Sheffield United manager Nigel Clough talks budgets, summer recruitment and expectations

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S5Blade said:
Make of it what you will..... something for everyone........

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2500097-in...f-the-league-cup-game-with-leyton-orient-sufc
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Interesting S5, I think NC's use of the word panic demonstrates exactly what has happened to some of the posts we've seen. I too had a momentary drop, but it was no more than that, a natural reaction to being ripped apart I think. The one thing Nigel has shown constantly is that he's considered, clear thinking, and is able to demonstrate that he sets standards that he expects others to follow. As he mentioned since he took over it's been something like 50 odd games we've played and lost 11. As ratios go that could be far worse, so I'm expecting a reaction from the players tomorrow night and the next few games. Those who played at Swindon should feel they let themselves down and want to do something to correct that.

One final comment, Clough was asked if he has money to spend and his reaction was an unqualified 'Yes', so whatever anyone else thinks, if our manager seems happy with what's available to him then we should leave it to him to sort out this current embarrassment. UTB
 
Can't bloody listen. Any quick summary of the main points?
 
Houso said:
Can't bloody listen. Any quick summary of the main points?
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- we got battered but we had our chances and it's all down to not getting our foot in

- I have all the money I need, I just didn't have it in a timely fashion after Harry went

- there is no crisis, we are slightly behind the target of points we set for ourselves because we would have liked to have drawn with Swindon

- same squad for Tuesday except Wallace a possibilty
 
secretchief said:
- we got battered but we had our chances and it's all down to not getting our foot in

- I have all the money I need, I just didn't have it in a timely fashion after Harry went

- there is no crisis, we are slightly behind the target of points we set for ourselves because we would have liked to have drawn with Swindon

- same squad for Tuesday except Wallace a possibilty
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Im going right off nigel ,company man
 
Good interview is that. Clough was a bit uncontrolled in his post match interview last Saturday but it was an emotional weekend for him, losing 5-2 and all the public attention surrounding his Dad.

Thankfully he is back to being all-square with the MD and the Board, though there is still a hint of criticism about them missing deals in the JTW. That can be put right with new loans.

There is no crisis but the manager needs some of his summer recruits to show their worth before long. Indeed Murphy and Flynn could come back to form and help.

He is still critical of his central defenders but I could have told him ( and did on here), after seeing McGahey play twice, that the lad is not up to it. Same applies to Basham actually. Two big positions in the spine of the team. Clough seems to be dissatisfied with Collins too, though I think that is harsh; it is not easy playing alongside a rookie week in week out.

Overall I think the most illuminating comment was the one re the favourites tag in the summer being hard to equate to. That and the fact that it may have led to a touch of over optimism/complacency in the club, presumably with the budget or urgency? Perhaps at the end of the day everything that is happening to us at present will be for the best. There is certainly no complacency now and there is clearly no doubt about the budget being in place.

We fans needed this reassurance because Clough was careless in interviews over the weekend. We do listen closely!! There was no need to make such apparently pointed remarks about Maguire and Brayford.
 
Woodwardfan said:
He is still critical of his central defenders but I could have told him ( and did on here), after seeing McGahey play twice, that the lad is not up to it. Same applies to Basham actually. Two big positions in the spine of the team. Clough seems to be dissatisfied with Collins too, though I think that is harsh; it is not easy playing alongside a rookie week in week out.
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I think you and I see a lot of things in a similar light Woodwardfan but I have to disagree with you on McGahey. My gripe with him is that he takes his eye off the ball once or twice a game then gets caught out. That is something that I'd expect him to remedy by the end of the season; possibly by the end of the year.

As for the rest of his game I have no complaints. He's big, strong, surprisingly quick and has a decent touch. I'm not entirely sure that he would have been fourth choice given that Maguire was never going to be here in September and with Collins and Butler never working as a partnership (they're pretty much the same player, playing them together would only highlight their deficiencies) McGahey was always going to play.

I do agree with Clough that he could do with a rest - the League Cup and JPT should see him out of the 18 but that's not going to happen. To be honest, I'd be tempted to play McEveley at CB with McGahey against Orient to see how those two work together: McEveley is an organiser so should help McGahey.
 
A much more controlled interview by NC but it seems to me there were still some hints that he is less than happy about a number of things:

1) Transfer money he has (now) but it sounds very much as though it had to come from HM1's transfer money - so reading between the lines there wasn't player investment money from the sheik available when he wanted it. The money came too late so its sitting there and we can't spend it.
2) Criticism there about complacency after last season's run amongst the club's decision makers (it was difficult to justify further investment) and also of the level of preparation for the transfer window. I don't think he could be more explicit without rupturing the relationship with the board and Brannigan tbh.
3) The commitment of the players (especially the defence) in the last two matches. Doubt we will see Butler again - he kind of dodged whether he would be recalled and said Butler hasn't settled and (it sounds to me) like NC would prefer other arrangements to calling him back from loan.
4) The quality of some of the players - need to improve the ones we have got and get loans in after the midweek cup ties, hopefully by Saturday.

All in all food for thought - though others may make an entirely different scenario from that interview. Just my impression.
 
Cyprus Blade said:
1) Transfer money he has (now) but it sounds very much as though it had to come from HM1's transfer money - so reading between the lines there wasn't player investment money from the sheik available when he wanted it. The money came too late so its sitting there and we can't spend it.
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Yup. I picked up on that too. The Maguire money is THE money (now) available. Whether all or part of it is available (or will be available in January) has not been divulged. So much for GCI.
2) Criticism there about complacency after last season's run amongst the club's decision makers (it was difficult to justify further investment) and also of the level of preparation for the transfer window. I don't think he could be more explicit without rupturing the relationship with the board and Brannigan tbh.
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I think he has his hand forced up his back. ' ... you know what happened to the last manager, Nigel?' ' ... and '... please - be very careful what you say to the press and the internet. We are watching.'
3) The commitment of the players (especially the defence) in the last two matches. Doubt we will see Butler again - he kind of dodged whether he would be recalled and said Butler hasn't settled and (it sounds to me) like NC would prefer other arrangements to calling him back from loan.
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Butler is gone, and won't be back. We need to move that one on, like we did with Brandy.
4) The quality of some of the players - need to improve the ones we have got and get loans in after the midweek cup ties, hopefully by Saturday.
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That is possibly the most telling statement. The team manager is not happy with the current playing staff, transfer aspirations haven't been met and he sees crucial weaknesses in the whole setup, ones that he is obviously tired of trying to fix by moving the deckchairs round on the Titanic.

pommpey
 
pommpey said:
That is possibly the most telling statement. The team manager is not happy with the current playing staff, transfer aspirations haven't been met and he sees crucial weaknesses in the whole setup, ones that he is obviously tired of trying to fix by moving the deckchairs round on the Titanic.
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But to warp your metaphor, a lot of them are his deckchairs:
Alcock, Basham, Berry (why?), Butler, JC-R, Higdon, McEveley, McGahey, Davies, McNulty, Turner, Wallace & re-signing Porter.
That's enough for a whole team brought in over the summer, when what was needed was 4-5 higher-quality players. If they're not good enough, then don't blame the board, blame the person that signed them. Or the players themselves for not living up to expectations.
I don't understand Clough's fixation with Brayford - there was never much chance of him coming back. Money talks - even for cult heroes - and Cardiff can pay him far more than we can.
 
The bit where he says that we needed the Maguire transfer to go through quicker said it all really.I say this because apparently we never had to sell him in the first place and we would only ever sell him if it was to improve the side.

Like pommpey said,Butler ain't coming back to play for us ever again,Cloughy more or less says this but i would rather him just say outright that he won't play again,why does he have to speak in riddles sometimes.Does anyone know what actually happened?answers on a postcard.

I just don't know what to believe tbh.
 

wizadry said:
Butler ain't coming back to play for us ever again,Cloughy more or less says this but i would rather him just say outright that he won't play again,why does he have to speak in riddles sometimes.Does anyone know what actually happened?answers on a postcard.
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The only thing I have seen is a post from dingledog - not sure where he got the info -

dingledog said:
I gather the bust up with Butler was over the Captaincy, he'd been promised it, other players supported Doyle, apparently it all turned very ugly.
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Cyprus Blade said:
The only thing I have seen is a post from dingledog - not sure where he got the info -
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Cheers mate.Iv'e heard a few different things and just wondered if anyone had heard anything different to what iv'e already heard.
 
BerksBlade said:
But to warp your metaphor, a lot of them are his deckchairs:
Alcock, Basham, Berry (why?), Butler, JC-R, Higdon, McEveley, McGahey, Davies, McNulty, Turner, Wallace & re-signing Porter.
That's enough for a whole team brought in over the summer, when what was needed was 4-5 higher-quality players. If they're not good enough, then don't blame the board, blame the person that signed them. Or the players themselves for not living up to expectations.
I don't understand Clough's fixation with Brayford - there was never much chance of him coming back. Money talks - even for cult heroes - and Cardiff can pay him far more than we can.
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Even if that is the case, let's say you are Nigel Clough and manager of our club. What - exactly - brings you to Bramall Lane on the back of a fucking disastrous season opening seeing your club anchored in the relegation zone of the third tier of English football? When he joined, the playing staff were not only shit, their structure and style was shit. I may be assuming a lot, but I can't be far from the truth to assume that McCabe shook hands with a man who believed that steadying the ship was mission one, and getting us promoted the following season based on a staff refresh with real ability was mission two. How much HAS Clough spent on there fourteen 'signings' then? Do you honestly believe that it is in any way near what a 'game changing investment' actually is? Or was it like much of what McCabe says, just Billy Bollocks to keep us all from asking these very same questions? So many people on here have countered what us 'knockers' have been spouting on S24SU - but the last two games have finally burst the banks of the river and try as people might, I am wholly unconvinced we have a stable situation at Bramall Lane that will see us promoted automatically. I think our manager is disillusioned with his lot and I think we lack horsepower to overcome the obstacles in our way. I seriously- genuinely hope I am wrong and that last Satdi is the wake up call we need. But Clough's words give so much away about the lack of passion and fire that he knows he needs to achieve mission two. Poor bastard. Poor us. Poor Sheffield United.

pommpey
 
BerksBlade said:
But to warp your metaphor, a lot of them are his deckchairs:
Alcock, Basham, Berry (why?), Butler, JC-R, Higdon, McEveley, McGahey, Davies, McNulty, Turner, Wallace & re-signing Porter.
That's enough for a whole team brought in over the summer, when what was needed was 4-5 higher-quality players. If they're not good enough, then don't blame the board, blame the person that signed them. Or the players themselves for not living up to expectations.
I don't understand Clough's fixation with Brayford - there was never much chance of him coming back. Money talks - even for cult heroes - and Cardiff can pay him far more than we can.
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Who on earth is Berry?
 
davidpinder said:
I respect your opinions on things and you always come across as honest so can I ask do you think NC sounds hungry for success?
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Cheers fella!

Good question. Not really sure how he would sound if he was hungry for success. He's certainly not here to just do a job

On Saturday he was clearly emotional as he was fuming. And he did come across a little flustered. But in this interview his demeanour is very much back to business as usual, we know what we need to put things right.

I think it rattled him on Saturday and so it should. With Clough you very much get the impression that he drills expectations into players and when they don't do their jobs he gets pissed off.

So to answer your original question: no I don't think he sounds hungry for success, he sounds like a man with a plan. He does sound like a man who knows what it takes to get us out of this league.
 
I guess that the main surprise to me from that interview was that any squad strengthening funding depended on the timing and the value of the Maguire tranny fee.

It dawns on me that even though everyone knew that Coady and Brayford were going back it is absolutely clear there were no funds to go after either of them. We weren't even prepared to spend £250k on Coady - never mind the £1 million asking fee Liverpool were quoted as demanding in some sources.

The fact that Basham was recruited so early into the close season also demonstrated that any investment in someone like Coady was pie in the sky. It's clear now that Basham was the cut price alternative to a decent box to box attacking midfielder. NC probably knew that he wasn't going to get anything better.

Given the quantity of free transfers, rather than a smaller number of higher quality players recruited, it appears that we are selecting from a pool of targets that will have been on list C or D. Players who are coming back from a series of injuries in the hope they will recover their previous form or rediscover their earlier promise. Strikes me as a high risk strategy and not one you can really count on.

I can see the value in recruiting some of the younger players like McGahey and McNuts and, of course, Scougs - which were all cited as ones for the future. The problem is that we are using them as first team players at the heart of our challenge. They are not the future - they are the here and now. It's an indication of the ambition and commitment to getting out of this division because as soon as any of those lads demonstrate any level of improvement we all know they will be sold regardless of the GCI promises made. We will be told yet again that they deserve the chance to have a go at a higher level and they have to move as they wont get that opportunity with us.

NC has questioned the tag of favourites we have bestowed upon us this season. Besides the cup run and the strong end to last season I suspect that many bookies have looked at Sheffield United and thought, "surely a club that size cannot fuck up four years in a row?"

I am getting a realisation that we have already seen the game changing investment. It was last years loans and since we failed to overhaul Peterborough to scrape into the play offs we are back to basics and looking to participate in the BBC show Bargain Hunt, where contestants search through collections of tat to find something to put up for auction in the hope that we make a profit once the hammer falls.
 
Like Kenilworth says after listening to Nigel's recent interviews it is now blatantly obvious there was no money until Maguire was sold, the Price bought a 50% stake in the club for a quid had a look round the place and fucked off home with his money at the first opportunity. If he never puts another penny in he cant lose really half of this turd is still worth more than a quid. There is no game changing investment there never was any game changing investment the only changes have been a decoration job on the offices and club shop, this so called Prince and his garden gnome side kick are shaping up to be the postscript in the book "Fit and Proper".
 
Really glad that people are starting to see this board, lifelong-Blade McCabe and the chalice that the Blades inexorably end up as, as the true, current reasoning behind the demise of this club. We scraped promotion to the PL almost a decade ago, didn't invest to stay, fell out of the trapdoor with West Ham standing on our fingers, the parachute payments and compensation evaporated into nowhere, a string of inept managers (all appointed by McCabe), selling of key players without suitable replacement and now this apparently empty venture with a Saudi partner after bringing on board the best manager since Warnock.

I have been farting on for long enough on here, BUVP and original VP that the board doesn't back the manager, and doesn't back the fans.

This 'we are only two off second with a game in hand' is an empty, optimistic and pointless statement. We got dicked on Saturday.

pommpey
 
Balham Blade said:
I think you and I see a lot of things in a similar light Woodwardfan but I have to disagree with you on McGahey. My gripe with him is that he takes his eye off the ball once or twice a game then gets caught out. That is something that I'd expect him to remedy by the end of the season; possibly by the end of the year.

As for the rest of his game I have no complaints. He's big, strong, surprisingly quick and has a decent touch. I'm not entirely sure that he would have been fourth choice given that Maguire was never going to be here in September and with Collins and Butler never working as a partnership (they're pretty much the same player, playing them together would only highlight their deficiencies) McGahey was always going to play.

I do agree with Clough that he could do with a rest - the League Cup and JPT should see him out of the 18 but that's not going to happen. To be honest, I'd be tempted to play McEveley at CB with McGahey against Orient to see how those two work together: McEveley is an organiser so should help McGahey.
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Fair point re McGahey and I agree he could have potential and time will tell. However we are aiming for promotion and we cannot afford to lose points while a complete rookie learns his trade. By all means gradually give him game time but not 1st choice week in week out.

As for him losing sight of long balls in the air, I have mentioned that myself on here, in fact I wondered if he needed contact lenses.

My Back 4 would be like yours I think: Alcock, McEveley, Collins, Harris and I reckon that's just about good enough, even though I'm not Harris's biggest fan. Shame Kennedy isn't fit, he's as good as all those IMO.

Mind you I'd personally play a Back 3 but that's a different matter.,
 
People have to bear in mind that we'd brought in Basham, JCR, McNulty, Alcock, Butler, Wallace and Davies by early July. They were all 'free' but that doesn't mean free to the club. Add to that the contract extensions to Howard and Harris and a fair chunk of the budget will have already therefore been spent regardless of the Maguire situation. It was clear Maguire was leaving by this time but they had no way of knowing what kind of fee we were eventually going to get or the structure of the deal. We might have had a player swap for example. Higdon was also signed post Maguire followed by McEveley.

It's worrying that NC admitted that the club didn't deal particularly well with the situation and will learn for January, it's hardly a new thing this transfer window, but we'll never know whether 'lend us a million Prince, you'll get it back at the end of the month' would have made a difference. He did sound a bit pissed off but at the end of the day, HIS team shouldn't produce performances as chalk and cheese as they have been in the last 2 or 3 weeks.
 

I heard the interview on the way into work. I did wonder how many ways his words were going to get spin before 09:00am. He seems to be saying exactly what quite a lot of fans have said about the pre-season.
 
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