Tell you what boo, it has the ring of a city not that far from here, a few decades ago, when a certain manager strode from Derby and took control at Nottingham Forest.
Brian Clough is the man in question. He took a team of players, many of whom had been around for some time, and what he did was impose his vision upon the rabble who stood before him. They began to realise that a collective approach would be so much more successful than a team of individuals, and so it began, they became a force in this game that we love. It was to become a golden period in Nottingham Forest's history, never to be repeated, but for those old enough to recall the team he took control of, the way Clough assembled a team which included the first million pound player bought from Birmingham.
These were heady days for Clough's team. Hard to beat, always determined to play an attractive form of football, but always with the will to win and not accept second best. Reminds me of what we're witnessing right now, where Chris Wilder and Alan Knill have taken control of the Blades, a team that was going nowhere fast, that had suffered a succession of managers to little success. But Wilder and Knill arrived, and we soon began to sense that things might become a very different proposition. The crowds began to improve, we, the mighty Blades, soon began to produce football worthy of those hard to please, but indefatigable, supporters. I still think there's a fragility that I associate with supporting the Blades, it's as if we'll wake up and we'll have dreamt about having a genuinely great manager. It's as if we'll find that the team that's giving us hope and ambition was just a momentary illusion, something we never really deserved.
Thankfully that fragility is being replaced by a steely, more determined vision. We're no longer here to be fodder for those teams barely able to compete with our illustrious history. Sadly, history has no effect on the present, other to remind us of what we once enjoyed. Fortunately, under Wilder's guidance we're once again realising that a team who offer a collective will and desire is something to behold. It's probably football's best kept secret, the extent to which Chris Wilder is taking this club far beyond it's previous expectations. Let's hope it stays that way, that what we're witnessing and accepting, takes other clubs by the jugular and grinds them into submission.
A great time to be a Blade, perhaps, and only time will confirm, a time to remember as the mighty Blades continue their march forward, once again taking their place amongst football's finest.
