MALCOLM Shotton was the sergeant major the privates couldn't stand.

In nearly 20 years of reporting on football, I can't ever remember a manager more hated by some of his players.

Not all of them, but one or two couldn't stand his guts.

"We just want him out," one said to me last week. And some looked as though they were playing to get him the bullet.

Yet when he arrived, with United struggling to stay in Division 1, the man who captained the club in their glory days seemed ideally suited to a management role. And he had instant success, guiding the team from 20th to what was a remarkable finishing position of 12th.

"The trouble is he ruled by fear. He scared them into playing," said one player.

"You can only b****** somebody and get a response so many times.

"At first the young lads were scared of him, but that wore off and in the end they just didn't like him. They still had to go by what the gaffer said, but what he said didn't carry any weight. It would go in one ear and out the other."

Shotton lost the respect of many players by ordering them back in at 9am on Sunday morning after they had been beaten at home by a Cardiff City team that played well on the day.

And, perhaps crucially in the end, he appeared to have little respect for his chairman, Firoz Kassam, though with the lack of money coming his way, he had the sympathy of many.

Relegation last season was followed by a disastrous run this campaign. After five straight losses and only one win in ten league games, no-one was too shocked by the announcement yesterday of Shotton's departure.

Goalkeeper Andre Arendse, brought to the Manor in the summer by Shotton, said: "It's a pity, because as a manager he's definitely got something to offer. I'm sorry this has happened. "At any club, if you're not getting a run of results the atmosphere changes, but if anything, we all really stuck together.

"When a manager goes, it does upset things for a while. I had that at Fulham when Micky Adams left, but as players you're still looking to do the best you possibly can and you're playing for yourselves."

United skipper Les Robinson said the spirit between Shotton and the players had actually been better in the last couple of games, and he had been trying to encourage the players more.

"The lads have always stuck together," he said last night. "Today we all went out and had a game of golf together and sat down and had a chat as a team to try to sort out what we're doing wrong.

"A fresh face might brighten things up and the players know everybody's playing for their place again."

Story date: Tuesday 26 October

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