – Part 3 Goalkeepers
Thursday – Part 4 Defence
Friday – Part 5 Midfield
Saturday – Part 6 Attack
Sunday – Part 7 Final awards / Conclusions
===
84 pages and 47,000 words! It should help any insomniacs! If anyone wants a full copy in advance then DM me on twitter (Deadbat_DB) or on here your e mail address and I will gladly send over....
2019/20 SUFC SCHOOL REPORT
As I have traditionally done at the end of the last few seasons; it is that time again when I write a review of the campaign and also compile a school report for the different sections of the club. I will look at how they have fared and what are the prospects for next season for each respective department of the club.
This one will be a bit odd and maybe a bit truncated due to the season effectively being two part and of course not ending the normal way with the strange three-month gap to games and then being behind closed doors.
I will begin with the review of the season and a breakdown of the club, board and manager/s.
Over the next few weeks, I will add to this with breakdowns of the players/squad at the club and do the same. I will look at contract situations (may be wrong with some of these so again come in if I have got any wrong) and what might happen to each area of the team.
Feel free to add comments/disagree/debate.....after each post I make. Certainly, some marks would have been quite a bit higher if I did it before lockdown but a quarter of the season was played so some who dropped off take a hit.
I have graded the board, the manager, players and the fans; in a traditional school report style of A+ to F- (every player who started at least one game- think I may have graded a few others too). Should really mark the new GCSE style numbering 1-9 but that would get really confusing!
I have had to grade players based on the games they did play so some players who played a lot more may still get a lower grade despite disproportionate number of games in comparison. I have also tried to discuss some of the u23 players. I have left out all the u18 eligible players and just concentrated on first team/u23’s and any loanee, both with us and those we have loaned out. Last seasons grades may be higher for some but I have had to mark on what they have done this year – so even though it is a higher level I have to mark them against what they have done and what they are up against.
Of course, whilst I have seen all the home games; I have seen half of the away games in person and every other game via streams/SKY/BT/Amazon etc so hopefully a bit fairer than years past when admittedly I have not seen every game. This time I do not believe I have missed a minute of action!
If I have missed anyone then please say. Feel free to weigh in with critique, opinions and even in some cases agreements!
Season review
The Blades of course had ended the previous 18/19 season in triumphant fashion as they achieved promotion after a fantastic late run that saw them see off Leeds to go up as runners up to Norwich City. It was some of the best 2-3 weeks of most Unitedites supporting lives. Indeed, for many of the younger fans, none had probably seen a period like it. From the game against Forest when we won 2-0 to Leeds somehow losing to Wigan at home; onto the Easter Monday with the spanking of Hull City mixed in with Leeds losing again, this time at Brentford. It meant a win against Ipswich and United were nearly there; this seemed so remarkable as less than two weeks previous it looked as if we had blown it with the late Millwall goal at the Lane. That week seemed to go on forever before United in the biggest game for years easily beat Ipswich in front of a giddy home crowd. The scenes down London Road and around Sheffield that evening confirmed it was basically done. Leeds failure to beat Villa the next day sealed it and United were up!
More jubilation ensued with the players and fans mixing in the Copthorne that afternoon/evening. Pictures and videos of the likes of Richard Stearman, Paul Coutts and latterly the John Egan chant at the player of the year awards ceremony, engulfed the social media streams. This continued almost every day the next week with videos of players in and around the city at various official and unofficial celebrations being seen. A week later and the Blades drew at Stoke but more superb and memorable scenes occurred both at the game and back in the car park. The open top bus tour and town hall civic reception topped off an unforgettable time and season. The players headed for Las Vegas again to round off the celebrations but it was not long before attention turned to the next season as the reality hit home when the fixtures came out of whom United would actually be lining up against.
Off the field; it seemed the courtroom battle would rage over the summer months with daily updates not exactly painting a great picture for either side although it seemed clear from the reports coming out; that Mr McCabe’s reputation both within the club and amongst fans was taking somewhat of a bettering. It would not be till September when the courts ruled in favour of Prince Abdullah (more on this in the boardroom).
In terms of transfer business, it was only a day after the parade when it was announced that a few popular players namely Paul Coutts and Martin Cranie would not be back. The Coutts one was not a surprise due to his struggles to get regular minutes after such a long time out but still sad all the same. Many felt Cranie may get an extra year but then the argument against this was that as decent as he’d been, we would need better quality in the squad at a higher level. Coutts went to Fleetwood to join up with Ched Evans who also moved on, whilst Cranie went to Luton. Evans and Coutts have both done well, being key players for Fleetwood but they missed out on promotion. Cranie has had a few injuries in a struggling side at Luton but was celebrating at the end of the season as they stayed up.
A few other less notable players moved on as out of contract players and none have been particularly successful really since they moved on.
Daniel Lafferty albeit back to his home country (Shamrock Rovers) but at a much lower level. Caolan Lavery (Walsall) more injuries and limited games. Conor Washington (Hearts) in and out of the team as they got relegated. Samir Carruthers (Cambridge) rarely played, took a leave of absence and now been released and Jake Bennett (Alfreton) – non league. As the summer went on and right up to the start of the season, we saw players moved out on loan. Nathan Thomas to Carlisle again (went to Gillingham first but then this was ended before he played), Ben Heneghan to Blackpool and Jake Eastwood to Scunthorpe. Thomas has been one of Carlisle’s best players and you would think with his contract up he may go full time to Brunton Park. Ditto for Heneghan who has been a regular at Blackpool. Both were punts by Wilder a few years ago but United’s rapid ascent has meant we have surpassed players at this level. A few young players went on loan with Regan Slater struggling again at lowly Scunthorpe, Tyler Smith doing ok at Bristol Rovers and Doncaster with a few goals but never a regular. The best of the lot was Rhys Norrington Davies who was one of Rochdale’s best players according to the fans. Ricky Holmes remained on the books as did Leon Clarke but the former looks now set to pack in due to injury whilst Clarke at least had a bit part for United but another who seems set to now move on.
The loan players Kieran Dowell, Scott Hogan, Gary Madine, Marvin Johnson and Dean Henderson went back. The latter would eventually return after a long drought out summer where it seemed he would not return, then would, then it was off again. He was seen as a key signing/returnee and his one-year loan extension was warmly received by Blades’ fans. He had been a massive part of the promotion and had already earned hero status on and off the field.
The others I do not think many expected to return. With Dowell, maybe a few thoughts that he might come back but the fact we could only have two loans from other Premier League clubs, did not help his cause. I personally, had not seen enough of him even at the lower level to think he would be a success and he ended up at Derby. He did effectively nothing here and then went to Wigan where he did not play much but then ended up getting in and going on a scoring spree. He does have another year left on his contract at Everton but expect he will go back on loan in the Championship.
Madine went back to Cardiff and actually played a bit under Warnock and under Neil Harris but was eventually allowed to move on and went to Blackpool. I will be honest and felt he was better than League One level. He had done well at United albeit in limited game time but it seemed his lack of goals, discipline and maybe patch off the field record did not help. He has done ok at Blackpool but would expect him to do really as he is a handful and should thrive lower down the leagues.
Hogan ended up on loan at Stoke but he was not a regular but got 3 goals in 13 before he went on loan again, to Villa’s city neighbours Birmingham. He did really well here and started scoring again getting 7 in 8 games. It might well be he moves permanently to the Blues at some point.
The biggest surprise departure was Mark Duffy who had played 36 games the previous season and a key part of the successes of the last three seasons but fell out of favour and moved on loan to Stoke (more on this in the players section).
Throughout the season players in addition to those young players above, went out on loan included Kean Bryan and Jake Wright to Bolton and newcomers Robinson and Morrison (see below) to West Brom and Middlesbrough respectively.
In terms of incomers, United were now in a very different ball park and it seemed clear despite the board room wrangling, the two warring parties had agreed significant funds, at least for United’s history, to go into the market. Henderson came back albeit quite late on in the summer as I discussed above.
Progress was slow at first but in July things started to move and we saw the first big money signing was Kieron Freeman who came in from QPR. He had been excellent for a few years and seen at the time as a viable alternative to Mark Duffy in that number 10 role. Most Blades reacted positively to this signing. 5 million was widely reported to the be free and United had broken their transfer record but it was not long before this was broken again (and again) this summer.
Phil Jagielka returned on a free transfer from Everton the very next day. I think this was seen as a positive move to give experience and competition but also Premier League know how when the rest of the squad lacked much experience at this level. It seemed the defence was well set and in Fleck and Norwood, the midfield also but we still needed competition in these areas. It did feel like the striking areas with Madine/Hogan and other moving on needed a lot of work to add to the incumbents McGoldrick and Sharp and also some more quality in that attacking midfield role. This area then started to be addressed.
A few weeks later, Callum Robinson who had impressed at Preston although he had been injured for a period the previous season, was the next big money buy. Many felt it was the right kind of buy. Young and ability to improve and one of the better rival players in the Championship. This proved to be a bit of a blueprint for the chasing of others to follow Robinson after this. This was listed as undisclosed but thought to be around 7 million pounds – a significant investment for United and the type of money we had not seen before.
On the 21st July, United then signed Lys Mousset who had only scored 5 goals in 58 games for Bournemouth and most of those had come off the bench. It seemed a bit of a gamble and for a fee of around 10-11 million; most of the footballing world raised their eyebrows but he was clearly someone messrs Wilder, Knill and Mitchell had watched for a number of years. At 23 as he was when we signed, he clearly had his best years in front of him and they had seen some real potential when he was coming through French youth international football.
The Blades then signed versatility player Ben Osborn from Forest. Seemed a bit of an odd one as he had played 39 times for Forest but he too had not been always a first team guaranteed starter but Wilder felt he would provide good competition in midfield and down the left-hand side for Enda Stevens. Another who at 24 was coming into his prime.
The final big signing seemed to be the much sought-after main centre forward – United were linked with a number over the summer but it seemed Neal Maupay and Oli McBurnie were the men Wilder was turning his attention to. Bids seemed to go in for both and with agents/their own clubs and other clubs involved, it was a long process. The rumours were Maupay’s wage/agent demands meant Wilder eventually walked away and he ended up at Brighton but McBurnie remained a firm target and eventually in early August, Wilder got his man. A cool 17 million pounds it took but another young striker who had done very well the previous season and impressed in both games against United. A lot of fans were split on which striker they would have preferred. I felt at the time that McBurnie’s work rate and ability to help the team allied to his goals would maybe make him a better option than Maupay who might score more goals but also could be more of a luxury player. I have seen nothing to change my opinion that we made the right call and the respective goals of the players only tell one side of the story. I would rather look at the overall contribution and the league placings myself (more on that later).
Mo Besic was a signing under the radar, but came in as the second Premier League loan, on a season long loan spell from Everton to give competition in midfield. He was another that had not exactly been earning rave reviews at Boro although it seemed playing under Pulis had hindered him the previous campaign after doing well in a first stint there. He seemed another player that Wilder would try and reenergise and get the best out of.
Dutch keeper Michael Verrips also came into provide competition with Simon Moore for the goalkeeping department as we would undoubtedly need three keepers in the squad. His transfer from Belgium seemed a little protracted with his club claiming wrong doing in terms of his registration – something that seems to have gone quiet.
The 25-man squad was named and the surprise was that Duffy was not in it and of course as discussed above it then played out how it did. Leon Clarke had seemed set to move on but was given a place in it.
The friendlies had consisted of trips locally and abroad. The first official friendly came as the team were in a training camp in Portugal and United in front of over a 1,000 travelling Blades beat a strong Real Betis side 1-0 thanks to McGoldrick’s goal. United then returned to the UK and lost 2-1 at Burton with a late goal being conceded despite Sharp’s early goal. United then went to Northampton and won 2-0 with two Norwood penalties. Two local games saw emphatic wins the following week. Sharp scored a hat trick at Chesterfield with first goals for Freeman (L) and Robinson in the 5-0 rout. The Blades then hammered another local team, Barnsley, 4-1 at Oakwell with Osborn, Freeman and Robinson x 2 scoring. The final friendly, the week before the season, saw United go to Stade de Reims and a strong side beat the Blades 3-1, although Robinson scored yet again in a prolific pre-season.
We had a new sponsor USG, a new home kit and a smart new white away kit. The Lane was given renovations and had to get ready on and off the field with the new VAR rules also coming into effect. The sense of excitement around the club was palpable. The big fixtures seemed to be coming ever closer with an early season trip to Chelsea and home games against Liverpool and Arsenal pencilled in for the first few months.
The expectations for the start of the season from United’s own fans were very much along the lines of if we finish 4th from bottom, we would take that up as we knew it would be tough. Norwich had finished champions and many felt their style of football and youth/athleticism may see them have an edge at the higher level. Villa had spent a lot but mostly on unknown names albeit from the international market. Some blades felt we would surprise some teams. It was an odd one, as the last time we were up at this level in 06-07; the approach of Warnock allied to the quality in the squad many I had far less confidence in that team but the standard of the league and teams was significantly worse. Nowadays every team has multi-million-pound budgets and even so-called smaller teams like Bournemouth, Watford and Brighton could spend a lot more than us as were far more established. I was very cautious.
Deep down I thought we would surprise some and hoped we would go with a similar approach to some degree (formation and use of overlapping centre back) but temper it/reign it in when needed. I did not really want us to change much in terms of style or indeed personnel. I recognised we needed more quality and the signings we made, we definitely needed. The main thing was we had no idea how the likes of Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Fleck, Norwood, Stevens, Baldock etc would do. I always thought the strikers would be rotated and we would see some of the old guard with the new ones but again we had no idea if any of these would score goals as none had played much or really proved themselves at this level. I was concerned some it maybe a step too much in terms of pace, power, athleticism and skill. I was worried that our ascension up the leagues maybe meant it was a step too far for some. I would have taken any kind of survival I have to say.
A lot mocked the likes of Steve Nicol, Adrian Durham, Danny Mills and also Garth Crooks (his was more later on) but at the time was it so outlandish to say what they said. I am not sure we had much evidence to say we would do as well as we did apart from the fact Wilder is brilliant – it itself a pretty major factor. I did not get really angry when nearly every pundit, newspaper report, preseason predictions tipped us to go down. If it had been another club gone up and I looked at the squad and even if I admired the style, would I have had reservations about how it would work at the ultimate level? Absolutely. I probably would have thought that team may struggle and may go down with the lack of premier league experience, goals and quality at this top level. I maybe should have had more faith than the pundits whose approach was a little lazier. Still, I and many others would have still bristled a little at the almost universal approach to us saying we were cannon fodder and sure Wilder and the players read it all too and used it as motivation (as the phrase ‘stuck the papers on the wall’ that Egan penned alludes to).
I recall being massively excited as the week of the season came and United’s players seemed so giddy and almost bursting at the seams to get going as the first came closer.
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