Blades are out of tune when it comes to managers

For those in the dark, the show involves a variety of minor celebrities trying to sing while Lemon does his best to put them off.

It is not exactly Q.I or Countdown but it is actually quite funny, if you get the joke.

I mention this purely because Sheffield United are currently staging their own version of the programme but called Manage if You Can.

During the last nine months, a selection of bold – or ill-advised – souls have been stepping into the spotlight and trying to manage a football club.

Some have done better than others yet just about all have ended up with egg on their face.The latest unlucky loser was Micky Adams, who was sacked on Tuesday night.

Adams actually lasted longer than the others (Kevin Blackwell, Gary Speed and John Carver) but even his talent was not enough to save the club from relegation to League One.

Now the Blades are advertising for another contestant with Academy manager John Pemberton and Doncaster Rovers’ Sean O’Driscoll likely to be at the head of the queue.

Whoever gets the job next season will not be dunked in ice, told to stand in a bucket of sewer maggots, or have their chest hair waxed – but they will face other torments.

Their best young players will be sold, there will be little or no money to spend, and, worst of all, the next-door-neighbours (Sheffield Wednesday) are planning to make life hell.

Sadly, this whole shocking pantomime should not make us laugh at all. There are serious job losses on the way at Bramall Lane and I am not referring to any over-paid prima donna who has let the club down so badly on the field.

The worst affected are going to be decent, ordinary folk who work all hours behind the scenes but who are now fearing life on the dole.

Utlimately, the Blades have been the masters of their own downfall – hiring and firing managers in an almost random way – and the decision to sack Adams could be the biggest blunder of the lot.

Adams had spent the last four months getting to grips with the problems at Bramall Lane, working out the strengths and weaknesses of his players, and still had the crowd on his side.

He had experience of winning promotion in the lower leagues and was looking forward to starting next season with his own set of players.

But after talks with Plc chairman Kevin McCabe this week, Adams has bitten the dust. A clash of personalities, a differing of views on the best way forward? Both have been factors in a shock decision.

The Blades also announced the departure from his post of chief executive Trevor Birch although, bizarrely, he is staying on the pay roll in a ‘consultancy ‘capacity.

Birch is no Keith Lemon but some will inevitably ask whether his expensive appointment has been a success or a failure? Since parking up at the Lane in November 2009, he has definitely failed in finding new investment.

The decision to sack Blackwell after just two games of the season and appoint Speed, who had no previous managerial experience, was also another failure on the part of the board.

McCabe even had the audacity to insist the Blades are not a ‘hire ‘em and fire ‘em’ organisation on Monday – just 24 hours before pulling the plug on Adams.

It took Neil Warnock seven years to lead the Blades to the Premier League but the club are now seeking a fifth manager in the space of nine months.

If that is not hiring and firing, then I am Keith Lemon.

McCabe must now get the next appointment right or it will be seriously bad news for the Blades.

This is no time for a novice and Pemberton is being pushed forward due to his success with the club’s young talent.

Equally, it makes no sense to move someone who is doing a terrific job from such an important post.

Four years ago, the Blades were in the Premier League and should have been in a position to go from strength to strength.

Unforgivably, they have stumbled from one crisis to the next. You only have to look at the current plight of Yorkshire rivals Bradford City to see what can lurk around the corner when the rot sets in.

It should never have come to this and Adams should still be in charge today.

But who can turn the tide now? Forget talk of Sam Allardyce or Martin O’Neill, there are simply not the funds. O’Driscoll, however, is affordable and would probably jump at the opportunity despite dropping out of the Championship.

The Doncaster manager was interviewed prior to Adams’s appointment but is not considered the type who can work wonders overnight. However, now the club are relegated, there will be time to get his methods across and win over the Blades supporters, time to get hold of the youngsters and turn them into real stars. Sounds easy doesn’t it? Not as easy as singing on a Saturday night.