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| Nigel Clough sacked after 19 months in charge |
On a sunny day at Wembley in April 2014, Sheffield United fought
out an 8-goal semi-final thriller against Hull City, a Premier League side
almost 40 places above them in the football league. The Blades came off the
wrong side of the 5-3 scoreline, but the occasion capped off a
memorable FA Cup run for the League 1 side, in which they overturned several
upper-league opponents. Central to this story was Nigel Clough, who cemented
his status that day as a club legend, barely 7 months into his role as manager.
But one week ago, and just over a year after the glamour and spectacle of the
FA Cup semi-final, he was sacked.
Over the past 7 days, there has been much speculation and
talk of why Clough has been fired. The fan base is split. Some have wanted
Clough out for a while, and have welcomed the news. Others (including myself)
have not. This snap decision by the board has provoked argument and counter-argument.
One point stands out to me above all others – We’ve been here before.
2 years ago, Sheffield United took the choice to sack Danny
Wilson 5 games from the end of his 2nd season in charge, installing veteran
defender Chris Morgan as the interim manager for the rest of the season. I say “took
the choice” because they were not forced. Wilson had been doing a good job. The
Blades had been in the top 6 all season, and had even topped the table as
little as 6 weeks before he was fired. Wilson had only failed to gain promotion
the season before by a scuffed penalty in the play-off final, and was building
towards a 2nd promotion campaign. Nevertheless, the board decided
that he had to go. Quite what was expected to be gained from this has never
been clear. There was an alarming level of confidence from the directors in this
decision. To change the regime in such a flippant way, at such a crucial time,
and what’s more to have no permanent manager lined up as a replacement was
delusional to say the least, but McCabe and the rest sat and smiled as they
deflected urgent questions about the club’s future. Sheffield United lost the
ensuing play-off campaign, not even being able to overcome Yeovil Town in the
semi final.
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| Danny Wilson was sacked in 2013 under similar circumstances |
Skip forward 2 years, and we have a similar situation on our
hands at Bramall Lane. Clough has managed to keep Sheffield United solidly in 5th
position for almost the entire season. He has had another cup semi-final, this
time a classy double-header against Tottenham Hotspur, a tie which Sheffield
United were minutes away from forcing into extra time. The play-off campaign
this season, though a failure, was extraordinary – a 5-5 draw in the 2nd
tie marking The Blades down as the losers on the wrong side of a 7-6 aggregate score
line. Clough has also enjoyed the highest winning percentage of any permanent Sheffield
United manager. These achievements would have been seen as a triumphant season
at any other League 1 club. Add these to the FA Cup giant killing achievements and
the invincible run of 14 unbeaten games in all competitions from last season,
and that’s one really smart looking CV for Clough. All achieved in 19 months.
His continued tenure would have given us even more, as Clough would have
developed and grown his squad. We’ll never know exactly what his plans were
this summer, but he certainly deserved the chance to execute them.
When Nigel Clough stepped into the office at Bramall Lane
for his first day as manager of Sheffield United, the club was at the foot of League
1, and with a little under a quarter of the season played, already facing the
possibility of relegation. Clough was charged with the task of lifting the club
out of the danger zone and consolidating safely. His attitude towards the job
was clear. He was going to be here for years, not months. He was going to build
the club from the ground up, and instil his own philosophy. He was going to
create a legacy. The season and a half he had was just the beginning. Clough needed
time to grow, to develop. He has clearly not been given a fair crack of the
whip.
I understand why Clough has attracted criticism. Last summer’s
transfer dealings were a failure. Clough had several targets that he didn’t
manage to acquire. This meant him starting the season with a lightweight strike
force, and very limited midfield options. Clough has not had an effective and
consistent pair of full backs since Maguire left. Some players have shone in
this squad – Murphy, Basham, Reed, McEveley, Done and Kennedy have all had a
good season, but most of the other players have been decidedly average. Clough has chopped and changed throughout the
year, not settling on one solid first eleven. All this indecision has lead to
patchy squad form, players being played out of position, and a lack of shape on
the field. Low confidence has often been a factor, especially at home. A lot of
the squad seemed too scared to run at away defenders, to dominate the middle third,
to stretch the game.
This season has seen only 10 home league wins. So many
points have been dropped from winning positions. Clough can sometimes be tactically
obtuse. Sheffield United’s losses this season have been characterised by a familiarly
frustrating pattern – A bright opening 30 minutes, taking a lead into half
time, then instead of coming out to score more to seal the game, sitting
back, inviting pressure and gradually slipping into a slow capitulation to see
the opposition nick a winning goal in the final 10 minutes. The away end has
erupted in joy at quarter to 5 on far too many Saturday afternoons in the last
10 months. Peterborough, Fleetwood, Barnsley and Crewe, all mediocre teams, all
got 3 points at Bramall Lane this season.
But for each of these crushingly predictable defeats, we
have had some superb results. Beating a full strength Southampton at home,
putting 3 past QPR away. Knocking West Ham out of the League Cup on penalties. Being
one of only 2 teams to come to Bristol City and win. The away wins at Doncaster,
Barnsley and Bradford. At times Clough oversaw flowing, attacking, positive
football. He just couldn’t string enough results together to challenge for the
league title.
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| Chris Basham has played well under Clough |
And that’s why I feel that sacking Clough at this stage is
far too premature. He deserved at least one more season. Another summer to get
the signings in that he wanted. Another season to try to recreate the form he
enjoyed towards the end of the 2014 campaign. It seems that the board has not
learned from the kamikaze decision to sack Wilson 2 years ago. Back then, it
took almost 2 months to find a new manager. When they finally did get someone
in, it was David Weir, statistically the worst manager Sheffield United ever
had, sacked after a miserable trawl of 13 games. The rest of the season was
spent recovering from that dismal start. So it could be argued that the
decision to sack Wilson cost us promotion for 2 seasons.
Yet again we see the lack of a plan. One sentence that stood
out jarringly in the club's statement following Clough's departure was - “The search for the Club's new First Team
Manager will now start and it is hoped that this will result in identifying and
recruiting the right candidate within a relatively short period of time” – Which shows there has been no one lined up to take the
job. If you’re going to sack a manager that’s got you to a cup semi-final and
the play-offs, you should have something big in the works, no? Changing
managers now is flipping a coin. We have no idea what is going to happen next.
Whoever will replace Clough, and there are already several names being muttered along the grapevine – Nigel Adkins, Phil Parkinson and Mark Warburton are just a few – the board have laid out a specific and clear message – Promotion, promotion, promotion. Our next manager will have to weigh up the possibility of finishing in the top 5, having a great cup run and still being sacked, because that’s what happened to Clough, and Wilson before him. Sheffield United is becoming known as a place where good managers come to get crucified, and as we are on the brink of our 8th manager in 7 years, who’s to blame? There’s only so many times you can say you need a change before it starts sounding empty. The board have to take responsibility. They need to employ a strong, positive manager, one who has recent experience of getting promoted from this division, and most importantly, he needs to be given time. Time to fail, time to false start, but also time to experiment, grow and evolve. The next manager needs to be given the chance to express his footballing philosophy throughout all levels of the club. Only with such stability and harmony will we see Sheffield United in The Championship once again.
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