The slow death that is Sheffield United

[Cerberus Blade]

Just repeating what I said on a previous thread - so we can all reflect upon it - and maybe even take some comfort from it as it explains why things are as they are:

Every season that goes by in this division we lose a bit more quality, on the pitch and off it. We are where we belong. We are a well established 3rd division team now and we are behaving like it. We have become what wehave strived to escape. We deserve to be here and we are now accepting our fate by fillingthe team with 3rd division "Average Joe" type players, having tacky logo's on our shirts fromtuppence Ha'penny local rag-tag sponsors and replacing quality with cheap tack on thefield and throughout the club.

Pains me to admit it, but at our peak in 1971, when Alan Ball (then of Arsenal), described Sheffield United as "a glorified 3rd divisionclub), he was right.

Premiership potential - 3rd division mentality

 

[Roygbiv]

At least Portsmouth went down in style after at least trying to achieve something. We will never stop supporting this club but I think it's dawning on us all that for all the great support we get, we are nothing more than a Port Vale/Bury standard club. It will be that way whilst ever the board continue to repeat the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, they will forever do that

There is so much potential at Bramall Lane but it's always been run by people who see the club as nothing all that special. It's disgusting but my anger has gone. Nothing will change. I just hope the people who have run this club into the ground get their concupiscence in some form or another

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

At least Portsmouth went down in style after at least trying to achieve something. We will never stop supporting this club but I think it's dawning on us all that for all the great support we get, we are nothing more than a Port Vale/Bury standard club. It will be that way whilst ever the board continue to repeat the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, they will forever do that

There is so much potential at Bramall Lane but it's always been run by people who see the club as nothing all that special. It's disgusting but my anger has gone. Nothing will change. I just hope the people who have run this club into the ground get their concupiscence in some form or another

With 19K crowds it may only cost McC a couple of million to run the club which could be recovered with a couple of player sales.

Promotion could cost him over ten million a season.

No brainier, stay in the 3rd whilst ever the crowds keep coming.

 

[Bladesman]

The problem has always been at the top of the club and maybe finally some of our fans are starting to realise it.

We go through managers and yet nothing changes. We have no long term plan but according to king Kev it is all bad luck.

 

[Stretch]

Hard to disagree with any of the above on nights such as this. Depressing stuff.

I hope Wilder has it in him to fix this, if of course it is fixable. Looking less and less likely as each season passes by.

 

[Roygbiv]

With 19K crowds it may only cost McC a couple of million to run the club which could be recovered with a couple of player sales.

Promotion could cost him over ten million a season.

No brainier, stay in the 3rd whilst ever the crowds keep coming.

I used to think this theory was nonsense but you do have to wonder. No other chairman in the country has managed to balls a club in such a way and remained as long as McCabe has. The genius of what he and the board have done is create total apathy at the club meaning no one even bothers protesting anymore.

 

[Jonboy60]

I used to think this theory was nonsense but you do have to wonder. No other chairman in the country has managed to balls a club in such a way and remained as long as McCabe has. The genius of what he and the board have done is create total apathy at the club meaning no one even bothers protesting anymore.

They say no one is dispenable, but McCabe with the money he's owed, the money pumped in every year just to keep the club on an even keel, and either him or one of his company's owning the ground.
I'd say he's pretty much perfected the art.

 

[Superblades]

I can't wait for the day McCabe puts the club up for sale and fucks off. Pisses me off how fans are so blind to the problem and continue to blame the latest manager. We need to protest but nobody can be bothered anymore.

 

[Roygbiv]

What annoys me most of all with McCabe is that because he has put so much in he seems to think we should al be grateful. I realise the club would be totally screwed if just walked out now as he owns the ground and we owe him millions BUT the only reason he's lost so much money is due to his own negligence. Constantly repeating the same bad decisions and clearly having no idea how to turn it around.

I don't think he wants United to stay at this level, he just wants promotion in the cheapest manner possible. If we did go up we would be scraping around for free transfers and cast offs again. We would be in the same market as Burton Albion which is outrageous for a club like ours. We have been, and still are, being ran like we are an average third tier club and surprise, surprise that what we are. At best

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

What annoys me most of all with McCabe is that because he has put so much in he seems to think we should al be grateful. I realise the club would be totally screwed if just walked out now as he owns the ground and we owe him millions BUT the only reason he's lost so much money is due to his own negligence. Constantly repeating the same bad decisions and clearly having no idea how to turn it around.

I don't think he wants United to stay at this level, he just wants promotion in the cheapest manner possible. If we did go up we would be scraping around for free transfers and cast offs again. We would be in the same market as Burton Albion which is outrageous for a club like ours. We have been, and still are, being ran like we are an average third tier club and surprise, surprise that what we are. At best

No one should feel grateful to McCabe just because he's put money in. It's a business at the end of the day; McCabe has invested money but he's pissed it up against a wall due to his and the board's monumentally stupid decisions over the past few years.

 

[super_pig]

What annoys me most of all with McCabe is that because he has put so much in he seems to think we should al be grateful. I realise the club would be totally screwed if just walked out now as he owns the ground and we owe him millions BUT the only reason he's lost so much money is due to his own negligence. Constantly repeating the same bad decisions and clearly having no idea how to turn it around.

I don't think he wants United to stay at this level, he just wants promotion in the cheapest manner possible. If we did go up we would be scraping around for free transfers and cast offs again. We would be in the same market as Burton Albion which is outrageous for a club like ours. We have been, and still are, being ran like we are an average third tier club and surprise, surprise that what we are. At best

if we were a proper limited company he would have got the bullet years ago for total incompetence.. call me a cynic but i still think he's after the freehold.. well he's got it.. he just needs to run the club into the ground. we are like the BHS of football clubs.. what with our one pound Arab.

 

[Superblades]

What annoys me most of all with McCabe is that because he has put so much in he seems to think we should al be grateful. I realise the club would be totally screwed if just walked out now as he owns the ground and we owe him millions BUT the only reason he's lost so much money is due to his own negligence. Constantly repeating the same bad decisions and clearly having no idea how to turn it around.

I don't think he wants United to stay at this level, he just wants promotion in the cheapest manner possible. If we did go up we would be scraping around for free transfers and cast offs again. We would be in the same market as Burton Albion which is outrageous for a club like ours. We have been, and still are, being ran like we are an average third tier club and surprise, surprise that what we are. At best

The thing that hurts the most, you just know nothing is going to change either. McCabe won't sell, he won't change his mentality and he will keep doing it on the cheap. Meanwhile we keep going round in circles or even worse, keep going backwards.

 

[Blade56]

Just repeating what I said on a previous thread - so we can all reflect upon it - and maybe even take some comfort from it as it explains why things are as they are:

Every season that goes by in this division we lose a bit more quality, on the pitch and off it. We are where we belong. We are a well established 3rd division team now and we are behaving like it. We have become what wehave strived to escape. We deserve to be here and we are now accepting our fate by fillingthe team with 3rd division "Average Joe" type players, having tacky logo's on our shirts fromtuppence Ha'penny local rag-tag sponsors and replacing quality with cheap tack on thefield and throughout the club.

Pains me to admit it, but at our peak in 1971, when Alan Ball (then of Arsenal), described Sheffield United as "a glorified 3rd divisionclub), he was right.

Premiership potential - 3rd division mentality

I actually joked with my sons at the Rochdale game if the cub want to make some money they should get sponsors for away goals at the Lane. Many a true word eh?

 

[Blade56]

....We have been, and still are, being ran like we are an average third tier club and surprise, surprise that what we are. At best

Six years in this level proves your point emphatically R

 

[s10blade]

I wish I had energy to rant. I'm just so fucking bored of it all.

 

[metalblade]

Said it before and I'll say it again until we vote with our feet McCabe will bumble along making his promises, shifting blame onto managers, then after you all buy your season ticket he will sell any little bit of quality left in the squad. Only when the fans walk away will he sell up and until that day this club will go nowhere only further into the gutter. We are just about South Yorkshire's equivalent of Notts County not long to go now just need another relegation

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

if we were a proper limited company he would have got the bullet years ago for total incompetence.. call me a cynic but i still think he's after the freehold.. well he's got it.. he just needs to run the club into the ground. we are like the BHS of football clubs.. what with our one pound Arab.

Only McCabe could have found an Arab with less ready cash than me!

 

[Esablade]

I used to think this theory was nonsense but you do have to wonder. No other chairman in the country has managed to balls a club in such a way and remained as long as McCabe has. The genius of what he and the board have done is create total apathy at the club meaning no one even bothers protesting anymore.

..it's like he's been reading Aldous Huxley...ah well, so long as them flats still got planning permission...

 

[Roygbiv]

..it's like he's been reading Aldous Huxley...ah well, so long as them flats still got planning permission...

I'm happy that I get that reference

 

[Clarkey87]

Couple of points:

McCabe - Yes he has put money in, there is no denying that and he has put a fair bit in over the years as well. No one can take that away from him. He has helped redevelop Bramall Lane etc and was always a better choice than the previous owners (McDonald et al).
However, by his own admission he took his eye off the ball, seemed more interested in other things (that make him money - can't be faulted for that), but in doing so left the club rudderless at the top as he entrusted the clubs running to people who clearly were never cut out for it.
And it certainly doesn't help that for all the "hey, im a big blade" stuff, he is never in the country long enough to see us over a season and use that busines acumen that made him his money on the first place to help get us out of this situation.

Now, as I mention he has put money into the club, but by god I bet he used the image of this club (especially when we were in the Premiership and the following season.....hence the whole pisshead robson appointment) to further his business interests abroad. He is big into China.....what a way of breaking into that market by telling everyone you're a chairman of a Premiership club etc
And it's still the case now. How else would a random Chinese company sponsor the south stand at a bang average third division club?!

Let not forget the fatal error of "running the club so it stands on its own two feet" scenario. In other words, the club pays its own way with very minimal owner investment.
This is football - it doesn't happen like that if you expect to go anywhere near the premiership these days. Admirable concept from another era.

Now onto the artist formerly known as prince.

Can't help but think that he has never really been interested, he clearly thought it was his opportunity to have a real life dabble at fantasy football (which was publicised he loved) for a massive subscription of £1 - except he must have realised it actually cost him real money to go and buy decent players.......money he clearly hasn't got. The idea of a Saudi prince conjures up images of massive oil wealth to match something the UAE and Qatar (Abu Dhabi Sheikh at Man City, Qataris at PSG etc) can throw up........except in our case it doesn't.......ours runs a paper factory, likes American football more than real football and doesn't seem to project the whole supposed wealthy image.

I bet the amount of times he has seen us live could be counted on one hand (one of those at Wembley for an FA cup final)
I cannot see what he has brought to the club that we didn't have before (other than a brief encounter with an American PR man).

The issue we have as a club is - who would want to buy us?
No one out there wishing to get into football ownership is looking at a bang average, division three club. Yes we have potential - fans/ground etc but we also have a decent expenditure for a potential new owner to go through in order to transform us into something that will get any sort of return on the money (only when the club is in the premiership would this happen).

So as it stands we are stuck between a massive rock and a very hard place at the moment without any idea of where we are going next.

 

[puppet]

With 19K crowds it may only cost McC a couple of million to run the club which could be recovered with a couple of player sales.

Promotion could cost him over ten million a season.

No brainier, stay in the 3rd whilst ever the crowds keep coming.

Said the self same thing to me nephew yesterday. McCabe isn;t stupid and he's not a crap businessman either, he's running the club exactly to form and not suffering as a result of any inferred losses.

 

[Malaga Blade]

What an awful night that was. Can't remember one as bad to be honest, everything about it was just sheer agony. A start that nightmares are made of, a local lad we all want to do well proving beyond doubt that he's not up to it, players getting beaten to every first and second ball. To top it off all this against a side so bereft of any form or quality it just left the crowd in stunned silence. Hoping beyond hope that we see this as the wake up call to bolster the spine of that side sharpish, I can't take any more "we can see you sneaking out" at home to the likes of Southend (with all respect)!

 

[Cerberus Blade]

What an awful night that was. Can't remember one as bad to be honest, everything about it was just sheer agony. A start that nightmares are made of, a local lad we all want to do well proving beyond doubt that he's not up to it, players getting beaten to every first and second ball. To top it off all this against a side so bereft of any form or quality it just left the crowd in stunned silence. Hoping beyond hope that we see this as the wake up call to bolster the spine of that side sharpish, I can't take any more "we can see you sneaking out" at home to the likes of Southend (with all respect)!

I'm not wanting to knock Wilder. I think he's a very decent human being whose heart is in the right place and has an excellent work ethic. And I also think he's going to be good for us in the end - But let me talk about something else, just for a moment, then come back to Wilder.

I love Sheffield and Sheffield people - and hate Sheffield and Sheffield people - to the same degree, for different reasons.

Love - because it's a homely place with very open friendly folk - salt of the earth - people who in the main have never had much, but don't expect much. Happy to "Mek do" in times of hardship. Always preparing themselves for the worst so they can take pleasure if it turns out slightly better than that.

Hate - because the same things that make it special also hold it back. Its parochial, it doesn't have top end quality things, folks wouldn't want it, because it's all about "nowt fancy" and "value for munneh".

So we have a second rate city as a result.

Wilder epitomises many good values in my book, but is tainted by this "value for munneh" mentality that plagues Sheffielders. Nothing wrong with "value for munneh" btw - so long as that IS the criteria and you're not getting confused with "price" and "value" - which are 2 different things.

Chris has gone shopping at Netto - and thinks he's got "value" by doing so. OK so we can't shop at Harrods - but there's a difference. It's easy to know the price of everything and the value of nothing- and Chris is learning this lesson right now - I hope!

 

[Malaga Blade]

I'm not wanting to knock Wilder. I think he's a very decent human being whose heart is in the right place and has an excellent work ethic. And I also think he's going to be good for us in the end - But let me talk about something else, just for a moment, then come back to Wilder.

I love Sheffield and Sheffield people - and hate Sheffield and Sheffield people - to the same degree, for different reasons.

Love - because it's a homely place with very open friendly folk - salt of the earth - people who in the main have never had much, but don't expect much. Happy to "Mek do" in times of hardship. Always preparing themselves for the worst so they can take pleasure if it turns out slightly better than that.

Hate - because the same things that make it special also hold it back. Its parochial, it doesn't have top end quality things, folks wouldn't want it, because it's all about "nowt fancy" and "value for munneh".

So we have a second rate city as a result.

Wilder epitomises many good values in my book, but is tainted by this "value for munneh" mentality that plagues Sheffielders. Nothing wrong with "value for munneh" btw - so long as that IS the criteria and you're not getting confused with "price" and "value" - which are 2 different things.

Chris has gone shopping at Netto - and thinks he's got "value" by doing so. OK so we can't shop at Harrods - but there's a difference. It's easy to know the price of everything and the value of nothing- and Chris is learning this lesson right now - I hope!

Agree with you there mate, the city does seem to punch well below its weight considering its in the top 5 or so English cities by population, which tends to surprise people! Hence the general lack of investment in the region compared to other northern cities, which has clearly affected United and (until recently) Wednesday and made us both play catch up for so long. Still love the place though, and always will.

 

[vorpal blade]

I couldn't find the post that said that we had recently recruited managers who seemed well qualified for the task at hand. But the last two comments above sum it up for me.

The last managerial appointments have all been very short sighted in the sense that they are all local.

Wilder, Adkins, Adams, Wilson, Clough, Blackwell, Speed.............all of them either closely connected with SUFC or from the local 'talent' pool that rotates from job to job within a radius of 30 miles? around Sheffield.

I'd suggest that these appointments weren't imaginative, based on creativity, 'vision', outstanding CV or future prospects.....

I'd suggest they were just EASY, CHEAP and possibly HURRIED and THOUGHTLESS, profoundly CONSERVATIVE, can we call them, jobs for the boys?

That sort of thinking gets you nowhere in football.

Wednesday have now got an owner from the other side of the world, you could say they have a 'world-view' so their owner was prepared to bring in a foreign manager and radically shake the club up, he thought 'outside the box'............

our box seems to extend sideways from Merseyside to Scunthorpe and from Barnsley in the North as far south as Chesterfield

What makes the owners of the club imagine that they will find a good enough manager for this HARD task from 10 miles either side of the railway line between Liverpool and Grimsby?

 

[Finn Keane o' Balmaqueen]

I think I need some stronger drugs.

 

[designblade]

 

[Sean Thornton]

With 19K crowds it may only cost McC a couple of million to run the club which could be recovered with a couple of player sales.

Promotion could cost him over ten million a season.

No brainier, stay in the 3rd whilst ever the crowds keep coming.

Players sales in recent years haven't come anywhere near the losses incurred.

You get more money in the championship. So going up and then not spending would be a better deal for him. A bit of joined up thinking Wouldnt go amiss. Why would any businessman be happy throwing millions a year at a dead loss club like this one?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Said the self same thing to me nephew yesterday. McCabe isn;t stupid and he's not a crap businessman either, he's running the club exactly to form and not suffering as a result of any inferred losses.

Lol.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

As a few of us said on another thread, McCabe probably feels as though we "don't know how good we've got it" and as though he has invested a lot. Whilst he has put a lot of money into the club, it hasn't bettered us - it's been paying to try and rectify his own stupid mistakes!!