The reason why we have absolutely no chance of promotion

[PeterNdlovu081]

Top ten eight (we haven't got ten players who have scored league goals) current Sheffield United career top scorers. All time league goals for us and then league appearances in brackets.

8 Chris Porter (57)
7 Neil Collins (97)
6 Michael Doyle (104)
5 Ryan Flynn (62)
5 Harry Maguire (95)
4 Shaun Miller (15)
2 Jamie Murphy (19)
2 Tony McMahon (38)

Now with the exception of Miller just look at how thoroughly depressing that is.

Unless Brandy, Taylor and Coady etc turn into goal machines overnight we are well and truly buggered.

 

[Kev Gee]

i would also say playing 1 up front at home doesnt help either.
That and our midfield contributing zilch in terms of goals.

 

[DazBlade88]

i would also say playing 1 up front at home doesnt help either.

I personally don't think that has anything to do with it. With the 4-2-3-1 you usually get more players in a forward position than in a 4-4-2, it's just that we've not got the best finishers.

 

[stannyblade]

If the Macca money is spent on players (fat chance I know) then we could be better off.

We need a striker who can score regular goals. 3 full games have now passed yet the strikers we have still havent found the net.

 

[Revolution]

I personally don't think that has anything to do with it. With the 4-2-3-1 you usually get more players in a forward position than in a 4-4-2, it's just that we've not got the best finishers.

You get more players forward if they are good players. This is a formation for EPL teams, not a league one team with poor full backs, non scoring midfielders and non scoring forwards.

 

[DazBlade88]

You get more players forward if they are good players. This is a formation for EPL teams, not a league one team with poor full backs, non scoring midfielders and non scoring forwards.

But who would you play in midfield if we were in a 4-4-2? I'd say it's even weaker from an attacking sense than our current choice. The strikers would barely get a touch of the ball.

 

[SwissBlade]

Top ten eight (we haven't got ten players who have scored league goals) current Sheffield United career top scorers. All time league goals for us and then league appearances in brackets.

8 Chris Porter (57)
7 Neil Collins (97)
6 Michael Doyle (104)
5 Ryan Flynn (62)
5 Harry Maguire (95)
4 Shaun Miller (15)
2 Jamie Murphy (19)
2 Tony McMahon (38)

Now with the exception of Miller just look at how thoroughly depressing that is.

Unless Brandy, Taylor and Coady etc turn into goal machines overnight we are well and truly buggered.

You forgot KMac

 

[Torrix1889]

Lets go down the Peterborough route, you score 3 we will score 5. Play a 3-4-1-2 with McFadzean playing in the 10 and attack, attack, attack.

Long

Maguire Collins Williams

Coady Doyle
Brandy Murphy

McFadzean

Taylor Porter

 

[BladeFisher]

You forgot KMac

That's 34 goals in a season.

12 Shaun Miller (46)
6 Chris Porter (46)
4 Jamie Murphy (46)
3 Ryan Flynn (46)
3 Neil Collins (46)
2 Michael Doyle (46)
2 Harry Maguire (46)
2 Tony McMahon (46)

As Miller is missing for some time, Accrington here we come!

 

[yuley82]

All I've heard and read lately is we need a goal scorer lets get a goal scorer, right then who should we get, who can we afford?! Answer no one, there is no goal scorer's out there cos if they were the bigger clubs with more money more ambition would get them. There just aren't any proven goal scorer's in lower league football anymore, paddy madden got 23 for yoevil Tom pope got 36 for port vale the first time he'd hit double figures for nearly ten years not exactly prolific. We've tried signing one in Taylor but I just can't see him getting 8+ ok he scored 29 in a joke of a league his spells in English football with millwall Bournemouth Hereford were very unsuccessful but he did score 34 for concord rangers? Exactly!! We haven't and won't get a goal scorer and we won't get promoted the sooner some people realise this and lower expectations the better we'll be.

 

[raul]

I expect us to finish somewhere between 7th and 10th this year, get a new chief exec or whatever in Summer with more plans for a bright new tomorrow, finish about 14th the season after, repeat the process, then start flirting with relegation in 2015/16.

How much lower would you like my expactations to be?

 

[Guesty]

I expect us to finish somewhere between 7th and 10th this year, get a new chief exec or whatever in Summer with more plans for a bright new tomorrow, finish about 14th the season after, repeat the process, then start flirting with relegation in 2015/16.

How much lower would you like my expactations to be?

Well you have us still in business for the next three years so there's room for improvement there.

 

[yuley82]

I expect us to finish somewhere between 7th and 10th this year

I think your about right there, we all know our chance went when we were pipped to automatic by them over in S6 and we realised where going to be here for quite a while longer than we'd all like and thought. So maybe it's time to settle for mid table mediocrity and push for promotion in 14/15 when our books are balanced and sold a few more of our better players. (If the books will ever be balanced)

 

[Pittsburg Blade]

Our decline can be simply summarised by the replacement of Naughton-Walker-Lowton with Westlake-Hill-Williams. International quality replaced by utter dross.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

To be honest the squad is crap. How we ended up with such a poor squad is incredible. We don't seem to have 1 full back at the club who can both defend and attack, even though we have about 2 million of em. Barely got any midfielders who create anything. Got no strikers who can score. Should have had a massive clear out, but yet again we papered over the cracks with a few fairly uninspiring signings.

Truth is, we're run by people who are happy for us to just be on the fringes on the play-offs every season. Keeps the fans reasonably happy, brings in a few quid from the play offs with a bit of luck. They haven't got the balls to say ok lets get rid of half the squad, bring in a load of promising kids pretty much write off this season and try to rebuild a team.

 

[Kenilworth]

Cos we shit

 

[Gavlar]

man there's some positivity in here!

 

[metalblade]

man there's some positivity in here!

I'm positive ............................................






...................................... that we are shit.

 

[Rodley]

man there's some positivity in here!

They're using some of their best material. I'm not confident its possible re-hash the same post every other week until next May!

 

[Kenilworth]

But it's entirely possible that the Blades will re-hash the same old shit every week until next May

 

[Darren]

Top ten eight (we haven't got ten players who have scored league goals) current Sheffield United career top scorers. All time league goals for us and then league appearances in brackets.

8 Chris Porter (57)
7 Neil Collins (97)
6 Michael Doyle (104)
5 Ryan Flynn (62)
5 Harry Maguire (95)
4 Shaun Miller (15)
2 Jamie Murphy (19)
2 Tony McMahon (38)

Now with the exception of Miller just look at how thoroughly depressing that is.

Unless Brandy, Taylor and Coady etc turn into goal machines overnight we are well and truly buggered.

The fact that Porter is our top scorer is more depressing than depressing can be. Has there ever been a time in the club's history when the top scorer on our books had fewer than 10 league goals?

The main grounds for optimism at the moment is that it seems to be a general rule that no club of United's size and with roughly United's level of support vegetates in the lower divisions for more than 5 seasons at a time. The likes of Leeds, Forest, Wednesday, United (1979-84), Leicester, WBA, Wolves, Birmingham, Villa, QPR, Southampton, Norwich have all had lower division periods in the past 40 or so years and re-emerged within that time period.

The only exception to that rule I can think of is Portsmouth who managed 7 years in the lower divisions between 1976 and 1983.

 

[LardSardine]

The fact that Porter is our top scorer is more depressing than depressing can be. Has there ever been a time in the club's history when the top scorer on our books had fewer than 10 league goals?

The main grounds for optimism at the moment is that it seems to be a general rule that no club of United's size and with roughly United's level of support vegetates in the lower divisions for more than 5 seasons at a time. The likes of Leeds, Forest, Wednesday, United (1979-84), Leicester, WBA, Wolves, Birmingham, Villa, QPR, Southampton, Norwich have all had lower division periods in the past 40 or so years and re-emerged within that time period.

The only exception to that rule I can think of is Portsmouth who managed 7 years in the lower divisions between 1976 and 1983.

If there's one team that could buck the trend.....

 

[Revolution]

The main grounds for optimism at the moment is that it seems to be a general rule that no club of United's size and with roughly United's level of support vegetates in the lower divisions for more than 5 seasons at a time. The likes of Leeds, Forest, Wednesday, United (1979-84), Leicester, WBA, Wolves, Birmingham, Villa, QPR, Southampton, Norwich have all had lower division periods in the past 40 or so years and re-emerged within that time period.

You keep saying this, but as long as McCabe doesn't use the budget our turnover entitles us to, and our transfer policy is run by morons, there are no grounds for optimism.

 

[Darren]

You keep saying this, but as long as McCabe doesn't use the budget our turnover entitles us to, and our transfer policy is run by morons, there are no grounds for optimism.

I think I have said it once before and I make no claim that this is a 100% guaranteed rule. The reality is though that, in the long run, a club with crowds of 18,000 will always do better than a club getting crowds of 6000 (which is around the 3rd division average I think).

It's that kind of long term zen attitude that gets me through life when the Samaritans are engaged (copyright: John Cleese).

 

[sportinguista]

Lets go down the Peterborough route, you score 3 we will score 5. Play a 3-4-1-2 with McFadzean playing in the 10 and attack, attack, attack.
Long

Maguire Collins Williams

Coady Doyle
Brandy Murphy

McFadzean

Taylor Porter

But what if they score 5??

 

[Large Mendonca]

Lets go down the Peterborough route, you score 3 we will score 5. Play a 3-4-1-2 with McFadzean playing in the 10 and attack, attack, attack.

Long

Maguire Collins Williams

Coady Doyle
Brandy Murphy

McFadzean

Taylor Porter

Lol - that's optimism, thinking that those lot could score 5

 

[Large Mendonca]

I think I have said it once before and I make no claim that this is a 100% guaranteed rule. The reality is though that, in the long run, a club with crowds of 18,000 will always do better than a club getting crowds of 6000 (which is around the 3rd division average I think).

It's that kind of long term zen attitude that gets me through life when the Samaritans are engaged (copyright: John Cleese).

I think clubs with lower gates than us must come up with "creative" ideas to increase that revenue, and hence increasing the wage bill. I honestly think that if McCabe really give a shit and took responsibility for where he has dumped us during his tenure, then we could get that revenue increased to pay for the players who would make the difference.
The emphasis here is on "revenue" and not necessarily all about gate receipts.

 

[Ted Danson]

I think clubs with lower gates than us must come up with "creative" ideas to increase that revenue, and hence increasing the wage bill. I honestly think that if McCabe really give a shit and took responsibility for where he has dumped us during his tenure, then we could get that revenue increased to pay for the players who would make the difference.
The emphasis here is on "revenue" and not necessarily all about gate receipts.

He could have done that with the topspring shirt sponsorship if he'd wanted (arnt they Simons Company?), they could have just sponsored us £10Mil a year and we'd be minted. I guess we'd have to pay extra tax on it as its revenue but if it gets you promoted surly its worth it

 

[Large Mendonca]

He could have done that with the topspring shirt sponsorship if he'd wanted (arnt they Simons Company?), they could have just sponsored us £10Mil a year and we'd be minted. I guess we'd have to pay extra tax on it as its revenue but if it gets you promoted surly its worth it

Exactly this. I know £10m is an excessive example before everyone starts sticking their necks out, we're talking an increase in revenue that gets us players who run rings round us last saturday.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

And now is our winter of discontent...

On a brighter note, we're already 3 points ahead of the relegation zone!