Where it all started to go wrong...

[Darren]

http://s24su.com/forum/index.php?threads/beattie.24460/page-11

There were a few dissenting voices, at least. You in fact said he'd probably be unfit, I posted 'thank fuck' when it was erroneously reported that he'd signed for Southampton.

Did I? Well consistency is the virtue of the small minded (or something similar that Oscar Wilde said) I can't be arsed to read through it, but did I not say something like "he should be a good signing but he will need time to get fit".

The general view still was that he was a great signing I think

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I think the new badge was designed by Jimmy Sirrell in the late 1970's. Well we all know what happened from the late 70's onwards.

As a superstitious person with anything 'Blades' the crossed blades on the new badge has always concerned me.

Crossed blades are supposed to represent an argument. McCabe v Warnock, Clough v Collins, Jose v whoever, Brian the Blade v the world. There must be loads more.

I'm pretty certain that the current badge was designed by Jimmy Hagan, originally as a club badge to go on the blazer worn by players and officials. It was slightly modified to become the official club badge in 1977.

 

[Guesty]

Did I? Well consistency is the virtue of the small minded (or something similar that Oscar Wilde said) I can't be arsed to read through it, but did I not say something like "he should be a good signing but he will need time to get fit".

The general view still was that he was a great signing I think

To quote your good self:

'To be honest, I get the distinct impression that Beattie would rather be at home, counting his money, growing his paunch and playing with his X box rather than being kicked to death by third division defenders.'
[What made you come to that conclusion?]
'That he is unfit, doesn't have a contract and doesn't seem to be making any real effort to get fit and get a contract any time soon.'

You're right about the general consensus, certainly, but there were a fair few who thought he was a busted flush and shouldn't be signed.

 

[Wards]

If you look back to around December 2011, you will see that virtually everyone on here was desperate for Beattie to sign. He had never played below the 2nd tier and everyone thought that getting him to sign for a third tier team was a great coup.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

But he was shit (as well as unfit, slow and pretty lazy) and as such wasn't the right signing for us. I think it's completely fair to say that Wilson didn't get any of those three signings right which cost us as a result. We lost a really good player and replaced him with three crap ones. Not really sure what your argument is tbh.

 

[Darren]

But he was shit (as well as unfit, slow and pretty lazy) and as such wasn't the right signing for us. I think it's completely fair to say that Wilson didn't get any of those three signings right which cost us as a result. We lost a really good player and replaced him with three crap ones. Not really sure what your argument is tbh.

I am saying you are looking at this with the benefit of hindsight. At the time he signed the players, I think any reasonable person would have considered he had made sufficient provision for Evans going down.

 

[coaxingstar71]

I am saying you are looking at this with the benefit of hindsight. At the time he signed the players, I think any reasonable person would have considered he had made sufficient provision for Evans going down.

Without wishing to get involved in your side discussion with Wards - I suppose we all hope that when it comes to signings that the manager is more astute than we could possibly be, so even if we think someone is going to be a decent signing, the manager might know of reasons why they wouldn't be and obviously vice versa, so we may think why is he signing him and then they turn out to be really good signings. Unfortunately what appears to be happening to us more often than not is we think, that doesn't seem to be a very good signing and invariably we are proved correct!

 

[Silent Blade]

I'm pretty certain that the current badge was designed by Jimmy Hagan, originally as a club badge to go on the blazer worn by players and officials. It was slightly modified to become the official club badge in 1977.

Yes, Hagan designed a badge (that wasnt too dissimiliar to our current one) for a Blades summer tour in the 1950s (he was our captain then). Someone claimed in the Star some years ago that he showed his Blades tattoo to Dick Wragg in the 1970s and Wragg was impressed with the design and then it was decided that we have a new club crest that was similar to the tattoo on the Blades fan's arm. Our chairman in 1977 was John Hassall although Wragg was still in our board of directors (he resigned as our chairman in 1974 because he was in the FA International committee) so I am not sure about the accuracy of that Blade fan's claim

 

[coaxingstar71]

Going back to the OP again, it's obvious that at some point since we did build the South Stand we would have had to build it. Can't imagine us still virtually having a 3 sided ground. There hasn't been any point during the clubs recent history when there would have been an ideal time to do it. The only other time was probably when Reg wanted to build his "Bramall Centre" but of course the Council put the kibosh on that and Reg subsequently lost interest in the club (IMO).

 

[Jon Bon]

Surely taking the Dexel Tyres advert down from the Bramall Lane end was the catalyst.

No mate. For me it was when 'Head to Housleys for scrap' - with the drawing of the kid with a black eye - got removed. You could feel the life force draining out of the Lane from that moment on..

 

[Silent Blade]

Going back to the OP again, it's obvious that at some point since we did build the South Stand we would have had to build it. Can't imagine us still virtually having a 3 sided ground.

When I started becoming a Lane regular in 1970 it didnt really register to me that we had a 3 sided ground and being different to all the other grounds (Northampton was the only other league team to play their home matches at a cricket ground). It was when I was reading in Shoot! that Ian Callaghan of Liverpool was saying he didnt like playing at Bramall Lane because he felt that it was like playing in a public park that made me decide that we should have a new stand (I was excited with the announcement during the 1971-72 season that the club were planning to built a new stand and my dad, who didnt like cricket, was delighted too).

Talking to a Liverpool fan in the 1980s he recalled going to matches at Bramall Lane and he was always fed up of Blades players kicking the ball towards the cricket pavilion to "waste time" as we were defending our lead. When I told my dad about what the Liverpool fan had said, he replied "other teams did the same when they were winning"

 

[coaxingstar71]

Bit before my time unfortunately Silent, however I remember the old cricket pavillion very well and can well imagine how far away from the pitch it was. The irony was that the stand was built partly to benefit from the commercial value only for the team to get instantly relegated and attendances fall!

 

[Silent Blade]

Bit before my time unfortunately Silent, however I remember the old cricket pavillion very well and can well imagine how far away from the pitch it was. The irony was that the stand was built partly to benefit from the commercial value only for the team to get instantly relegated and attendances fall!

I still remember looking at the New South Stand from my seat in the BLUT (we were playing against Derby - who were champions in the previous season) in the first league match of the 1975-76 season and I thought we were going to stay in the first division for a long time. Jim Brown saved a Bruce Rioch penalty. Keith Eddy gave us the lead with his spot kick but with 4 minutes left Charlie George hit a stunning equaliser in front of the Kop. It all went downhill after that!

 

[Wards]

I am saying you are looking at this with the benefit of hindsight. At the time he signed the players, I think any reasonable person would have considered he had made sufficient provision for Evans going down.

I think you're addressing a question that wasn't in my original response tbh. My original response said he didnt make the correct signings. Which he didn't. He may have thought he made sufficient provision at the time (as did many on here) but the reality was that they were poor and offered nothing. He got his signings wrong. Of course that's in hindsight.

 

[OllyBlade]

Can't blame him for signing shit players?? Who else is held responsible? Hoskins was a perma-crock, O'Halloran completely untested and Beattie - was just really shit. So out of the three he didn't get any of them right!

The problems Hoskins had at the end of that season which meant he missed the Stevenage game and the play-offs was a hernia, unrelated to previous sporting injuries. So it was completely rank luck that deprived us of him.

The end of that season was like a Philip Larkin poem, an ode to the futility of hope. I don't think any club will ever have a season ruined in more depressing fashion; right at the death, to their most bitter rivals, after an unprecedented series of events. The fact we still managed to fit in almost the most epic penalty shootout loss in a final imaginable is just the cherry on top of the shitcake.

 

[Treeton Blade]

I blame Jock Dodds for hitting the bar in the 1936 Fa Cup final when he should have scored, a downwards slide from that fateful moment

 

[BushBlade]

The problems Hoskins had at the end of that season which meant he missed the Stevenage game and the play-offs was a hernia, unrelated to previous sporting injuries. So it was completely rank luck that deprived us of him.

The end of that season was like a Philip Larkin poem, an ode to the futility of hope. I don't think any club will ever have a season ruined in more depressing fashion; right at the death, to their most bitter rivals, after an unprecedented series of events. The fact we still managed to fit in almost the most epic penalty shootout loss in a final imaginable is just the cherry on top of the shitcake.

I may be wrong but I recall Hoskins was carrying the hernia when we signed him and aggravated it.

 

[Edinblade]

In all seriousness, every season since the premiership year has had at least one unforgivable season ruining decision made by McCabe.
Robson, Beattie, Two Kyles, Adams, Weir, selling best player just prior to start of every season etc etc.
One person to blame, every season should have been better.
For this reason McCabe has to be stopped from making anymore decisions. No more managerial changes, let Adkins buy and sell players. Within three years we'll be back in the Championship.
Anymore changes and the chances are we'll be league 2 at best.

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Going back to the OP again, it's obvious that at some point since we did build the South Stand we would have had to build it. Can't imagine us still virtually having a 3 sided ground. There hasn't been any point during the clubs recent history when there would have been an ideal time to do it. The only other time was probably when Reg wanted to build his "Bramall Centre" but of course the Council put the kibosh on that and Reg subsequently lost interest in the club (IMO).

No argument from me that we needed to build that stand. My point is that it's like looking at two different clubs if you look at our history before and our fortunes since.

I've got a Newcastle v Blades program at home where they enthuse about the meeting of two proud old clubs who had never played below the 2nd tier. Without checking I think it was when the stand was under construction. Our standing in the game at that time was similar to Newcastle, a well respected club with a proud history. It's what's happened since it was built that's so incredible.

There's young fans on here who only have seen Unitd be a 2nd tier club or worse with the odd season at the top, but it hasn't always been like this. When I was young up to the age of 17 we were a well renowned club on a par with many of the long term established clubs in the Prem.

Since the building of the stand we've become similar to a Huddersfield, a once great club but now doesn't look out of place in any of the lower divisions.

Of course I know the building of the stand isn't the cause of our woes, but it does serve as the marker of when we changed from a great old club to one with a dire record of failure and a bleak future.

 

[Bladesince59]

KM should have given Warnock the £3m he wanted in Jan 2007 to strengthen the defence.

And Warnock should have nutted Bean rather than resign. It's been a crock of shit ever since.

 

[Bladesince59]

Oh and when MancU gave the spammers 3 points on the last day of the season. Cheating Bastards.

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

KM should have given Warnock the £3m he wanted in Jan 2007 to strengthen the defence.

And Warnock should have nutted Bean rather than resign. It's been a crock of shit ever since.

Totally agree. When Warnock went I was one of a minority that was gutted. I actually went on Talksport when they asked for a Blade fans reaction and said so. We all know the mistakes he made and how he thought it was all about him, but I knew then he wouldn't easily be replaced.

 

[derryblade]

KM should have given Warnock the £3m he wanted in Jan 2007 to strengthen the defence.

And Warnock should have nutted Bean rather than resign. It's been a crock of shit ever since.

NW spent a fair wedge in January 2007 it's down to an individuals opinion if he spent it wisely, personally. we needed Premiership experience not untried players at that level. The misuse of that money leads to where we are now IMO

Matthew Kilgallon - Leeds United, £1,750,000 rising to £2,000,000, 8 January 2007[7]

• Jon Stead - Sunderland, £750,000 rising to £1,250,000, 11 January 2007[8]

• Mamadou Seck - Le Havre, free, 15 January 2007

• Luton Shelton - Helsingborg, £2,000,000, 15 January 2007[9]

• Ahmed Fathy - Ismaily SC, £700,000, 24 January 2007

Out[edit]

 

[FATTYFOULKE]

Oh and when MancU gave the spammers 3 points on the last day of the season. Cheating Bastards.

Who, Man U or the Spammers?

What Ferguson did was nearly as bad as the deliberate cheating and lying of West Ham. They played a weakened team when another clubs (us) life was on the line.

No excuse, it was wrong then and it would be wrong now.

 

[blade too long]

.

More to do with buying Chris Guthrie
put all our eggs in one basket case

strange isnt it we built that got relegated
we knocked down john street terrace got relegated
we put a cantalever roof on bramall lane and built the westfield corner , got relegated

 

[Bladesince59]

Who, Man U or the Spammers?

What Ferguson did was nearly as bad as the deliberate cheating and lying of West Ham. They played a weakened team when another clubs (us) life was on the line.

No excuse, it was wrong then and it would be wrong now.

Precisely - I meant Man Utd and Ferguson in particular. West Ham had already done their cheating.

 

[blade too long]

Why not? Adkins is getting blamed for signing Woolford and Clough for many signings.
Although I doubt Beattie was actually signed by Wilson.
I do think the team was in shock when Evans went down and this probably affected the MKD result more than his actual absence.

Yes every manager should plan for his star striker getting sent down for rape , killing the mood at the club
lets not forget the rest of the squad were devastated at Evans fate, their talisman was incarserated
had it been an injury , well thats part and parcel and comes with the territory
but that tore the heart out of a well oiled machine, it blew our pistons

 

[BushBlade]

Yes every manager should plan for his star striker getting sent down for rape , killing the mood at the club
lets not forget the rest of the squad were devastated at Evans fate, their talisman was incarserated
had it been an injury , well thats part and parcel and comes with the territory
but that tore the heart out of a well oiled machine, it blew our pistons

That's pretty much what I said in my second paragraph but you're posting like you disagree with me.

 

[blade too long]

That's pretty much what I said in my second paragraph but you're posting like you disagree with me.

no backing up what you said, with an analogy

 

[Cyprus Blade]

No more managerial changes, let Adkins buy and sell players. Within three years we'll be back in the Championship.

We do need managerial consistency desperately but I would go the Director of Football route so we have better club continuity. Look what happened when Clough got given total hire and fire control.

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

Yes, Hagan designed a badge (that wasnt too dissimiliar to our current one) for a Blades summer tour in the 1950s (he was our captain then). Someone claimed in the Star some years ago that he showed his Blades tattoo to Dick Wragg in the 1970s and Wragg was impressed with the design and then it was decided that we have a new club crest that was similar to the tattoo on the Blades fan's arm. Our chairman in 1977 was John Hassall although Wragg was still in our board of directors (he resigned as our chairman in 1974 because he was in the FA International committee) so I am not sure about the accuracy of that Blade fan's claim

A few years ago I was sat in a dentist's waiting room in Chapeltown, where a woman (who was chatting to someone else) claimed she had come up with the design for the "new" club badge and was a bit miffed the club never credited her with it! I was going to cry "bullshit" but I really couldn't be arsed.