I was talking to a Blade-supporting colleague of mine today who appeared to be quite pleased that we'd be meeting up again next season. He told me (and he's not normally given to hyperbole), that this season had been one of the most exciting he could remember. I replied that getting to an FA Cup semi is pretty exciting (unless you bottle it like we did of course), but he was insistent that it was the league, and the type of football they are playing under Clough, that was so enjoyable. Anyway, I took the opportunity to ask him what he recollected most from the time Wilson was their manager. His response both surprised and worried me. In essence, he felt that Wilson's team did grind out results, but that it was awful to watch. Now he might have been trying to wind me up (although I honestly don't think so), but given I have been clinging to the hope that the cr*p I've been enduring for the past few months was just Wilson being pragmatic, and that next season he would revert to being what I remember he was last time he was here, I can't help but be a little bit concerned. I guess we'll know more once we see his retained list.
You have to take into account that the squad he inherited was made up of cloggers there and again a pragmatic style of football had to come in in order to appease the demand of an instant return that he so neatly delivered. Perhaps we won't see anything different.
I always try to put the opinions of fans at ex clubs in a bit of perspective. For example imagine what kind of opinion somebody would get if they asked us about Hill. I also know a Derby fan and they reckon Clough played boring, uninspiring football and set up to not lose (sounds familiar). I'm sure we'll see the real Danny Wilson next season. If its anything like this season I can't see him lasting very long.
Charlton players voted Redders as their worst ever signing! I'm not saying DW is the be all at t'Wellbut sometimes it's right time int right place. Let's see eh.
It's difficult to give the view your Blade supporting colleague has given of Wilson's time at Bramall Lane any credence at all. I mean "Grind out results"? He won 55 and drew 31 of the 106 games he was in charge. That's a win percentage of over 50%. There's only the likes of Ferguson and Mourinho who ever get stats like that. They scored 3 goals or more 17 times in his first season. 8 times in his second season. This season? Just 5 times and they lost one of those. He got them in the play-offs both years; this year they were never in the running. Blades fans don't like Danny Wilson because he managed Wednesday. They didn't want him, they never accepted him and they got him sacked when the club were assured of a play-off place and with games in hand that would have taken them in to the automatic promotion places had they won them. They didn't win them because they sacked him, lost in the play-off semi-finals and spent much of this season fighting off relegation. But Wilson is the poor manager? It's bonkers, it's Hemsworthesque. For the record, we scored 3 goals or more 3 times this season, 5 times last season and 5 times the season before, two of which we lost. 17 times in a season. Imagine that.
One more stat Sheff Utd scored 92 league goals in Wilson's first season in charge, 17 more than anyone else in the division. Second highest in all 4 divisions, beaten only by Man City with 93. This season they've scored 46. Half as many.
Yeah a poll a few years ago, best/worst type thing. Had Redders as worst!?! Always sticks in my mind that one! Like tha sez.... weird
My blade colleague says exactly the same, even coining the term 'we nil nilled em to death' but he never wanted Wilson and was glad he went, even dismissing the fact they've been terrible this year, him blaming Wilson's signings. As other people have said we can't take their fans options on Wilson serious.
My son said exactly the same and also stated that in the big games they had he "Bottled It" tactically. Its ancient history now and hopefully once he assembles his own squad things will improve with his style of play. I certainly hope so because it cannot continue to be as we have all witnessed at Oakwell recently.
If it was the one in 4-4-2, I believe they ask a representative of the supporters club to chose. The one for us chose Redders as our best ever and Deon Burton as our worst. If I remember rightly, they concluded by saying that Neil Redfearn was the best ever player as he was the only one to get a vote from 2 clubs (us and Doncaster) Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
Blades mate at our work said the first season Wilson was there was some of the best football he'd seen, but second season they had lost their best stricker and got less entertaining. I'd take dull football anyday, with the caveat of promotion!
Yes that's what I heard..............when the 'Go To Jail' card was played the rest of the team fell to pieces..... But remember the Blunts havn't seen any proper football being played since Harry Blastit walked in through the door...........and owts better than watching teams managed by Wazzer and Blackhead So obviously Danny was a breath of fresh air there at a time when the club was in free fall
Jay, I feel I'm intelligent enough, and experienced enough in the wacky world of football supporting, to know that you have to treat all opinions (whether they are supporters of our club or someone else's) with a large shovel-full of salt. All I was doing was passing on the comments of a guy I actually have a lot of respect for. The only reasons I passed on his comments are that a) I have major concerns about the approach Wilson took to getting us out of trouble with more than enough time left to do so and, b) why bother with a forum unless you are willing to contribute from time to time. Neither my colleague nor I were insinuating that Wilson is a 'bad manager' (although I have been more than a bit disappointed with him this time around). It was more an observation on the style of play he seems to favour these days, and his recent singling out of Dawson for particular praise possibly supports the idea that, over the years, his approach may have changed. Anyway, let's see. Having renewed 5 season tickets last week I'm hoping for much better than we've had to endure over the past few seasons.
Hi mate, I wasn't suggesting you thought Wilson was a poor manager and I certainly have no problem with what you wrote. This kind of thing is exactly the sort of stuff that should be on this forum. It's an alternative viewpoint that promotes discussion. I have no doubt your colleague is a very decent chap, it's just that when it comes to Danny Wilson, Blades fans have a blind spot the size of a dustbin lid. When you hear a Blades fan describe the current season as the most exciting he can remember and refer to the previous manager as only being able to grind out results, it does make you question where he was looking during the 2011-12 season, when his team gained 90 points, scored 92 goals (only Man City, English Champions, scored more) had a goal difference of +41, took a trip to Wembley and were only denied promotion by a penalty shoot out. If that's considered awful to watch and grinding out results, then I hope that's what we'll be doing next season. And then you remember it's a Sheff Utd fan who is saying this and we all know from seeing them down the years that they've been one of the biggest exponents of the long ball, kick and rush, power and pace over skill and guile tactics. Maybe they don't recognise good football when it slaps them in the face. I need more than a shovel-full of salt to accept his analysis, I need every bit that is currently in solution in the Pacific Ocean. Just as a comparison, our amazing team of 96-97 that we'll all talk about until the day we die, accumulated 10 fewer points and scored 16 fewer goals than the dire Sheff Utd team of 2011-12. We conceded 4 more goals too.
Twice under Danny - both away! - we have been half decent at scoring against teams not setup to defend Negative spin has been our home form under Danny we have no ability to break down teams that have setup defensively. I heard from several sources the football at Sheff utd was poor to watch but really have no idea if thats true or just as you say a built in prejudice ( bit like we had against Bassett but we scored for fun that season ) At home we have been playing the way the blunt above describes - but we also know that at Swindon Bristol and us he played attractive football My hope is the way we played this season was an attempt to make the best of a poor group of players - we were shipping goals for fun given a close season and a change to make some changes I really hope that next season we see a return to playing the way we remember - I will be quite disappointed if that isn't the case