The reality is - we have hit our ceiling

[blader]

When Chris Wilder took over at Bramall Lane at the beginning of last season, the club was in an absolute state. He inherited a fairly poor squad that was underachieving in league one.

Fast forward 18 months and he has transformed us into a top half championship club. A quite remarkable job. He deserves all the plaudits he gets, we have done it with passion, guile, quality and plenty of entertainment - it’s been superb!

However, the reality is, he (or anyone) is going to struggle to take us much beyond the point we are at.

Since time immemorial, Blades fans have been trying to convince themselves that we wouldn’t want to be a club that was ‘spunkin money’ away to try and gain success, citing our neighbours and other failures with big budgets. However, it just takes a quick glance at the championship table to know that, despite all these protestations, money simply buys you success. The current top 6 will be not far off the 6 largest spenders in the division and that is the equilibrium football has reached. It creates a glass ceiling that clubs such as ourselves would need an immense stroke of luck to get through, but still incredibly unlikely.

Now we know we will never being spenders in the championship under the current ownership, and that’s fine. We just need to accept that, unless someone on here has £150 million sat in their bank collecting dust. I also feel a dose of realism is needed about expectations of the club, and Wilder, from here on in.

Before our L1 days we were an ‘Ipswich’. A very average second tier club that sometimes flirted with the playoffs. That’s what Wilder has achieved in his time here, but it is our ‘natural’ place and one we shouldn’t take for granted.

This has stemmed from my thoughts about improving for next season. I think most would agree our first move should be up front. We need a good championship striker to get us through games like yesterday. Then I realised, well there’s no chance! Look at those top 6 sides.... striker values:

Wolves - Neves - £14 million (just an example of many to be fair)
Cardiff - Madine - £6 million
Fulham - Rui Fonte - £8 million (plus rejecting £30 million for Cairney in Jan!)
Villa - hogan - £12 million
Derby - Vydra - £7million
Boro - Assombalonga - £14 million

And all of a sudden you realise just how difficult it’s going to be to reach those heights. Wilder has done an amazing jobs, but games like yesterday are won by players of a similar ilk to those mentioned above, none of which we will be able to get.

Well done Chris, an amazing job done, but I find it difficult to see us being able to move on from here without some genuine investment.

 

[super_pig]

first 'spunk some muneh' post of the day well done..
Wolves are pushing the ethical limits.. fulham are a loaded W. London team.. Villa have parachute payments.. Derby and Boro are a couple of points above us and we've been playing crap recently.. we're not done yet

 

[mattbianco1]

We will break our transfer record in the summer.

 

[mattbianco1]

Before our L1 days we were an ‘Ipswich’. A very average second tier club that sometimes flirted with the playoffs.

I wouldn't say so. I would say we very much challenged for the play offs year on year.

From the 02-03 season until 09-10, the lowest we finished in the league was 9th. We were relegated in 10-11.

3rd
8th
8th
2nd
18th (PL)
9th
3rd
8th

In the 15 seasons from 02-03, Ipswich have finished in the bottom half 7 times.

In comparison, the pigs since their relegation in 2000 from the premier league have finished in the top half just 3 times.

 

[sheffielder]

Is our ceiling the same as everyone else in this league?

 

[Hague Blade]

We will break our transfer record in the summer.

I hope you're right. In the modern football world, £4m is modest for a club of our size.

 

[Rodley]

first 'spunk some muneh' post of the day well done..
Wolves are pushing the ethical limits.. fulham are a loaded W. London team.. Villa have parachute payments.. Derby and Boro are a couple of points above us and we've been playing crap recently.. we're not done yet

We’ve hit our ceiling of being well in the mix for the top 6.

 

[Keen Blade]

I absolutely agree with everything you say , though it be some extent disheartening.
Another Leicester is more likely to win the Premier League than the Blades get promoted , because at least an also-ran Prem club can spend a few million and if they find themselves a good manager .....
I have no doubt that were we in that position , Chris Wilder has the potential to gain success in the Prem - but soon he will realize we won't be - hence his privately expressed Twitter disappointment at the ownership bollox and his publicly expressed realism about the limitations to team improvement placed upon him by the January transfer budget.
At least 5 of the top six Championship spenders will finish in the top six.
I am afraid that money has replaced merit.
You only have to look at the gentle slide Southwards of football success to know that the teams based in the decaying heartlands of the Victorian era Northern industrial boom have an uphill struggle.
Whereas Wet Sham move to a free mecanno set donated by the taxpayer and pick up 25, 000 new customers overnight.
And traditional minnows Bournemouth are a Prem club.
But coming back to my beloved Blades , you are correct about our strikers and the 4 points thrown away on the last two Saturdays.
The ones with quality are too old and the one with potential is too young. I don't count Wilson as the deal which makes him play for us to satisfy Manure is a terrible one , struck by a manager who is forced to clutch at straws like Ched fucking Evans.
We need a total clear-out of strikers , but who will buy their contracts from us ? Brooks is the only one worth keeping to see if he can mature into something.
We can hold our own in defence and midfield , but as CW acknowledged on RS last night , the difficult job is at what he calls "the top of the pitch" , which is why we can't finish poor teams off and why the strikers at the top six clubs are so far beyond our budget.
The best we can hope is to unearth a young Billy Sharp or Brian Deane but if we confine ourselves to UK & Ireland , that is pretty forlorn , unless we can borrow someone 10 times better than Wilson.
You know the saying "it's the hope that kills you" ? That sums up my Blades experience since 1968.
That's why I call myself a Blades supporter , not a customer like the new 22,000 that Wet Sham have suddenly acquired.
Unfortunately the future of football is more to do with the spending power of clubs and their customer bases , than it is to do with the history and romance of the game.
Which leaves financially poor areas like Sheffield in the lurch.

 

[SwissBlade]

We need a bigger squad capable of lasting the season, playing in the way that we do.

Do we need to spunk Villa/ Pigs/ Wolves/ Fulham/ Boro levels of cash to do it? No.

How do we do it, prepare the same way as last summer, come back fitter, stronger, shift a few fringe players out and bring in better quality younger players (up front) and back up players ready to step up to first team in the Championship.

 

[SwissBlade]

We’ve hit our ceiling of being well in the mix for the top 6.

We look fucked now, we don't have the energy we did a couple of months back.

This has been a very hard season, physically.

 

[Davie Blade]

We will break our transfer record in the summer.

Selling or Buying?

 

[Bladezz]

Look at Forest. Ben Watson and Jacob Colback. Both premiership contracts.

They go and get Joe Lolley and Lee Tomlin and Guesiorla (no idea on the spelling the midfielder).l in jan.

Players that weren’t there today for them Michael Manchienne, Bridcutt , Jack Hobbs.

And they have a manager who use to play for Real Madrid.

Ignore the top 6 we don’t ever compete financially with Forrest.

 

[Carlton Blade]

We look fucked now, we don't have the energy we did a couple of months back.

This has been a very hard season, physically.

Yep. Yesterday it looked like some of the players hit the wall in terms of what they had left in the tank.

JOC, Baldock, Stevens, Stearman, Evans, Fleck. 12 games in 49 days is a lot

 

[diplomat]

I don't count Wilson as the deal which makes him play for us to satisfy Manure is a terrible one.

What deal is this?

 

[Keen Blade]

We need a bigger squad capable of lasting the season, playing in the way that we do.

Do we need to spunk Villa/ Pigs/ Wolves/ Fulham/ Boro levels of cash to do it? No.

How do we do it, prepare the same way as last summer, come back fitter, stronger, shift a few fringe players out and bring in better quality younger players (up front) and back up players ready to step up to first team in the Championship.

I agree with you in principle Swiss , but we have just given contracts in January to 3 more L1 players whom we hope will overachieve in the Championship - those type of contacts will hamstring us , unless the players have it in their heads to grow & improve with us. I hope they do.
Though the hope often kills me , like a heroin addict , I live in hope.

 

[Keen Blade]

What deal is this?

Ask yourself whether he is any better than what we've got or if he even looks like he should be getting in the team on merit. Have a think what if anything he did in the Burton game or whether it looked like it mattered to him. A player further from the Wilder mould is hard to imagine. Was he what you expected when there was talk of getting in a good young Premiership squad striker ? No , me neither. But when your only other alternatives have glandular fever or spent their development years in prison , what can you do ?

 

[Deadbat]

Agree with most of the OP. I love Wilder but his stubborness not to look outside the UK is not helping. Eveyone knows fees in the UK for transfers are much higher. Yes there is the unknown element of going to the continent but struggling to see why we are not tapping into this market? We will not spend the money of clubs above so need to find whatever edge we can. Even Preston have tapped into the Irish league for some cheap gems.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

We need a bigger squad capable of lasting the season, playing in the way that we do.

Do we need to spunk Villa/ Pigs/ Wolves/ Fulham/ Boro levels of cash to do it? No.

How do we do it, prepare the same way as last summer, come back fitter, stronger, shift a few fringe players out and bring in better quality younger players (up front) and back up players ready to step up to first team in the Championship.

This!!

I said after the Fulham game that 80% of their team matches up with ours. We've got a top 8 squad but only lack those 3 or 4 PL quality players that win you tight games (like yesterday, like Ipswich, like Hull).

Coutts coming back is one; Brooks natural development will be another. No doubt we thought Wilson might have been another... Tufty has spent 3 transfer windows on quantity, now we just need a little bit of quality through the door this Summer.

All this talk about ceilings and not being good enough is very black or white!! In my opinion we're charcoal grey and just need 1 or 2 bits of black...

 

[SelbyBlade]

We will break our transfer record in the summer.

The only way that can happen is if we sell Brooks because the board won't give CW new money whilst there is an impasse.

 

[South Bucks]

Personally I don't think we have reached our potential ceiling but we have if we keep doing what we are doing. I used to think after a poor result they'd all sit down the next day and watch the video and agree what needs to change with set pieces and how we play up front and then go and practice it on the training pitch. Having seen many clueless games like yesterday I can only assume they don't and just go for a jog, play head tennis and talk about their fancy cars.

With better organisation and technique and having a plan for what we are to going to do when we have the ball in the final third our ceiling could be much higher. Spending tens of millions on fancy strikers to just play the same way would be futile, its an illusion, there needs to be a practiced plan.

After Stanislas scored his free kick yesterday they asked him about it and he said "yeah I practice about a dozen of those a day". Do we see any evidence our players do the same.

 

[Ihadadream]

I would agree we are well set in midfield and defence and I Wilder knows this also, come the summer I think any recruitment will revolve around the strikers and the need for pace, Blackman would be a good signing if we can get him. I’m not sure about Ched tbf and doubt the Don will get another year so we need at least 2, Brooks with a full pre season will only get better. And let’s be honest we’re still in with a shout this year

 

[SelbyBlade]

Agree with most of the OP. I love Wilder but his stubborness not to look outside the UK is not helping. Eveyone knows fees in the UK for transfers are much higher. Yes there is the unknown element of going to the continent but struggling to see why we are not tapping into this market? We will not spend the money of clubs above so need to find whatever edge we can. Even Preston have tapped into the Irish league for some cheap gems.

Even with money it's unlikely that CW will risk upsetting the group's togetherness by bringing in players from abroad. He has Welsh players, Scottish Player and Irish Players in the squad so your Irish analogy is already met. There is a point that any players playing in a different country are doing it for money and are therefore more mercenary than players who owe the manager something. That is way CW uses the best of the lower leagues rather than paying premium for players who think they are doing us a favour or worse just picking up a big wage,

 

[DaleHillBlade]

Even with money it's unlikely that CW will risk upsetting the group's togetherness by bringing in players from abroad. He has Welsh players, Scottish Player and Irish Players in the squad so your Irish analogy is already met. There is a point that any players playing in a different country are doing it for money and are therefore more mercenary than players who owe the manager something. That is way CW uses the best of the lower leagues rather than paying premium for players who think they are doing us a favour or worse just picking up a big wage,

I believe if Wilder sees a value for money foreign player whose skills and attitude blend with his team then he would sign in the blink of an eye.

Which prompts another question of why our Club is not scouting abroad. Maybe it's because our management team lacks the structure and/or experience to do so?

I do agree that working in an environment that promotes the chances of British and Irish players is 100% the right to do.. but the development of Sheffield United is even more so, from a selfish perspective.

 

[ucandomagic]

Not so long ago we had 2 of the top scoring strikers in the league. We lose a bit of form and suddenly we need to spend millions. The multi million pound strikers lose form as well - then you’re lumbered with a bloke on big wages who cost a fortune.

For fuck’s sake - this is our first go at this. Give it another couple of seasons and we’re still where we are and there might be an argument about ceilings. Everybody moans about impatient owners not giving managers time - most fans are even less patient.

Magic Takes Time And Is Broken By Greed

 

[grafikhaus]

I hope you're right. In the modern football world, £4m is modest for a club of our size.

Ollie Watkins is exactly the kind of player we should be looking to sign in order to progress further. Signed by Brentford from Exeter City last July for £1.8m, he is currently the subject of interest from Bournemouth in a possible £6m move. While £6m may seem fanciful to some Blades fans, this is the kind of fees we’ll have to find. However, there’s no way we can/would want to match the wages Bournemouth could offer.

 

[Kozzy_is_my_Dad]

I'm really proud of our squad and the way we play on the budget we've spent. We've played arguably the best football in the division at times but at other times just struggled to show up e.g. yesterday, Hull away. Those occasions are frustrating because they feel like opportunities missed and being where we are with 8 games left is incredible, but having won on those occasions we could be even higher.

We need to spend a little in the summer whilst keeping our current gems and maintaining everything that's good about our squad.

Let's a fucking good go for the rest of the season and see what happens. UTB!

 

[loyalblade95]

one thing we have done since the Fulham game is that we're keeping more clean sheets and becoming harder to score against

 

[Fanny magnet]

A couple of months ago the squad should have been drilled repetitively on the train ing ground the art of the first time cross ,the early ball in the box and the defence splitting pass
Because watching that yesterday was like groundhog day with Stevens in particular finding new ways to miscontrol the ball in good positions followed by a pathetic cross to no one .He wasn't alone leonard and baldock also appeared to be under the pressure of their family being in a hostage situation where one completed successful pass in the final third could spell curtains for their young family

 

[diplomat]

Ask yourself whether he is any better than what we've got or if he even looks like he should be getting in the team on merit. Have a think what if anything he did in the Burton game or whether it looked like it mattered to him. A player further from the Wilder mould is hard to imagine. Was he what you expected when there was talk of getting in a good young Premiership squad striker ? No , me neither. But when your only other alternatives have glandular fever or spent their development years in prison , what can you do ?

I get that but he hasn’t played all the time so don’t understand the ‘deal’. He’s highly rated so I thought he was a decent shout as an extra option. Aside from one good cross v Burton I’ve not seen much to warrant the reputation.

 

[Newbury Blade]

Look at Forest. Ben Watson and Jacob Colback. Both premiership contracts.

They go and get Joe Lolley and Lee Tomlin and Guesiorla (no idea on the spelling the midfielder).l in jan.

Players that weren’t there today for them Michael Manchienne, Bridcutt , Jack Hobbs.

And they have a manager who use to play for Real Madrid.

Ignore the top 6 we don’t ever compete financially with Forrest.

So if we did, we could be as successful as Forest? Good plan!