Thursday 22 November 2012

The Blades "Creweprint"

 
 
Tuesday night saw the return of a fixture that I have not had the pleasure of watching for some time. Crewe Alexandra visited Bramall Lane; a match where you are guaranteed to watch at least one side play football and at times in the past that has been The Railwaymen. Thankfully, both teams on Tuesday night played "the right way" and the 3-3 draw that ensued will have been fine fare for the neutral, if a little frustrating for the fans of both sides as leads were thrown away and contentious refereeing decisions played a part in the eventual outcome.
 
It is fair to say that Crewe Alexandra are the best side I have seen so far at Bramall Lane this season, playing with a swift incisiveness across the pitch and a movement off the ball that has it's foundations in stability, a strong academy system and a belief in a certain way of playing that has been actively pursued over the last 30 years. They moved the ball around the pitch with a crispness and pace that to me was clearly sharper than the Blades attractive, but more pedestrian, play.
 
On Tuesday night, the average age of the Crewe side was 23. A look through the programme reveals an average squad age of 21.5 with 15 of the 27 players having come through the club's youth system. The importance in the academy pipeline emphasised by the continued investment in the required infrastructure, facilities and coaches required under the new academy infrastructures put in place by the Elite Player Performance Plan. 
 
Crewe have successfully achieved Category 2 Academy status, a rare achievement compared with other clubs of similar size and stature. It puts them on a similar footing to many Championship and some Premier League clubs and it is to their great credit that they see the continuation of youth development as so important, especially against the backdrop of the deserved controversy that the EPPP has generated. Chairman John Bowler told the Crewe Chronicle;
 
"That's the kind of standing we feel we deserve and we have a right to be in that group. We want to be because we want to be associated with those types of clubs". Confident that Crewe will attract and in the short term retain good young players who recognise the club's ability to successfully develop their career."
 
The sale of players has always been important to Alexandra; funding both squad strengthening, underpinning the running of the club and also the ongoing success of the youth production line. That production line was tested again this summer when, after the success of promotion at Wembley, the club sold two of its latest young starlets in Nick Powell and Ashley Westwood to Manchester United and Aston Villa respectively. In that context, the start they have made to this season, establishing themselves mid-table in League One, is all the more impressive.
 
It ought to be noted that the club's plan is not without its ups and downs. In recent seasons the club has spent 3 seasons in League Two, following a spell of 3 years in League One and a prolonged spell in the Championship.
 
Crewe have supplemented their side with loan players and you can see that they have made an impact, slotting into the side. In fact two of the impressive front three on Tuesday; Lauri Dalla Valle and Chuks Aneke, have arrived from Fulham and Arsenal respectively. The other member of that trio Matthias Pogba was signed from Blue Square Premier club Wrexham and is a fine example of the quality that can be picked up in the lower divisions of English football and the upper echelons of the pyramid.
 
Where Crewe suffer, and this probably explains their current mid-table position, is that they have a soft underbelly. A team, lacking experienced leaders on the pitch can be defensively susceptible and no amount of hard work and a good team ethic is going to prevent that. They are also prone to making mistakes, something acknowledged by manager Steve Davis.
 
Development from within has been on the Blades agenda for the last couple of years and it shows. The Blades starting eleven on Tuesday had an average age of 24, just a year more than Crewe. The challenge for Jamie Hoyland and the further new recruits to the academy coaching team is to maintain the good work put in place by Ron Reid and John Pemberton; a task which we shouldn't under-estimate the size of in the current climate. Despite United's recent Youth Cup and Milk Cup success, the academy has only been given provisional Category 2 status, pending an ISO Audit in the new year. The arrival of Hoyland and others all part of the investment in the quality and quantity of coaching required by the EPPP rules.  
 
Where United have a distinct advantage is in the relative size of the clubs. The difference in crowds between clubs in this division is immense. United's average last season delivered Turnover of some £4.5m in gate receipts. That in turn allows us to sign experienced players, particularly down the spine of the team. That is not to say United are not without an emphasis on young talent. Development from within has been on the Blades agenda for the last couple of years and it shows. The Blades starting eleven on Tuesday had an average age of 24, just a year more than Crewe.
 
Where I think United have struggled is integrating loan players, with an understandable reluctance to utilise the loan market unless absolutely necessary, having had our fingers burned during the Championship relegation season. When we have, the success stories are rare.
 
United are at a crucial time in their recent history. Looking at the accounts, it is clear that promotion is vital this season. Kevin McCabe's stated aim of a financially self-sufficient club clearly is dependent upon Championship football. Whilst achieving the salary cap of 65% helps move the club in the right direction, the other costs of running a club and stadium the size of Bramall Lane should not be under-estimated. Unpicking the football club results from the plc accounts, with all that has gone on in recent years is not that easy, but what you can see is a club that lost £13m (before tax) on its football operations last season.
 
On top of this, we can also see that taking the step up to the Championship isn't straight forward. Even the self-proclaimed biggest clubs outside of the Premier League have struggled to push on to the upper echelons of the Championship. For others, maintaining their recent success after a prolonged unbeaten run is proving troublesome, their difficulties coming after signing several players of clear Championship ability to bolster a successful League 1 squad.
 
Therein lays a problem. Whilst United will have a better ability to build an improved squad than most other challengers for promotion, the likelihood is that we will still see a few lean seasons financially in the Championship. Whilst parachute payments make the gap between top and bottom even wider, the club will still be bridging a gap between loss making and break-even. Whilst there will be increased income as a result of being in the Championship, from TV (the fall in TV income in the last 12 months was £3.5m), gate receipts and commercial enterprise; the emphasis on youth development, stability and a way of playing that permeates all levels of the club structure is vital.
 
This might not bring the immediate success Unitedites crave and we might have to suffer some ups and downs as Crewe have, hopefully not with the movement between divisions! I can see this is the only way to long term stability, and the structure to deliver a return to the top flight. I am no McCabe apologist, as those who regularly read this blog will know, but in his Chairman's Statement in the accounts he refers to the transition, through the recruitment of young players, to comply with the Salary Cost Management Protocol. In the Business Review, Scott McCabe talks of, "the professional squad gradually reducing in size while rationalizing it to support a more fluid progression for home-grown players from the Club's Academy and for young acquisitions from the transfer market."
 
Ordinarily, this financial straightening would have started last season, but for players still being under expensive contracts that other clubs were unwilling to take on. Things were that bad, we have had to pay players to leave this summer and we have accepted transfer fees for others with a value and staged payments that fans have looked on with incredulity. In effect we are a year behind in this adjustment and we might have found that the club would have still undergone a serious level of change even if we had achieved promotion last season.    
 
Sheffield United going forward are going to have to be a bit like Crewe. To the more arrogant elements of our support, that might seem like heresy. I can think of several clubs where the wider support would dismiss such talk as" tinpot" thinking. It does sit contrary to the want it all, want it now, want it yesterday mind-set of modern society and the money-fuelled upper echelons of the game.
 
Some might say, well that just means we develop great young players and sell them as we always do.  That might well be the case and at times, in the past, given the relative position of the club at the time, I have been suitably aggrieved at this. However, we need to look at where we are now, where football is now. Youth development and the profit on the sale of those players is going to be an important source of income for the club; up until and probably even after we make it back to the Premier League. In many ways, it will be as important as it is to a club the size of Crewe, but for different reasons.
 
A long term strategy, with stability, an emphasis on youth and a core culture to the club and its coaching might not bear fruit tomorrow, but it will reap a rich harvest for clubs like United and Crewe in the future. We might just have to sit out a failed crop or two in the short term.

Thursday 15 November 2012

Danny Wilson's Half Term Report - Year 2

 
 

Twelve months ago, I posted a Half Term Review of Danny Wilson's initial spell in charge. In what was a tense time, with supporter opinion divided on the new man in charge, United were hitting a bit of a blip in terms of results and were struggling for form against those clubs around them. Rolling  forward 12 months and some of the comparisons are interesting and common themes emerge.

 

Transfers (B-)
 
United started last season with much of the previous season's squad intact and that certainly played a key part in the relative success we enjoyed last season. This season it is very much different. With the departure of four key players, three of which were wholly necessary to enable the club to comply with the SMCP (salary cap) rules and another at Her Majesty's Pleasure, Danny was always going to need to work miracles in the transfer market. At the same time, the onus was on blooding young players.
 
Of those coming in, three have settled into first team action. Tony McMahon was seen as a great signing by many and has taken up the right back slot vacated by the departing Matt Lowton. And therein lays the problem. As steady as McMahon has been, he is not Lowton and the absence of marauding runs forward like Lowton offered, probably tars opinion of the new man.
 
Nick Blackman is the Blades top scorer and certainly possesses more than enough talent to be a success in League One. But as Irecently suggested to the Football League site The Two Unfortunates, you can't help feeling he could be achieving so much more if he applied himself and his energies better.
 
Dave Kitson was an unusual signing and one that the manager seems to have had little influence in. After all, we had five strikers on the books when he signed his short term deal until January and at the time fans wanted the diminishing salary pot used elsewhere. Also a friendship with the McCabe family seemingly had a defining impact on his decision to join. Until his injury he has looked the pick of our strikers. Whilst the legs have not always been able, he has still worked incredibly hard, across the front line and tracking back, offering an outlet ball and someone to hold the ball whilst others joined in support. His footballing brain has set him apart as a class above from many of those around him.
 
John Cofie started the season with plenty of energy, but has lost his way and his place in the team, displaying a disappointing level of physical strength on the ball and a naiveté when taking up positions and running at opposition defences. His lack of senior football clearly playing a part and whilst all players have to make that step up somewhere, I don't feel that we have the time and can be patient enough this season.
 
Shaun Miller has demonstrated a striker's intuition when making rare forays from the bench and took two magnificently finished goals at Notts County in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. His chance must come, sooner rather than later. Whilst Darryl Westlake has had rare opportunities, playing out of position in midfield to plug gaps, but may now have a run in his natural right back position following McMahon's injury at MK.
 
Overall, Danny has done okay with his signings, but the failure to address clear deficiencies in wide areas, aside from the short term loan signing of Paul Gallagher, are my main criticism.
 
 
Faith in Youth (C+)
 
One of the most exciting factors of our pre-season was seeing the opportunities being given to graduates from our FA Youth Cup final squad of 18 months ago. Tenacious and attack minded midfielder Elliot Whitehouse impressed until a broken foot ruled him out of the start of the season. Whilst he was unlikely to have dislodged Doyle and McDonald from the first XI, he would have been a natural fit when Doyle suffered a three game suspension and may have offered impetus off the bench late in games.
 
Callum McFadzean would add something badly missing out wide and I fail to see how he could not improve our play in that area. Not least because he would be a round peg in a round hole! George Long has taken his opportunity magnificently following Mark Howard's injury, keeping clean sheets in 5 out of 9 games and pulling off some saves that bely his age and experience. Yet you get the feeling that this has surprised Wilson who would have been just as happy bringing in a loan player, only for the youngsters form to negate the need.
 
Over the last couple of years much has been made of our "Development Squad", but many of these players are not given a chance, even in cup games. There also appears reluctance from other clubs to take them on loan and when they have it has hardly been a measured success. Some are now approaching an age where if they are going to forge a career they ought to be pushing for the matchday squad.
 
For many you don't sense that is the case and if so it is questionable why some have deals to the end of the season and beyond. Whilst they will be on relatively low salaries and take up little of our budget, you can't help feeling that this money could be better used on a loan winger. Their movement onwards would also free up opportunities for younger academy players to join the Under 21 squad.
 
Style of Play (C)
 
If you lose quality players and have little funds to replace there will clearly be a deterioration both in terms of style of play. You can try to do the same, but when you lack players like Ched Evans, Stephen Quinn and Lee Williamson, you also lack the creativity and imagination that these players brought to our play last season and not least their goals.
 
Whilst United went goal crazy last season, there is a relative dearth of goals and chances this season. Of the 92 goals last season, 52 were scored by the now departed quartet of Evans, Williams, Lowton and Quinn. Together these four players set up 35 of them. Take them away and it places a huge onus on the shoulders of Kevin McDonald as our chief creator and Ryan Flynn on the wing.
 
There has been mumbled criticism of McDonald this season, his influence not as noticeable as last season. This is down to a number of factors including the deterioration in quality and movement around him and the tighter marking he now receives as the single focal point of our team. 
 
 
Tactics and Substitutions (C)
 
Having already touched upon Danny Wilson's reluctance to play youth, what makes it all the more frustrating is his insistence in playing square pegs in round holes to plug the gaps. This has seen Marcus Williams deployed in a left wing position, Darryl Westlake played in central midfield and David McAllister played wide. Whilst not wanting to decry their effort, which cannot be faulted, they are not natural fits and the team play suffers as a result.
 
A major frustration last season was the use of substitutions late on in games and our tendency to sit back on leads. I described it as thus;
 
"At times they have removed the impetus we had when taking the lead, probably causing us to sit deeper, invite teams on and anxiety spreads from stands to pitch."
 
Sadly we are seeing it again this season and when the margins are so tight it makes it all the more annoying. Whilst defensively we appear more solid this season it only takes one lapse in the final seconds for 3 points to become 1 and 1 to become 0. The focus on strengthening the backline has left fans feeling that we have set up in a much more negative manner this season. I suspect there is an element of being more defensively minded, combined with the lack of creativity that we had last season.
 
The stats back this up. Relatively shot shy at home and the least attacking side away from home, it is our defensive stability and fortitude that leaves us where we are.
 
 
Home
Divisional Rank
Away
Divisional Rank
Overall
Divisional Rank
Ave. Shots For
11.6
9
7.1
24
9.2
17
Ave. Shots Against
9.4
11
8.3
2
8.8
3
 
 
Defence
Attack
Overall League Ranking
1
17
 
* Figures taken from PA data as published on BBC Sport and kindly compiled by Ron of the Swindon Town site The Washbag
 
Top 8 clashes (C+)
 
Last year our record against the teams around us was patchy and poor. This season, in what many agree is a weaker division; it is much harder to judge. Of those in the Top 8 United have faced just four; disappointing home draws with Notts County and Doncaster and away draw and a defeat at Swindon and MK respectively. Further tests come in the next month or so, starting with a home game against Stevenage on Saturday. Games against Tranmere and Crawley follow in December. Where United find themselves mid-December could well set the standard for what we can expect this season. The one positive is that only one team has gained on us from these games so far.
 
Dealing with the media (B+)
 
I have only really disagreed with Danny once this season. On the whole his dealings with the media have demonstrated a level of pragmatism and an acknowledgment of the grim reality of managing a club with financial issues to address.
 
That pragmatism, although not widely shared amongst the fan base, sees Wilson taking the positives from a grim 1-0 win, i.e. it is a win, rather than being bogged down in public debate over what could be improved. We all know money is not available to fix some of the frustrating things we have seen on the pitch this season; it will require continued hard work on the training ground.
 
My disagreement came in the wake of a particularly sterile 0-0 home draw with Doncaster. Having watched United pump long diagonal balls on to the heads of defensive giants Jones and McCombe all evening, I failed to see how he could say that was our best tactic, given we rarely tried to take the ball wide past their full back and hit a low cross from a more difficult position for the defenders to deal with. We had just played into an average side's hands for 90 minutes.
 
Overall (B-)
 
I have said it on twitter a few times in recent weeks, but United really remind me of Charlton Athletic last season. Didn't overly impress when I saw them, but efficiently did the job. There was little between the two sides at Bramall Lane, but a couple of defensive lapses cost us. Away, we probably deserved a draw and should have had one but for a goal ruled out for offside. What Charlton did to us and others last season, we are doing to teams in this division. If anything we lack the ruthlessness up front that Charlton displayed.
 
It is true we have dropped points particularly at home, but our away record more than compensates and all this without ever feeling like we have hit top gear. This could be United's season; automatic promotion is in our own hands. Playing the way we are few teams will beat us, the important factor will be converting tight games into victories. Teams miss out on promotion and some are relegated, by drawing too many games. Throughout Huddersfield’s long “unbeaten run” they were drawing lots of games; in the end it cost them.
 
It is a fine line we are treading. As the match at MK showed on Saturday, you can be seconds away from a good away draw and one mistake, be it from an official or player, can cost you. There is an argument that says one point from Swindon and MK away might have been three with a more positive game plan.
 
Having said all that, we have 32 points after 17 games and sit 2nd; 3 points and 3 places better off than we were at the same stage last season. 32 points last season would have placed us 4th, still a point behind Wednesday in 3rd. These facts lend credence to the argument that the division is weaker this season. Sadly, so are the Blades.
 
Last November, I suggested the following:
 
"The drop in standard from the Championship has been notable and it is only our own failings that have stopped us achieving a higher position. There is still plenty for Wilson to work on and where we end up this season will largely depend on what he has to work with in terms of a squad come the end of January and an ability to wheel and deal in the loan market to provide adequate cover when required.
 
Wilson's time at Swindon turned sour when some of his better players were sold on. He needs to ensure the same doesn't happen at Bramall Lane"
 
I think the same applies this time. We are reportedly at 60% of turnover in terms of wages, against a limit of 65%. The board are saying that, although there is little we can do now, there may well be movement in January. There needs to be movement for United to progress, however that movement shouldn’t mean losing our best young players.
 
I fully back Wilson to deliver promotion this season. I have seen nothing so far to suggest we cannot achieve it, but we need to do more to ensure that we tip the scales slightly more in our favour. Fortune favours the brave and so far we have been more than a little timid.