Some of you are deluded

[BladeByChoice]

Threads like this are why I disappeared from this forum for a while.

It's not just about this season, in spite of how much we'd all like it to be. It's about long term planning of the club. Last time we came down from the Prem we made poor footballing decisions and it was catastrophic. I'm not even sure we've fully recovered given we struggled to compete financially even in the Championship. It's only by a Wilder miracle we're here at all.

If, and it's not an if I really want to entertain, Wilder were sacked then the replacement HAS to be the kind of manager who wants to play the same kind of football that a Wilder team at its best does. Because if it's an Allardyce type then there's no guarantee of short term success anyway (given you don't have players that suit them) but what results is you completely overhaul the way the team operates from backroom staff to first team to accommodate them. That costs you money. Even if you get the short term success, it's dire to watch, people get tired of it, and you plateau at the level that kind of football can give. Then everyone wants to change back to playing some progressive football, with a bit of style, and you have to overhaul the entire squad, coaching, and scouting team again. That overhaul usually results in a bigger drop in performance, because your first team aren't capable of playing that way, and you end up down anyway.

Worst case (and a likely one) you end up going down anyway, but the club is set back even further by having a dinosaur in charge who spends a lot of money to make you worse. Best case scenario you survive a bit longer and then think "Fucking hell, this is dire, we need to get someone in who wants to play like Wilder did" and then go through the problem all over again.

Just stick with the plan and know you have a manager who's hauled the club forward beyond what anyone expected and has the ability to do it all over again while playing some attractive football. Stick with a manager who lives and breathes the club. But for the love of God, please never take me back to the days of watching Kevin Blackwell, 4-5-1, Darius Henderson, hit and hope, dinosaur tactics, hoofball ever again. I can take relegation, I don't know if I can handle that.

A couple of weeks ago I would have agreed with about half of that, but a penny about the size of a stream train has dropped, you’re 100% spot on.

 

[SwindonBladeJnr]

Threads like this are why I disappeared from this forum for a while.

It's not just about this season, in spite of how much we'd all like it to be. It's about long term planning of the club. Last time we came down from the Prem we made poor footballing decisions and it was catastrophic. I'm not even sure we've fully recovered given we struggled to compete financially even in the Championship. It's only by a Wilder miracle we're here at all.

If, and it's not an if I really want to entertain, Wilder were sacked then the replacement HAS to be the kind of manager who wants to play the same kind of football that a Wilder team at its best does. Because if it's an Allardyce type then there's no guarantee of short term success anyway (given you don't have players that suit them) but what results is you completely overhaul the way the team operates from backroom staff to first team to accommodate them. That costs you money. Even if you get the short term success, it's dire to watch, people get tired of it, and you plateau at the level that kind of football can give. Then everyone wants to change back to playing some progressive football, with a bit of style, and you have to overhaul the entire squad, coaching, and scouting team again. That overhaul usually results in a bigger drop in performance, because your first team aren't capable of playing that way, and you end up down anyway.

Worst case (and a likely one) you end up going down anyway, but the club is set back even further by having a dinosaur in charge who spends a lot of money to make you worse. Best case scenario you survive a bit longer and then think "Fucking hell, this is dire, we need to get someone in who wants to play like Wilder did" and then go through the problem all over again.

Just stick with the plan and know you have a manager who's hauled the club forward beyond what anyone expected and has the ability to do it all over again while playing some attractive football. Stick with a manager who lives and breathes the club. But for the love of God, please never take me back to the days of watching Kevin Blackwell, 4-5-1, Darius Henderson, hit and hope, dinosaur tactics, hoofball ever again. I can take relegation, I don't know if I can handle that.

This, basically. We need to hold our collective nerve; sticking with Wilder is the better long term bet for us regardless of what happens in the remainder of this season.

UTB

 

[wavy-blade]

Chris the Blade thinking of his next post

 

[ormester]

Didnt think his passion disappeared tbh.

It did look at his interviews now its back

 

[PokerBlade]

A couple of weeks ago I would have agreed with about half of that, but a penny about the size of a stream train has dropped, you’re 100% spot on.

It's a hard position to take when we're setting records for being shit. One thing I didn't mention though is that we all talk about player potential but not so much about manager potential. Last season was Wilder's first at this level and he did an unbelievable job with the restrictions the club has. There's a learning curve for him as well when it comes to squad management, transfers, tactics, whatever else. We've seen the kind of football he wants to play, and how good it looks when it does click (even this season we've had our moments, few and far between). As long as he's got the desire to do this job I'll back him to be a better manager than Allardyce in two years time, and I'd back him in building a youth system and scouting team to produce the type of players we want to see. If you just look at our first choice targets in the last window, they're quality players doing the business. The issue is they're on double or more what we offered them. We're in a position where we're going to have to develop players, not buy ready made Prem quality, and I back Wilder to make a good player out of the likes of Bogle and others, I wouldn't back Allardyce.

 

[BladeByChoice]

It's a hard position to take when we're setting records for being shit. One thing I didn't mention though is that we all talk about player potential but not so much about manager potential. Last season was Wilder's first at this level and he did an unbelievable job with the restrictions the club has. There's a learning curve for him as well when it comes to squad management, transfers, tactics, whatever else. We've seen the kind of football he wants to play, and how good it looks when it does click (even this season we've had our moments, few and far between). As long as he's got the desire to do this job I'll back him to be a better manager than Allardyce in two years time, and I'd back him in building a youth system and scouting team to produce the type of players we want to see. If you just look at our first choice targets in the last window, they're quality players doing the business. The issue is they're on double or more what we offered them. We're in a position where we're going to have to develop players, not buy ready made Prem quality, and I back Wilder to make a good player out of the likes of Bogle and others, I wouldn't back Allardyce.

With you on all of that, especially ‘Brown Envelope Sam’ wouldn’t want him anywhere near the club. But we also must not ignore the elephant in the room, wage structure. When we get the money we will have a cat A academy, a top quality youth system and produce players of Premier League and European quality, but these players will be expecting 80K plus a week. If we don’t sort out a achievable upwards facing wage structure over the next 5 years we will always be, at best, a yo-yo club.

 

[PokerBlade]

With you on all of that, especially ‘Brown Envelope Sam’ wouldn’t want him anywhere near the club. But we also must not ignore the elephant in the room, wage structure. When we get the money we will have a cat A academy, a top quality youth system and produce players of Premier League and European quality, but these players will be expecting 80K plus a week. If we don’t sort out a achievable upwards facing wage structure over the next 5 years we will always be, at best, a yo-yo club.

Definitely with you on the wage structure. The fact is it's prevented us from signing even top Championship players, never mind Prem players. But to me I see it as another reason why we have to think long term. Even being a yo-yo club would be a step above where we've been both in league standings and in terms of financial earnings. If we stick to our guns we could at least be a real force in the Championship. It's easy to forget we were getting turned down by players like Waghorn because we couldn't compete with Derby for price tags and wages. We could go down, have a good side, have a good manager, and be financially better off than we've been for the last few decades. Or we could screw it up like last time and set ourselves back by just as much.

I guess all I'm saying is none of us want relegation, but there's a right way to handle it and it isn't pinning all your hopes in a quick fix.

 

[BobblesBlade]

It’s the Blades way isn’t it.

I can see us struggle next season as half the team will move next season.
There will be no Egan or O’Connell
Maybe Basham might get a prem club.

Berge and Lundstram gone

Sharp and McGoldrick will probably retire.

I hope they have a plan ready for the summer.

 

[Champagneblade]

Lunny goes, Mousset probably goes.

The rest stay.

Nobody will offer 30m for Egan or O'Connell.

And we aren't going to give them away for 8m.

So their future is probably tied to ours.

Berge will depend on the finances and level of interest. Someone offers money back then we'll take it. Someone comes in with 10m then we'll be telling them to piss off.

Lower wages will irk some but there is nobody else to blame for the players but themselves.

Our undoing will probably work in our favour - we don't have any star players. By the same token we don't have star players that other teams will pillage. So there is a good chance the team that beat Man U away will be largely intact when we face off against Luton et al.

Whereas for West Brom, Pereira will probably be poached, someone might fancy Snodgrass and the loan players they get will go back, meaning they will already be without half the team that ends the season.

Fulham could probably retain because they'll swallow the wages and still offer a nice location in West London. I can't see many going all in for Bobby Reid or Mitrovic. Lookman will just go back to his parents club, as will the keeper, Areola, Anderson, the centre back and Loftus-Cheek plus others. So they will be pretty decimated.

What we want is a few of the parachute teams to come up.

Brentford and Swansea are looking strong so if one of those goes up, you hope say Norwich and Bournemouth/Watford go up with them so you have less big hitters there.

What might make it more challenging is derbies. You could have Donny, Barnsley, plus possibly Wednesday/Rotherham which could all be banana skins. Though even on recent form, there is a fair chance Wednesday and/or Rotherham drop and Donny don't make it (though I do hope the Millers and Donny are there for their sake).

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

It's patently obvious the players are no longer playing for Wilder. He's needs to go today, get Big Sam in, organise the team and start challenging again. With Brewster, Mousset and others revitalised, we can still do this. Leave it another month and its too late.

CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS! CHRIS!

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

It’s the Blades way isn’t it.

I can see us struggle next season as half the team will move next season.
There will be no Egan or O’Connell
Maybe Basham might get a prem club.

Berge and Lundstram gone

Sharp and McGoldrick will probably retire.

I hope they have a plan ready for the summer.

 

[BobblesBlade]

View attachment 104494

Wow wouldn’t expect something like that from you. Oh well there is something definitely wrong with you so I will allow it.

 

[Robboblade1889]

It’s the Blades way isn’t it.

I can see us struggle next season as half the team will move next season.
There will be no Egan or O’Connell
Maybe Basham might get a prem club.

Berge and Lundstram gone

Sharp and McGoldrick will probably retire.

I hope they have a plan ready for the summer.

No it’s not the blades was while ever Chris Wilder is at the helm. Hold our nerve allow him a bit of wiggle room in the transfer market and we walk that division in my opinion. Of course it will be difficult but I have seen enough of us and teams in the championship to think we come roaring back.

 

[BobblesBlade]

No it’s not the blades was while ever Chris Wilder is at the helm. Hold our nerve allow him a bit of wiggle room in the transfer market and we walk that division in my opinion. Of course it will be difficult but I have seen enough of us and teams in the championship to think we come roaring back.

I hope you are right.

 

[Stu_Blade]

If you would have said at the start of the season or even a couple of weeks ago we will go to both Manc clubs away only ship 2 goals across both games and win one we would have snapped your hands off

 

[Houston_Blade]

If you would have said at the start of the season or even a couple of weeks ago we will go to both Manc clubs away only ship 2 goals across both games and win one we would have snapped your hands off

At the start of the season I'd have traded a 20-0 loss against both Manchester clubs for 20 more points in the league than we currently have.