Tomorrow - gutting

[lenners]

How sad will it be to see Kyle Walker back at the Lane tomorrow.
I hope to god we learn from our mistakes and when we say we want to build around our own we really bleedin' mean it in future.
Much respect for Kyle from me tomorrow. I look forward to the day we can buy him back.

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

Is Twitchy allowing him to play and be cup-tied?

 

[Highbury_Blade]

How sad will it be to see Kyle Walker back at the Lane tomorrow.
I hope to god we learn from our mistakes and when we say we want to build around our own we really bleedin' mean it in future.
Much respect for Kyle from me tomorrow. I look forward to the day we can buy him back.

I guess that's contingent on us being able to turn down £4m for someone who's played 5 games, and also being able to outpay the big boys.

I wouldn't hold your breath.

 

[lenners]

I guess that's contingent on us being able to turn down £4m for someone who's played 5 games, and also being able to outpay the big boys.

I wouldn't hold your breath.

£3m and by god we've certainly gone on to lose far more in terms of lost gate and sponsorship income and will go on to lose more by selling our best players.
But I'm glad to hear someone else who now doesn't believe what the board says. Good man.

 

[Grecian2000]

Is Twitchy allowing him to play and be cup-tied?

Signed for rest of season so would think so.

and he's in the squad

 

[Trigger Blade]

Is Twitchy allowing him to play and be cup-tied?

I've no idea and I don't suppose len does either.

If the lad isn't available, it would spoil yet another of len's old faithful standbys (broken academy promises), so he's posting anyway.

 

[Balham]

£3m and by god we've certainly gone on to lose far more in terms of lost gate and sponsorship income and will go on to lose more by selling our best players.
But I'm glad to hear someone else who now doesn't believe what the board says. Good man.

I'm not going to disagree that the sale of Walker, in particular, was disappointing. However, having him back in the team for more than half of last season did not lead to promotion (the only way we would have increased gate and sponsorship income in the circumstances) so that is stretching your point somewhat!

 

[Highbury_Blade]

£3m and by god we've certainly gone on to lose far more in terms of lost gate and sponsorship income and will go on to lose more by selling our best players.
But I'm glad to hear someone else who now doesn't believe what the board says. Good man.

Don't twist my words, It's nothing to do with believing what the board says. It's about financial realities. We haven't lost the gates because Kyle Walker left. We lost them because of the economic climate and Blackwell's anti-football.

We are not in a position to outpay the premier league if the player gets their head turned. Maybe we could have kept Kyle Walker. I wish we had. But you can bet your bum, if another of our young players gets targeted as by a club in the premier league then they will be sold if the price is right, unless we are also in the premier league.

I'd argue that the price was right for Kyle Walker.

 

[SwissBlade]

How sad will it be to see Kyle Walker back at the Lane tomorrow.
I hope to god we learn from our mistakes and when we say we want to build around our own we really bleedin' mean it in future.
Much respect for Kyle from me tomorrow. I look forward to the day we can buy him back.

Great to see the lad doing well, I was really disappointed to see him leave, but credit to him for making the step up. QPR fans seemed mightly impressed with him and there was talk that he might've figured in Harry's plans this season, but the move to Villa will hopefully be good for him and I look forward to seeing him one day in an England shirt (ideally a few days either side of him being back in a Blades shirt, but the latter is less likely)

No bitterness towards him, selling him has also kept the club going

 

[beechblade]

I'd argue that the price was right for Kyle Walker.

In relation to the amount of games he'd played at that time, more than right!

 

[lenners]

We sold the soul of the club when we sold the Kyles.
We lost the sense of continuity from the days of Jags and co, through to the Kyles, of players that were part of our club, that had been developed by us.
We haven't recovered our soul and that's something you can't put a price on.

 

[Bladesman]

We only had to sell one Kyle really but anywho I am sure we will re sign him when he is 35 and coming back from a career ending injury.

 

[JJ Sefton]

We sold the soul of the club when we sold the Kyles.

Cobblers. Jagielka never played in the same side as either. They were two full backs with about a seasons worth of football between them FFS, one class the other prone to howlers. For some perspective David Barnes played more games at full back than them two put together.

If the sale of those two was a kick in the balls for you I can tell you it was worse when Deane left in 1993 and when him and Fjortoft left in 1998.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Then you must be glad with the appt of MA? Passionate guy and a fan, will be looking to kick a few butts and get some volume back in Bramall Lane on a Saturday. Plus the 4 Academy lads in the squad Saturday, giving some more sould back. Haven't seen you comment on this though?

We sold the soul of the club when we sold the Kyles.
We lost the sense of continuity from the days of Jags and co, through to the Kyles, of players that were part of our club, that had been developed by us.
We haven't recovered our soul and that's something you can't put a price on.

 

[beechblade]

[/COLOR]

We sold the soul of the club when we sold the Kyles.
We lost the sense of continuity from the days of Jags and co, through to the Kyles, of players that were part of our club, that had been developed by us.
We haven't recovered our soul and that's something you can't put a price on.

They had nothing to do with the clubs soul, and the clubs soul will remain long after any player whether we develop them or not, no player is bigger than a club and no player doesn't have a price tag dangling over his head in ANY club if the price is right.

 

[j j]

Did someone say "recovered our soul" without smirking?

 

[lenners]

[/COLOR]

They had nothing to do with the clubs soul, and the clubs soul will remain long after any player whether we develop them or not, no player is bigger than a club and no player doesn't have a price tag dangling over his head in ANY club if the price is right.

This is the real tragedy.
Fans only seeing United now as a balance sheet, no longer a football club and what our club should be about.
If you can't see how little connection we have with the endless conveyor belt of loanees/crap signings compared with the likes of the Kyles, Jags etc, you're probably lacking soul yourself.

---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:28 PM ----------

Cobblers. Jagielka never played in the same side as either. They were two full backs with about a seasons worth of football between them FFS, one class the other prone to howlers. For some perspective David Barnes played more games at full back than them two put together.

If the sale of those two was a kick in the balls for you I can tell you it was worse when Deane left in 1993 and when him and Fjortoft left in 1998.

Pretty similar to the examples you quote and neither of those scenarios did the club any good either.

 

[Highbury_Blade]

Lenners,

I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head

 

[AlienWoodward]

We sold the soul of the club when we sold the Kyles.
We lost the sense of continuity from the days of Jags and co, through to the Kyles, of players that were part of our club, that had been developed by us.
We haven't recovered our soul and that's something you can't put a price on.

We sold the soul of the club when Currie went to Leeds.
The only other players i've ever felt gutted about leaving were Deane, Cockerill and possibly a small tinge with Agana. As for all the others not bothered.
Walker and Naughton absolutely great deal in what we got for them. I wish we could bring more through and sell them on. Weren't they both supposed to be playng for England by now ? My spurs mate is okish with Walker but thinks Naughton was a waste of money

---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

Lenners,

I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head

Is it an M&S pancake or Tesco's.

 

[beechblade]

This is the real tragedy.
Fans only seeing United now as a balance sheet, no longer a football club and what our club should be about.
If you can't see how little connection we have with the endless conveyor belt of loanees/crap signings compared with the likes of the Kyles, Jags etc, you're probably lacking soul yourself.

I have plenty of soul, and passion and pride in the Blades, whoever wears the shirt, I'll give them all a fair crack of the whip and back them no matter what, and you never mentioned anything about loans or signings. One thing I do know though is that in this day and age money talks at every level of the game. So stop talking bollocks, just so you can have another pop at the club you claim to have so much soul for.

 

[JJ Sefton]

Pretty similar to the examples you quote and neither of those scenarios did the club any good either.

The club's 'soul' survived both sales, it has survived the Kyle's going.

 

[TonyAgana]

Back in the real world, SUFC is financially on its arse. It would take a huuuuge amount of "soul" to get us on a level playing field in terms of competing in the market - even for loanees. Believe me, we're a million miles away right now.

 

[lenners]

We sold the soul of the club when Currie went to Leeds.
The only other players i've ever felt gutted about leaving were Deane, Cockerill and possibly a small tinge with Agana. As for all the others not bothered.
Walker and Naughton absolutely great deal in what we got for them. I wish we could bring more through and sell them on. Weren't they both supposed to be playng for England by now ? My spurs mate is okish with Walker but thinks Naughton was a waste of money

---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------



Is it an M&S pancake or Tesco's.

With a bit of luck Lowton will improve and we can sell him and there's always the chance one of the Irish lads could have a sparkling half a season and we can sell him as well.
There'll always be more loanings, more Andy Taylors, and maybe Ryan France will make it back from injury.

 

[Grecian2000]

I wish we could bring more through and sell them on.

I think that just about makes Len's point for him.

Two born and bred Blades, nurtured through the club and looking like very promising players, sold and replaced by the likes of France, Taylor, Calve and Jordan!!!
Is the club about making money or playing football?
It may be a necessary evil that the first has to precede the second but to be happy about it is staggering in my view.

 

[lenners]

The club's 'soul' survived both sales, it has survived the Kyle's going.

One resulted in relegation, the other the end of any hopes of promotion and set the club back several years.
The particular poignancy with these two were they were Blades themselves.
But it doesn't matter. We got the money in.
Crowds drop, fans don't relate to the bunch of loaness and non-entities on the pitch, we slide towards league one.
But it doesn't matter. We got the money in.

 

[JJ Sefton]

One resulted in relegation, the other the end of any hopes of promotion and set the club back several years.
The particular poignancy with these two were they were Blades themselves.
But it doesn't matter. We got the money in.
Crowds drop, fans don't relate to the bunch of loaness and non-entities on the pitch, we slide towards league one.
But it doesn't matter. We got the money in.

But the clubs 'soul' didnt die in 1993 or 1998 did it?

 

[Highbury_Blade]

The club is about balancing the books.

If we bring lowton through and sell him on for 3m then i'm fine with that if that enables us to keep hold of the rest of the academy lads.

At the time that Walker left, we needed the money after the Robson debacle. Hopefully once our external debt has been paid off, we'll be in a stronger position to keep hold of our kids. At the time we weren't.

 

[shorehamview]

I know loads of people who have stopped watching United solely because the two Kyles were sold.



I don't really. I just thought I'd have a ride on the "We've sold our soul, and we only did it t'other year" bandwagon for a minute or two.

 

[Tuns]

Don't twist my words, It's nothing to do with believing what the board says. It's about financial realities. We haven't lost the gates because Kyle Walker left. We lost them because of the economic climate and Blackwell's anti-football.

We are not in a position to outpay the premier league if the player gets their head turned. Maybe we could have kept Kyle Walker. I wish we had. But you can bet your bum, if another of our young players gets targeted as by a club in the premier league then they will be sold if the price is right, unless we are also in the premier league.

I'd argue that the price was right for Kyle Walker.

Wasn't Kyle under contract to us? Doesn't matter how much they offered to pay him we did not have to accept it.

We decided to cash in to put the money into the black hole whilst so many of our fans were frothing at the lips of all that lovely wonga.

I waited years to see United finally produce some young exciting players who were Blades and who were desperate to play for us and who were not banging on the door to leave and we screwed it all up.

If you've followed United as long as I have you will know it could be another 10 or 20 years before we produce another couple of youngsters like that at the same time in fact it may never happen.

We had the chance to build a club and a team around them and bottled it.

Yes I know about the harsh realties of football that more recent fans and the media seem so quick to fire back at any suggestion of showing some ambition and I know about business, I run one.

But I also know football is not a normal business and once you start treating it like one you lose the magic and the dreams and the passion that makes it so special.

I'm not away with the fairies. I know there is a time to cash in on a player for the good of a club but that was not it and as Len says its impact was and still is far reaching.

I think it ripped a big part of the heart and soul out of this club and directly and indirectly we lost thousands of fans as a result. WHat's the point in following a club if you can't at least dream about success.

I was so pissed off when we sold the Kyles that I said I didn't renew the following season after 30 odd years of being a ST holder. It was the final straw for me a many others.

I wish him well tomorrow. Watching the two Kyles fearlessly bombing on from full back for a few months gave me immense enjoyment and I was proud they were Blades. I even dreamed it could be a turning point for the club - before we did the inevitable.

MInd you I suppose we wouldn't have got Koz or Taylor if they'd stayed so every cloud.

 

[JJ Sefton]

The club is about balancing the books.

If we bring lowton through and sell him on for 3m then i'm fine with that if that enables us to keep hold of the rest of the academy lads.

At the time that Walker left, we needed the money after the Robson debacle. Hopefully once our external debt has been paid off, we'll be in a stronger position to keep hold of our kids. At the time we weren't.

Actually I can sort of len's point and I made the same one in a rather tired emotional manner outside a pub after the Burnley match. It is sad to see talent youve nurtured blossom somewhere else. My dad says he felt physically sick when he saw Mick Jones lifting a trophy with L**ds. I know how he feels, I still have to turn the tele off if Jags is playing for Everton.

But what are you gonna do? The club had blown the lot on the Robson gamble, a true disaster for this club. We needed money. If we dont sell players where is it going to come from? McCabe? Perhaps, but if hes tapped out thats off. A new owner? Great, but who?