I got it wrong about Ruben Selles' Sheffield United reign as supposed new chapter becomes damaging footnote
The inside story of Ruben Selles' 88-day Sheffield United reign as 'new chapter' becomes tragic footnote
Sometimes in life you simply have to hold up your hands and say: “I got that one wrong.” Sheffield United’s owners have not got everything right since they took charge at Bramall Lane, to be generous, but they deserve credit for owning up to their Ruben Selles mistake and correcting it after just six games.
I firmly believe those in glass houses shouldn’t be chucking stones, so time to own up as well. In a piece in mid-June, not long after Selles had been appointed as Chris Wilder’s successor, I wrote in a piece, containing insight into the Spaniard’s methods from former Reading man Harlee Dean, the following line.
“United’s decision to turn to Ruben Selles ... could turn out to be a disaster or a masterstroke. Whichever way it goes, one thing it sounds unlikely to be is dull.” I was wrong. Dull is exactly what it turned out to be.
The experiment raised eyebrows at the time, dispensing with the services of an iconic manager who had just led his side to a play-off final loss and won more second-tier points than any other manager in the club’s history. When Selles was appointed, a statement from the COH Sports ownership group spoke of “a new chapter for Sheffield United.”
“Rubén understands the power of potential and how to unlock it,” it added. “How to grow players who can grow with the team. His ability to integrate academy talent, employ innovative recruitment and analytic strategies, play an exciting brand of football, and adapt dynamically to the modern game, are all tenets we believe that the next great chapter of Sheffield United football will be built upon.”
The inside story of Ruben Selles' 88-day Sheffield United reign as 'new chapter' becomes tragic footnote
Those words aged like milk. Rather than unlock potential, Selles’ methods too often stifled it. Players like Gus Hamer and Callum O’Hare were square pegs in round holes, the reigning Championship player of the year suppressed in a deeper-lying role.
Players shrank, rather than grew. Key men, chiefly left-back Harrison Burrows, look a shadow of the players they were last term. “Innovative recruitment strategies” saw United’s transfer work deadlocked until the manager took the step of raising his frustrations in public, describing their process as not good enough. From that point it turned, but it proved to be too late.
Dynamic adaptability was the last supposed tenet of the new era but proved the most far-fetched. To the end Selles stuck steadfastly to his principles, culminating in a 5-0 defeat at Ipswich on Friday night that proved the final straw.
A back four left too exposed, a midfield too easily overrun, wingers who struggled to get in the game and a central striker who barely had a touch of the ball. That was the story of Portman Road and could just as easily have applied to defeats to Bristol City, Swansea City, Birmingham City, Millwall and Middlesbrough, each more frustrating than the last.
Would Selles have been better served tweaking things earlier, perhaps to a back three that would have suited both his plethora of centre-halves and also his wing-backs, Femi Seriki and Burrows, whose strengths lie in going forward rather than anything the other way?
Could things have been different with Hamer roaming on the left, the tireless O’Hare in his preferred No.10 role, a more robust midfield with Sydie Peck given some support after Vini Souza was sold? Selles never tried, so we’ll never know.
A reign that had begun with a ‘Welcome to Sheffield’ banner on the opening day looked doomed when supporters began voicing their opposition to his management, most notably after the Boro and Ipswich defeats.
Few managers in modern-day football survive for too much longer when the tide of opinion turns so spectacularly, and it was noticeable that United’s Selles sacking statement referenced “the feelings of supporters” as well as a disappointing start to the Championship campaign and a review of recent performances.
In mitigation - and there always is some - things could easily have been very different. United could easily have won 4-1 on the opening day against the Robins, rather than lost by the same scoreline, and the Selles era would have been up and running in some style. The momentum would have been completely different.
But there was a sense that the manner of that defeat shocked him a little. The chaos-ball style we were sold on in pre-season didn’t materialise again and United retreated into themselves from that point onwards. They didn’t have a shot on target at Swansea, lost at home to Millwall, didn’t test the opposition ‘keeper at Boro. Then came the Ipswich debacle.
Selles was not a man to give too much away in interviews, not really letting his true emotions show, but it was alarming to hear him talk about his United “looking like the team we want to be in the first half” at Portman Road, when they didn’t have a shot on the home goal.
United gradually became a team without any real identity at all, although Selles refuted that suggestion on a few occasions when it was put to him. There was a sense that he changed too much; that an enviable platform laid last season was dug up completely when a few subtle tweaks may have been all that was needed.
Players, we understand, were split on his methods. Some, one high-profile, spoke glowingly about Selles behind closed doors, absolutely convinced that he would get things right if given the time. Others were less convinced, privately pining for the return of Wilder amongst themselves.
On a human level, Selles is a thoroughly decent man. Little things, like a sincere handshake and a genuine look in the eyes when you met. He had a curious habit of bringing a “cheat sheet” into press conferences, typed neatly out on the desk in front of him. The content was never made public and it may have been nothing more than a safety blanket, given he rarely averted his gaze from whoever was posing him questions.
It was commendable that he repeatedly refused to make any excuses for his side’s poor start to the season, and handled difficult queries about his future with class. Journalists know better than most about job security, or a lack of it, but such questions unfortunately have to be asked when a relationship is just not working.
On Sunday, just 88 days in, it was over. Selles, by some way, endured the shortest spell of any permanent manager United have ever had and given the advantageous position he inherited when he took over, there is a very valid argument that he has presided over the most damaging. What was supposed to be a glorious new chapter in this club’s long and illustrious history instead became an unwelcome footnote.