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Reply | Field...
at 13:27 3 Mar 2026
I agree with you that it’s Stephan who doesn’t fancy him. As you say, Nourry gave him a big 4 year deal in May.
I disagree that we wouldn’t be playing better with him in the side. He’s better than Morgan, Hayden, and Varane in the “tackling, give it simple, defensive midfielder role because he works harder, is more physical, always available, and reads the game miles better out of possession. He also has standards when it comes to effort and work rate, which this team could desperately do with.
Our team needs players like him and Cook in it. It can’t all be young lads with potential but little game nous and experience, who are here waiting for their next move up the career ladder. You need a backbone, physicality, and players for whom this is their club. Field has been here 4 seasons, played almost 200 games, could be here another 4 and double that. Player of the Year twice (once Fans’, once the Players’). He is exactly the sort of player you should have in the the team regardless, even if you think you have someone technically better on the ball available. Because football is more than that. It’s a team sport. The whole team needs to function and players like him, Cook, Dunne, they help that. We should have 5 characters like them in the side every week, and 5 who are development projects, with perhaps one loan to bridge gaps. That is balance. |
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Reply | Sunrise, sunset – Report
at 18:31 2 Mar 2026
Ticket Office manager with decades of experience went last year too, didn’t they?
I believe we haven’t even had a receptionist for a spell recently. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 10:32 2 Mar 2026
And telling how some players seek second opinions and alternative treatment on their injuries outside of the club. |
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Reply | Sunrise, sunset – Report
at 10:29 2 Mar 2026
That press conference of Stephan’s definitely points at discord behind the scenes. It was very similar in tone to Cifuentes around this time last year.
It also sounds like this discord amongst the senior management, which is interesting.
I think Jordan’s post is interesting. I’ve said it before, I think there is an issue with standards at the club. I think there is an issue with the balance of the squad, and has been for two seasons now. We know there is a clear issue on the fitness/injuries front. We know the club comms to fans is minimal and often disingenuous. The state of the pitch. The lack of youth development. Paul Furlong. Treatment of Rayan Kolli. Worsening financials. £25m spent in two years (thank god for the Eze sell on)… I think there is a distinct lack of accountability anywhere. I think the leadership actively shuns accountability rather than driving it throughout the club, because it would highlight their own failings.
The training ground is the biggest success and best thing the club have done in the last decade, but that was completed before the current leadership came into their roles.
Our youth development looks in a worst state now than 12 months ago. Even, 24 months ago. We had Kolli coming through. We then picked up Morgan. Sutton was spoken about. Tuck a little too. Even Joe Walsh. Bennie the only one who’s “come through” in the last 12 months, and we bought him from Aus. Not aware of anyone knocking on the first team squad’s door currently from the EDS.
Things take time, I get that. People might say without the injuries we’d have been top 6. Possibly. Possibly not. I think the standards issue may have put paid to that. But top half, certainly. The move to a Cat 1 academy is also good news (if it happens).
But you have to hold yourself accountable for things that haven’t gone well or to plan. Assess them. Learn from them. Adapt and do better. Don’t try to tell everyone there have been no mistakes. That does not improve things. It’s just ego and role protection. It’s for the benefit of you, not the benefit of the club.
You can argue we’re moving in the right direction, slowly. But you can also argue we’re potentially moving in the wrong direction, but £25m of spending on the first team in two seasons has masked that as we tread water in lower mid table. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 09:47 1 Mar 2026
Very clearly not happy with the injury situation and what is available to him.
First obvious signs of discord behind the scenes.
Also very clear he is hugely unimpressed with Saito and Esquerdinha for that first goal. He’d obviously told the team about the patterns Utd like to play down the flank and then we ignored that positionally for their first. You can sense his exasperation.
Nourry’s “we have no injury problem” looks increasingly untrue, and not something the head coach agrees with. Who does he back? Stephan or Williams? |
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Reply | Sheffield United Reflection
at 23:39 28 Feb 2026
Agree. Was a nothing performance. We offered little with or without the ball. Reminded me of games under Ainsworth. Now, we had a lot of players out injured, so not necessarily Stephan’s fault. However, he could have started JCS at left back, Mbengue at right back, and Edwards at centre half. That would have helped. |
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Reply | Esquerdinha
at 23:36 28 Feb 2026
He is not good enough for this level.
Technically, perhaps he is. But his positioning, reading of the game, and decision making is non-league. Every time he plays left back, the oppo target him and we get destroyed down that flank.
Sadly, a dud. Move on. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 23:35 28 Feb 2026
You did not clearly state that before. Have gone back, looked at your posts, and you have absolutely not *clearly* stated that.
Nevertheless, glad you agree our injuries have been bad both seasons and it needs addressing. Think almost everyone understands that. |
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Reply | Should we recall Celar, Field, or Lloyd?
at 14:21 27 Feb 2026
No. But how would recalling him after a failed loan and playing him here play on the social media front? PR, Clive! Always think of the PR when thinking of the decisions. |
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Reply | Should we recall Celar, Field, or Lloyd?
at 11:14 27 Feb 2026
You could definitely recall Celar, Clive.
There was an article from Germany saying they asked us if they could send him back (no goals and the new manager doesn’t fancy him at all - 25 mins in 2026 or something). We said “no” because we’re hoping a few goals out there will increase his value (presumably from zero to something). I imagine the other reason is we don’t want to pay his full salary.
Fortuna would gladly let us recall him though. |
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Reply | Madsen hamstring
at 11:05 27 Feb 2026
Fair enough, Nix. It was just that question at the end which I think is a little dangerous as it puts people into that mindset of “well if they had our injuries they’d be struggling too”, or “without injuries, we could be up there”. But that is like saying “if we had better players” or “if we’d won more matches” we’d be up there. Of course. We didn’t.
I saw something from Wilkins on this MB saying how his son was worried this team could be a “What if” team. Again though, I worry that mindset is putting our position down to bad luck rather than appreciating the hard work and importance of getting the player fitness/conditioning side of the game right OR signing more robust players. You can’t on the one hand be happy we’re signing all three short ballers, and on the other think it’s bad luck we seem to get steamrollered in the first 15 mins of every second half after the oppo have been given a boll*cking and come out aggressive.
I personally think it’s mainly the Performance dept employing a flawed approach rather than using a load of crocks. Yes, Poku was probably an unreliable signing, but like Nix says, Burrell, Madsen, Varane, Chair (until the last 2 seasons), and others, don’t have a long history of injuries. It’s something we’re doing at the club and have been for a couple of seasons. Players going to get second opinions and treatment outside the club, on their own dime, is a sign they think the same. The club needs to deal with it to make the play offs a possibility and the player trading model a success. |
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Reply | Madsen hamstring
at 19:02 26 Feb 2026
All valid points, Nix, apart from the last question. Not having a long list of injuries and lots of first team players unavailable is a good reflection on Gallen. It’s part of the job. The DOF is accountable for it all. Sign robust players. Set up/maintain a strong medical/physio department. It’s all part of the job. It contributes to what happens on the pitch and where you finish in the league table. You can’t say they’d be doing worse with a lot more injuries. It’s irrelevant. Why do we give ourselves this excuse?
I agree with you that, assuming Stephan is following medical advice, then he can’t be really held accountable for all the injuries. He’s playing the hand he’s been dealt.
But we can’t push this line of “well how would these better teams be doing if they had all the injuries we have?” They don’t. That’s the point. Their conditioning, fitness levels, and lack of injuries is part of the reason they are doing well, because they’ve done a great job in these areas.
Saying injuries are just luck is self defeating. It gets you nowhere. Better to focus on what you control and whether there is anything you could be doing to improve the situation. Much better to do this than try to persuade everyone there is no issue (as has been the club’s strategy for over a year now).
And if you have been hampered by injuries two years running, it’s unlikely to be “luck” and requires some leadership to resolve it. Millwall, Coventry, Boro, are possibly signing more robust players, or doing a better job of keeping the on the pitch. It’s not luck. It’s one aspect of what makes you a well run club.
And I fully appreciate individual, contact injuries, in isolation, can well be down to luck, but I’m speaking overall about the bigger picture, over a couple of seasons. That isn’t luck. It’s a reflection of decisions made and approaches taken. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 13:04 26 Feb 2026
But, I don’t agree with you. You think there weren’t injuries last season and that the seasons are incomparable. I disagree with you. I think you are wrong. There were severe injuries last season season. Our Chairman references it in the account. Therefore I think the seasons are comparable. The only real variance for comparison’s sake is that this squad is better and has had more money spent on it so we should finish higher.
Please could you stop putting inaccurate words in my mouth.
I don’t have a problem with people holding different opinions, but I think it’s deliberately disingenuous to say we didn’t have injury issues last season. |
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Reply | Stephan
at 07:51 26 Feb 2026
Straw man alert!!
I never said injuries were worse last season. Never said anything of the like. You began this by saying you can’t compare to last season because we have loads of injuries this season and would have been relegated with this amount of injuries last season. I was merely pointing out that we had loads of injuries last season too, as commented on by the Chairman in the accounts. So, I think you point is null and void. It is perfectly reasonable to compare. The bit that makes a comparison harder, is the squad last season didn’t have Kone and Burrell up top. It didn’t have all the signings made this season. And the players who left at the end of last season weren’t a big loss. [Post edited 26 Feb 9:22]
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Reply | Madsen hamstring
at 14:58 25 Feb 2026
Nah, I think De Souza, as Head of Methodology, also reports up to Nourry, not into Williams.
I’m sure he does have more influence than he should. Was just explaining how it’s meant to work. |
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Reply | Madsen hamstring
at 14:06 25 Feb 2026
It’s quite clear how it is meant to work.
Williams reports to Nourry. Stephan reports to Nourry. Williams’ team should be informing Stephan and his team about players’ conditioning, fitness, injuries, and recommended availability. Stephan decides what to do with that.
If Williams’ team isn’t informing Stephan regularly, promptly, and correctly (ie. “He’s fine”, and then he breaks down injuries), Nourry should be holding Williams accountable.
If Williams’ team is informing properly, but Stephan is ignoring him, and players he was warned about breakdown after being played by him against advice, Nourry should be holding Stephan accountable.
Neither scenario can persist in a player trading model. It would be a disaster to the club and the person failing in whichever scenario is true, probably shouldn’t continue to work here.
I do not know which scenario is true.
I suspect the first one, because it would be pretty stupid (although Beale did it) to ignore the advice of your medical/physio team and risk serious injury to your key players. It would be shooting yourself in the foot.
Is Nourry willing and able to enforce accountability? At present he seems more interested in telling the fans that there isn’t an injury issue. That is a concern. |
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Reply | Ben Williams and his team
at 13:59 25 Feb 2026
On point 1, I agree. Probably wasn’t very clear, but that is why I wrote “but for advising who is fit and who is not”). He and his team should input into the conversation on availability and fitness level for Stephan to make the decision.
And yes, as I said, he reports directly into Nourry, like Stephan does, and De Souza. |
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Reply | Ben Williams and his team
at 13:57 25 Feb 2026
Yes. And I’ve been told one of our current players out injured has travelled back to his home country to have a 2nd opinion and some treatment there for his injury because he thinks the club have handled it badly. That is 3rd/4th hand, I must say, so take with a pinch of salt, but it happened at the start of the season with a player I believe.
The incident in the canteen with one of our highest prized young assets is well known and was witnessed by many. |
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