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SwissBlade
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What does it matter?
bladeinspaceandtime
bob-bobbar-bob-bob-bob-bobbar this is planet earth
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PeterNdlovu081
COCK PISS PARTRIDGE
Why would he come to watch this shite?
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Jim Phipps, the prince's son and Selahattin Baki are spending more time "on site" so to speak after he had taken on the newer role as General Presidency of Youth Welfare in his home country.
He wasn't at Swindon today with the rest of the joyous folk, he did however, get as many tackles in as a few of the ones on the pitch.
He wasn't at Swindon today with the rest of the joyous folk, he did however, get as many tackles in as a few of the ones on the pitch.
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pommpey
Guest
It matters, because if he comes into the club and brings optimism (as he did 01 Sept 2013) with statements giving off apparent intent in investment in the club - and so far this season we are not exactly ripping up any trees, then maybe he'd like to see how the playing staff are doing under this manager.
Certainly, if I were a businessman who'd joined another venture, it had had moderate success last year under new management and new objectives were set this year, then a visit to the boardroom and shop floor might be good? Especially if the first few weeks of the new financial year have shown unimpressive performance criteria?
Or maybe this is just a smokescreen. Maybe the Saudi piggy-bank (forgive my unfortunate descriptive) isn't what we imagined. Maybe McCabe brought in a patsy - someone else we can focus our ire on?
Certainly, calls of 'Sack Clough' are stupidly wrong. I believe we haven't got the spending power at all. All the talk of us being prudent on deadline day is utter bollocks. I think the pot is empty and aside from some 'who?' loanees we will now struggle to dominate. Okay, we lost a match today. We were in danger of losing two on the bounce until a miraculous collapse from Colchester, shipping seven goals in those games and the clappers can candy it up all they want - that is NOT promotion form.
pommpey
Certainly, if I were a businessman who'd joined another venture, it had had moderate success last year under new management and new objectives were set this year, then a visit to the boardroom and shop floor might be good? Especially if the first few weeks of the new financial year have shown unimpressive performance criteria?
Or maybe this is just a smokescreen. Maybe the Saudi piggy-bank (forgive my unfortunate descriptive) isn't what we imagined. Maybe McCabe brought in a patsy - someone else we can focus our ire on?
Certainly, calls of 'Sack Clough' are stupidly wrong. I believe we haven't got the spending power at all. All the talk of us being prudent on deadline day is utter bollocks. I think the pot is empty and aside from some 'who?' loanees we will now struggle to dominate. Okay, we lost a match today. We were in danger of losing two on the bounce until a miraculous collapse from Colchester, shipping seven goals in those games and the clappers can candy it up all they want - that is NOT promotion form.
pommpey
SUFC Handsworth
Wings of a sparrow
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That club should be swimming in money, McCabe wrote off all the debts last year for one British £, and there was talk of sensible investment from the new co-owner. Since then they've taken in £5m over what was budgeted for, all that should going back into the team to virtually guarantee promotion. Our best player and corner stone of the defence went in the summer for £2.5m, he should have been replaced straight away with a dominant centre half. If it was to cost £1m then get it spent, better being used on the park than sat in the club's bank account while we rot in this awful division.
The blue print for getting out of League 1 was set last season with Wolves cherry picking the best players in the division. Biggest crowds in the division, biggest and best stadium in the division, first class training facilities, and should quite easily be able to pay the best wages and pay the asking price (£5m sitting in the bank), there is no reason why these type of players aren't at the club already. If it costs an extra £200k to pull um in, get it paid. We want out of this division, not edging our bets trying to get up on the cheap.
The blue print for getting out of League 1 was set last season with Wolves cherry picking the best players in the division. Biggest crowds in the division, biggest and best stadium in the division, first class training facilities, and should quite easily be able to pay the best wages and pay the asking price (£5m sitting in the bank), there is no reason why these type of players aren't at the club already. If it costs an extra £200k to pull um in, get it paid. We want out of this division, not edging our bets trying to get up on the cheap.
Been saying this since the day coady went to huddersfield and it was obvious exactly what our financial strategy was
Heard some really pathetic excuses and justification since but the longer the season goes on the more clear it becomes
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pommpey
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And really, ladies and gentlemen, there isn't a better way to frame the argument than that is there?
All this ' they wouldn't come to BDTBL' is partly nonsense. All players have their price. All this 'we never show our financial hand' is bollocks. There is a necessity to build or strengthen a squad to impose and dominate for the future - not just to get automatic promotion but for next season in the Championship. Bringing 'undiscloseds' and resigning a serial misfire like Porter doesn't fill me with the confidence that the board (not Cluff) are serious about getting out of Div 1. Any 'optimists' out there who can prove me wrong - the floor is yours, show me your working out. If the bank was full, and the board said to Cluff 'trawl the Championship and equivalents in Europe for your new squad', max spend on one player 1 mil, max players five, then do you really think we'd be in the situation we are in now? Out of interest, has anyone got a balance sheet on how much Cluff has been allowed to spend since he came here? Do you think he'd be in the position now if he'd known that here and now we'd ship five and be playing like shite?
I think he has been sold a turkey by the board. Before long, he'll end up seriously under pressure, make some stunningly bad decisions, lose the dressing room and the whole fucking edifice will resemble Weir/Wilson/Adams/Blackwell/Robson.
Sort it out, board.
pommpey
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I disagree , clough was brought here precisely because he is good at working on tight budgets and not rocking the boat .all these people who talk of him treating the clubs money like its his own , he is basically begging cap in hand for them to give him some money and its not happening .
Large Mendonca
Fed up of this social media shite
As Beighton Blade would have put it ...."same old same old".
You all know we'll be having the same discussions in 20 years time.
You all know we'll be having the same discussions in 20 years time.
Deadbat
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I have to agree with much of that. Too many keep making excuses for the board and saying we can't gamble away our future. Well sadly the longer it goes on in this division with the current approach (sell best players every season to the point now where we have no 'best' player); the harder it is proving to get out. We finished 3rd, then 5th and then 7th. At the moment I can see us finishing even lower.
Clough has made some poor signings and made mistakes (Butler) but I do believe we would not even be contemplating watching players like Higdon, McGahey, McEveley, Basham etc if he was given some reasonable leverage then I am sure we would have a far better quality of player coming in. It smacks to me the same as other managers at the Lane. False promises and lies. I fear where it will end but last few weeks have seen first few murmurs from Clough about some discontent with the transfer policy (yes he is not going to come out and totally slam his employer - but his digs have shown me his real feelings).
I hope I am wrong but fear an ordinary season and then Clough will either walk away or worryingly he will like some other managers at the Lane have to carry the can and be the one who is blamed when in reality as it nearly always has been; it is those above.
I don't buy all this it is an over reaction (we are not far off 2nd) etc. We have been really poor in most games this season and I would say we are fortunate to be as high as we are. We could easily have lost all 3 games this week and have not controlled one game this season. The reality is that we are a mid table side that lacks character, spine and quality. We will win quite a few as there are some awful sides in this league but there are comfortably 6-8 sides better than us at the moment.
I would like to say the next few weeks will show how serious this board is but then I said that last January, said it in the summer, said it late August. The reality as ever is nothing has changed and nothing will. We have a better manager in Clough than the clueless Weir but in reality as a club we are not much further forward 12 months on. I respect Jim Phipps for having balls to go on twitter and talk to fans but he has no financial clout and the Prince seems disinterested. I have heard nothing from McCabe for a while too.
The fact is we are facing a fifth season in League One if nothing changes with a really poor set of players. We have no real stars, no goal scorer, no cult hero, no style, no real team shape and no sign of anything changing anytime soon. Not sure how even the most ardent and loyal Blade can see too many positives at the moment. To those saying it is not an embarrassment to be thrashed at Swindon in the third tier in a game by all accounts they could have had 10; then when does it become embarrassing?
cant afford a ticket
Deadbat
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The aforementioned trio (and the Prince) were brought in to give us more financial clout and to allow us to get out of this god damn awful league. That was my understanding.
I have queried how little we hear from the Prince or McCabe but ultimately.....
It matters little to me if they spend 365 days in Sheffield or are never here for me. If they give the club some money to spend to improve the squad then they are an asset. At the moment for all the talk on twitter and pleasantries with the fans; none of this is contributing to us being anywhere nearer to promotion.
Large Mendonca
Fed up of this social media shite
We can blame the board all we want, but Cloughy brought in 4 defenders (5 if you count Davies) then blamed the defence for today (basic errors) and wants more players as a result. Why didn't Paul Walker ask him that at the after-match ? - I friggin would have
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pommpey
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Its a smokescreen DB. Its as much of a pantomime as Prince coming the day after the TW shut. We have had him one year now, and I hear much of 'he paid off Weir' and all that shit. Big deal. Signing Weir isn't my problem as much as paying him off. There will have been contingency built into any financial plan for that - if there wasn't then our accountants need bumming dry. I keep chanting 'game-changing-investments' because it winds people up a treat but strip away all the antagonism and they were the exact words used to make us go along with the 'who the fuck is this Saudi Prince?' episode thirteen months ago. We all believed he meant we'd be ditching suitcases like McMahon, Flynn and Doyle and retain true talent like Maguire (yes MattBianco - I do remember calling the daft lummox a Jotnar) and have a squad of decent-playing, reputable, strong, adept 'names' from higher clubs so that our rivals would comment about us much the same way as we comment about Wolves, who did practically that. Wolves don't belong in the third tier of football and their board recognised that and they bought some decent players - including one of ours (how much did he go for, BTW? anyone know?)
Cluff, and us, are the victims here and I don't think it will be long before some sort of 'game-changing-revelation' is made. Either way, something has to be done. The team is not going to get promoted.
pommpey
Deadbat
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I agree but not sure if it would do his job prospects much good if he said what he probably wanted to say which would have been:
'...I signed what I could for the limited money they gave me but in reality none are really good enough but we are just making do as the board wont give me any proper money to replace the quality that left.'
To be fair Alcock and McEveley have been ok and probably even better than you would expect for free transfers that no one wanted. McGhaey is not someone that should be playing regular as he admitted. Butler has not worked out which is Clough's fault (I would be questioning that signing to Clough and suggesting why he has not been given a chance when others have been equally poor so far - in real games - not just pre season). I think he wanted to move Collins and even Doyle out this season and plan for the future (Bristol selection proved that) but been forced to bring these back as the rest have been even worse!
Clough will admit not many of his signings have worked out. On reflection I would have preferred to have gone with the same squad, added a couple of players and played some of youngsters than handicapped club further by signing players like Higdon and Basham on 2 year deals. That way he could have made a point to the board more but by signings so many players he has made it hard for himself as the board will say he has been allowed to sign players. The reality is that the 12 he has brought in may be on more than a lot in this division but still are not good enough to get us out of the league.
metalblade
F**k off Abdull
The biggest let down is instead of how we were going to bring in good young players who could make the step up to championship level we have this summer gone back to the yearly merry go round of selling our best player, bringing in some young kids,crocks, journeymen and bang average league one shite. Then when transfer deadline day passes with the old we tried for two or three but .................................... and we will be active in the loan market in a few weeks bullshit.
Yeah nuthin changes year on year the fans buy there Season Tickets in the hope one day it will change but it never does once again McCabe has had the fans pants down and dry arse raped them, same owd same owd. As long as 16.000 + attend each game the board don't give a fuck if we are playing at conference level.
Yeah nuthin changes year on year the fans buy there Season Tickets in the hope one day it will change but it never does once again McCabe has had the fans pants down and dry arse raped them, same owd same owd. As long as 16.000 + attend each game the board don't give a fuck if we are playing at conference level.
I don't think the board can use that excuse that they have let Cloughy make 12 signings because how many players has he let go? I can't be arsed to look but it won't be far off that amount.
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I was answering the question asked, rather than what they where doing in terms of finances and why.
Caveblade
Active Member
I am starting to view Jim Phipps as the club spin doctor, but have to say as long as KM remains involved he must expect to be greeted with a healthy dose of cynycism. The same man who uttered the words "game changing investment" has history when it comes to playing to the cameras. I give you immortal lines such as "Roberto di Mitteo has texted me", or " no James is ill with flu" (5 minutes before he said this, a club insider had told me that JB was at Stoke having a medical, it obviously didn't pick up on the flu).
Since HRH has arrived (as pointed out, conveniently one day after the window shut) all we have heard are excuses, including we want to save the real investment for the Championship. Well pardon me, but what bloody good is that if we remain mired in the 1st division.
The Coady and Maguire situations tell us all we need to know about how much the game has changed. I was truly gutted when Coady went to Hudders, he showed last season all the potential we needed and is one for the future. His purchase would have shown true intent and was realistic. Sadly I think that our recruitment has not been good over the summer, but cloughys body language suggests he has been sold a pup and is working with limited funds.
I am gutted that the renewed optimism from last season is being allowed to drain away and be replaced with bickering and apathy. From the games I have seen so far this is a mediocre squad that might drag itself to the edge of the play offs. You only need to look to Brizzle City to see what intent looks like, they are a fine lesson for the board at Bramall Lane in how to back a manager.
I fear that Matthew Bell may need to write an updated version of "Fit and proper" to include a chapter on the arrival of a Saudi Prince and his entourage.
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pommpey
Guest
They must think we - the supporters - are fucking stupid or something. After years and years of false dawns, selling the talent and basically allowing the club to moulder into a shadow of its former self, McCabe has got himself a decoy, and now someone who will 'engage' with the great unwashed (i.e. those long-suffering bastards who endure week after week of hit-miss football hopin' and-a prayin' that one day summat good might develop from the bloody mess we are in.
I mean, look at this: (cheers, Wikipedia)
On 30 August 2013 McCabe announced that Sheffield United had reached a deal with a foreign investor who will become equal owners of the club and will provide new funds.[22] On 3 September it was confirmed that Saudi Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud of the royal House of Saud and former President of Al-Hilal FC had bought a 50% stake in United's parent company 'Blades Leisure Ltd' for the fee of £1 with the promise of providing "substantial new capital" with the aim of returning the Blades to the Premier League as "quickly as possible".
Now, how does that sound? He comes in, a year ago. We are just at the beginning of the Weir debacle right then and over the next few months, McCabe's appointment of one of the most inept managers in the club's history (note 'one of the' - there have been some right fucking bellends) soon becomes apparent and he is eventually sack-a-mundoed - no doubt with a fat pay off which really, is not the supporters fault. In comes Cluff, plus a couple of loaness and we rocket up the league, finishing in a pleasing seventh. Now that is possibly the most optimistic sign that this season we will start with some of those loanees as playing staff, and release the luggage we'd accrued and suffered over the intervening years. And in their place we'd be supremely confident the replacements would be notoriously good players, ones who would send a clear message out to opposition rivals and supporters alike that we mean business this time and we would be returning to the Premier League as quickly as possible.
Has that happened? Has it fuck. Saudi bloke seems as interested as fuck and it seems it possibly is just somewhere to park his cash while he goes for a shit. McCabe must have played a blinder getting him on board and telling him a right loads of old shit about the club. Looking at where we are now, and us moany old fuckers wanting 'game changing investments' and 'substantial new capital' and all that nonsense, I am hardly surprised he doesn't click through the turnstiles every other Saturday. I mean, who would?
pommpey
Pedro Verde
Well-Known Member
Wasnt there some sort of binding agreement in place when McCabe wrote the debt off that the Prince would provide
X amount of pounds of investment into the club for use to improve the squad structured to what division we were in
X amount of pounds of investment into the club for use to improve the squad structured to what division we were in
Caveblade
Active Member
I believe there was, unfortunately it x appears to = £1 in this case!
I know I am being a harsh moany old bugger to quote Pompey, but it wasn't the fans who said "game changing". Sadly its seems game changing means turning us into a tiddley winks team.
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pommpey
Guest
And what exactly is it with this, 'no cash until we get into the Championship' arsecheese, eh? I know we have a pop at each other on here a lot, us clappers and knockers ... but can anyone please explain the logic in withholding investment in a team that clearly needs it to achieve a goal, until it achieves that goal? Doees that not sound like the biggest, most gigantic, steaming mound of fresh dogshit that has ever been broadcast?
Why not give the cash now, input the new staff, build the team for the title race, gain the money from that and reinvest in the new season? I mean - I play FIFA14 and all that and its pretty simplistic on that.
But in real life, if this cash is available, what the fuck use is it doing sat in a bank account when it could be out on the pitch doing the good work to get us promoted?
pommpey
Why not give the cash now, input the new staff, build the team for the title race, gain the money from that and reinvest in the new season? I mean - I play FIFA14 and all that and its pretty simplistic on that.
But in real life, if this cash is available, what the fuck use is it doing sat in a bank account when it could be out on the pitch doing the good work to get us promoted?
pommpey
Think its supposed to fall in line with ffp or whatever the lg 1 equivalent isAnd what exactly is it with this, 'no cash until we get into the Championship' arsecheese, eh? I know we have a pop at each other on here a lot, us clappers and knockers ... but can anyone please explain the logic in withholding investment in a team that clearly needs it to achieve a goal, until it achieves that goal? Doees that not sound like the biggest, most gigantic, steaming mound of fresh dogshit that has ever been broadcast?
Why not give the cash now, input the new staff, build the team for the title race, gain the money from that and reinvest in the new season? I mean - I play FIFA14 and all that and its pretty simplistic on that.
But in real life, if this cash is available, what the fuck use is it doing sat in a bank account when it could be out on the pitch doing the good work to get us promoted?
pommpey
Cyprus Blade
Active Member
As far as I am aware there was no initial caveat put on the "investment" regarding money being held back until the Blades were in the Championship. The only caveats were that FPP had to be worked within and the investments would be considered and logical ones. Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdul Aziz, speaking in an interview with the Daily Mail 7 September 2013, said
'I started to read about the club and its history and the city of Sheffield, and research it properly. I was intrigued and two months ago I decided, why not? I hired advisers in England to do due diligence and I ended up with 50 per cent. Yes, I paid £1 but you can be sure I’ll invest over the next two years. I’ve agreed I won’t disclose the number.'
Similarly McCabe in an interview with Radio Sheffield on 3 September 2013 said,
"This is game-changing for this club and the funds being invested in the team are substantial.The money being made available is for investment at first-team level and that means building a squad that can get us back to the upper echelons of English football."
What they both said was reasonably specific - it wasn't "to buy a new pitch", "refurbish the ground" - funds are being invested "in the team", not "in the club" and "it is "for investment at first-team level" on a squad to get us back to the "upper echelons". Ok the numbers are secret BUT the investment is substantial (remembering he bought 50% of the club for £1 on the basis of his "substantial" future investment - so substantial needs to be taken in that context). And there is a clear timescale for the investment starting and no "once we are in the championship"
So taking those two statements together, and assuming the co-owners are in accordance with each other, that should mean substantial investment at first team level over two years ie 2013-2015 - shouldn't it?
'I started to read about the club and its history and the city of Sheffield, and research it properly. I was intrigued and two months ago I decided, why not? I hired advisers in England to do due diligence and I ended up with 50 per cent. Yes, I paid £1 but you can be sure I’ll invest over the next two years. I’ve agreed I won’t disclose the number.'
Similarly McCabe in an interview with Radio Sheffield on 3 September 2013 said,
"This is game-changing for this club and the funds being invested in the team are substantial.The money being made available is for investment at first-team level and that means building a squad that can get us back to the upper echelons of English football."
What they both said was reasonably specific - it wasn't "to buy a new pitch", "refurbish the ground" - funds are being invested "in the team", not "in the club" and "it is "for investment at first-team level" on a squad to get us back to the "upper echelons". Ok the numbers are secret BUT the investment is substantial (remembering he bought 50% of the club for £1 on the basis of his "substantial" future investment - so substantial needs to be taken in that context). And there is a clear timescale for the investment starting and no "once we are in the championship"
So taking those two statements together, and assuming the co-owners are in accordance with each other, that should mean substantial investment at first team level over two years ie 2013-2015 - shouldn't it?
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