Sheffield Hang Your Head In Shame

[Bladesway]

The supposed cradle of the game. A city of over 600,000 people. One of the biggest in the country and next season both of its football teams will be in Division 3.

London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle (and probably soon Leeds again) all have nurtured teams who regularly eat out of the Premiership trough. Even Hull, Barnsley and Bradford have managed brief stints at it but I am guessing you have to go some way before you get to such a fucked up level of incompotent management of 2 local clubs as the ones in Sheffield. We both have the fan base and the ground to play at the highest level and yet for whatever reason, neither club could manage to run a bath.

The Pigs have been in decline for years and we have used them as our laughing stock for that time. We on the other hand had no one with the foresight to see that global branding, hotels and all the other attached shite could equally be the downfall of the club rather than the making of it. Comedy players like How High Dong and Li Tie along with a host of other shit sent packing for "experience" in Hungary. All in the name of brand awareness. You just knew it could end in a car crash at some point. But not our superblade chairman. No, he just built and built. Relationships in Brazil, Argentina, Belgium and Australia. All for footballing reasons you understand.

And where has Sheffield Football ended up on the back of this? In the absolute gutter. Unlike that shower of twats in S6 we won't tolerate shite so we will rightly vote with our feet and not renew.

And for anyone who feels we have reached the bottom? I think a 10 point deduction will probably be the start of any recovery and the removal of the pariah in the hot seat.

Its nothing short of a disgrace that a city the size of Sheffield cannot support two Premiership teams on a regular basis. But no, thanks to utter mismanagement from on high the city is deprived of something other big cities have as standard.

For me its so sad that we actually had all this within our grasp but let it piss away. 5 years ago FFS we were a well run club heading its way towards the Premiership.

So, the pigs are run by a trigger happy arsehole who cares about nothing more than his own profile (and building a bloody big shop on the Pigs training ground) and we are run by an anonymous self serving idiot of a chairman who goes into hiding rather than face the people who pay the wages.

It will get much worse before it (if it ever does) gets better.

 

[beightonblade]

So so true.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Football is cyclical. There'll probably be a time within the next 15 years where the Steel City Derby is a Premier League fixture once again.

 

[GlosBlade]

Given that we have been in the top division for just 5 seasons out of the last 35 I don't think that's very likely. Sadly. And yes its an absolute disgrace that Sheffield football has sunk this low yet again.

 

[Kenilworth]

The politics of the city has a lot to do with it.
It's been so up it's own arse, so full of incompetent Wendy's at the helm and so left wing that it has never been attractive to business investment compared to other areas of the country. Over one third of the workforce is public sector and that is not a healthy balance.
Whilst this situation persists you will never have any wealthy people the likes of Jack Walker or Dave Wheelan in the city so no one to bank roll the club.
McCabe earned his money elsewhere and now has little to splash around since the property crash. He was probably not wealthy enough to run a club the size of Sheffield United anyway and now we are seeing how this is affecting us all - despite loads of poster slagging him off I cannot see a line of willing investors from Sheffield or from this forum stumping up the wedge to replace him.

Both Liverpool and Everton have had wealthy backers in the past and that's how a city the size of Liverpool still retains two Prem clubs whereas ours is frankly an embarrassment.

 

[bricktop]

The City of Liverpool is even more left wing than Sheffield so you can take that out of the arguent.

I know for a fact the only way Sheffield will ever have a club that is in the hunt for silverware year in, year out is there was a merger. As much as i hate the idea of it, i think it will happen in the 20 years, espceially if the Premier League bring in franchises

 

[cahill]

Bladesway. You are right to a point. However if you consider Sheffields' immediate catchement area (South Yorkshire) the population is 1,300,000. There are 5 clubs competing for that population, two of whom Barnsley/Donny have a strong local support. Compare with the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire each with a population of between 700,000 and in Norfolks case 900,000.
This means that Norwich, Ipswich, Lesta, Derby , Florist have a huge population to call on with no real opposition to speak of. I'd guess that they are also wealthier areas.

Additionally you have Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, which aren't big cities feeding at the top table so you don't necessarily have to be a big city.

If being in a big city conferred success on a club, London would have 13 premiership teams and Bristol at least one.

Don't forget we are quite close to Manchester and our region has a huge Scumchester United support

Finally support for our clubs is roughly equally divided with Wednesday getting a lot of support from South Yorkshire towns (Dearne Valley etc), unlike say Stoke or Nottingham where one club dominates

---------- Post added at 07:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

Christ..... 5 out of the last 35 seasons in the top flight !!! That says it all. Big club my ar*e

 

[Conroy]

Unlike that shower of twats in S6 we won't tolerate shite so we will rightly vote with our feet and not renew.

Speak for yourself......

.....and does that make us 'better' fans because we 'vote with our feet and not renew' or does it make us more fickle?

 

[Fiery Blade]

Why has no one mentioned Trevor Birch?
A man brought in to seek out new investment, to run the club professionally and to give the club the expertise and standing it deserves!
What have we had?
Weak Management, Several Managers, Poor Signings, Stupid Sales, Lies, Silence, Loans, Several ST renewal letters, Promises of investment in 6 weeks (6 months ago)
The man is incompetant, his track record is appalling and worst of all he tells lies
Go now Mr Birch we need someone with backbone, flair and a vision you have nothing to offer!!!

 

[Kenilworth]

The City of Liverpool is even more left wing than Sheffield so you can take that out of the arguent.

I know for a fact the only way Sheffield will ever have a club that is in the hunt for silverware year in, year out is there was a merger. As much as i hate the idea of it, i think it will happen in the 20 years, espceially if the Premier League bring in franchises

Liverpool may have had a more militant workforce Brownie, but it has always been a centre of commerce because of its port. Liverpool footbal club's success was fuelled by money from the Moore family. Blades have always been skint.
You only have to see the way our glorious council reacted to Reg Brearley's plans to move SUFC forward. Bunch of small minded bigots the lot of them.

 

[Bladesway]

Speak for yourself......

.....and does that make us 'better' fans because we 'vote with our feet and not renew' or does it make us more fickle?

Lets see how many renew next season before I am speaking for myself. Also, why would you pay to watch shit when the Chairman is taking out of the club any chance of success? Its not fickle to say no more because of the way you have been shat on for years. Also, we don't mind being shit when there is a good reason, when we are being lied to and not told the truth is when Blades walk away in my experience. Loyal to a point but quick to rile when we see lies. Remember Mike McDonald and co? They built a stand but it didn't take us long to turn because we saw we were being shafted.

---------- Post added at 10:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:11 AM ----------

Bladesway. You are right to a point. However if you consider Sheffields' immediate catchement area (South Yorkshire) the population is 1,300,000. There are 5 clubs competing for that population, two of whom Barnsley/Donny have a strong local support. Compare with the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire each with a population of between 700,000 and in Norfolks case 900,000.
This means that Norwich, Ipswich, Lesta, Derby , Florist have a huge population to call on with no real opposition to speak of. I'd guess that they are also wealthier areas.

Additionally you have Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, which aren't big cities feeding at the top table so you don't necessarily have to be a big city.

If being in a big city conferred success on a club, London would have 13 premiership teams and Bristol at least one.

Don't forget we are quite close to Manchester and our region has a huge Scumchester United support

Finally support for our clubs is roughly equally divided with Wednesday getting a lot of support from South Yorkshire towns (Dearne Valley etc), unlike say Stoke or Nottingham where one club dominates

---------- Post added at 07:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

Christ..... 5 out of the last 35 seasons in the top flight !!! That says it all. Big club my ar*e

Sheffields catchment area is huge and you cannot bring Donny, Dingles, Rotherham etc into it in realistic terms. If you do then what about Oldham, Bury, Rochdale etc etc for Manchester and Orient, Brentford et al for London. Our catchment area would guarantee we filled our grounds if we had properly managed successful teams in the regoin.

 

[super_pig]

people won't pay good money in a place where there haven't been many proper jobs since the 80's to watch poor quality entertainment (football). period. this reason above all others is why we need a change of philosophy at the club.. only the hard core will come and watch cloggers because of their loyalty to the shirt

meadowhall rovers anyone? (sic)

 

[sitwell]

What are all you non-renewers going to do with your saturday afternoons ,how will you get your kicks ,can't be much fun on the Meadowhall website slagging off Paul Sykes and TGI Fridays.

 

[norfolkblade]

Bladesway. You are right to a point. However if you consider Sheffields' immediate catchement area (South Yorkshire) the population is 1,300,000. There are 5 clubs competing for that population, two of whom Barnsley/Donny have a strong local support. Compare with the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire each with a population of between 700,000 and in Norfolks case 900,000.
This means that Norwich, Ipswich, Lesta, Derby , Florist have a huge population to call on with no real opposition to speak of. I'd guess that they are also wealthier areas.

Additionally you have Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, which aren't big cities feeding at the top table so you don't necessarily have to be a big city.

If being in a big city conferred success on a club, London would have 13 premiership teams and Bristol at least one.

Don't forget we are quite close to Manchester and our region has a huge Scumchester United support

Finally support for our clubs is roughly equally divided with Wednesday getting a lot of support from South Yorkshire towns (Dearne Valley etc), unlike say Stoke or Nottingham where one club dominates

---------- Post added at 07:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

Christ..... 5 out of the last 35 seasons in the top flight !!! That says it all. Big club my ar*e

Norfolk a wealthy area?! Full of second home owners, especially in my part near the coast, and a lot of retired folk. Salaries round here are shit, and everything is dam expensive - don't let the second home owners fool you into thinking it's a wealthy area!

Beautiful - oh yes, sometimes I think we don't realise how lucky we are down here, miles upon miles of beach, and the broads as well - take Yarmouth out the equation and it's perfect!

You are right though, and I have said this to several Norwich fans - if they were based in say London, Yorkshire, Lancashire etc, I wonder whether the support would be anywhere near as strong - I doubt it, they have the whole county to themselves, and don't realise how lucky they are. They know they can charge fucking ridiculous prices as well, because there is always someone willing to pay it. £38 quid for forest game friday is what I heard, 38 BASTARD POUNDS!!!!!

 

[Kev Gee]

Well... I havent renewed.

How can i put money into the club when the man at the top takes it out.

Fuck off Mccabe you cunt.

 

[Micalijo]

Why has no one mentioned Trevor Birch?
A man brought in to seek out new investment, to run the club professionally and to give the club the expertise and standing it deserves!
What have we had?
Weak Management, Several Managers, Poor Signings, Stupid Sales, Lies, Silence, Loans, Several ST renewal letters, Promises of investment in 6 weeks (6 months ago)
The man is incompetant, his track record is appalling and worst of all he tells lies
Go now Mr Birch we need someone with backbone, flair and a vision you have nothing to offer!!!

Top stuff Fiery - needs a new thread though.

 

[judge]

The politics of the city has a lot to do with it.
It's been so up it's own arse, so full of incompetent Wendy's at the helm and so left wing that it has never been attractive to business investment compared to other areas of the country. Over one third of the workforce is public sector and that is not a healthy balance.
Whilst this situation persists you will never have any wealthy people the likes of Jack Walker or Dave Wheelan in the city so no one to bank roll the club.
McCabe earned his money elsewhere and now has little to splash around since the property crash. He was probably not wealthy enough to run a club the size of Sheffield United anyway and now we are seeing how this is affecting us all - despite loads of poster slagging him off I cannot see a line of willing investors from Sheffield or from this forum stumping up the wedge to replace him.

Both Liverpool and Everton have had wealthy backers in the past and that's how a city the size of Liverpool still retains two Prem clubs whereas ours is frankly an embarrassment.

great post ,of course one of the reasons liverpool sustains two big teams is that most of the city supports everton and most of the reds support commutes in for the day

 

[cahill]

Bladesway. Have you read the totality of my post 'cos you're nor really answering it.

NorfolkBlade. I said "wealthier" not wealthy. That said, I'll bet there's no shortage of Tory MPs in Narfick, a bit of a give away don't you think ?

So nearly everybody in Liverpool supports Everton and Reds fans commute in ? mmmmm.

Sounds like the myth that everybody in Manchesters supports City. I lived near Maine rd for 3 years and there were as many United fans in that area as City fans

 

[judge]

Bladesway. Have you read the totality of my post 'cos you're nor really answering it.

NorfolkBlade. I said "wealthier" not wealthy. That said, I'll bet there's no shortage of Tory MPs in Narfick, a bit of a give away don't you think ?

So nearly everybody in Liverpool supports Everton and Reds fans commute in ? mmmmm.

Sounds like the myth that everybody in Manchesters supports City. I lived near Maine rd for 3 years and there were as many United fans in that area as City fans

well i live in liverpool and have done for the last 18 months and up to now of the hundreds of liverpool fans i have met only one actually attends games regularly (including a non scouse season ticket holder) bemoaning outsiders paying over the odds for tickets
the everton fans on the other hand (and there are a lot more of them) actually seem to know what they are talking about and go to goodison park as often as they can afford

 

[norfolkblade]

Bladesway. Have you read the totality of my post 'cos you're nor really answering it.

NorfolkBlade. I said "wealthier" not wealthy. That said, I'll bet there's no shortage of Tory MPs in Narfick, a bit of a give away don't you think ?

So nearly everybody in Liverpool supports Everton and Reds fans commute in ? mmmmm.

Sounds like the myth that everybody in Manchesters supports City. I lived near Maine rd for 3 years and there were as many United fans in that area as City fans

Apologies, didn't read properly. There's a shortage of a lot of things in Norfolk pal, believe me! As for MP's, Labour only have one real area where they do well, and it's a fucking shithole ran by a shocking council, enough said.

 

[sothall blade]

What are all you non-renewers going to do with your saturday afternoons ,how will you get your kicks ,can't be much fun on the Meadowhall website slagging off Paul Sykes and TGI Fridays.

he he he he

 

[Bladesway]

Bladesway. Have you read the totality of my post 'cos you're nor really answering it.

NorfolkBlade. I said "wealthier" not wealthy. That said, I'll bet there's no shortage of Tory MPs in Narfick, a bit of a give away don't you think ?

So nearly everybody in Liverpool supports Everton and Reds fans commute in ? mmmmm.

Sounds like the myth that everybody in Manchesters supports City. I lived near Maine rd for 3 years and there were as many United fans in that area as City fans

I did, and I agree in part (Bristol is probably as close as you will get to Sheffield in that example) but we keep adding petrol to the myth that Sheffield craps everything up by screwing up two perfectly good football teams. Everything is there apart from good owners.

 

[Bergen Blade]

Would people be against the idea of a foreign manager in charge at the Lane? There have been a few foreigners that's done pretty well the last few years, even in the second and third tiers. I accept that Adams will be given the chance to rebuild and have a go next season, but in case it doesn't work out, could it be an idea to scrap the requirement of being a Sheffielder, a former player or coach, or even british?

 

[norfolkblade]

Would people be against the idea of a foreign manager in charge at the Lane? There have been a few foreigners that's done pretty well the last few years, even in the second and third tiers. I accept that Adams will be given the chance to rebuild and have a go next season, but in case it doesn't work out, could it be an idea to scrap the requirement of being a Sheffielder, a former player or coach, or even british?

Di Matteo would fit the bill, but I can't see it happening, I genuinely don't know who on earth we would get (externally) if we parted company with Adams for whatever reason.

 

[Longtime Blade]

Bladesway. You are right to a point. However if you consider Sheffields' immediate catchement area (South Yorkshire) the population is 1,300,000. There are 5 clubs competing for that population, two of whom Barnsley/Donny have a strong local support. Compare with the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire each with a population of between 700,000 and in Norfolks case 900,000.
This means that Norwich, Ipswich, Lesta, Derby , Florist have a huge population to call on with no real opposition to speak of. I'd guess that they are also wealthier areas.

Additionally you have Blackburn, Bolton, Wigan, Blackpool, which aren't big cities feeding at the top table so you don't necessarily have to be a big city.



If being in a big city conferred success on a club, London would have 13 premiership teams and Bristol at least one.

Don't forget we are quite close to Manchester and our region has a huge Scumchester United support

Finally support for our clubs is roughly equally divided with Wednesday getting a lot of support from South Yorkshire towns (Dearne Valley etc), unlike say Stoke or Nottingham where one club dominates

---------- Post added at 07:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 AM ----------

Christ..... 5 out of the last 35 seasons in the top flight !!! That says it all. Big club my ar*e

You've got most of the right points on this Cahill. You could also include Chesterfield, which is much nearer to Sheffield (especially the United half) than Barnsley or Donny.

Another factor of importance is that when teams from places like Donny, Barnsley, Norwich, Ipswich and, of course Leeds, are doing well, the whole town or city gets behind
them, which must have a strong psychological effect on the team. That can never happen in Shefffield.

Those people who are trying to put the blame for the failure of Sheffield football over the years on the Labour Councils are just showing their prejudices. If United and Wednesday had merged years ago Sheffield would have been a top football city continuously as well as having its Labour Councils

 

[oldblade]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Football is cyclical. There'll probably be a time within the next 15 years where the Steel City Derby is a Premier League fixture once again.

I wouldn't bank on it. In the last 43 years we have only been in the top division at the same time for 3 seasons. 1991-2, 1992-3, and 1993-4.

---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:23 PM ----------

You've got most of the right points on this Cahill. You could also include Chesterfield, which is much nearer to Sheffield (especially the United half) than Barnsley or Donny.

Another factor of importance is that when teams from places like Donny, Barnsley, Norwich, Ipswich and, of course Leeds, are doing well, the whole town or city gets behind
them, which must have a strong psychological effect on the team. That can never happen in Shefffield.

Those people who are trying to put the blame for the failure of Sheffield football over the years on the Labour Councils are just showing their prejudices. If United and Wednesday had merged years ago Sheffield would have been a top football city continuously as well as having its Labour Councils

Given the way the city's two league clubs have been run for the majority of the last 45 years, there is nothing to say that a single club would not be run just as badly.

 

[raul]

Would people be against the idea of a foreign manager in charge at the Lane? There have been a few foreigners that's done pretty well the last few years, even in the second and third tiers. I accept that Adams will be given the chance to rebuild and have a go next season, but in case it doesn't work out, could it be an idea to scrap the requirement of being a Sheffielder, a former player or coach, or even british?

Absolutley no problem with the concept at all. Tbh, I think it's just Superblade fiaxted with the above because they'll do the job for love. The biggest hurdle they'd have to overcome above some of the lower league merry-go-round managers would be being able to convince/demonstrate their knowledge of lower league players because that will be the market they operate in. Difficult to do that if you've no experience of it.

 

[Bladesway]

If United and Wednesday had merged years ago Sheffield would have been a top football city continuously as well as having its Labour Councils

So League two as a merged club here we come?

 

[Bergen Blade]

Absolutley no problem with the concept at all. Tbh, I think it's just Superblade fiaxted with the above because they'll do the job for love. The biggest hurdle they'd have to overcome above some of the lower league merry-go-round managers would be being able to convince/demonstrate their knowledge of lower league players because that will be the market they operate in. Difficult to do that if you've no experience of it.

Agree that can be a problem, though the other foreign managers in the Championship and League One seems to have found a way to deal with it pretty well? I think many deals nowadays are started off by agents too. They distribute dvds to clubs who may be interested. I believe we also have a database that our scouts continuously work on, and I assume that stays with the club also when managers (and scouts) change.

 

[raul]

Agree that can be a problem, though the other foreign managers in the Championship and League One seems to have found a way to deal with it pretty well? I think many deals nowadays are started off by agents too. They distribute dvds to clubs who may be interested. I believe we also have a database that our scouts continuously work on, and I assume that stays with the club also when managers (and scouts) change.

Indeed some of them have, but if we are looking at Sousa and Poyet, they have some experience and background behind them of working here. Further, our scouting network will be cut next year by necessity too. Have you anyone in mind in particular Bergs?