When he became manager he did everything right that United needed at that time. He turned the players into a team willing to play and work as a team instead of a bunch of talented individuals that we had under Robson. He gave the fans belief that we were going back in the right direction and he made us one of the favourites to go back up this season.

Now we are in the play offs and I think thats where we will finish up but is Blackwell the man to take us any further?

The reason I am asking is due to a couple of things. The first one is the amount of "supposed" bust ups that he is having with players. First it was Gillespie, no great loss there but now its Stokes who apparently was late back from International duty for a perfectly legitimate reason and yet has been punished for it. To be fair Stokes has a past history of stull like that so maybe there is more to it than has been leaked out in the press.

But it cant be good that our manager keeps having "bust ups" with players. Cotts maybe another one that has suffered as a result. Both Cotts and Stokes are players that can win games and make a difference and both have not had a good enough run in the team to get any kind of form going.

Cotts is a double edged sword, you play him and defensively he is a weak link and he hasnt performed well this season but how can his best form be produced if he is not involved in the squad at all? When we are 5-2 up at Charlton is that not a good time to introduce him and let him have a run?. It only takes one good half to build a players confidence up again.

Halford has done ok and his throw in is useful but it is also predictable and it would be nice to get behind the oppositions defence every now and then and turn them.

Secondly will Blackwell attract the right kind of players?

Henderson was purchased and not done too bad but we do lack pace upfront. January is coming up and Lita has been mentioned but do you think Blackwell will go for him? We obviously have needed a creative midfielder and we obviously need another centre half but nothing has happened. We seem to be getting players on the cheap which maybe no bad thing if the players can do the job but you cannot beat that extra bit of quality that money can buy. Just look at Beattie.

The jury is out for me on Blackwell BUT having said that I am NOT calling for his head as some people may think. He hasnt had that long in the job, he does understand the club and United cannot be seen as a sacking club.

What do other people think?