Worst United Manager

[Chali 2na]

Sorry to those who've read all the Basham thread, as this is a bit of a re-hash. The reason I've started this thread is because I saw a couple of people mention that they thought we've had worse managers than Bryan Robson, namely Adams, Weir and Adkins.

To me, Robson is the pièce de résistance in the United's Shit Manager Hall all of Fame. I'm a little gobsmacked to learn that this isn't a universal opinion.

Thought this poll would be somewhat interesting, while simultaneously passing another 2 mins of the international break.

 

[super_pig]

where is harry haslam?
ahh. post PL history. sorry just re-read it

 

[BushBlade]

Adrian Heath

 

[pommpey]

where is harry haslam?
ahh. post PL history. sorry just re-read it

Jimmy Sirrell was pretty much a bogful of floaters and bumwad, to be honest.

Go a long way to beat the nexus of Weir/Clough/Adkins, though.

pommpey

 

[welderblade]

You'd have to say Robson I suppose, given the amount of money he had, honourable mension for Wier, bloody useless. UTB.

 

[BladeInIreland]

I voted Blackwell. I don't think Robson was necessarily a better manager BUT he wasn't here that long, signed alot of good players and actually left us in the "any idiot could get us up" category. Blackwell had alot more time and resources to add to that. His seasons were make or break for the club. We went the break route.

 

[benn5712]

Jimmy Sirrell was pretty much a bogful of floaters and bumwad, to be honest.

Go a long way to beat the nexus of Weir/Clough/Adkins, though.

pommpey

Believe Sirrell wanted to jump ship after just one month. Must have had enough of the board I think.

 

[RedandWhite]

Wilson and Clough did alright with a shit squad, not sure why they are in the list.

 

[dingledog]

Robson by a country mile, clueless, didn't travel on team coach to away games, no idea on football management, no tactics, just pissed on red wine and his own ego, complete wanker. There you are I've said it as I saw it, some might say harsh or strong views, he tried to ruin my team both on the field and off it.

 

[ashsufc1889]

Where's Chris Wilder? He's fucking shit, how he gets a job in football is beyond me. He hasn't got a clue on how to play the game, or what players to sign...And only putting 4 past Villa...fucking unacceptable!! Robson IN!

 

[Bladezz]

According to this site. CW whenever we lose.

 

[benn5712]

Voted Wilson. Reasons - A PIG.
Robson was no Blades choice, except KM's.

 

[Chali 2na]

Wilson and Clough did alright with a shit squad, not sure why they are in the list.

I included Wilson just in case, I didn't expect him to get any votes.

Clough didn't have a shit squad and he didn't do alright either. He had a decent squad, and an eye-watering budget (relative to the division) to add to it. He wasted loads of money and left us worse than when he started, in terms of personnel.

 

[The Crab]

Voted Adams, hopelessly out of his depth.

But a few worthy choices on there

 

[Chali 2na]

But a few worthy choices on there

It's frightening when you think about it.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Don't think Adams or Weir did enough to be the worst.

Adkins, Clough, Robson and to an extent Blackwell left the club in worse positions than when they found it.

Voted for Adkins because he took Cloughs mess and made it even worse - Clough had success, regardless of whether you liked him or his style. Adkins just floundered around

 

[1danewhitehouse]

Robson
Weir
Heath
Adams

In that order for me. I can't offer an opinion on anyone pre-Bassett. Blackwell, Speed, Adkins, Clough and Wilson don't come close to those lot. All had their faults but they all had teams that could at least compete to some degree and bar Clough and Blackwell, they hardly spent a bean. Even those 2 had their best players sold (as did Wilson and Adkins).

 

[pommpey]

Believe Sirrell wanted to jump ship after just one month. Must have had enough of the board I think.

How things changed, eh?

pommpey

 

[SwissBlade]

Adkins, edges it that he was supposed to be a competent manager and didn't have the excuse that he was pissed

He couldn't even get us in the League one top 10

This from Wikipedia Sums it up

Sheffield United ended the season in 11th place, their lowest league position since 1983, eight points from the play-offs. Because of this, Adkins was sacked on 12 May 2016.

I will say no more on the subject

 

[Adiroy]

Had to go Adkins, but was certainly a hard choice between him and Robson!

Felt sorry for Micky Adams, think the club thought his united link would add a bit of fire.. sadly out of his depth on an already sinking ship!

Weir's record was terrible but another with a good philosophy but obviously the pressure got to him!

And ill always say it.. Kevin Blackwell is/was a good manager!

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Weir by a mile because he was so far out of his depth.

 

[The Crab]

Don't think Adams or Weir did enough to be the worst.

Adkins, Clough, Robson and to an extent Blackwell left the club in worse positions than when they found it.

Voted for Adkins because he took Cloughs mess and made it even worse - Clough had success, regardless of whether you liked him or his style. Adkins just floundered around

Adkins was the biggest disappointment for me. A really good start to his managerial career and it looked at one point like he'd get to the very top. Destined for some sort of consultancy role with the FA when he runs out of management jobs, he talks the talk.

 

[Revolution]

This was last discussed here a couple of years ago, early in the Wilder reign. My position remains the same: Bryan Robson, on the basis that he set the club back years: handed a huge budget he squandered most of it and managed the team poorly to boot when a semi competent manager with a reasonable transfer policy would have walked what was a pretty mediocre division. The direct result of frittering away that cash was McCabe's decision to sell off the family silver which had a knock on effect of relegation.

Weir was worse as a team manager, but we got rid of him before he could do major damage. Ubfortunately Robson had time to screw us for years to come.

If we were going to talk about managers prior to 2007, Harry Haslam would tie with Robson. His incompetence was responsible for 2 relegations and stripped the club of a lot of young talent.

 

[The Crab]

Weir by a mile because he was so far out of his depth.

He certainly turned out to be, but I sort of understand why we went for him. Played at a decent level, good coaching set up at Everton so you would think steeped in the modern ways of coaching.

Turned out to be catastrophically bad.

 

[BigBed]

Adkins-Weir-Robson joint top as all 3 were pathetic.
Steve Bruce and Adams joint second.
Blackwell third.

I don't think Wilson(even though he's a pig!) did any worse than these clowns, and Cough was better than all of them.

None are a patch on our current leader obviously.

 

[Revolution]

He certainly turned out to be, but I sort of understand why we went for him. Played at a decent level, good coaching set up at Everton so you would think steeped in the modern ways of coaching.

Turned out to be catastrophically bad.

One of the lessons of that fiasco is that you should never, ever appoint someone as manager who has not done the job before. It's a very demanding job and you do not know if anyone will be suited for it before they do it.

Let someone else break them in.

 

[KoppedOff]

Robson: Absolute disaster. Biggest budget given to any manager we’ve had, completely screwed it up. Never looked or sounded bothered. I doubt he was.

Blackwell: Did well to mop up Robsons mess, turning a relegation scrap into an unlikely play off push. Fully deserved a crack full time. Then got cautious- still made the play off final. Should have walked after that. Had his squad torn apart and budget slashed and things went downhill (further). Should have gone in the summer. Sacked stupidly after a couple of games- it would have been awful to watch, but I still say we would've finished mid-table with him.

Speed: Wasnt in charge long enough to form a proper opinion. Think his contacts would have brought a couple of big loans (Andy Reid, etc) to stave of relegation.

Adams: Pathetic. The “Blade” brought in as Happy Shopper Warnock to add some fight and heart to a relegation fight. Look at that squad on paper- no way it should have gone down. Adams moped about like a mardy teenager and couldnt inspire a fart in a curry house.

Wilson: Very underwhelming appointment, for me due to his shit record, but previous pigginess didnt help him. Actually won me over- played great football (albeit with a squad better than most in the division) and was extremely unlucky in very cruel circumstances not to bounce us straight back. Unravelled after that, and should have gone the next summer, but was stupidly sacked before the play offs, leaving Morgan to be thrown under the bus.

Weir: Another disaster. Was actually preferable to some of the dinosaur names being bandied around at the time. I’ll actually give McCabe a bit of credit here; at least he tried something different.

Clough: Like Blackwell before him, had a fantastic impact; dragged us up the league and gave us a very enjoyable cup run. Really fancied us to kick on from there, but Clough spent the summer signing loads of squad players instead of the 3 or 4 quality additions we needed. Again like Blackwell, went way too cautious. Recieves top hindsight points for signing Coutts, Basham and Freeman.

Adkins: Another dire one. But lets be honest- who wasnt buzzing when we got him? I was. Started well by resigning Sharp. Then got walloped 4-0 by Gillingham and never recovered. Spent 12 months waffling bollocks, making excuses and basically being crap. Worst league finish than any of the men above. Thought he was a total busted flush, but to his credit, is doing alright at Hull despite them being a complete madhouse.

 

[Revolution]

Robson: Absolute disaster. Biggest budget given to any manager we’ve had, completely screwed it up. Never looked or sounded bothered. I doubt he was.

Blackwell: Did well to mop up Robsons mess, turning a relegation scrap into an unlikely play off push. Fully deserved a crack full time. Then got cautious- still made the play off final. Should have walked after that. Had his squad torn apart and budget slashed and things went downhill (further). Should have gone in the summer. Sacked stupidly after a couple of games- it would have been awful to watch, but I still say we would've finished mid-table with him.

Speed: Wasnt in charge long enough to form a proper opinion. Think his contacts would have brought a couple of big loans (Andy Reid, etc) to stave of relegation.

Adams: Pathetic. The “Blade” brought in as Happy Shopper Warnock to add some fight and heart to a relegation fight. Look at that squad on paper- no way it should have gone down. Adams moped about like a mardy teenager and couldnt inspire a fart in a curry house.

Wilson: Very underwhelming appointment, for me due to his shit record, but previous pigginess didnt help him. Actually won me over- played great football (albeit with a squad better than most in the division) and was extremely unlucky in very cruel circumstances not to bounce us straight back. Unravelled after that, and should have gone the next summer, but was stupidly sacked before the play offs, leaving Morgan to be thrown under the bus.

Weir: Another disaster. Was actually preferable to some of the dinosaur names being bandied around at the time. I’ll actually give McCabe a bit of credit here; at least he tried something different.

Clough: Like Blackwell before him, had a fantastic impact; dragged us up the league and gave us a very enjoyable cup run. Really fancied us to kick on from tgere, but Clough spent the summer signing loads of squad players instead of the 3 or 4 quality additions we needed. Again like Blackwell, went way too cautious. Recieves top hindsight points for signing Coutts, Basham and Freeman.

Adkins: Another dire one. But lets be honest- who wasnt buzzing when we got him? I was. Started well by resigning Sharp. Then got walloped 4-0 by Gillingham and never recovered. Spent 12 months waffling bollocks, making excuses and basically being crap. Worst league finish than any of the men above. Thought he was a total busted flush, but to his credit, is doing alright at Hull despite them being a complete madhouse.

Excellent summary. Agree with almost every word.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

I think many of them were bad appointments, overseen by a man and a board who didn't have a clue how to recruit. All this was confounded by a recruitment drive taking place during a period of gradual decline and the squad regularly being stripped of any saleable assets and ultimately devoid of any quality.

Blackwell was uninspiring if not up himself, Speed and Weir were inexperienced, Wilson did a good job but fell short. Adams was well and truly up against it, inheriting an all but already sunken ship. Anyone would have struggled with that squad and we deserved to go down. Clough was decent on the whole but then became stuck in his ways and invested poorly at times.

The club then eventually struck gold with Wilder, but seemingly by luck and through the law of averages, rather than previous evidence of knowing what they were doing. In his earlier stages he appeared to succeed in spite of the board, not because of them - wheeling and dealing to much success. He's the best appointment they've made and they've got him to thank for that.

Oh and to answer the question: Robson. He set the whole downward spiral in motion by overspending, misusing parachute payments and banking on a quick return and generally not having a fucking clue what he was doing. Every action thereafter by every other manager was either directly or indirectly trying to atone for his mistakes.

 

[COME BACK CHED]

Only really dis-liked Robson out of that lot , But Weir by a mile was the worst , no contest there , why Clough is on Cha`s list i dont understand .