The Blame Game

[Jim Chimmerney]

Keep telling you, we need to replace Collins and Doyle

As Houso suggested in the OP, everyone is to blame to a certain extent but we're simply not a team at the moment. Key players from last season are no longer here, key players have been injured, key players have not reproduced their form from last season and when you add all that up, it's not surprising that we're struggling.

In the final 3rd of last season we probably played 9/10 of the same players for most of the games. Without checking, it seems as though he's changing, or having to change at least 3 players every game this season. Whether that's injury or form, it doesn't matter, there's no consistency and when we play the way Clough wants us to, you have to be well drilled and playing to a plan whereas we seem to be a shambles at the moment every time a team runs at us.

I said towards the end of pre-season that it was worrying that Clough didn't seem to know what his 1st choice team was and here we are towards the end of September and listening to him yesterday, he still has no idea. OK, he's had problems as mentioned above but to be questioning whether players will be good enough or whether what he wants to do is going to work when he's already brought 11 in is not where you want to be.

I don't think the board is an issue, I think funds will be there to bring loanees in and strengthen in January but it's worrying when, once again, the division is there for the taking, that we seem to be a million miles away from the cohesive confident team we had at the end of last season and there's no signs that things are improving as the last two games have shown.

We can all pick on certain players but there's a squad they've worked with now for the best part of 3 months and I'm not convinced that bringing in a quality striker for example is magically going to make everything right. As people have said, this is how it went at Derby and whilst it's far to early to throw in the towel, I'm hoping Cloughy has learnt from what happened there.

Still 2 points off 2nd though

 

[Mad Mick]

There's been continual discussion in the shoutbox about who's to blame for the mess that we've made of the start to the season. The board? Clough? The squad? Big Jimmy P?

Fact is, everyone of them is culpable.

Clough - he's brought in dross and mediocrity. His pre-season was ridiculous. His selections have been baffling. Our performances have been continually below standard.

The board - whether there's money to spend or not, it's not been spent on key areas. We've sold our best player and not replaced. Our transfer deadline attempts were as pathetic as ever.

The players - not one of them can say they've had a consistently good set of games. They're off-form and have ultimately been the ones to blame for performances such as the one today.

Quite simply, we're an embarrassment. And there are no excuses to be had. Either show our hand this coming week or start to turn off the lights because there's gonna be very few left in the ground next season to warrant them being on.

Look at your first sentence and then compare it with last season, then you will see that you comment is an over reaction. We do need to make changes, and Clough said yesterday we need new players. We have had a reasonable start to the season, way better than last year. We have been a little lucky though, and maybe yesterday will focus minds in ALL areas of the club.

 

[Zanzibar]

Swindon away is ALWAYS tough at this level, whoever you are QUOTE


Swindon 2 Oldham 2........mmmm

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

Nigel isn't infallible, but the fact that we're missing Brayford and Coady so much should remind us that he does have a good eye for a player, and that when the combination of luck, circumstance and cash needed to get good players in all comes together, he can bring those good players in.

There are lots of ways of reading this summer's transfer dealings, given that football clubs are never really transparent about this--with fans who often contribute disproportionately large parts of their income to help support player-recruitment--so we therefore have to guess.

One way of reading the summer, from comments made by Nigel throughout the window, is that he aimed from the start to bring Championship quality into the side in defence, midfield and attack. Players went elsewhere, or weren't available. Perhaps some bids we made weren't high enough for the seller. For these and any of a million other reasons we might speculate about, deadline days comes, we're still chasing three quality players, but the players don't come in. Harry to Hull = not Nigel's fault. Butler fiasco = who really knows, but these things happen. Shame. You suspect Nigel expected a bit more from Basham (he might still get it). The preponderance of what some are calling "journeymen" among this summer's signings makes more sense (relatively speaking) if we assume that Nigel's intention was also to secure those other, higher quality players. It is worrying that we were unable to get these players, particularly--though again we are forced to speculate--if one reason for this was a lack of cash on offer.

The main question to come out of all this, for me, concerns the motivations of our new(ish) co-owner. Yes, as per the many threads on this elsewhere, he has clearly invested a lot of cash, but, also clearly, it hasn't yet been game-changing cash. Not if your definition of "game-changing" includes a significant and sustained upturn in the quality of players we bring in, and a convincing challenge for automatic promotion out of a very poor division.

Considering he is supposed to be a football man, I don't understand this. Why would a wealthy foreign investor plough enough millions into an ailing 3rd tier football club to stabilise it (eg, by absorbing its debts), but then leave it more or less at that ? It's a bit like buying a wreck of house, sorting the subsidence, but then leaving it without the new windows, roof and boiler it needs to actually make it work. On the face of it, at least, there is no football-reason at all to invest in SUFC, given our current status, unless the investment really IS game-changing--even if we define "game changing" fairly modestly, as per the previous paragraph.

What does our investor want to get out of his involvement with the club ? There must be very little for him to gain, either in football terms or in terms of the profitability of the club, by remaining as we are.

 

[judge]

Its fucked up

 

[Elsecar_Blade]

Swindon away is ALWAYS tough at this level, whoever you are QUOTE


Swindon 2 Oldham 2........mmmm

Come off it, you know as well as I do that teams have off days. Over the years, United have been strong at home but that doesn't mean you don't slip up every now and then. Two years back, we were phenomenal at home but still drew 4-4 with Exeter City. Swindon, for the past few seasons, have been one of the best if not the best home sides. Most teams that go there will struggle to get a result. Yes, it was disappointing yesterday but it was one of the toughest away games of the season so that has to be taken into account surely?

 

[Cyprus Blade]

have to credit David Weir with something - he signed Coady

 

[ShockingBadBuy]

have to credit David Weir with something - he signed Coady

Ah. He did. Duh !

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Our problems were apparent the when we played Burton away and we got "dicked" 4 nil.

For the 1,200 that went, it is no surprise that we are INCONSISTENT this season.

We are a good side at times, and we are poor at others.

Davies apart, virtually all players have been inconsistent.

We need to give Clough time to sort it out, but what we do not have is a strong spine to the team.

UTB

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Our problems were apparent the when we played Burton away and we got "dicked" 4 nil.

For the 1,200 that went, it is no surprise that we are INCONSISTENT this season.

We are a good side at times, and we are poor at others.

Davies apart, virtually all players have been inconsistent.

We need to give Clough time to sort it out, but what we do not have is a strong spine to the team.

UTB

The 3 players we were supposed to be after on the run up to deadline day were a centre back, defensive midfielder and striker so it seems like he has exactly the same thoughts about the spine of the team. As has been discussed, a fair proportion of goals we have conceded this season have been straight through the middle of the team.

That we are still in this position towards the end of September suggests that either some players have disappointed him or we haven't been able to get the players he wants but either way, we have to put it right sooner rather than later.

As worrying is the missing form of Murphy, why has he suddenly returned to the disappointing player we had prior to Cloughs appointment ? Have teams sussed him out ?

 

[sheffielder]

The 3 players we were supposed to be after on the run up to deadline day were a centre back, defensive midfielder and striker so it seems like he has exactly the same thoughts about the spine of the team. As has been discussed, a fair proportion of goals we have conceded this season have been straight through the middle of the team.

That we are still in this position towards the end of September suggests that either some players have disappointed him or we haven't been able to get the players he wants but either way, we have to put it right sooner rather than later.

As worrying is the missing form of Murphy, why has he suddenly returned to the disappointing player we had prior to Cloughs appointment ? Have teams sussed him out ?

It's strange that we talk about these 3 positions as though they weren't the issue coming into the 1st game of the season.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

It's strange that we talk about these 3 positions as though they weren't the issue coming into the 1st game of the season.

The Maguire situation was always going to happen despite what NC said post Swindon that when he bought McGahey in, he was 4th choice behind HM1, Collins and Butler. No-one knows what's gone on with Butler but Alcock played there 1st game which was bizarre. Clough intimated that we should have addressed Maguire's replacement ages ago. Whether that was a dig at the board who knows but, presumably, it was his decision to bin Butler.

I think he wanted to start with Basham and Wallace in the middle but has had to bring back Doyle. Having said pre-season that he would build his team around Basham, I've no idea who he is looking at to replace to bring this new midfielder in, presuming Wallace is also still in his plans. Higdon's absence from the last two games must throw his future in doubt as well, another strange one.

It goes back to replacing Collins and Doyle long term and that talisman striker we still can't seem to find (for another month anyway )

 

[Tezza1889]

I tell you who we can't blame, the fans, cause every one of us have been screaming blue murder about a quality striker for two seasons now...

We don't have a single player who would get us out of our seats in the whole first team, we had exciting players and sold the lot of em first time of asking...

You can argue that this squad has enough to get promoted but scougall and baxter aside, we will be straight back down again should we achieve promotion...

This group of players on a whole don't seem to want it enough..

 

[Zanzibar]

9 Aug Swindon Town 3-1 Scunthorpe +
16 Aug Crawley Town 1-0 Swindon Town
19 Aug Gillingham 2-2 Swindon Town +
23 Aug Swindon Town 2-0 Crewe Alexan.
30 Aug Swindon Town 1-1 Coventry City
13 Sep Bradford 1-2 Swindon Town +
16 Sep Swindon Town 2-2 Oldham +
20 Sep Swindon Town 5-2 Sheffield Utd +


Seem pretty average to me.

 

[Lane Ender]

I,d like to thank Clough firstly for stablising the club after the Weir debacle.

Clough knew we wouldnt be be able to hold on to Brayford or Mcguire there might be a chance with Coady but all three are Championship players.
This season Nigel you have been dire.
Pre season was abismal ,team selections, tactics and formations speak for themselves not acceptable.
Nigel you sign one L1s top centre Butler obviously you,ve have had a fall out but Nigel you,ve stabbed yourself in the back letting go back to Wallsall when you should have made him your captain.
McGahey is barely out of the juniors and you give him a front line role, come on!
You bring in two front men Mcnulty and Higdon and expect them to fit into a lone striker role well i sorry but the opponents have got us sussed at the moment and things need changing.
We have three decent wingers at present JCR,Murphy and Flynn all capable of going past defenders and hurting them Murphy in a central role looks lost.
The negative tactics especially away from home is iritating we,ve got to start quicker,
Get it sorted Nigel quick before the vultures gather.

 

[blade too long]

a reasonable argument , clough came in we had one priority , avoiding league 2 with an array of inadequate players
some loans and organisation but troubled moths later we found some form , and a good spirit which took us to wembley and rocketed us up the league , but not every win was scintilating, most were dour , and the difference in some was the quality of loan , in coady and brayford , for differing reasons weve been able to secure either and lost Maguire , which was inevitable, Cloughs tried to assemble a stand alone squad but had some frutration with rejected bids , no matter how paltry some may quibble over ammounts , but you dont always get what your after, and those we have taken on some have suffered injury or set backs , but the directions been upwards in the main , not perfect , but lets be honest we were miles away from perfect to start with , results wise we were superb but lets not kid our selves we were something magnificent , we got results which makes everything look good ,

 

[Russ]

There is no such thing as the "blame game".

. 8 goals conceded in 2 games, not good enough.



Shoes off anyone??

Not being picky but 2 + 5 = 7...

It could be worse we could have just spent about £165 million on players and just got trounced by Leicester!!!

 

[blade too long]

Not being picky but 2 + 5 = 7...

It could be worse we could have just spent about £165 million on players and just got trounced by Leicester!!!

ooh dont mention man utd , references to other football clubs are banned as they dont play football or buy players or something of that nature

 

[Zanzibar]

a reasonable argument , clough came in we had one priority , avoiding league 2 with an array of inadequate players
some loans and organisation but troubled moths later we found some form , and a good spirit which took us to wembley and rocketed us up the league , but not every win was scintilating, most were dour , and the difference in some was the quality of loan , in coady and brayford , for differing reasons weve been able to secure either and lost Maguire , which was inevitable, Cloughs tried to assemble a stand alone squad but had some frutration with rejected bids , no matter how paltry some may quibble over ammounts , but you dont always get what your after, and those we have taken on some have suffered injury or set backs , but the directions been upwards in the main , not perfect , but lets be honest we were miles away from perfect to start with , results wise we were superb but lets not kid our selves we were something magnificent , we got results which makes everything look good ,

I've heard many an excuse....but moths, troubled or otherwise is a new one.

 

[blade too long]

whos pinched my n

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

I've heard many an excuse....but moths, troubled or otherwise is a new one.

Been nesting in the dressing room for months apparently. They're responsible for the holes in the defence.

 

[alcoblade]

Nigel isn't infallible, but the fact that we're missing Brayford and Coady so much should remind us that he does have a good eye for a player, and that when the combination of luck, circumstance and cash needed to get good players in all comes together, he can bring those good players in.

There are lots of ways of reading this summer's transfer dealings, given that football clubs are never really transparent about this--with fans who often contribute disproportionately large parts of their income to help support player-recruitment--so we therefore have to guess.

One way of reading the summer, from comments made by Nigel throughout the window, is that he aimed from the start to bring Championship quality into the side in defence, midfield and attack. Players went elsewhere, or weren't available. Perhaps some bids we made weren't high enough for the seller. For these and any of a million other reasons we might speculate about, deadline days comes, we're still chasing three quality players, but the players don't come in. Harry to Hull = not Nigel's fault. Butler fiasco = who really knows, but these things happen. Shame. You suspect Nigel expected a bit more from Basham (he might still get it). The preponderance of what some are calling "journeymen" among this summer's signings makes more sense (relatively speaking) if we assume that Nigel's intention was also to secure those other, higher quality players. It is worrying that we were unable to get these players, particularly--though again we are forced to speculate--if one reason for this was a lack of cash on offer.

The main question to come out of all this, for me, concerns the motivations of our new(ish) co-owner. Yes, as per the many threads on this elsewhere, he has clearly invested a lot of cash, but, also clearly, it hasn't yet been game-changing cash. Not if your definition of "game-changing" includes a significant and sustained upturn in the quality of players we bring in, and a convincing challenge for automatic promotion out of a very poor division.

Considering he is supposed to be a football man, I don't understand this. Why would a wealthy foreign investor plough enough millions into an ailing 3rd tier football club to stabilise it (eg, by absorbing its debts), but then leave it more or less at that ? It's a bit like buying a wreck of house, sorting the subsidence, but then leaving it without the new windows, roof and boiler it needs to actually make it work. On the face of it, at least, there is no football-reason at all to invest in SUFC, given our current status, unless the investment really IS game-changing--even if we define "game changing" fairly modestly, as per the previous paragraph.

What does our investor want to get out of his involvement with the club ? There must be very little for him to gain, either in football terms or in terms of the profitability of the club, by remaining as we are.

I share your concerns about the motivations of the co owner. If we'd had no "game changing investment" and McCabe had declared that we had hefty interest charges to fund , I'd still be really disappointed with the summer activity.

If it costs so much to run the club, then we should be doing some deep questioning about where the money goes, top of the list being the academy and the off field staff / dividends.

It's not obvious that we're benefiting from any investment whatsoever. Clearly we don't have all the facts, but my gut feel us that if you ignore the rhetoric, money is pouring down some plughole, not being made available for strengthening.

UTB

 

[ThatJa]

Not being picky but 2 + 5 = 7...

It could be worse we could have just spent about £165 million on players and just got trounced by Leicester!!!

Yeah miscounted, for some reason i counted Colchester as having scored 3. Still, its not the amount we should be conceding at any level.

 

[pommpey]

It's not obvious that we're benefiting from any investment whatsoever. Clearly we don't have all the facts, but my gut feel us that if you ignore the rhetoric, money is pouring down some plughole, not being made available for strengthening.

UTB

Which is 180 degrees from the bold statements made around the time of the Saudi bloke arriving (forgive me for using the word 'Prince' - the Saudi's are a brutal, divisive lot who mete out some vicious treatment to anyone countering their massive family)

The intent then was investment to build the squad to return us to the PL at the earliest opportunity.

Listening to Cluff when asked 'Is the money available?' he almost chokes to say, 'yes!'

I trust him. I am also not fooled.

Unless we make some fucking awesome loan signings in the next few days, we are effectively stuck with this lot. The next ninety days will be pretty taxing for us Blades fans.

Business as usual.

pommpey

 

[alcoblade]

Which is 180 degrees from the bold statements made around the time of the Saudi bloke arriving (forgive me for using the word 'Prince' - the Saudi's are a brutal, divisive lot who mete out some vicious treatment to anyone countering their massive family)

The intent then was investment to build the squad to return us to the PL at the earliest opportunity.

Listening to Cluff when asked 'Is the money available?' he almost chokes to say, 'yes!'

I trust him. I am also not fooled.

Unless we make some fucking awesome loan signings in the next few days, we are effectively stuck with this lot. The next ninety days will be pretty taxing for us Blades fans.

Business as usual.

pommpey

Yep, this is the last chance for the board to prove that the mean any sort of busniess. It was arguable before about the quality of our summer signings, now it's clear that we are a long way short of the promotion favourites we'd hoped to be. So there's no real excuse in this window.

All hope is not lost - the fact that McCabe wrote off a shit load of debt (I suppose next to worthless anyway) suggests that some sort of deal must have been done. But as I say, If The Prince has made real investment into the club, we should be asking big questions about our cost base - because nothings obvious on the field.

UTB

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Is it just me who has seen Cloughs recent post where he says "we have been trying to play slightly differently this season - unlike last where we camped on the edge of our box and hit teams on the break. Perhaps after Swindon - we may have to go back to playing that way"

FFS Clough is trying to make us more adventurous, more watchable and more progressive - it may not be working exactly as he likes, but we have just got spanked after a run of 7 undefeated. If we win our game in hand, we are joint 2nd!

Give Clough some time and space to sort this out.

UTB

 

[wizadry]

Give Clough some time and space to sort this out.UTB

Let me know where Cloughy's going to be in the next month or so,and i will try to not step on his toes

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Let me know where Cloughy's going to be in the next month or so,and i will try to not step on his toes

Well, people are questioning his judgment as we write - is it not too early to be having a go at his team selections/player choices/tactics?

Clough and the management team are still lumbered with remnants of the old regimes - they seem to be trying to find solutions which is proving difficult.

Instant solutions don't happen - healthy debate is one thing, but there is a level of hostility that is beginning to form on here.

Things aren't brilliant, but neither are they desperate - especially considering where we were last year.

Clough has stated very recently, that they are trying to change how we play and need to get away from sitting in front of our own 18 yard line - that takes time.

UTB

 

[wizadry]

Well, people are questioning his judgment as we write - is it not too early to be having a go at his team selections/player choices/tactics?

Clough and the management team are still lumbered with remnants of the old regimes - they seem to be trying to find solutions which is proving difficult.

Instant solutions don't happen - healthy debate is one thing, but there is a level of hostility that is beginning to form on here.

Things aren't brilliant, but neither are they desperate - especially considering where we were last year.

Clough has stated very recently, that they are trying to change how we play and need to get away from sitting in front of our own 18 yard line - that takes time.

UTB

Agree we need to change the way we play,there is too much pressure on the defence atm and it's starting to show.We need to start taking the games to the opposition and hopefully Clough gets this sorted sharpish,we will then see different outcomes performance wise and results will continue to get better.I think a lot of blades,especially the ones i talk too are getting sick of playing the negative style,hopefully the trend will stop.

 

[Lane Ender]

Agree we need to change the way we play,there is too much pressure on the defence atm and it's starting to show.We need to start taking the games to the opposition and hopefully Clough gets this sorted sharpish,we will then see different outcomes performance wise and results will continue to get better.I think a lot of blades,especially the ones i talk too are getting sick of playing the negative style,hopefully the trend will stop.

You,ve about summed it up with out writing 50 page essay about it.