When did things make a turn for a worse?

[BlairBlade]

You do know we finished 9th with that system right?

The one without a ten.

In the PL.

After Duffy had left.

We do.
It would have been a good idea to build on what we achieved last season.
We didn’t.

 

[LudlamBlade]

I think we’re on the same page here. I know I’d probably be slagging off the 10 if we stuck to it rigidly (as we have the ‘flat 3’) and shipped 25 goals in games against the big boys

I guess we'll have to...agree to agree?!

Not used to this level of reasonable debate on here

 

[LudlamBlade]

We do.
It would have been a good idea to build on what we achieved last season.
We didn’t.

I agree, it would have been, and in hindsight we should have invested in a LCB and an RCM.

I dont think it'd have been much different if we'd ignored Brewster, signed Buendia and played him as a 10.

We'd still have been shorn at the back following JoC's loss!

 

[A Storm of Blades]

I guess we'll have to...agree to agree?!

Not used to this level of reasonable debate on here

Have we broken forum rules?

 

[LudlamBlade]

Have we broken forum rules?

Just checked...

Rule 52 : All posts must be factually questionable, personally insulting and aggressive in tone.

I'll go and sit in the naughty corner

 

[FMBlade1]

First time I’ve seen the interview heard a lot about it and wow. I got to the players are bright when asking for contracts and turned off, could see it was going to be a car crash!

Yeah I remember watching it at the time and was in complete shock and became seriously worried for us. I didn't post about it on here as didn't want to seem to overreact, and most people didn't really notice/pay attention at what was said.

As you can see on Youtube with the comments below those that did liked it at the time because Wilder was 'saying it as it is' , unfortunately 'what it is' was quite a bleak picture and outlook.

Of course lockdown didn't help, but if our fans are the difference between relegation and survival I think we should be paid for going not the other way around!

 

[SUFC Handsworth]

Where did it all go wrong? When that shit from China came over here.

Tufty had built a proper team with a proper team spirit, a team of proper men, they fed off the backing of our fans and equally lapped it up if oppo players and fans were having a go.

The double whammy for us with no fans in the ground, is that it's played right in to the hands of the Premier prima donnas who chuck themselves to the ground, pretend their injured, look to get oppo players sent off, who now get to play in nothing more than glorified training games and have no pressure on them.

Only SUFC could have a decent team wrecked by a worldwide pandemic. We had the same in 1914 when World War I ruined a good team and ditto the same with World War II in 1939.

 

[Chabuddy G]

This ^

The most frustrating thing is the the 'mini season' post lockdown highlighted these glaring weaknesses yet we didn't address them. The evidence was there!

Norwood, Lundstram and Jimmy Fleck returned post lockdown shadows of their former selves - especially in the away games V Leicester, Man U, Newcastle.

Our response was to add Burke, Brewster and x2 reserve fullbacks...

That for me is when it went wrong.

The midfield not being strengthened is 100% why we went down imo. We had 4 out and out midfielders in a system that requires 3. Yet we have 6 strikers. 5 players who can play LWB.

Ridiculously imbalanced really. And the glaring lack of quality in centre midfield is astounding.

And people will point the finger at the Prince not giving Wilder the budget wages wise we apparently need to sign the likes of Watkins, Cash, Robinson but he said himself he’d walk away from deals if they weren’t right. They’re all on 50k+ at Villa and Fulham. He has also talked about the importance of this ‘wage structure’ we’ve got in place and how it’s important we don’t break it for the harmony of the squad. You can’t have it both ways.

 

[Weasel]

The midfield not being strengthened is 100% why we went down imo. We had 4 out and out midfielders in a system that requires 3. Yet we have 6 strikers. 5 players who can play LWB.

Ridiculously imbalanced really. And the glaring lack of quality in centre midfield is astounding.

And people will point the finger at the Prince not giving Wilder the budget wages wise we apparently need to sign the likes of Watkins, Cash, Robinson but he said himself he’d walk away from deals if they weren’t right. They’re all on 50k+ at Villa and Fulham. He has also talked about the importance of this ‘wage structure’ we’ve got in place and how it’s important we don’t break it for the harmony of the squad. You can’t have it both ways.

We've needed more physicality in the middle of the park now for the last 18 months. More strength, more pace, more height. I thought it was obvious to most that that is where we really needed to up our game to be able to compete in the PL.

This is where the foreign transfer market should have been exploited more to find the hidden gems at prices we could afford. I'm sure that the players we needed are out there but we would rather stick with the 'Donkey Plodder' (good ol Lundy) putting in half arsed performances. The midfield deficiencies 100% sit with CWAK.

 

[Chabuddy G]

We've needed more physicality in the middle of the park now for the last 18 months. More strength, more pace, more height. I thought it was obvious to most that that is where we really needed to up our game to be able to compete in the PL.

This is where the foreign transfer market should have been exploited more to find the hidden gems at prices we could afford. I'm sure that the players we needed are out there but we would rather stick with the 'Donkey Plodder' (good ol Lundy) putting in half arsed performances. The midfield deficiencies 100% sit with CWAK.

More physicality and more creativity and guile. We have none. None whatsoever.

IMO That’s the reason we’re going down. The midfield or lack of.

 

[Grumps]

It was last season away at C Palace when Sander Berg took Lunnys place and Wilder pushed him to where we were in the ground and sung his song, the look on some of the players faces was very interesting. After the match the players or some players told Wilder it wasn’t right what you have just done.Lundy knew then he wasn’t going to sign a contract because Wilder was going to play Sander from the start when other new players have to wait to get into Wilders teams.When Sander got injured that’s when Lundy got that couldn’t care less attitude when he played knowing he would be out once Sander was fit . With that, that’s when Wilder lost some of the players respect . As I was told there’s more to come out

 

[Weasel]

More physicality and more creativity and guile. We have none. None whatsoever.

IMO That’s the reason we’re going down. The midfield or lack of.

I know for certain that before we spunked away our last £23m on Brewster, some on here were stating that midfield reinforcements and a LCB were needed as a much bigger priority (I was fully advocating this and I wasn't the only one at all).

Instead we brought in a young lad 'one for the future' who looks like a sheep thrown to the Wolves at the moment. Bad choice and it wasn't what was needed most at the time.

That's the feckin annoying thing, if we had bought decent players in the positions that most needed strengthening and still went down then fair doos. It happens. But it feels like we have contributed to our own downfall by buying the right players at the wrong times. Warnock did similar when we went down in 2007 and bought for the future when we needed the right players now.

 

[Chabuddy G]

I know for certain that before we spunked away our last £23m on Brewster, some on here were stating that midfield reinforcements and a LCB were needed as a much bigger priority (I was fully advocating this and I wasn't the only one at all).

Instead we brought in a young lad 'one for the future' who looks like a sheep thrown to the Wolves at the moment. Bad choice and it wasn't what was needed most at the time.

That's the feckin annoying thing, if we had bought decent players in the positions that most needed strengthening and still went down then fair doos. It happens. But it feels like we have contributed to our own downfall by buying the right players at the wrong times. Warnock did similar when we went down in 2007 and bought for the future when we needed the right players now.

Yep. I was screaming for both.
Also, I like Ramsdale a lot but if money is tight why put 18m on a keeper? You could pick a very decent older keeper up for 5m max.

The recruitment was terrible

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

We've needed more physicality in the middle of the park now for the last 18 months. More strength, more pace, more height. I thought it was obvious to most that that is where we really needed to up our game to be able to compete in the PL.

This is where the foreign transfer market should have been exploited more to find the hidden gems at prices we could afford. I'm sure that the players we needed are out there but we would rather stick with the 'Donkey Plodder' (good ol Lundy) putting in half arsed performances. The midfield deficiencies 100% sit with CWAK.

At the risk of offering balance, we played our best at the start of last season when 'Donkey Plodder' was playing like Shergar... Like I say earlier, the signs were there...

 

[Weasel]

It was last season away at C Palace when Sander Berg took Lunnys place and Wilder pushed him to where we were in the ground and sung his song, the look on some of the players faces was very interesting. After the match the players or some players told Wilder it wasn’t right what you have just done.Lundy knew then he wasn’t going to sign a contract because Wilder was going to play Sander from the start when other new players have to wait to get into Wilders teams.When Sander got injured that’s when Lundy got that couldn’t care less attitude when he played knowing he would be out once Sander was fit . With that, that’s when Wilder lost some of the players respect . As I was told there’s more to come out

If true then that says something about the players. SB has just landed with a new club, a young lad taking a big career choice and I would expect CW to make him feel at home. It was a tremendous gesture by CW that day as far as concerned.

What other players should have done (I'm looking at good ol Lundy mostly here) is to embrace the challenge, think 'ill fuckin show you Mr Wilder' and got on with things, continuing to do their best for the club which when a said and done pays each of them an handsome wage compared to the man in the street.

To play like you don't give a fuck (as some have) all whilst taking a nice wage is cheating the club, the management, and the fan base.

Some of them should be shown the door in May irrespective of who is the manager then. Some have burnt their bridges with the fans now.

 

[robbiez666]

We were always going to be up against it with such a rapid ascent. The rest of the club outside of the first team was lagging behind.

We had momentum like no club has ever had. A team which was many times better than the individual players in it. A group which went into every game giving everything and treating it like they're underdogs in a cup game.

Every game was do or die and we had an incredible amount of luck with form and injuries. The same players performing game after game. Everyone on the country behind us.

It was never going to last but came to a crashing hault with lockdown 1.0. We bungled the handling of our players badly. Maybe that break started to chip away at their unflinching believe. Maybe Chris saw Europe and had too much time to think about it.

suddenly we were cautious, holding for draws, the bravery ebbed away. The pressure mounted. The rest is history.

This has probably come a season early but it was always coming.

 

[Hockey'sBeard]

I think there were some signs just before lockdown - at home to Brighton 1-1 we weren’t particularly convincing and we won many other games by a single goal and I think momentum and fans kept the players going but we were showing signs then of weariness. Lockdown was a reset for many teams and top teams got players back from injury. Not sure how well we supported our players during this time but that was the start for me and it showed when we returned. We had some poor matches and a couple of notable great ones - although Spurs should have been out of sight beforehand. I thought we limped and fell away towards the end of the season, particularly Leicester and Southampton. The hangover from the end of that season results continued into this season, coupled I with short break between last season and this. I think meant players were off it, through tiredness/ weariness - being told to go again within a short period of time with no fans to drive them and perhaps some doubts about their quality after all. This is where the gap in consistency quality between our players and established premier league players became more evident

 

[FMBlade1]

I can't remember what documentary it was, but there was one featuring us around a year ago showing the boardroom with a whiteboard of our first 11 with Norwood's name missing, then Berge was brought in.

It's totally fine to plan for the future but for that to be made so obvious and public can't have been ideal.

Also I'm not sure how normal it is for player's wives to be making veiled digs on Twitter, think it was Sharp's and Fleck's that had been in a further sign that all was not well behind the scenes for many months.

Even saying that 'behind the scenes' is a bit depressing because it was clear it wasn't and was being brought out into the public domain. This hardly could have helped us recruit players etc.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Is the answer to every question ‘Leicester’?

 

[A Storm of Blades]

The midfield not being strengthened is 100% why we went down imo. We had 4 out and out midfielders in a system that requires 3. Yet we have 6 strikers. 5 players who can play LWB.

Ridiculously imbalanced really. And the glaring lack of quality in centre midfield is astounding.

And people will point the finger at the Prince not giving Wilder the budget wages wise we apparently need to sign the likes of Watkins, Cash, Robinson but he said himself he’d walk away from deals if they weren’t right. They’re all on 50k+ at Villa and Fulham. He has also talked about the importance of this ‘wage structure’ we’ve got in place and how it’s important we don’t break it for the harmony of the squad. You can’t have it both ways.

And showed Duffy the door when he asked for a pay rise.

 

[Stanthemanfan]

And showed Duffy the door when he asked for a pay rise.

And showed Duffy the door when he asked for a pay rise.

He didn't ask for a pay rise, all he wanted was to know was why the club hadn't started negotiations with his agent about extending his deal because fleck, bash, Norwood, Egan, Billy etc had all signed new deals but he hadn't heard/been offered anything but to me it was obvious wilder wasn't keen on him and used it to kick off n get rid, Plus he was always starting and takin him off or making him sub, remember the "he can't last 90 mins" quote? Then Duffy put on his twitter something about how he'd come top in some fitness thing in training, plus how many players did he bring in to replace him? Carruthers, Holmes, dowell, Woodburn and I'm sure there was more!

 

[ATL Recs]

Lockdown, no fans, no 'feedback' from the punters - no way they'd have been able to stick with Lundstram et al, and we'd have dragged a shitty but close performance over the line several times. Nobody fancies coming to the Lane with a crowd in place - typical for us that we have that advantage wiped out after one season back at the top

Rubbish absolute crap to believe that
we had started to lose it in the New Year you could see the flowing football and intensity was dropping
Our last away game at Palace we were poor got a freak goal but looked poor
Henderson certainly earnt us some points in the new year 2020

 

[Blade56]

When McCabe lost control……












what?

 

[steveM]

Signing Burnie instead of Maupay. Even 66% of people on here got it woefully wrong in the poll. You spunked a load of money on two flops up top.

 

[FMBlade1]

How I imagine Wilder's team talks turned into as things went south

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

JO’Cs injury. Never has losing one player had such catastrophic effects on the team and the club. We conceded from his part of the penalty area the first game he was missing and even the winner on Saturday was exactly where he would’ve been.

A player utterly vital to the success under Wilder,
our back ups for him were Kean Bryan and Jack Robinson.

Jesus t1ttyf(_)cking Christ

 

[jono_t2000]

Finishing 9th. I think someone said it before, but if we had been relegated in our first season. We could have consolidated rather than going Billy Big Bollocks and spending way over our means. CWAK would probably still be here too

 

[Champagneblade]

O'Connell's injury no doubt but also when they sat down for the summer window and decided priorities.

Got them totally wrong in my view.

An expensive goalkeeper and an expensive forward were not what was needed.

To tread water, the O'Connell situation needed resolving and Lundstram needed replacing.

There still seems a fundamental lack of understanding that creative midfielders who created chances is what helps you to win games. More strikers do not because you'll still be creating just as few chances.

Yes we needed a keeper but 18.5m was a huge chunk.

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

Do fans cheer Wilder louder than other managers because he’s from Sheffield? If only we could appoint Bobby Knutt.

No Wilder brought us astonishing success for 4 out of 5 seasons, seeing us go from league 1 obscurity to 9th in the Prem.Yes he made a right horses ass of transfers, and managing in the last season, but I’ll always be grateful for those marvellous 4 seasons!
Up there with Harris, and Bassett.Let’s hope now Slav can bring us back.A bit of perspective,please!

 

[raul]

Going to the home of the Champions of Europe and runaway PL leaders and conducting a training session in a public park.