 He initially did well but the team was ageing and there was little money to replace players, but after a good finish in his first season a disastrous string of results the following year led to Furphy being sacked in October 1975.Jimmy Sirrel was recruited from Notts County but he proved unpopular with both the players and fans and could not halt the decline, overseeing relegation and then being sacked in September 1977 with United at the bottom of Division Two.The ambitious and colourful Harry Haslam was then handed the reins and although many of his ideas were ahead of their time he built an ageing side based on 'star' players at the end of their career.