The irony doesn’t so much linger in the wings as slap Paul Heckingbottom hard across the cheek. Sheffield United have now made the worst start to a season in Premier League history, pushing Sheffield United 2020-21 into second place. That team was managed by Chris Wilder. Reports suggest that Heckingbottom will soon be sacked, to be replaced by… Wilder.
Everything is broken or quickly breaking at Bramall Lane; it was never meant to be like this. Over their last five league games, when Heckingbottom was hoping to build on the slight wisps of promise, Sheffield United have conceded 20 goals and scored just two. They have now taken one point from 10 games and outsiders are starting to whisper about other unwanted records.
Their joint-top goalscorer is own goals, with two. They have been ahead for three per cent of their Premier League minutes. None of this is fun.
To pick out one problem feels cruel, such is the length and breadth of Heckingbottom’s must-do-betters. But Sheffield United’s defending so far this season has been record-breakingly, off-the-side-of-chart bad. They are on course to allow 300 shots on target and 764 shots across a full season, which would “beat” the worst offending totals from last season’s Premier League by 102 and 145 respectively.
It is true that the Blades haven’t played any of the three teams directly above them, but not playing Sheffield United yet is one of the reasons why they are there at all.
If Heckingbottom does lose his job soon or later, he will have paid a high price for overachievement. This club were 16th in the Championship when Heckingbottom replaced Slavisa Jokanovic.
In less than 18 months he took them out of trouble and into the play-offs and then followed semi-final disappointment with automatic promotion with 91 points. That he was left off the nominations list for the Championship Manager of The Season was a gross omission.
Heckingbottom was hardly provided with the tools for his improbable mission. Abdullah bin Mosaad, the club’s owner, has long insisted that Sheffield United are available for sale but purchases by Henry Mauriss and Dozy Mmobuosi fell through over concerns about the substance of their wealth. The second half of the promotion season was spent under transfer embargo.
Not that it mattered: Heckingbottom had bought only two players for a fee over the preceding 18 months and one of those cost £250,000.
If Heckingbottom’s promotion cheer has quickly dissipated, he has a robust defence than his team for the absolution of guilt. The stark reality: the squad that started last season was stronger than they find in a higher division.
Due to enforced sales and expiring loans, Sheffield United lost their top goalscorer, top two assist providers and second and third highest chance creators and then they lost their captain to serious injury thereafter. Supporters i spoke to on the eve of the season believed that, without a takeover, relegation was a certainty. No news is bad news.
Heckingbottom was permitted to recruit 10 new players – although three were on loan, one was a free transfer and three others cost £5m or less. The age profile of those signings was instructive too: the majority are aged 22 and under and Gustavo Hamer is the oldest at 26. Sheffield United looked to be building a squad to flourish in the Championship after relegation.
But then sacking the manager would suggest a demand for more. It would decree that Sheffield United are not simply Luton Town, happy just to be here and to be future-proofed after years of financial turmoil. If Heckingbottom would concede defensive underperformance, a back four of Jayden Bogle, Luke Thomas, Auston Trusty and Jack Robinson is not Premier League quality. You cannot escape reality forever and Heckingbottom is a manager who deals in nuts and bolts.
That is the most galling aspect of this deep funk. Six months ago, this group of supporters were celebrating after securing promotion against West Bromwich Albion. The triumph itself partly explained the joy – the realisation of a goal that had been pursued relentlessly over the previous 18 months.
But revelry blended with excitement. The joy of promotion lies in the prize, not simply the achievement. Too quickly that got lost on the wind.
The futility that may haunt Sheffield United over the next 28 matches is a dangerous entity. Last season, the three promoted clubs all stayed up. But Fulham and Bournemouth spent handsomely, enjoyed parachute payment benefits and had retained some of the better players from their previous Premier League seasons. Nottingham Forest were the exception and spent £160m to stay up.
If you cannot come up and cope, what’s the point in coming up at all? Clubs do indeed get vast broadcasting revenue, but fans being left to only celebrate the bottom line is a dystopian football culture.
Futility is fuelled by hopelessness that stems from a perceived – and in Sheffield United’s case realised – lack of competition. You turn up and, if you’re lucky, you might get a point every now and then and occasionally you’ll have a good day against a meagre opponent. 60 per cent of matches become write-offs.
As the Sheffield United season ticket-holder muttered to his granddaughter after the defeat to Manchester United: “You get bugger all for trying your hardest”. That might well become the epitaph to their fated campaign. “Enjoy the moment,” advised Heckingbottom when promotion was confirmed to the fanbase and the players. Oh Heck – maybe he saw what was coming next.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2CmGSHx
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