Steve Darby interview

[roty]

Far from complimentary about his time with Wednesday:

http://www.football365.com/faves/9138792/British-Coaches-Abroad-Steve-Darby

"I'd never seen bad professionals until I went to Sheffield Wednesday in 2001. I moved there as a youth team coach after Vietnam. The manager, Terry Yorath, and the coaches - Martin Hodge and Willie Donachie - were great lads, good coaches, and they worked their guts out. But there were some very, very bad pros. Gerald Sibon springs to mind.

There were players on £25,000 a week, which was roughly what I was getting in a year. You'd see them in KFC, you'd see them smoking, you knew they were drinking. They were on huge, long-term contracts and they abused it. The coaches were banging their heads against a brick wall. And the failure rate among academy players was huge. All the club wanted was for the academy to beat Sheffield United. They weren't bothered about development. We had monsters playing for us who were never going to be footballers.

I was working 70 hours a week, it was freezing cold, and the academy players didn't want to work. They'd just say "Can we stop, we want to play a game now". After a few months I got a call from Home United in Singapore. It was a better-ran club than Sheffield Wednesday..."

Edited January 29, 2014 by roty

[3mps]

Sad to read, but doesn't surprise me much, lets hope we don't go down that route again.

[WalthamOwl]

Doesn't surprise me at all, very sad though

[lanzaroteowl]

Bad,bad times.

[Guest silvergusy]

It's not news to hear we were a badly run club but still hurts to read this, lets hope we never take that road again.

[Swiss Toni]

Get tha scouts out to Singapore!

[SallyCinnamon]

Leon Knight tweeted that under Yorath gambling would take place on the team coach before and after game, regardless of the result. Huge money used to change hands.

Not suprised, we were a joke back then with joke players who I'm embarassed that they played for our club.

[BIG D]

I assume he's gone on to be a top coach?

[Lord Snooty]

Ahh Gerald Sibon.

A talented player who didn't give a throw. Worked as little as possible and yet somehow still regarded by some as a hero.

The odd breathtaking goal buying him favour.

 

If only he had Nuhius work ethic....

[SWFC_Liam]

Doesn't surprise me one bit.

[Guest wilyfox]

Hardly surprising. Our form on the pitch had to reflect our state off it.

[BRUCE LEE]

Mandaric often says he didn't know how bad it was....

I dread to think what we don't know.

[Sonny]

I wondered what old Darbs was up to.

[Guest Big Guns]

the doom lovers like davyboy grandad markowl and sonny and a few more will love reading that

[Captain Sl-OWL-ly]

Doom lover or not, I think some of those on here that are quick to criticise Milan should also appreciate some of the work having to go on behind the scenes to get us back into some sort of shape....

[Guest Big Guns]

Time you doom lovers moved on but you can't can you

[bladeshater]

Home truths

[Owlinmad]

Steve Darby......................says it all.

[Guest Big Guns]

Doom lover or not, I think some of those on here that are quick to criticise Milan should also appreciate some of the work having to go on behind the scenes to get us back into some sort of shape....

if he spent a few more of his millions we wouldnt be in this mess now its all about spending money modern football

[pj owl]

Does not surpirse me one little bit.

 

Whilst those that grew up in this era understandably revere some of the biiger names during this spell, it was symptomatic of the arrogance and cockiness that engulfed the club following previous successes.

 

My Uncle, a fairly prominent local professionally footballer from the 50's-60's was back in the area (from abroad) catching up with some ex-colleagues a year or two previous to this. He is not a Wednesday fan or ex-player, but one of his ex-colleagues was on the coaching staff at the time, so he popped up the the training ground and arranged to catch up.

 

I recall him telling me how during a tour around the facility, the member of the coaching staff passing the treatment room where a couple of first team players were waiting for treatment. The comment that was made was - "these foreigners are a waste of space. They spend more time in the treatment room than out on the training pitch and we know it is all a joke. They don't know what hard work is" or words to that effect.

 

I recall it very vividly as I was in my twenties at the time and had been lucky enough to catch the end of the Big Jack / Howard Wilikinson era and then grown up with the team of the early nineties and as such just expected it to continue.

 

It appears it was like a cancer in the club that was allowed to grow and grow unchecked, and because of the players power and attitudes, made it difficult for some managers and coaches to do anything about.