What do you want?

[Linz]

Or rather, at this stage of the season, what's the best you can hope for?

If things stay as they are, manager and team spirit and all that business, then what I'd really want is a 7th place finish. To bother with the play-offs, you have to be in a position to deal with winning them and I don't think we would be. Yeah, the money from the TV revenue would be nice, but if we inevitably lost, more fans would become disillusioned, more players would have nearly got there and want to be off. And if we won them, we'd get spanked and embarrassed every week in the Premiership. No amount of beach balls would keep us up.

If the team spirit and all that jazz improves, then a storming end to the season would be nice and I honestly wouldn't mind where we finished. I'm more interested in a turn around of performances, meaning that results will inevitably come. It'd get some/most of the fans back on-side, many of whom have already written off this season anyway and as long as we looked as though we were trying, I think most people could deal with (inevitable) play-off defeat.

As for signings, come January, we'll need a goalkeeper and a brand new spine to the team seeing as we appear to have accumulated quite a lot of loans. If Killa doesn't want to be here, let him go.

Good performances require a good team, not big-headed individuals. I hope anyone who thinks they're above all that effort and sweating business is politely handed their registrations or offloaded to the first team that'll offer some money for them.

So as for what I want, it can probably be summed up in a word "effort".

What about you lot?

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

At the moment, I'd settle for getting the team spirit back with them playing for each other and looking like they want it as much as the fans. The rest will take care of itself

 

[JJ Sefton]

Id settle for performances like the first play off leg against Preston and the second half away at Reading.

 

[Houso]

Id settle for performances like the first play off leg against Preston and the second half away at Reading.

This. Although, I'd be happy with performances akin to both legs of the play-off semi.

Why can't we have that? I don't quite understand.

 

[Ollessendro]

I'd like McCabe to be thinking about who he is going to bring in for the next season.

I'm writing this season off. I don't think Blackwell will be sacked and although I think he'll walk at some stage, I don't think it'll be just yet. I reckon he'll probably turn things around (to some extent) and stop the immediate rot.

Blackwell is not the man to take us to the Premiership and that's for all to see. I hope and pray that McCabe can see this too. He must have people reporting back to him on performances, atmosphere etc. I'd like us to start thinking about who next. O'Driscoll, Speed, McCall or whomever.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

Id settle for performances like the first play off leg against Preston and the second half away at Reading.

Yeah, bring back Howard and Beattie II

That game at Preston was completely out of the blue and made the shambles at Wembley all the more difficult to take. As people have said, we have the players, we have played football at times this season, so why do we play the way we do ?

 

[Bladesway]

I would take an improvement in the quality of football. Whether Blackwell is the man to take us up I don't know but I don't blame him for whats going on 100%, everyone should take a part of the responsibility and the main part lays with the players.

Firing the manager would probably give us a quick few games where results improve but I think the problem lies in the investment (or lack of) and the expectation to win every game from a fans point of view (some, not all). I would take a finish anywhere in the top 6 and give Blackwell until the end of the season to deliver just that. If that means players like Killer go then so be it. We are a better side when our backs are to the wall in my opinion and it might bring back some of the old Sheffield United spirit rather than this overblown opinion we have of ourselves at the moment.

 

[themaninblack]

I dont necessarily need to see a team of gifted individuals, cavalier attacking players or tactical inventiveness. I do need to see 11 blokes giving it everything they've got and generally looking as though they are up for it.

 

[Gingerblade]

I dont necessarily need to see a team of gifted individuals, cavalier attacking players or tactical inventiveness. I do need to see 11 blokes giving it everything they've got and generally looking as though they are up for it.

Good post mate, monty is a player of limited ability, but i would take 11 of them right now. At least he would die for the cause

 

[lenners]

It's more a question of what we need.
Changing a manager who's lost the dressing room appears a given but it feels more and more that a change at the very top would benefit the club even more.
There doesn't seem to be the drive to get us sorted out coming from the very top and you have to wonder if winning the Tevez case was a watershed for McCabe and having done that job - very well - whether he still has the stomach for the struggle that's on now.
Realistically, I doubt we're in a much better situation than Wednesday when it comes to new owners as McCabe would want his money out but, if we are as financially sound as led to believe, as the economy improves we ought to be a reasonable proposition.
If there isn't new impetus from somewhere you fear for where the club's going to be next summer because fans are not going to part with good money for season tickets if this carries on.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

It's more a question of what we need.
Changing a manager who's lost the dressing room appears a given but it feels more and more that a change at the very top would benefit the club even more.
There doesn't seem to be the drive to get us sorted out coming from the very top and you have to wonder if winning the Tevez case was a watershed for McCabe and having done that job - very well - whether he still has the stomach for the struggle that's on now.
Realistically, I doubt we're in a much better situation than Wednesday when it comes to new owners as McCabe would want his money out but, if we are as financially sound as led to believe, as the economy improves we ought to be a reasonable proposition.
If there isn't new impetus from somewhere you fear for where the club's going to be next summer because fans are not going to part with good money for season tickets if this carries on.

Have you copy and pasted that from last season, and the season before ;-)

Seriously, you're right, McCabe has wanted out for a couple of years and would have gone by now if a buyer had been found. My only worry about a complete change from the top downwards is that the grass isn't always greener and you have to question the motives of several of the individuals taking over clubs of late as it seems to be nothing more than a hobby for them.

A change at the top generally means changes below although you'd expect McCabe Snr would insist that there's a least some McCabe influence on the board when he eventually leaves.

 

[lenners]

Have you copy and pasted that from last season, and the season before ;-)

Seriously, you're right, McCabe has wanted out for a couple of years and would have gone by now if a buyer had been found. My only worry about a complete change from the top downwards is that the grass isn't always greener and you have to question the motives of several of the individuals taking over clubs of late as it seems to be nothing more than a hobby for them.

A change at the top generally means changes below although you'd expect McCabe Snr would insist that there's a least some McCabe influence on the board when he eventually leaves.

It's the first time I've thought we might need change at the very top Fleets.
McCabe's been brilliant for the club and if he's still committed then he's the right man for the job but the whole handling of Blackwell's attempted resignation then the summer transfer shenanigans suggests he's decided to settle for getting his money back and has lost belief.
If that's the case, it's going to be a tough time coming up for all at SUFC.

 

[Bramley]

It's more a question of what we need.
Changing a manager who's lost the dressing room appears a given but it feels more and more that a change at the very top would benefit the club even more.
There doesn't seem to be the drive to get us sorted out coming from the very top and you have to wonder if winning the Tevez case was a watershed for McCabe and having done that job - very well - whether he still has the stomach for the struggle that's on now.
Realistically, I doubt we're in a much better situation than Wednesday when it comes to new owners as McCabe would want his money out but, if we are as financially sound as led to believe, as the economy improves we ought to be a reasonable proposition.
If there isn't new impetus from somewhere you fear for where the club's going to be next summer because fans are not going to part with good money for season tickets if this carries on.

I stopped reading after the first line. How do you know he's lost the dressing room?

 

[Bayingblade]

It's the first time I've thought we might need change at the very top Fleets.
McCabe's been brilliant for the club and if he's still committed then he's the right man for the job but the whole handling of Blackwell's attempted resignation then the summer transfer shenanigans suggests he's decided to settle for getting his money back and has lost belief.
If that's the case, it's going to be a tough time coming up for all at SUFC.

I agree McCabe seems to have taken his eye off the ball Lenners. The worrying thing for me though is that Terry Robinson has worked his way back into the fold after being shunted out to Hungary. Two questions spring to my mind regarding his return - how? and why?

 

[super_pig]

mccabe is winding down operations.. all of the loan signings (borrowing assets) and the complete lack of investment prove this.. if he can get promotion on the cheap then ok but he'll be looking to sell i reckon

 

[super_pig]

forgot to mention. .what do i want.. simply entertaining football that makes us proud of the team win lose or draw.

 

[Foxy]

mccabe is winding down operations.. all of the loan signings (borrowing assets) and the complete lack of investment prove this.. if he can get promotion on the cheap then ok but he'll be looking to sell i reckon

If he was winding down operations, surely wanting to redevelop the bulk of the ground would also take a back seat?

 

[super_pig]

>wanting to
plans .. mere plans.. i have a plan to buy a lambo but until i actually turn up for work in one.. you get the drift.. if these plans come to fruition we'll have a great stadium with noone to play in it.. shades of the eighties eh?

 

[Worksop II]

Go on then anyone, how much to buy SUFC, Bramall Lane, the Hotel and the Academy ?

My Guess is £70 million

 

[Bayingblade]

>wanting to
plans .. mere plans.. i have a plan to buy a lambo but until i actually turn up for work in one.. you get the drift.. if these plans come to fruition we'll have a great stadium with noone to play in it.. shades of the eighties eh?

No, because we didn't have a great stadium in the eighties!

 

[Foxy]

>wanting to
plans .. mere plans.. i have a plan to buy a lambo but until i actually turn up for work in one.. you get the drift..

Have you invested in laying the foundation to get a Lambo though? He's spend some money on these plans

I see what you are saying, and how it looks.

I just wonder if he'd go to all the effort he has regarding the world cup bid etc, if he's lost faith/about to cut all ties.

 

[super_pig]

don't get me wrong .. i don't reckon he's about to sell.. but i do think he has an eye on the exit door.. he is a successful businessman and all that.. perhaps he has a cunning masterplan.. just sit mid table for a couple of years and watch all of the others go bust.. it 'will' happen to a big club sooner or later.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

McCabe's been brilliant for the club and if he's still committed then he's the right man for the job but the whole handling of Blackwell's attempted resignation then the summer transfer shenanigans suggests he's decided to settle for getting his money back and has lost belief.
If that's the case, it's going to be a tough time coming up for all at SUFC.

I think he's a victim of his own success to a certain extent. He's turned the club around off the pitch, was invloved in a promotion to the Premier League and it all went quickly wrong. He gambled the 1st season to get back up and as that failed is now steadying the ship and making sure we're in a reasonable state with a view to selling up, something he's hardly hidden in the last 2 years.

It's a very difficult balancing act and I think the reality is that whilst keeping the financial side of it sound, he's hoping the playing side will follow suit and at the moment it isn't. We almost pulled it off last season despite the 're-profiling' decision he made in January but a repeat seems a million miles away at the moment given the influx of new players and the apparent loss of team togetherness.

The goodwill seems to be draining away for Blackwell and if nothing changes, or at least the fans can't see some improvement somewhere, I think McCabe will start to see the tide turning against himself as it did over the Beattie 'affair'.

 

[Come from away]

Until we get the bulk of our team off the injury list I do not think we can make a fair judgement of where we are. If we need effort we know that we will have it in spades with Ward Monty and Cresswell in the team. Don't know what Williamson will bring to the team but I would sure like to see. Now that Killa has shown his true colours it makes Blackies options clear with regard to a stable back-four. Here I think he has to give Killa one more chance to show he can play before taking any action cause if Killa wants a Prem career he needs to show why. Blackpool Cardiff Newcastle and Barnsley is not the sequence I would have wanted and I think we need to swallow three losses at least. What Blackwell does after the next International break will determine our season. By then the full squad should be out and if he can't get results then finding the right fix in january will be the challenge and perhaps not possible; ever hopeful.

 

[happyhippy]

No, because we didn't have a great stadium in the eighties!

But we did have the best ground in Division Four ....

 

[yuley82]

i want Blackwell and Ellis to go and for us to finish above the PIGS i'd be happy with that!!

 

[happyhippy]

I'll definitely agree with the comments about wanting to see commitment at the very least on the park. That is what I was brought up with, and is archetypal Sheffield United.

I want to see players signed in January who will have a positive effect, and not be 'stop-gappers'. I also don't want to see the club start to overstretch. I want to see us have a Plan B, at least. I want to see more leadership, on and off the field.

In fact, I think that is probably what is really wrong at the moment. Nobody seems to be in control. We need to have someone take the club by the scruff of the neck, and give it a bloody good shake.

Maybe then, the thing which I really do want will happen, and that's for the mood of the crowd to improve. I actually don't want to go to matches now, because I'm sick of the general feeling of malaise and discontent. We've had some shitty times before, but I always remembered there being an element of humour about the place. It's just poisonous at the moment.

 

[beightonblade]

A big sloppy kiss from 'our gert' .............she's cummin back toneight early!

 

[Ollessendro]

A big sloppy kiss from 'our gert' .............she's cummin back toneight early!

cheaps as chips on his bike is what I want

 

[raul]

A big sloppy kiss from 'our gert' .............she's cummin back toneight early!

Let's see....gert back at 8......little bit of lovin from her man....


....could be at least 8.09 before the next Cheap as Chips opus.