sheffield_dave

My take on McNeil; I think he probably isn’t going to suddenly turn into a world beater with us, but hitting the bar and scoring twice within a week feels like a turbo charge to an attack that’s been doing f*ck all so far this season. He’s here, we don’t have other options that have been working, and we’re going to be playing at a lower level next year anyway. We lose absolutely nothing in giving him an extended run.

We have been outside the top flight for 25 years. For the vast majority of that time we have been awful, generally lurching from one catastrophe to the next, and for most of it being behind our neighbours. This season in particular has been about as awful for a club as it’s possible to be, and yes the main reason for that has gone and the main battle won, but the impacts remain. I think it’s a miracle, and definitely a plus for our fanbase, that we get as many in that ground as we do. If you’re still going without even thinking about, still in the habit etc - fair f*cks to you and keep on going. Equally, I also don’t think it’s unfair to say that the entire club needs a boost. We need a positive turn in momentum. Others will pick it back up once we get one.

Two very different business propositions. Firstly, theirs is an investment rather than the whole ownership. Secondly, anybody who has got to this stage of the conversation about owning us will have done their homework. The interest in owning Sheffield Wednesday is all about the headroom and the scalability vs the cost of purchase and initial investments. To still be interested at this stage reflects a belief that that headroom and scalability is greater than what you can find elsewhere at a similar level. I.e, Sheffield United.

There have been sides that have just stunk at this level, and there have been sides that have faced ownership and structural challenges, but I don’t recall ever seeing a team at this level be intentionally sabotaged in the way that we have been. Talking about the foundational basics like preparing players with a proper pre-season, paying them etc. We just haven’t had those things.

I thought we had a different, better energy going forward last night. I don’t think McNeil is ever going to be a world beater but I think he deserves a run. We don’t have an out ball at the minute, but I think our best running and best chances of something actually sticking in the final third are from Cadz + McNeil rather than Ugbo + Lowe

I don’t think our attack last year was particularly sparkling. Gassama and Musaba - both talented but learning and raw, and could both drift for chunks of time. Smith, you knew what you were getting and he “did a job” but not exactly a top end talent for the division. Windass, again, we know his talent and how he can contribute, but I think he’s a player who thrives most with the talent that’s around him. I thought we were 2 players away from a good, Championship level forward line last year. Since then we’ve lost all of the above and not replaced them. It’s left us with an attack of Ugbo, Lowe and kids who aren’t ready to lead a Championship attack. Depending who stays, I think we can have a core base to work with defensively for a League One campaign, but we need a hard reset up top.

Agree. MOM, not sure about that, but I thought we at least had a bit of a different energy going forward tonight. I know all the focus with our problems upfront is on Ugbo at the minute but I think Lowe is drifting at the minute as well. Don’t think McNeil was any worse tonight.

These players are running themselves into the ground every single week because we have nobody else to start in their place or even come on for them during games. Theres also a reason why every other club in world football undertakes 6-7 weeks of pre-season preparation. It took 2 weeks for ours to even get any proper training started before then playing a grand total of 0 friendlies. Player welfare is a genuine concern for the group, including any kids who just get launched into the first team to try and “help” (see Brown and Weaver). It’s just an utterly desperate situation.

I think he should look a bit closer to home as to why these things seem to be recurrent issues in his career.

You know what you’re getting with Mike Ashley. That includes both the good and bad, but on balance, I think there is more headroom for him to have a positive, stabilising influence with what he brings than the bad. That said, Mike Ashley is not going to be the man to come here and invest tens of millions into the clubs infrastructure. We aren’t getting a new training ground, stadium or even anything more than minimum stadium maintenance from Mike Ashley. My hope is that there are bidders with that calibre of ambition.

Norwich is one that could quite easily go the other way. They spent big this summer, aren't receiving parachute payments and haven't even been in danger of flirting with relegation in recent years. How much has anyone there factored relegation to League One into their financial planning? It's not a happy camp on or off the field and it's happened very suddenly. Norwich's situation reminds me a bit more of when Sunderland and United went down, both following recent stints in the top flight or budgeting/pushing at the other end. In both cases it took years to get back. I'm not sure carrying high earners, big fee's and players who thought they were joining for something very different is ever an asset in League One. Think it can very easily become the complete opposite tbh. If we have any amount of money to spend at all next summer, or any flexibility to spend it, I think we might actually be better off with a clean slate.

Waiting weeks to sack Wilder, hitching your transfer strategy to a plan and manager that you bin after 5 games to then re-hire Wilder, was enough hard evidence to tell us that their ownership don't have a f*cking clue. By various accounts and noises from the club, they're not exactly swimming in money either. This story just emphatically hammers it home. Great win for them on Sunday and they've all been loving it, but if any United fan even remotely understands or accepts the events that have left us in the state that allows that game to happen, they'd probably want to listen to our fans on the subject of "early red flags that you're owned by absolute clowns".

Think folk might be forgetting how tough the job was for Darren Moore when we went down last time. For most of that summer we looked absolutely f*cked. Spent much of it seriously looking at fielding a team of Bannan, Palmer and the kids. Sounds familiar, right? We pulled that season around very late in the day and signed a large amount of players with about 2 weeks to go, if I remember rightly. We ended up with an alright side but I don't think it should be discounted how difficult that summer was for the club and the job Moore did to put a play-off side together.

There's a lot of football left to be played and it could still end up meaning something. I'm not ruling anything out for them f*ckers until the maths say they can't do it. But I see Southampton and Derby won again last night.. 2 sides who were in touching distance to them when Wilder came in, and who have just got on with their turnaround while United simply talk about it. Ipswich have sorted themselves out, Wrexham and Birmingham are finding their feet in a way many expected.. they're 6 points and a game in hand behind Blackburn. They've got a soft run coming up (starting with beating us) which gives them an opportunity to finally string some back to back wins together, but they've wasted a lot of time.

Been saying this for ages. This time of year was always going to be an enourmous test. It might not translate to much in terms of points, but our start to the season did exceed expectations. We took the lead and avoided a drubbing at Leicester with a hugely motivating protest. Knocked Leeds out. Put that spirited comeback in to rescue a point at Wrexham. Beat Pompey. Again, I’m not saying it counts for much in terms of the league, but we did put in a number of “feel good” results and performances. It wasn’t sustainable. It was never going to be sustainable. Asking that same group to just keep going without rest, help or support into the 3 game weeks and winter months.. it was always going to be this way. We should be thankful and keep our chin up that unlike before, we actually have hope for the future. Kris’ message on the OS yesterday was bang on. We are going to bottom out between now and January in terms of how bleak things get on the pitch and in terms of the mood in the stands, but we have to recognise the hope for what’s around the corner.

Nothing matters to United more than beating us. Nothing. We joke about the honours board. It may not formally go on it, but a 3-0 win against us in an otherwise ordinary league game (ordinary only if you ignore all the context around us) is exactly in that ballpark for them. The rest of the football world has had a look at what that looks like in reality and they’ve been slated for it.

We probably need to sign 10 players to put a proper squad with any depth together, and that’s before factoring in any of the current team leaving. Moving Bannan and Palmer on is just an unnecessary headache. You need some cornerstones to build around and embed a squad together. We want to be putting our resources into helping Bannan with proper support in the middle, or even options to give him the occasional midweek off, not replace him entirely.

I've got one of their chants in particular ringing around my head today. "We're having a party when Wednesday dies" They'll have been giddy about getting that one into the songbook since the summer. Couldn't wait to get it out, and fair enough they got a comprehensive win yesterday to accompany it. Happy days for them. Wider context though.. it wasn't quite as exciting for them as they hoped for, was it. Not quite had the same meaning it might have done in October. Glad they enjoyed it. Be a shame if it was yet another sing song they turn up to Hillsborough with that backfires though, eh.

I think we need to start by making ourselves a pain in the arse to break down and beat. All our experience and what quality we have left is towards the back anyway - the attack has been decimated and IMO is almost unsalvageable. We need to stop shipping goals as regularly, as early in halves and as easily as we have been doing. We’ve got to give ourselves a platform of solidity to try and build something off. Flat back 5. A midfield 3 with Bannan in there essentially doing his “quarterback” role and dictating whatever play we are able to put together with 2 either side of him. 2 up top, with Cadermarteri supported by someone able to do a bit more of the running. By default I guess that would be Lowe but I wouldn’t object to seeing McNeil given a proper run at that, at least until Brown is back.

I like it how they’ve collectively convinced themselves that Boxing Day was just about the scoreline.

Both things can be true. Theres a much bigger picture for us. We might get news in less than 2 weeks that makes this game feel like ancient history. A footnote. Like an ending to a moment in time. But losing to them f*cking stinks and I’m p*ssed off. Might be fine tomorrow, but today is f*cking sh*t.

Make that 3 within a minute of the restart..

Well, United’s problem is that there probably isn’t a position they couldn’t strengthen! Tough ask to do it all in one window. But the point being that Mbuemo is obviously a good player, with PL experience, and he clearly fits what they’re trying to do. And from the moment he signed, it was obvious he would be a day 1 improvement for them. I don’t think Liverpool have signed a single player who is such an obvious, unquestionable upgrade for them, which is pretty damning given the money. United still need to spend good money on a centre mid, although it helps that Casemiro has had a bit of a resurgence. Then again, maybe that’s not an accident. Maybe their midfield just happens to look a bit better when a functional front 3 means the ball doesn’t come straight back as soon as they get it forward..

By the way, losing by 3 to them hurts because it’s traditionally a very close rivalry. I believe this is the first time either side has won by a margin of 3 in my lifetime and I’m nearly 40. Spurs are currently 2-0 down at HT to Arsenal and look about as clueless as we did earlier. These results do happen in derby games. I bet ours is actually more unusual than most for how rarely a scoreline like today’s happens.

Here’s my prediction; We’re about 10-12 days away from not even hearing about losing 3-0 anymore, and back to them bleating about the EFL doing us a load of favours, how unfair it is that we’ve got a fan involved in the admin process etc etc etc. Back to the Blades for Fairness placards. Back to how Wednesday apparently always “get away with it”. See how quickly it turns back again.