It has been a strange sort of season watching United. Last
Summer I suggested a season of consolidation was expected, with some player
churn and a young manager adapting to his first managerial role. I expected
that the outcome might not be the top 6 finish United had achieved for the last
two years, but top half and outside the play offs.
In the end my prediction was right. However, in-between
United fans have witnessed one of the most tumultuous seasons in recent memory.
Just four players who started the opening game of the season started the final
game at home to Coventry City. There were changes in ownership, team management
and coaching staff, along with several high profile executive changes.
The team was at times abject, at others thrilling, but ended
the season having forged renewed hope and a degree of expectation within the
fan-base which will need careful management in future months.
The start made by David Weir was bright, but the opening
game of the football league season and a 2-1 win over, what was in reality, a
poor Notts County masked inadequacies in man-management, squad structure and
tactics that unravelled over the following couple of months.
I was one of those who preached for giving the new manager
time, believing that the team assembled was better than it was showing, but
even to those who believed in giving a man a chance, it soon became apparent
that we were acting more in feint hope than on the back of any strong evidence
for the status quo.
Players looked lost on the pitch, unsure what to do for the
best, despairing at themselves and each other. It became increasingly difficult
for any to build any confidence as the team was chopped and changed - with 26
players used in the first 10 league games - and the results on the pitch failed
to improve. For me it culminated in one of the worst performances I have seen
from a United team against Hartlepool in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy.
Weir was trapped by his own football mantra and possibly by
the edicts from above in terms of squad size and player recruitment. We had too
big a squad, which created pockets of discontent as players were seemingly
pigeon-holed into positions and their versatility limited.
On the pitch the players seemed reined in by the manager's
defensive mentality. Possession football was played, but with little impetus
and few goal-scoring opportunities created. The best defence in the league the
previous season were wracked with nerves, knowing one goal conceded, one
mistake, could prove fatal. The fans knew this as well. Players, fans and
management trapped by fear. A manager seemingly inert and unable to change.
Academy football was not working in League One.
The manager's cause was not helped by the arrival of a new
co-owner and the promise of significant, monies. The Prince's investment was a game changer in
many people's eyes and I think fans probably expected more short term change
than ever was going to be the reality. I still think this is the case, as there
are still those who will still expect more than the "measured"
investment decisions promised.
David Weir left without much of the vitriol and anger that
has been directed at previous managerial failures. That's not to say such
feelings didn't exist, but they seemed more muted, perhaps symptomatic of a malaise
in the support and a feeling that the man tried his best, but just wasn't ready
for the opportunity to manage.
Following David Weir's departure I wrote;
"Whoever takes charge at Bramall Lane, needs to be a strong
personality and willing to deal with long running issues on the playing side.
There are clear tactical decisions to be made and although there isn't an
unlimited transfer kitty to deal with defensive frailties and attacking gaps,
you can imagine there will be significant churn of players in January. This is
a group of good League One players who should be up and around the Top 6, what
it needs is a manager with lower league success who will take the club and team
to where they should be."
Most of this turned out to be right and whilst my gut
reaction to some of the changes was to disagree at the time, I am more than
happy to be proved wrong. Nigel Clough's arrival was greeted cautiously and a
steady run of early results highlighted the difficulties he faced in
managing/reducing the squad, strengthening fragile confidence and finding a
system and way of playing to bring the best out of the players at his disposal.
Even on an unbeaten run up to Christmas, momentum and
movement up the table was lacking. We were still drawing too many matches. This
was at least an improvement, as these would have been matches we had lost
earlier in the season. yet teams can be relegated by drawing too many.
Unbeaten, yes. But turning draws into wins was proving difficult.
Hope could be gained by the increased defensive sturdiness,
but there was still a lack of goals. A great afternoon at Villa Park might have ignited the
season. The Blades 2-1 FA Cup 3rd Round win was one of the great away days
following United and the noise in that second half as United gave Premier
League opposition a real bashing will remain in the memories of the 6,000
Unitedites there for some time.
Time to kick on we hoped, or not as was the case. By the
22nd January the club were noting the anniversary of the first football radio
commentary some 87 years earlier, when The Blades took on Arsenal. It was that
commentary that spurned the phrase "Back to square one" and that is
exactly where United found themselves, fifth bottom, the same position they
were after a win over Crewe in Clough's first game in charge.
It was the visit to Crewe, just over a week later that
defined United's season. A 3-0 defeat at Crewe left United second bottom and
part of a bottom five potentially being cut adrift. Post-match, Nigel Clough
seemed incredulous at what he had seen. A result and performance that he just
hadn't seen coming, especially after a spirited fight with ten men that earned
a replay with Fulham in the FA Cup.
He didn't seem to know what to do. Strong words were had and
they must have had some effect. As the rain poured in West London the following Tuesday, Fulham toiled to little effect against the superior Blades and a goal in the last minute of extra time by Shaun Miller saw the Blades into the FA Cup 5th round. Fears that a cup run were an unwelcome distraction in the battle to stay up were about to be dismissed and in emphatic fashion.
Loan moves and January signings certainly had an impact and,
with the odd exception, you can't really fault Clough's eye for a player and
how they will fit into his system. At the same time he instigated changes that
made huge improvements in player confidence, several whose heads were down and
shoulders hunched increase in stature - Doyle, Murphy and Flynn in particular.
The two wingers were the key to how we played, providing
attacking thrust, often in the absence of a true striker. Players were playing
to a system, but with a freedom absent in the first few months of the season.
They also had an on-pitch leader. Michael Doyle played a team role that suited him and as a
result gave a base to many of United's successes. Michael Doyle's captaincy was
criticised by this blog earlier in the season and I wouldn't retract any of my
words at that time as I still believe they were valid. However, as the team
grew in confidence and status, so the captain became the root of the success.
The cup run galvanised the Blades further and although an
unbeaten league run was brought to an end - giving us all an idea of the
standards set at the top of League One this season - another run was started.
From a team that looked like they wanted to curl up in a
ball and die early in the season, they were now a team that never says die. The
commitment, the late goals, the
closeness of fans and players, the team spirit and good-humoured management
team. As United fans looked back fondly to the scenes at Leicester and United's
on the anniversary of United's memorable return to the top flight, comparisons
were being made. There was much the same feel about the place as there was
under Dave Bassett, nearly a quarter of a century ago.
There is a good feeling around the club. A feeling of hope.
To those outside of Sheffield that might seem odd for a team of United's size
and stature who have just finished seventh in League One, completing a third
season at this level. However, we can now see the green shoots of a long term
recovery.
Nigel Clough has made changes over the course of the season
that took the club closer to the play offs than anyone might have hoped in
February, never mind October. The difficulty will be re-energising the team and
picking up where we left off, whilst integrating new personnel and introducing
players in key positions, not least up front.
This is a huge summer for the club, the board and the
manager. Promotion was an outside aim for much of this season. It will be an
expectation next season. United need to maintain the progression they have
achieved since January.
"You cannot
change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction
overnight"
~ Jim Rohn
