In defence of Tony Pulis’ beautiful game

Posted: May 22, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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English: Image of Tony Pulis

English: Image of Tony Pulis (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In a season of turbulent managerial changes, Tony Pulis’ divorce from Stoke City does not come as a huge surprise.

There were problems in the marriage before the season even started. And as the year has gone on, those cracks have become increasingly apparent. Now for the sake of the club, Stoke and Pulis have decided to split up.

Whilst this parting of the ways may have felt inevitable, I call it harsh.

The charge against Pulis is that fans have seen little improvement in their side despite considerable transfer expenditure. The oft quoted statistic is that Stoke are the third highest spenders in the Premiership over the last five years, with only Chelsea and Manchester City spending more.

While that statistic is true if you look at net expenditure (the difference between transfer fees paid and received), the way it is expressed makes it sound as if Stoke’s expenditure over 5 years (£88m) is in any way comparable with Chelsea’s (£326m) or Man City’s (£537m).

A better comparison for Stoke’s expenditure would be to say they’ve spent broadly the same over the last 5 years as Newcastle and West Ham. If you look at the average Stoke spend a year on transfers, it’s about £16m – the same as many other clubs in the Premier League.

If Stoke do have one failing in the transfer market it is that they do not recoup any money on their signings. They are quite some way behind their rivals with only QPR and Norwich receiving less into their coffers. But to try and suggest that Stoke should be pushing for titles and the champion league on the basis of what cash they have spent is – to put it bluntly – ridiculous.

The other criticism thrown at Pulis is the team’s style of play. Direct, reliant on set pieces, and with one of the lowest goals for tallies in the division I am not going to make any defence of the aesthetics of Stoke’s style of play.

All, I’m going to say is that since promotion in 2008, Pulis has kept Stoke in the Premiership and for most of that time in the comfortable surrounds of mid-table. No mean feat given the fate of many newly promoted teams. There’s also been a day out at Wembley and a season of European football to enjoy. If owner Peter Coates wants to watch a different style of football fair enough. But he can’t say he hasn’t been given decent results on the pitch.

If anything then, Pulis is the victim of a disease reaching near epidemic proportions amongst football club chairmen: ‘next level-itis’. It’s distinguished by symptoms of feeling that your club should somehow be higher or achieving more. Unfortunately, Stoke may find out that without Pulis their next level is the Championship.

Written by James Albion

The Benitez Legacy: the results business fails to erase memories of the past

Posted: May 19, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Today, Rafa Benitez bids farewell to a brief but eventful spell as Chelsea boss with a managerial standing somewhat repaired in the eyes of the footballing world. But why have Chelsea fans failed to warm to the man that’s done everything required of him? @dnsandnick take a look at Rafa Benitez and his brief reign.

April 21st 2013. Liverpool vs Chelsea at Anfield. The ‘away’ manager gets cheered by the home fans, and booed by his own travelling supporters.

As Benitez leaves Chelsea, he leaves with a very respectable record – even if the fans never fully took to him

18 months on from the beginning of the supposed AVB ‘era’ Chelsea fans find themselves in an uncomfortable position. Their feelings towards owner Roman Abramovich have never been so confused. More silverware added to the trophy cabinet and yet a feeling of betrayal – personified by one man, Rafael Benitez. Barring one dead rubber against Everton the Benitez era.. Wait, calling it an era feels wrong… The Benitez saga is coming to an end.

Fan appreciation of Abramovich is at an all time low since the dark days that saw Jose Mourinho leave the club. Considering the riches and success that Roman has brought to the club, he is surprisingly unpopular – likely due to his lack of communication with the fans and media. A simple word explaining what happened with Jose or Big Phil or Ancelotti or AVB or even RDM would cool a lot of fans’ ire. A press release is all very well, but it’s so considered – what fans want is an off-hand interview of the type we used to enjoy out of Harry’s car window outside Spurs’ training ground.

So in the midst of all this fury and injustice, Roman turns to the man who was seen as the yang to the ying of our most successful manager Jose Mourinho – Rafael Benitez. In years gone by it seems as though Chelsea and Liverpool have butted horns more than any two teams in England. League cup finals, Champions League semi finals, Steven Gerrard transfer sagas, ghost goals and the occasional league scuffle. Through which Jose flexed his charismatic muscles and tactical flare – Benitez’s perceived negative style and lack of personality was thrown into sharp relief.

Then Chelsea went and hired the other guy.

Was Abramovich’s move just the latest negative act of a man who does not understand his fans or a smart, emotionless move from a thoroughly successful businessman?

Cue booing, signs in the stands, and fans protesting. Like when Clough replaced Revie at Leeds back in 1974. When Benitez had a chance to ingratiate himself with the fans in his first press conference, he decided to deny the fact he was being booed. Added to this, he didn’t even wear a blue tie. All he needed to do was say ‘That was then, I’m Chelsea manager now’ – but he made no efforts to change fans’ opinions of him.

Another problem that Rafa faced was the word ‘Interim’. Not his choosing of course. Not only was he not planning for a long term relationship with the fans but the board, and Abramovich, clearly weren’t either.

Roll on a few weeks and a few decent results later, the Chelsea fans refused to change their tune. Rafa even started wearing a Chelsea badge on his suit. But to no avail, the boos continued to ring out around Stamford Bridge and away matches. This escalated until one day in Middlesborough when Rafa boiled over. Rafa’s ‘Rant’ as it was dubbed by overzealous media boiled down to the fact he thought the team would perform better with encouragement and not boos. Apparently ‘F*ck off Benitez, we don’t want you…’ undermined the confidence of the players.

Over the coming months while the boos subsided a little and the banners remained, ‘The Interim One’ didn’t seem to be doing much wrong. Quietly shepherding a very tired team to the World Club Cup final, the Champions League places and to the Europa League. His muted solo fist pump when Ivanovic’s 93rd minute goal went it said it all. This victory meant more to his CV than his role as a member of the club’s history.

On a personal note I really didn’t want to see Benitez in the home dugout at Stamford Bridge, but he’s done enough for me to wish him well for whatever comes next. Goodbye Rafa – and good luck. Though don’t come back soon…

We’re consistently told that football is a results business. But here we have the exception to the rule. Benitez has got the results – and yet, an extended stay has never been on the cards and Rafa is now being linked with the Real Madrid job. In this instance, in the case of Rafa it’s been more than just results. Old loyalties, old rivalries, can mean more than silverware, to the fans at least. And as the yang exits Stamford Bridge, old loyalties may see the ying return…

Is this real life or is it just fantasy?

Posted: May 13, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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In a Premiership season where before Fergie’s announcement the most exciting story-lines in the final 4 weeks have been the fairly bland questions of whether Wigan will stay up or whether Spurs will make the top 4, it’s easy to think it’s been devoid of drama. But even in the most trivial of matches this season, there’s one avenue you can rely on for entertainment – contributors @DNSandnick give us their take on how Fantasy Football changed their view on the game. 

You’re sitting there, wearing your beloved Chelsea kit, biting your nails, hoping Man U keep a clean sheet, and leap up in a pub because Titus Bramble just got a goal away at West Brom.

Remember when you could just enjoy football without worrying about goal scorers, assists and clean sheets? It was all so clear – you just wanted your team to win, and your rivals to lose. Blissfully simple. It could be 5-4 and you wouldn’t mind as long as you got the result you wanted.  Into that clarity entered Fantasy Football to muddy it.

Initial forms of Fantasy Football, the simple formats like those seen through the Daily Telegraph in the early 90s, were incredibly successful – but this was only the beginning. The birth of the internet saw not only a growth in sharing and discussion of football, it brought about the instant compiling of stats and accessibility that made Fantasy Football the ideal companion of the beautiful game.

In general, our viewing of any event, be that sport, news or entertainment, has completely changed with the rise of the smartphone and tablet. This shift is the ‘Second Screen’ culture. You can’t watch X-Factor without your Twitter app open to see what your friends or the general public at large think about the acts. The BBC actually created a game to accompany their show ‘The Apprentice’. Viewers can bet on who was getting fired in real time as they watch. For a football fan the list of accompanying feeds are endless. At any given match there are enough tweets to serve as match commentary on their own.

Live information on the BBC and Sky Sports or via Twitter’s OptaJoe give greater statistical analysis than any TV broadcaster ever could. Not to mention the Fantasy Football sites themselves. Each week polls on captain choices, extensive lists of injuries and suspensions, and never ending discussions about the merits of Player A versus Player B fuel the distracting fires in the hearts of the majority of modern football fans. What started as a veneer has become easily 50% of our football interest. Some people seem to care more about Fantasy Football than real football.

So why do we keep coming back? It’s almost as if there is a prediction high phenomena – the same chemicals in your brain as betting, without the hole in your wallet. There might be keen gamblers betting on another team this weekend glued to watching the final scores come in to see if their wild punt on Wigan to stay up has come off. Some Fantasy Football managers will have the same feeling about whether Sunderland can keep a clean sheet this weekend.

Jenas and Graham felt like good ideas in January - perhaps this manager shouldn't have waited to gameweek 38 to remove them...

Jenas and Graham felt like good ideas in January – perhaps this manager shouldn’t have waited to gameweek 38 to remove them…

Fantasy Football sits comfortably between money-free betting and prediction-based ego padding. If you get a funny feeling that Tevez will pop one in on a Saturday lunchtime and he does, you’re a king. If you decide that this is finally Downing’s time to shine at Anfield and he spends the 90 minutes engaged in presumably tedious conversation with Jordan Henderson on the bench, what have you lost really? A slight dent of the ego, but you’d take one of them over a dent in your wallet any day.

Another quirk of the FF psychology is that ‘Sods law’ is crystallized in the fantasy football arena. Your latest transfer’s ankle is shattered into 50 pieces at 5 past 3, whilst the player you took him out for scores his first goal of the season, deflected, with his eyes shut. This leads to another behavioral trope of the fantasy football fan: Playing sods law at its own game. There’s two ways to do this:

  • A. Put in a rival defender or goalkeeper – that way if they keep a clean sheet you get the points, if they concede then your rival conceded.
  • B. Leave out your team’s striker – if he doesn’t score you’re a genius, if he does celebrate like a football fan of old.

With Fantasy football winning is losing and losing is winning.  It can make a tedious 0-0 between Stoke and Everton a joy if you’ve got the likes of Huth and Jagielka in your back line, and take the shine off your favourite team’s victory over Liverpool if you’ve made a red-carded goalless Suarez captain that week. It’s changed us from truly being neutral.

And in a season where drama in the Premiership has been hard to find, it’s always a reliable replacement.

Why John Terry should never play for England again

Posted: April 27, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Terry: Petulant child

Terry: Petulant child

Just when you think John Terry might be going gently into the good night, he manages to find a way to put his massive ego slap-bang back in centre stage.

Stripped of the England captaincy, retired from international football and slipping down the pecking order at Chelsea it seemed that JT was in danger of quietly exiting the stage unnoticed.

So what does he do? He has a few trusted stooges put the word around the press corps that he fancies playing again for England. Cue tiresome hysteria.

You’d think that a man who has embroiled English football in a succession of crises – too wearisome to be worth repeating – would have the sense to spare us this latest farrago. Unfortunately, John Terry is too selfish for that.

Like a petulant child Terry flounced out on England back in September. Now he’s let it be known that he fancies a free holiday in Brazil next summer.

In a cowardly move, sadly typical of the man, Terry has not personally said that he is available for selection again. No, he’s put the word out indirectly via his advisers.

Should Roy Hodgson be anything less than effusive about a possible international return, well Terry can stay quietly retired, pretend he’s no idea where the rumours started, and save himself the embarrassment of public rejection.

In all this it’s Hodgson I feel most sorry for. No doubt still smarting from the debacle surrounding Rio Ferdinand’s recent call up, he now has the unenviable task of negotiating another call-up controversy.

Terry has treated a place in the national team as a personal right and not privilege to be earned. Even if it’s merited by form and fitness, Terry should never play for England again.

Written by James Albin

Managerial Bloodbath

Posted: March 21, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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We wrote recently about the madness of some of this season’s managerial changes. To visualise the movement this season, @dnsandnick have put together this lovely calendar of who has left their job this season.

Calendar 2

Thanks goes to www.thesackrace.com for the data of who has left and when.

1FITG apologises

Posted: March 18, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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Following an apology in The Times today for publishing a story about the Dream Football League which turned out to have been, how shall I put this, dreamt up, 1FITG has been similarly moved to apologise for its own wholesale absence of journalistic standards.

When we get it wrong, we admit it.

So, it’s time for us to set the record straight.

We stand by all our writing staff at 1FITG. Our sub-editors and editors are the best in the world.

Our fact checkers are obsessed with detail. We wouldn’t be seen anywhere near a dodgy story.

However, we made one or two minor errors in our exclusive report last week, when we announced the imminent launch of a British Territories League. It transpires that:

- There is no plan to tap into the riches of the English expatriate community by taking the Premier League to such locations as the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar and the Pitcairn Islands in the premier league summer break.
- Our headline ‘Bermuda Tri-amble: ageing Premier League stars set for overseas windfall’ was misleading in suggesting that the British Territories League was a done deal.
- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has not, in fact, formally complained to FIFA, or threatened to send troops to accession the Falkland Islands should the stars of the Premier League set foot on them.
- Our robustly checked, single source for our story, ‘El Fabrico’, who over months we’ve got to know well down the pub and said he was a close personal friend of Diego Maradona, is not fully trustworthy.

In our defence, we’d like to add that to criticise our handling of this story is to misunderstand how top football journalism works.

It is perfectly normal to take at face value the improbable claims of people from football’s fringes whose only interest is clearly in making money. Aside from this story, everything we have ever printed on 1FITG is 100% true, such as “Pep Guardiola signs for English club” or “exclusive: player’s agent just phoned me and said something that isn’t self-evidently untrue”.

We could have simply ignored the fact we got this implausible story completely and utterly wrong. The fact that we didn’t only shows how dedicated we are to accuracy, and the trustworthiness of our football journalism.

Rest assured, only a top quality outlet of football journalism like 1FITG could get it this wrong.

1FITG mid-season review: Tranmere

Posted: February 20, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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With many predicting Tranmere to spend another season fighting off relegation at the start season, Joe Danson (@Didge2) looks back on a season of surprise for the Rovers, and gives us his thoughts on the future for the Birkenhead club.

So how do you rate the season so far?

Well, I think it is fair to say it has been quite a shock. There aren’t many Tranmere fans who would have predicted back in the summer that after two thirds of the season, we would still have been top of the league. Since we went top after the second game, everyone has been waiting for us to start falling down the league, but it is only in the last 10 days or so that we have dropped out of the automatic promotion positions for the first time. We also finally managed to get a bit of a cup run going this year, with a visit to Derby in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, although unfortunately it didn’t quite go to plan when lost 5 nil. It was our second 5 nil defeat of the season, the previous one coming at the hands of fellow promotion hunters Swindon. But unlike the first time, where we bounced back and won 3 on the trot, we have struggled to come back into form, winning only twice in the following 6 games. Overall, the quality of the league has not been as strong this season as previous years, and we have been too able to take advantage of that. Other teams such as Sheffield United who would have fancied a strong season after last year’s playoff heartache will be kicking themselves for not doing the same.

What are your hopes for the rest of the season?

We have been on a poor run of form, and the next couple of weeks will make or break our season with tough games against Swindon and Yeovil coming up. When I was watching us earlier in the season, we were enjoying our football, and playing without fear, but it seems in the last few weeks we had started to count down the games, and think of what could happen which has maybe added a little pressure. Jake Cassidy, our main goal scorer earlier in the season, returned to Wolves after his loan period came to an end. Players like Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro and James Wallace have come back into the team after long injuries, although have struggled to stay fit, and we look like we are struggling to find that spark which Cassidy could provide up front, as well looking nervous at the back. The once reliable Owen Fon Williams, who was in with a shout of making his Wales debut earlier in the season, has started making more errors, as was highlighted on Friday in the 2-0 defeat to Shrewsbury when the Sky cameras visited Prenton Park for the second time this season. Earlier on in the season we had one of the best goal differences in the entire football league, but now we are struggling to find goals which is a major concern.

Do you think you have had to rely too heavily on loan players this season?

Ronnie Mooreinho – particularly successful in the loan market this season

We have one of the smallest budgets in the league, and one of the smallest squads. When you start to pick up injuries and suspensions you are instantly stretched and struggle to cover key positions. Ronnie Moore has, as always, done a fantastic job in the loan market, with Jake Cassidy doing a great job in the first half of the season and Liam Palmer also having some good performances when he was allowed to return after signing a new contract with Sheffield Wednesday in January. But, as we saw when Cassidy did not return in the new year, you are at the mercy of other clubs. Having said that, you wouldn’t be surprised if RM picked up a decent striker for the last 10 games or so to push us on.

Do you hope this season’s success so far will persuade the Chairman into investing a bit more into the squad?

It is no secret that the Chairman has been keen to sell the club for a while, even putting it up on eBay a few years ago. But with no real investors or buyers coming forward, he has been forced to stay put. Funds have been hard to come by, with the average gate dropping in recent seasons, but hopefully with this season’s strong performance, and a run at promotion, we will see a bit more funding being put forward and we can go on and prove that this year has been no fluke. After all, it is only 2 years since we finished 7th missing out on the playoffs by a matter of seconds on the final day.

If you do achieve promotion what are your hopes for next season?

Let’s be honest, it would be a massive challenge to stay up. As everyone knows, there are a lot of big clubs in the league, with the vast majority having played in the premier league recently, so as cliché as it sounds we are under no illusions that there will be some tough games to come. But, Ronnie Moore has always had an eye for a bargain, and I would hope with an increase in gates, maybe some more TV money we would be able to put a decent team together. It would at least offer up some more London grounds to visit which would be good!

Season of the long knives leaves managers watching their backs

Posted: February 19, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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When Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio fell on his sword, he brought the number of managerial changes in the top four divisions in England to 41 for the season. Given that we’ve still another two and half months of the season to run, it looks inevitable that over half of the 92 league will have changed their manager by May. 

Mark Robins tries to remember which club he's at this week

Whilst we’re all caught up following our own clubs, we can perhaps miss the scale of the carnage across the wider football landscape. And when you start looking in to it, the rate of managerial attrition is staggering.

A quick study of the League Manager’s Association website shows that barely half – 48 – of current managers have been in their jobs for 12 months or less. Nigel Clough is currently the 10th longest serving manager just by making it through to his fourth season in charge of the Rams.

While the fact managers are being given less time is not a new observation, I would never have guessed the turnover would have been as high as this. Clearly, as the pressure for results has increased so the patience for them has declined.

But while you might assume that this demand would be most sharply felt in the Premier League – where the rewards for success and failure are so acute – it’s actually in the Football League who the bulk of the casualties have taken place. Of the 40 managerial changes this season, just 3 have been in the Premier League (QPR, Southampton and Chelsea).

That means if you support one of the remaining 72 football league clubs, there’s a 50% chance you’ve already changed your manager this season (even with the revolving doors at Blackburn and Blackpool partially skewing the average).

But the statistics tell us something interesting about the changing expectations in the Football League. Clubs no longer seem willing to accept their current status – whether that’s in League 1 or 2 – even if history tells us that is where many of them have spent the majority of their existence.

It now takes substantially less to push a chairman to remove their manager. The giant-killing of Liverpool wasn’t enough to save Paul Dickov, and Keith Curle was axed after a year in charge despite being safe and secure in mid-table. Chairmen are expecting more – and for it to be delivered quicker.

In this intensified climate you have to wonder whether certain managers would have survived in the past. Leicester fans were calling for Martin O’Neill to go only months his appointment – the board stuck with him and he went on to become one of their most successful managers. It took Neil Warnock 6 years at Bramall Lane to get Sheffield United promoted to the Premiership, during which there were numerous opportunities for him to be moved on.

Chairmen it seems want managers who can wave a magic wand and turn their ugly lower division frog into a handsome Premier League prince. And if they can’t cast that spell immediately they can start looking for another job. It’s an approach that’s unproductive and unsustainable and desperately needs to change.

Written by James Albion

1FITG mid-season review: Cardiff

Posted: February 15, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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After a pre-season of controversy on the shock move from blue to red, Cardiff City have been setting the Championship alight with their results this season. @giraffefarmer gives us his thoughts on what’s happened and whether after a long spell out of the top league they’ll hold on for promotion.

So what are your thoughts on Cardiff’s season so far?

It’s been good. Cardiff are 8 points clear at the top with a game in hand (against 3rd place Leicester, win that and it’s 11 points clear, 14 points above 3rd place), looking fairly consistent and it all seems to be coming together. Kim Bo-Kyung has brought some class to the midfield, while Aron Gunnarson has looked lively whenever I’ve seen him play. Obviously Craig Bellamy brings quality and experience to the side and he does seem determined to make sure the side succeeds; even if that means having a right go at players that fail to deliver a good ball to him. The signing of Fraizer Campbell is a bit of a gamble, if it comes off then Cardiff will have got a quality striker for not much. Mind you, given the resources available writing off £600k would hardly be a disaster.

Optimistic about the cups this year? Cardiff always do pretty well in them…

Yes, well, about that. Early exits in both cups means that there is little to distract Cardiff from the league this year. It’s horrible to say this, especially as the cup runs have given me some of my best football memories (that Ben Turner equaliser in the League Cup Final!), but the league has to be the priority this year. Cardiff have been to both the FA Cup and League Cup Finals in recent years so effectively taking a break this year is not too bad.

It’s Malky Mackay’s second season in charge, has he now got the side playing as he wants?

I think so, yes. Malky seems to be getting a good balance and incorporating players well. The side may still be lacking a little bit of flexibility and sometimes needs to be slightly more clinical in putting teams away, but these are minor things when compared to the general solidity of the team. The fans are very much on board with the Malky project, he impressed last year by getting Cardiff to the playoffs and the team’s consistent form this year has cemented that initial good feeling.

So, the colour change thing. How’s that working out?

Hideous

It does seem to have split the fanbase. A certain portion of fans have essentially said that Cardiff City no longer exists for them and have stopped supporting the club. Another portion seem to be in the ‘my club, right or wrong’ camp and will support the owners no matter what they suggest. The largest group is I think more ambivalent. They’d much rather we were playing in blue but are realistic that football is a money game and if playing in red means that Cardiff get promoted to the Premier League then they’ll suck it up. However, Cardiff fans can be fickle in their support for boards and managers and if things start to go badly the Malaysian owners could quickly find themselves receiving a lot of heat, especially if the currently ludicrously compliant South Wales press start to turn on them.

From a personal standpoint, it feels weird and wrong and like it’s not really my club in the same way anymore. While I’ll be happy if Cardiff get promoted and I’ll look forward to going to some great away matches in London (if I can get tickets), I won’t be dancing in the street or shouting from the rooftops as I would have done if we’d gone up a couple of seasons ago.

Also, that club badge is objectively terrible.

Predicted finish in the Championship this season?

1st, that gap at the top is substantial. If you look at the table the teams from 2nd to 6th are all pretty close to each other points-wise so there will be a lot of competition between them to grab 2nd place. This season is likely to follow the typical Championship template, where one team heads away at the top while the rest give up on chasing them down and concentrate instead on scrapping it out for the final spot. Cardiff have become notorious for blowing promotion chances over the last few years, but this side has a lot more resilience and grit about it, has a bigger lead and instead of being a victim of Championship points-trading will likely be the team that benefits. Also, there’s no distraction from the cups.

1FITG mid-season review: Sheffield United

Posted: February 14, 2013 by onefootinthegame in Uncategorized
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After last year’s catastrophic end to a season where they looked destined for promotion, Sheffield United have found this season  much tougher – @josephclift looks at what’s different at Bramall Lane this season, and their prospects for making it second time lucky.

With about a third of the season left to go, a handful of teams are running away with each division with one exception – League 1. After the games on Tuesday, four points are all that separate the top 7 clubs.

To the casual observer, that might suggest an unusually high quality to the division this year. Dedicated watchers though will know this view to be wholly inaccurate. League 1 is a visibly poorer division this year and Sheffield United have highlighted this fact well, in what has been an odd season at Bramall Lane.

While last season ended in the crushing disappointment of the playoff final, fans had at least enjoyed a revival of sorts in both the style we played and results we earned. Danny Wilson’s appointment saw a significant amount of fan anger – based on his past Wednesday connections and patchy managerial record. But he quickly got the team playing an attractive and successful style – and with supporters still licking their wounds from the bitter end to last season they’ve been prepared to give him a fair crack of the whip this year.

Expiring contracts and some notable sales though have forced Wilson to reshape the squad – leading to a more sluggish, more solid XI. Kevin McDonald, the key dictator of play last year, surprisingly remained, but the quality around him had vanished. Compounding matters is McDonald’s inconsistent form this term. But, while the football was poorer, it still yielded results earlier in the season.

However, there’s been a sense of unease at many of the games this season. Our previously water tight defence has become dangerously porous. Where games were comfortably won last season now they are nervy tense affairs. A less positive style has meant fewer chances and fewer goals and a greater danger that the odd goal conceded will be costly.

In January, pace and quality needed to be added. It had been clear that the squad has struggled to cope with injuries to key players like Neill Collins and Shaun Miller. Which was why the sale of top scorer Nick Blackman was met with a ‘WTF?’, ‘here-we-go-again’, and more than a few ‘McCabe-Out’s.

Chairman Kevin McCabe, in whom Sheffield United fans’ trust has steadily been falling since the Robson appointment, did little to provide reassurance. McCabe suggested he couldn’t stand in Blackman’s way (despite only signing him last summer) and regardless of selling him would be able to strengthen the squad (before still going ahead and selling him). This came in the middle of the worst run of the season, with 3 successive home defeats crumbling what had been an unbeaten home record till then. In a season where 39 managers have changed job, the manner of these defeats had fans for the first time seriously suggesting Wilson’s time was up. Wilson’s decision to bring former Academy product Jonathan Forte in on loan to fill Blackman’s shoes added fuel to this fire, despite his reasonable League 1 record.

He’s not quite Nick Blackman, but the early signs from Forte’s return to Bramall Lane have been positive

And yet, two comfortable away wins in the last week, alongside nearly all of the top 6 dropping points, leaves United still contesting League 1 which remains wide open at the top. Tranmere at last seem to be going through their bad spell, Donny don’t appear to have quite recovered from the shock of Saunders’s departure, Swindon seem in all sorts of trouble off the pitch, and I’ve lost track on how far MK Dons have fallen out of the equation. But despite Blackman’s sale, Wilson does seem to have added the depth he needed. Experience in the form of Danny Higginbotham and Barry Robson, a bit more pace on the wings through Jamie Murphy. And, of course, more strikers. Wilson said after tuesday’s game “we can’t rely on just one”. That’s not just a reference to the current need, as the Decreasingly-Secret Footballer Dave Kitson has become increasingly relied on for the goals, but also on last season. It’s no secret that the jailing of our, and arguably the league’s, top striker affected the run-in. In theory, Wilson had a Plan B in the form of loanee Will Hoskins. When he injured himself almost immediately, there was no Plan C to call on. With Forte already on board, Wilson’s capture of pacy striker/winger Dominic Poleon is a sign he’s wanting to avoid a repeat of last year where we were caught short at a critical moment.

Any team in the top 7 that can play consistently in the last few months of the season should end up in the top two. And while the spine of Sheffield United’s team has been about as reliable as Richard III’s for much of this year, they could end up there. Which, given how the team has performed, would be a perfect example of the mediocrity League 1 has seen this season.

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