Blackwell: Flak has been worth it

23 May 2009 13:39
The Blades were sliding down the table fast when fan-power forced the departure of previous manager Bryan Robson in February last year and chairman Kevin McCabe turned to Blackwell to act as brake man. Blackwell had already helped take one Blades side to within touching distance of the Barclays Premier League as coach under Neil Warnock in 2003 and will now try to go one step further with his own version. Ahead of the showdown with Burnley at Wembley, he said: "We're talking about the cathedral of English football. It's the pinnacle. The best place you can ply your trade. Wembley is absolutely fabulous. "I can't say how exciting it is to go there. They've done a fantastic job and it's great to see Sheffield United playing the biggest game in world football. I'm proud and delighted. I can't really describe what it would mean to me. "It justifies my decision to come back and the way I've changed things around. I've taken some flak along the way, but I think I've been totally vindicated." It is a small triumph for the 50-year-old, who spent 17 years as Warnock's assistant at seven different clubs before breaking out on his own when Leeds came knocking in 2003. Warnock has never properly forgiven Blackwell, who went to Elland Road initially as coach before landing the manager's job by default when Peter Reid was sacked in 2004. Blackwell took Leeds to the Championship play-off final in 2006, but a 3-0 defeat ensured more disappointment after the Blades lost to Wolves at the Millennium Stadium by the same score three years earlier. The former bricklayer from Luton hopes to make it third time lucky on Monday. He said: "I sat down with Kevin McCabe, the chairman, and the board and we put together a dossier of what we wanted to do, where we wanted to go and how we thought we could achieve it. "It's been about re-profiling players and it takes time to develop anything. I've only been here 14 months so to get where we are right now is encouraging. "I've changed 60-70% of the playing squad and helped cut the wage bill and brought money in, all those things have got to be done as a manager and hopefully you can be successful along the way. "So I'm really pleased with the outcome at the moment. Can we stay up? Let's talk about that when we've got there." Blackwell's side have hit top form at just the right time, turning in arguably their best two performances this season against Preston in the semi-finals, but many observers feel the momentum remains with Burnley, who the Blades boss rates as favourites. He added: "Burnley are a good side. You don't go so far as they did in the cup competitions and you don't get to the play-off final unless you are a very good side. "We know it's going to be tough. The two league wins they had over us will make them favourites because they've beaten us home and away."

Source: Team_Talk