Where did it all go wrong?

[grafikhaus]

Yeah, some good stuff on this thread.
I'm just recovering from yesterday's result which saw us plummet to a more realistic position than our performances have so far justified.
Having digested the events (and apologies if this has been stated, but I can't be bothered to trawl through all the threads), I saw where I realise we started to go wrong on MoTD. James Beattie.
Having lived through the almost-routine selling of our best playes since TC, this for me was among the most craven, run-up-the-white flag efforts I can remember since the Deane/Fjortoft day.
Let's face it, this is again a piss-poor division where anybody willing/able to spend £10m judiciously (i.e not £2m here, £3m there) could have a great chance of walking it.
The game has changed. From t'mill owner being t'chairman, through 'local spiv made good' (Strafford and a few we've seen at the Lane) to Carson Yeung (sp?). Genuine big-hitters who realise that you can piss a lot of money away at football if you entrust it to the amateurs we've got at the Lane now.

 

[bricktop]

The game has changed beyond belief since i was a nipper, and some of the changes have been positive, football grounds are generally safe places with little trouble around, and football has become a place where you take kids and the family and you can all enjoy it together.

On the other hand there are many things that football has become that i can't stand. The money in football and the interference that Sky have (although i can't really slag them off too much as i have a sky subscription, actually i can, i've seen enough Grand Slam Sundays to make me nauseus). Rich men coming in and treating clubs as playthings, and the whole 'baby bentley' culture that players aspire to.

Money is the god in football, and in a wider perspective a love of the game has gone for quite a few of the masses has gone as money in quite a lot of ways has changed the game for the worse.

I can't, and don't paticular care about the lifestyle's of the big name footballers, the pool of flash cars, the 100,000 grand watches, the WAGS, the over the top advertising, and the self-indulgent outside interests they have now. Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole executive producers of a new film anyone?

It is rare that i see a footballer do something outside of football that makes me think, well played and good on yer nowadays.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

The game has changed beyond belief since i was a nipper, and some of the changes have been positive, football grounds are generally safe places with little trouble around, and football has become a place where you take kids and the family and you can all enjoy it together.

On the other hand there are many things that football has become that i can't stand. The money in football and the interference that Sky have (although i can't really slag them off too much as i have a sky subscription, actually i can, i've seen enough Grand Slam Sundays to make me nauseus). Rich men coming in and treating clubs as playthings, and the whole 'baby bentley' culture that players aspire to.

Money is the god in football, and in a wider perspective a love of the game has gone for quite a few of the masses has gone as money in quite a lot of ways has changed the game for the worse.

I can't, and don't paticular care about the lifestyle's of the big name footballers, the pool of flash cars, the 100,000 grand watches, the WAGS, the over the top advertising, and the self-indulgent outside interests they have now. Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole executive producers of a new film anyone?

It is rare that i see a footballer do something outside of football that makes me think, well played and good on yer nowadays.

Absolutely Brownie and I wonder whether we'll ever get 'the beautiful game' back.

Dermot Gallagher was on Sky this morning talking about the weekend's events and he was basically saying that strong (and fair) tackles are being outlawed in the game and it's become a non-contact sport as fans have been saying for a while. Add to that the Drogba approach to falling down at the slightest breath of wind clutching his shin and you can see where it's going.

Without wanting to generalise, more and more fans are now of the 'Sky generation' and I've no doubt this is leading to more booing of players, the kind of abuse people have talked about on here over the weekend and the kind of chants we've seen recently mocking players who've lost their fathers for example. I'm not saying my generation or the one before were angels but the whole football experience now is totally different to what it was and I wonder whether it will recover.

Blimey, feel better now

 

[Linz]

I dont really have the time to post my thoughts here just yet but i wanted to say thank you to those who have done so and made this a very interesting retrospective thread.

Indeed. Whatever your views, there have been some well-reasoned opinions on here which is much more refreshing than ranting and raving.

Many thanks chaps.

 

[bladesadviser]

With regards to United selling their best players and being a "selling club" I think most clubs will sell given the right price. What has always annoyed me with United is not so much the selling of players but the timing. Deane/Fjortoft same day, Beattie in the January window, a number of players on the last hours of the transfer window. We always seem to be playing catch up and its never, "right we have the squad now we can sell any surplus"

 

[Darren]

With regards to United selling their best players and being a "selling club" I think most clubs will sell given the right price. What has always annoyed me with United is not so much the selling of players but the timing. Deane/Fjortoft same day, Beattie in the January window, a number of players on the last hours of the transfer window. We always seem to be playing catch up and its never, "right we have the squad now we can sell any surplus"

Apart from the"big 4" (and possibly Man City now) all clubs are selling clubs in that they will sell their best players to a club higher up the food chain if the price is right.

 

[JJ Sefton]

I cant really point to one specific moment as there have been so many. Hulse, Wigan, Robson, Wembley...

A major difference I see nowadays is the mismatch between what we are, or think we are, capable of and what we are doing. For the last couple of years United have been in a position which theyve not been in as long as Ive been watching them, namely, of being able to spend a bit of cash. And its got us results like Saturday.

When McCabe took over we were a mess. And to his great credit he sorted us out financially. But the fact is that we are almost exactly where we were in the League as when he took over. We have heard about establishing ourselves as a Premiership club, possibly in the top half, but we are nowhere near it. And given the resources we have, for the first time in God knows how long, people are fed up and impatient.

As long as we had nowt you kind of expected us to do shit and when something like the Bassett years or the 2002-2003 season came along you were pleased. Now we have a downside of unfulfilled potential which we didnt have before.

 

[Jim Chimmerney]

I cant really point to one specific moment as there have been so many. Hulse, Wigan, Robson, Wembley...

A major difference I see nowadays is the mismatch between what we are, or think we are, capable of and what we are doing. For the last couple of years United have been in a position which theyve not been in as long as Ive been watching them, namely, of being able to spend a bit of cash. And its got us results like Saturday.

When McCabe took over we were a mess. And to his great credit he sorted us out financially. But the fact is that we are almost exactly where we were in the League as when he took over. We have heard about establishing ourselves as a Premiership club, possibly in the top half, but we are nowhere near it. And given the resources we have, for the first time in God knows how long, people are fed up and impatient.

As long as we had nowt you kind of expected us to do shit and when something like the Bassett years or the 2002-2003 season came along you were pleased. Now we have a downside of unfulfilled potential which we didnt have before.

Spot on and as I've said elsewhere, a few bad results in the next week or so and we'll be back in a league position we were when Blackwell took over, with arguably a worse set of players to turn it round.

 

[spadge]

1867 set of farmers who like bacon sandwhiches and wore a silly blue and white apron decided they would try and make a football club. bless them the thought was there hahahaha

 

[raul]

Great post Walth.

 

[Latters]

Spot on and as I've said elsewhere, a few bad results in the next week or so and we'll be back in a league position we were when Blackwell took over, with arguably a worse set of players to turn it round.

There's no "arguably" about it. The squad we have now is far inferior to the one Robson left us with. It seems like we took our chances, gambled on big players on big wages, it didn't work and now we're happy to settle mid-table again. The problem is, this isn't the message being conveyed to the fans and, accordingly, expectations are still high.

 

[oldblade]

I cant really point to one specific moment as there have been so many. Hulse, Wigan, Robson, Wembley...

A major difference I see nowadays is the mismatch between what we are, or think we are, capable of and what we are doing. For the last couple of years United have been in a position which theyve not been in as long as Ive been watching them, namely, of being able to spend a bit of cash. And its got us results like Saturday.

When McCabe took over we were a mess. And to his great credit he sorted us out financially. But the fact is that we are almost exactly where we were in the League as when he took over. We have heard about establishing ourselves as a Premiership club, possibly in the top half, but we are nowhere near it. And given the resources we have, for the first time in God knows how long, people are fed up and impatient.

As long as we had nowt you kind of expected us to do shit and when something like the Bassett years or the 2002-2003 season came along you were pleased. Now we have a downside of unfulfilled potential which we didnt have before.

What helped McCabe sort us out financially was employing the right manager for the job at the time. If we'd gone down to the third division again, our finances might have been even harder to sort out.

 

[oldblade]

I find it so frustrating that with our wages bill and (I reckon those players have the talent) we should be playing better football. Both Blackwell and Warnock believe in a "big" striker. I don't mind - provided we get the ball when it is knocked down. The fact is we don't!

We don't play hoofball because the players like it that way. They play that way because they are trained and told to play that way. I know of no championship team that plays like we do and we spend a fortune on strikers to try and play that way. So it is not accidental.

When we played it on the floor the other Saturday dind't Blackwell and McCabe notice the sarcastic "Ole's"?

And more importantly, didn't they notice we actually looked a reasonable side playing it on the floor.

Even though on the face of it a 1-1 home drwaw against Doncaster is disappointing, I drove home reasonably happy because the performance was much improved.

 

[super_pig]

>we'll be back in a league position we were
i heart hopes that you are right .. but i my head says you are wrong.