McCabe interview in The Times (says he'll sue Sheffield United)

[Worksop II]

He’s on record - during the court case - referring to a “part sale”- which made a few sit up and think he wasn’t going to sell and retire, despite what he’d said previously.

Yep, after relieving the Yanks of £10M for the purchase of the Princes shares for £5M ......

of course Kev would want to change the deal to a part sale, instead of the whole shooting match ... its what he does

and by the way, why haven't you offered to take your nephew to the games ....................

 

[Sean Thornton]

Yep, after relieving the Yanks of £10M for the purchase of the Princes shares for £5M ......

of course Kev would want to change the deal to a part sale, instead of the whole shooting match ... its what he does

and by the way, why haven't you offered to take your nephew to the games ....................

I have all on looking after Scott and Tutton......

 

[Booker4]

If he wants to sue the Prince then presumably he's entitled to what he's owned and if he doesn't get it then then he'll have to go through the courts. Why he has said this publicly though I find odd, especially to the Daily Mail which is a disgrace of a newspaper. He should be communicating with the Prince only and has no need to go to a national newspaper.

I'll always be grateful for what you he did for the Club but I wish he'd keep his council on this.

 

[Deleted member 1486]

If he wants to sue the Prince then presumably he's entitled to what he's owned and if he doesn't get it then then he'll have to go through the courts. Why he has said this publicly though I find odd, especially to the Daily Mail which is a disgrace of a newspaper. He should be communicating with the Prince only and has no need to go to a national newspaper.

I'll always be grateful for what you he did for the Club but I wish he'd keep his council on this.

Exactly this. He's entitled to what he's owed, but he isn't owed it until it's due to be paid. So why start posturing in the press now saying he's going to sue the club? Especially as he said he still has open communications with the Prince. It's just bizarre.

 

[Booker4]

Exactly this. He's entitled to what he's owed, but he isn't owed it until it's due to be paid. So why start posturing in the press now saying he's going to sue the club? Especially as he said he still has open communications with the Prince. It's just bizarre.

I just sighed when I saw the article especially from the Daily Mail, I'll not buy that paper or the Sun for the rest of my life but that's a side issue.

I was very disappointed to read the content of the article too. He's clearly very hurt, I get that, but the article only damaged his reputation with United fans, not that he probably sees it that way.

 

[Ainsley Harriott]

Exactly this. He's entitled to what he's owed, but he isn't owed it until it's due to be paid. So why start posturing in the press now saying he's going to sue the club? Especially as he said he still has open communications with the Prince. It's just bizarre.

He's probably going senile.

I've mentioned on here that I don't like him. I've seen someone else (think it was Millhousesblade) say he's a master manipulator. Never a truer word. I've been to fans forums with him and the bloke could charm flies off of shit. But he never actually says anything noteworthy. He tells you what you want to hear but doesn't answer your questions. I think the 'Dem Blades' fanzine did a little bit with a radio Sheffield interview with him where all McCabe did was dodge the questions. It was funny, but closer to the truth than it probably was meant to be.

I was in the boardroom the day he appointed Wilson. The room was frothing at the mouth. I stood and said to him "You said 'Europe in 5 years' yet you appoint a man who has just relegated Swindon to division 4'. His answer was " Yeovil is in europe". What?!! What kind of cunt answer is that?!! He then said that the Swindon chairman sold all Wilson best players. To which I replied "That's all that you ever do". Pleased to say that took him aback a bit.

He's a patronising bastard. I'm glad he lost the case. All he's doing is damaging himself, not the club.

 

[stringer]

If he wants to sue the Prince then presumably he's entitled to what he's owned and if he doesn't get it then then he'll have to go through the courts. Why he has said this publicly though I find odd, especially to the Daily Mail which is a disgrace of a newspaper. He should be communicating with the Prince only and has no need to go to a national newspaper.

I'll always be grateful for what you he did for the Club but I wish he'd keep his council on this.

It’s in The Times, and Henry Winter went to him rather than the other way around.

 

[Keen Blade]

So how any purchase of assets is funded isn’t worth discussing because it’s in the future? Really? How the purchase of the property assets is funded is probably the most important issue facing fans, or should be, because it will cut the budget available because it has to be paid for next year, appeal not withstanding. McCabes bluster about suing is also something for the future but that’s okay, because it shows him, rightly so, in a bad light.

You’re suggesting McCabe should do the decent thing yet have totally ignored the point about why the expected valuation is more than £24m. (Additional properties in the agreement). I believe the hotel is valued in the last accounts at £16m so we’re at £40m without the other two properties.


The share price was Kev’s gamble that backfired.

As I said , I have no problem with Kevin getting a fair price for whatever properties he sells to the Club. Clearly I'm not in a position to judge what that price should be.

I said the question of how that price is eventually paid is "in a sense" not worth discussing.
Perhaps what I should have said is "in this thread" , not worth discussing.

This thread is about how Kevin is behaving RIGHT NOW , and how he could be more helpful to his own reputation + the stability of the Club , by abandoning his Appeal and adopting a less inflammatory stance re the Prince + the sale/purchase of the properties.

The eventual funding of the property transactions is for the future , for the Prince to decide and is worth a separate thread of its own , if people want to start speculating in the dark about it.
For me , there's too little info available , for the obvious reason that there are too many variables like :
Which division will we be in ?
What price will the 2 men settle on ?
Will the ownership still be open to appeal by Kevin ?
Will the Prince seek investment partners or keep the club to himself ?

 

[Keen Blade]

So how any purchase of assets is funded isn’t worth discussing because it’s in the future? Really? How the purchase of the property assets is funded is probably the most important issue facing fans, or should be, because it will cut the budget available because it has to be paid for next year, appeal not withstanding. McCabes bluster about suing is also something for the future but that’s okay, because it shows him, rightly so, in a bad light.

You’re suggesting McCabe should do the decent thing yet have totally ignored the point about why the expected valuation is more than £24m. (Additional properties in the agreement). I believe the hotel is valued in the last accounts at £16m so we’re at £40m without the other two properties.


The share price was Kev’s gamble that backfired.

As I said , I have no problem with Kevin getting a fair price for whatever properties he sells to the Club. Clearly I'm not in a position to judge what that price should be.

I said the question of how that price is eventually paid is "in a sense" not worth discussing.
Perhaps what I should have said is "in this thread" , not worth discussing.

This thread is about how Kevin is behaving RIGHT NOW , and how he could be more helpful to his own reputation + the stability of the Club , by abandoning his Appeal and adopting a less inflammatory stance re the Prince + the sale/purchase of the properties.

The eventual funding of the property transactions is for the future , for the Prince to decide and is worth a separate thread of its own , if people want to start speculating in the dark about it.
For me , there's too little info available , for the obvious reason that there are too many variables like :
Which division will we be in ?
What price will the 2 men settle on ?
Will the ownership still be open to appeal by Kevin ?
Will the Prince seek investment partners or keep the club to himself ?

Sorry Sean , that was meant to be a reply to you but in editing on my phone , I managed to fuck it up + somehow repeat your post !

 

[Sean Thornton]

So how any purchase of assets is funded isn’t worth discussing because it’s in the future? Really? How the purchase of the property assets is funded is probably the most important issue facing fans, or should be, because it will cut the budget available because it has to be paid for next year, appeal not withstanding. McCabes bluster about suing is also something for the future but that’s okay, because it shows him, rightly so, in a bad light.

You’re suggesting McCabe should do the decent thing yet have totally ignored the point about why the expected valuation is more than £24m. (Additional properties in the agreement). I believe the hotel is valued in the last accounts at £16m so we’re at £40m without the other two properties.


The share price was Kev’s gamble that backfired.

As I said , I have no problem with Kevin getting a fair price for whatever properties he sells to the Club. Clearly I'm not in a position to judge what that price should be.

I said the question of how that price is eventually paid is "in a sense" not worth discussing.
Perhaps what I should have said is "in this thread" , not worth discussing.

This thread is about how Kevin is behaving RIGHT NOW , and how he could be more helpful to his own reputation + the stability of the Club , by abandoning his Appeal and adopting a less inflammatory stance re the Prince + the sale/purchase of the properties.

The eventual funding of the property transactions is for the future , for the Prince to decide and is worth a separate thread of its own , if people want to start speculating in the dark about it.
For me , there's too little info available , for the obvious reason that there are too many variables like :
Which division will we be in ?
What price will the 2 men settle on ?
Will the ownership still be open to appeal by Kevin ?
Will the Prince seek investment partners or keep the club to himself ?

Your points are all about what could happen in the future. We all know what the courts decision was and the likely timetable if there’s an appeal. The majority of posters seem to think it’s bullshit, bluster and bitterness, not for the first time. KMc letting his mouth run off changes nothing.

Another thread maybe, but it seems unlikely that an appeal, if granted will change anything so the issue of how those assets are paid for is paramount as things stand. Far more than wanting any money payable to McCabe reduced, where you’re ignoring the effect of assets held outside of SUL on the valuation at least twice. If the final negotiated value is say £45m, are you still going to tell him he should accept less?

 

[pommpey]

As for managers "suddenly fucking off"...don't make me laugh. Under McCabe:

Adrian Heath (1999): deservedly sacked. Was terrible
Neil Warnock (2007): resigned after relegating us despite being 7 points clear of relegation with 8 games left of the PL season
Bryan Robson (2008): sacked after leading the best paid Championship squad we've ever had to the heady heights of midtable and describing the Derby as "just another game"
Kevin Blackwell (2010): sacked after a 3-0 home defeat to Neil Warnock's QPR. Race had run after we limped to a 9th place finish the season before; his tendered resignation after the 2009 play off final should have been accepted.
Gary Speed (2010): resigned to take the Wales job
Micky Adams (2011): sacked after relegation to the third tier. Truly awful manager.
Danny Wilson (2013): sacked as we stalled in the final laps of his second season.
David Weir (2013): sacked as it became clear he was well out of his depth
Nigel Clough (2015): resigned after the Board refused to sign another load of his crocks (Jake Buxton IIRC)
Nigel Adkins (2016): sacked after leading us to our worst finish in 30 years

That is some testimony. All of that cost him £100m. The highest we achieved was mid table in one season under his real bete noir, Neil Warnock. The rest of it was failure after failure, relegations, semi finals, quarter finals and play off bottlings. One hundred million. Sacked, resigned (contract not renewed ... so resigned rather than be sacked), sacked, sacked, resigned, sacked, sacked, sacked, resigned and sacked. Much of them have, we can assume, been paid handsomely to keep their traps shut. How much ... no one knows. So we can also assume McCabe has paid for his failures. Do we have any pity for him regarding that? We don't actually know why Clough resigned. We don't know why Wilson went, nor Blackwell. We could guess at Adkins and Weir. Either way, ten managers can't have come cheap at signing on and signing off time.

You could question the appointment of almost all of those but they were all backed in terms of playing staff budget.

Maybe. What about player sales though? We certainly jettisoned some able players in the years since Warnock. We certainly signed some dogshit too. The only real marque signing was possibly Beattie or later Brayford.

Including Wilder - we lost £5.5m in the L1 promotion season (split between McCabe and Prince Abdullah).

Because it costs to get good and get out of it. INcome in the lower leagues is shit. We are not exactly a small club by anyone's standards. And buying a fucking Desso was tantamount to supreme idiocy, especially when we get bummed eight times on it at home and win away on cowfields.

Final point: he really, really should accept the Court's judgment and let it go. It's over Kev, enjoy the Premier League.

Agree. He needs to fuck off and let the club move to the next level. If it ends in disaster, so be it. But him hexxing everything isn't helping.

pommpey

 

[Sean Thornton]

Your points are all about what could happen in the future. We all know what the courts decision was and the likely timetable if there’s an appeal. The majority of posters seem to think it’s bullshit, bluster and bitterness, not for the first time. KMc letting his mouth run off changes nothing.

Another thread maybe, but it seems unlikely that an appeal, if granted will change anything so the issue of how those assets are paid for is paramount as things stand. Far more than wanting any money payable to McCabe reduced, where you’re ignoring the effect of assets held outside of SUL on the valuation at least twice. If the final negotiated value is say £45m, are you still going to tell him he should accept less?

Paramount as far as I’m concerned anyway

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I wonder if he’s changed legal advisors? You’d think whether he has or not, they’d advise him against this sort of thing.

 

[metalblade]

Maybe, just maybe, the truth is in the middle and those who "shouted [you] down" were actually just people with a different viewpoint. I don't think that "warm sunshine pours from his balloon knot" but I equally don't think he deserves some of the criticism he gets.

McCabe made some awful decisions - nearly all of them revolved around who was in the manager's office. I don't doubt that there was a healthy amount of belief that his way was the best way but that's to be expected with a self-made millionaire.

That said, on the property side of things he's turned the Lane into a much better stadium and the Desso pitch you derided so frequently was pretty useful to Wilder's swashbuckling League One winners: I remember a games at Rochdale and Oldham on pitches which would have been better for rugby where we scraped draws against terrible sides.

As for managers "suddenly fucking off"...don't make me laugh. Under McCabe:

Adrian Heath (1999): deservedly sacked. Was terrible
Neil Warnock (2007): resigned after relegating us despite being 7 points clear of relegation with 8 games left of the PL season
Bryan Robson (2008): sacked after leading the best paid Championship squad we've ever had to the heady heights of midtable and describing the Derby as "just another game"
Kevin Blackwell (2010): sacked after a 3-0 home defeat to Neil Warnock's QPR. Race had run after we limped to a 9th place finish the season before; his tendered resignation after the 2009 play off final should have been accepted.
Gary Speed (2010): resigned to take the Wales job
Micky Adams (2011): sacked after relegation to the third tier. Truly awful manager.
Danny Wilson (2013): sacked as we stalled in the final laps of his second season.
David Weir (2013): sacked as it became clear he was well out of his depth
Nigel Clough (2015): resigned after the Board refused to sign another load of his crocks (Jake Buxton IIRC)
Nigel Adkins (2016): sacked after leading us to our worst finish in 30 years

You could question the appointment of almost all of those but they were all backed in terms of playing staff budget. Including Wilder - we lost £5.5m in the L1 promotion season (split between McCabe and Prince Abdullah).

Final point: he really, really should accept the Court's judgment and let it go. It's over Kev, enjoy the Premier League.

Not quite correct considering Adrian Heath quit at the same time as Mike McDonald quit as Chairman of the PLC, Bernard Proctor took over temporarily. McCabe can't really take the credit for sacking Heath wasn't he just Chairman of the football club not the PLC? Dereck Dooley became chairman of the football side and was charged with finding Heath's replacement.
Warnock love him or hate him but do you really think he was backed by McCabe? I'm no fan of Colin but he was only ever drip fed funds for players thats the only reason he was at the lane so long he was cheap. The only manager McCabe really backed was Bryan fuckin Robson.
Blackwell was brought in to sell players same as he did at Luton when they were in the shit, then we had more bladey bladey losers like Speed, Adams, Carver, Chris Morgan and a sprinkling of one season wonder Danny Wilson the useless David Weir. That's all before mentioning negative Nigel and positive Nigel and his geese. Every one of these appointments were a cheap option and at best average managers. Even Wilder can be seen as another bladey bladey cheap option when he is managing in the lower league for clubs on the verge of going to the wall and unable to pay their players. Luckily for Kev Wilder has got a bit of know how but you could still question whether he has been backed by McCabe, we know the Prince backed Wilder to get McBurnie in. I look at it this way when McCabe took over we were a poor Championship club looking down, until he stumbled on Chris Wilder we were a poor league one club looking down. If it had been up to just Kev our Premier League spending would have been at Norwich levels.

 

[Keen Blade]

Your points are all about what could happen in the future. We all know what the courts decision was and the likely timetable if there’s an appeal. The majority of posters seem to think it’s bullshit, bluster and bitterness, not for the first time. KMc letting his mouth run off changes nothing.

Another thread maybe, but it seems unlikely that an appeal, if granted will change anything so the issue of how those assets are paid for is paramount as things stand. Far more than wanting any money payable to McCabe reduced, where you’re ignoring the effect of assets held outside of SUL on the valuation at least twice. If the final negotiated value is say £45m, are you still going to tell him he should accept less?

No , not at all - I say again , Kevin should get a price which balances the interests of his family with those of the Club - to me that means the "market" price being imposed by some third party based on valuations or whatever price is reached by negotiation by the 2 men.

I don't say that Kevin should let his assets go for some sort of bargain price.

Unfortunately his quoted remarks against the Prince are making it difficult to imagine how on earth he will reach any negotiated price.

As for the nature of the Prince's funding , of course it's paramount - but not yet

 

[Sean Thornton]

No , not at all - I say again , Kevin should get a price which balances the interests of his family with those of the Club - to me that means the "market" price being imposed by some third party based on valuations or whatever price is reached by negotiation by the 2 men.

I don't say that Kevin should let his assets go for some sort of bargain price.

Unfortunately his quoted remarks against the Prince are making it difficult to imagine how on earth he will reach any negotiated price.

As for the nature of the Prince's funding , of course it's paramount - but not yet

You mentioned a £24m property now being worth £50m. After asking the question “why don’t you give some of your money away” .

 

[Charlieblade]

Funding.
There will be a need to fund players in January. Prince has secured a an Aussie loan for this, set against future PL income. Normal practice, carry on jogging.
Funding required for McC property assets purchase. Presumably summer player purchases too.
Sooner or later, Prince will have to find funds for share purchase, (5m). Assuming we stay up, he can get another loan against PL income for future player buys.

That leaves 5m, plus circa 50m not yet funded. He could spend his own money, or find investors.
As a fan, i would hope that he pays the 5m himself, and funds the asset purchase from investment help. He can promise ROI by charging the club a realistic rent for the Lane and training facilities.

There still remains ground improvements as promised, and extra spend on training facilities.

He could surprise everyone by funding all this himself, but somehow I doubt that.
The Aussie loan shows at least he is thinking ahead, and aware of deadlines. My concern is that he lacks the cashflow, but he does seem to have some business acumen to deal with it.
"Be reyt"?

 

[Keen Blade]

You mentioned a £24m property now being worth £50m. After asking the question “why don’t you give some of your money away” .

And you subsequently explained that the £24m didn't cover all the properties , which I hadn't realised.

I don't know how many times I have to say that I am unqualified to know what the price should be.
Or that I don't expect Kevin to accept less than a fair price.

The impression that Kevin's £24m had somehow doubled £50m was clearly wrong.

 

[Bladesman]

Not quite correct considering Adrian Heath quit at the same time as Mike McDonald quit as Chairman of the PLC, Bernard Proctor took over temporarily. McCabe can't really take the credit for sacking Heath wasn't he just Chairman of the football club not the PLC? Dereck Dooley became chairman of the football side and was charged with finding Heath's replacement.
Warnock love him or hate him but do you really think he was backed by McCabe? I'm no fan of Colin but he was only ever drip fed funds for players thats the only reason he was at the lane so long he was cheap. The only manager McCabe really backed was Bryan fuckin Robson.
Blackwell was brought in to sell players same as he did at Luton when they were in the shit, then we had more bladey bladey losers like Speed, Adams, Carver, Chris Morgan and a sprinkling of one season wonder Danny Wilson the useless David Weir. That's all before mentioning negative Nigel and positive Nigel and his geese. Every one of these appointments were a cheap option and at best average managers. Even Wilder can be seen as another bladey bladey cheap option when he is managing in the lower league for clubs on the verge of going to the wall and unable to pay their players. Luckily for Kev Wilder has got a bit of know how but you could still question whether he has been backed by McCabe, we know the Prince backed Wilder to get McBurnie in. I look at it this way when McCabe took over we were a poor Championship club looking down, until he stumbled on Chris Wilder we were a poor league one club looking down. If it had been up to just Kev our Premier League spending would have been at Norwich levels.

I wouldn’t say Adkins or Clough were cheap options. The Prince was onboard by this point so we were able to attract slightly better managers (on paper) and back them a bit with money. No one was keeping a track of Clough and Brannigan as they started collecting every player Scotland and Derby didn’t want.

It helps when someone else is helping to pay the tab though.

 

[BushBlade]

I wouldn’t say Adkins or Clough were cheap options. The Prince was onboard by this point so we were able to attract slightly better managers (on paper) and back them a bit with money. No one was keeping a track of Clough and Brannigan as they started collecting every player Scotland and Derby didn’t want.

It helps when someone else is helping to pay the tab though.

Ironically, Clough had built his reputation on managing on a tight budget. We probably didn’t need to give him loads of money. As the plan was to buy our way out of L1 you can argue that we’d have been better off finding a manager with a track record of spending money effectively.

 

[Bladesman]

Ironically, Clough had built his reputation on managing on a tight budget. We probably didn’t need to give him loads of money. As the plan was to buy our way out of L1 you can argue that we’d have been better off finding a manager with a track record of spending money effectively.

Money or not he should have got us out of League 1. We just let him run wild handing out contracts to any old dross.

Fair enough he landed Freeman, Coutts and Basham. Didn't he prefer to play Basham in midfield?

 

[Dkc]

Does anyone remember the times before McCabe? Has anyone read "Fit and Proper"? Anyone remember Paul Woolhouse, Steven Hinchcliffe, Sam Hashimi's attempted takeover?

We could have gone under had Kev not steadied the ship.

 

[Roygbiv]

Does anyone remember the times before McCabe? Has anyone read "Fit and Proper"? Anyone remember Paul Woolhouse, Steven Hinchcliffe, Sam Hashimi's attempted takeover?

We could have gone under had Kev not steadied the ship.

Kev himself doesn't come out looking great in the Fit and Proper book. We definitely need an updated version of that book

 

[Bladesman]

Does anyone remember the times before McCabe? Has anyone read "Fit and Proper"? Anyone remember Paul Woolhouse, Steven Hinchcliffe, Sam Hashimi's attempted takeover?

We could have gone under had Kev not steadied the ship.

Indeed we could have. That does not mean he can't be criticised for his mistakes since taking charge though.

 

[Kev Gee]

This sums up our current plight perfectly I think?

 

[BushBlade]

Money or not he should have got us out of League 1. We just let him run wild handing out contracts to any old dross.

Fair enough he landed Freeman, Coutts and Basham. Didn't he prefer to play Basham in midfield?

No, I think his plan was to play Bash and McEveley as mobile centre halves, which looked like it was working until the Spurs game. Then by the time we got to the playoffs he was having to play Bash in centre mid to strengthen us up, then had to switch him back to defence when Bradford got injured.

My point is that not all managers who are used to a tight budget can just switch to being a chequebook manager. Clough was obviously one of them. We took a gamble that he wasn’t when we could have looked for a manager who’d had experience of building a team quickly, not one with a track record of doing things slowly.

Which I think partly explains why we kept getting the wrong manager. It’s like those running the club kept failing to identify the core skills needed at that particular time in our history. Our boom and bust approach to spending and our propensity to appoint the wrong manager meant that the job became progressively more difficult.
It’s not just us that have done it, it’s a common problem in football, it’s the spiral of decline. Since Wilder came in we’ve had a huge change of fortune and actually benefitted from the hard work the club put in with the academy. The timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous though, the DCL, Adams and Ramsdale sales to help fund promotion, (and CW turning up as contracts were expiring), the sell on monies for Maguire, Walker, Murphy all coming in as we needed to invest due to promotion, then the Brooks sale, giving us just enough to get us promoted. The timing couldn’t have been better. Just as we got a manager who knew how to maximise it.
Of course, if we’d got a proper manager instead of Robson I suspect it would have still all fallen into place, in a different way.

 

[Bladesman]

No, I think his plan was to play Bash and McEveley as mobile centre halves, which looked like it was working until the Spurs game. Then by the time we got to the playoffs he was having to play Bash in centre mid to strengthen us up, then had to switch him back to defence when Bradford got injured.

My point is that not all managers who are used to a tight budget can just switch to being a chequebook manager. Clough was obviously one of them. We took a gamble that he wasn’t when we could have looked for a manager who’d had experience of building a team quickly, not one with a track record of doing things slowly.

Which I think partly explains why we kept getting the wrong manager. It’s like those running the club kept failing to identify the core skills needed at that particular time in our history. Our boom and bust approach to spending and our propensity to appoint the wrong manager meant that the job became progressively more difficult.
It’s not just us that have done it, it’s a common problem in football, it’s the spiral of decline. Since Wilder came in we’ve had a huge change of fortune and actually benefitted from the hard work the club put in with the academy. The timing couldn’t have been more fortuitous though, the DCL, Adams and Ramsdale sales to help fund promotion, (and CW turning up as contracts were expiring), the sell on monies for Maguire, Walker, Murphy all coming in as we needed to invest due to promotion, then the Brooks sale, giving us just enough to get us promoted. The timing couldn’t have been better. Just as we got a manager who knew how to maximise it.
Of course, if we’d got a proper manager instead of Robson I suspect it would have still all fallen into place, in a different way.

There was quite a perfect storm in some respects when Wilder arrived. The situation allowed him to free up the wage bill and have funds to get players in he wanted but without paying silly money.

Look at Clough now keeping Burton mid table in League 1. Coasting along with his "We start the game with a point" approach.

 

[metalblade]

Does anyone remember the times before McCabe? Has anyone read "Fit and Proper"? Anyone remember Paul Woolhouse, Steven Hinchcliffe, Sam Hashimi's attempted takeover?

We could have gone under had Kev not steadied the ship.

Mike McDonald came in between all those and McCabe, another wanker really but at least he spent a bit of cash and got the John St stand finished. He was a little bit shall we say eccentric, one day he waked down the newly built exec boxes and kicked every shelf off the walls above the radiators because they were not quite the colour he wanted.
I also have it on good authority that he did indeed shit himself when he went outside to talk to the fans after that notorious Port Vale loss, served him right for letting Charles Green have a free hand.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Maybe, just maybe, the truth is in the middle and those who "shouted [you] down" were actually just people with a different viewpoint. I don't think that "warm sunshine pours from his balloon knot" but I equally don't think he deserves some of the criticism he gets.

McCabe made some awful decisions - nearly all of them revolved around who was in the manager's office. I don't doubt that there was a healthy amount of belief that his way was the best way but that's to be expected with a self-made millionaire.

That said, on the property side of things he's turned the Lane into a much better stadium and the Desso pitch you derided so frequently was pretty useful to Wilder's swashbuckling League One winners: I remember a games at Rochdale and Oldham on pitches which would have been better for rugby where we scraped draws against terrible sides.

As for managers "suddenly fucking off"...don't make me laugh. Under McCabe:

Adrian Heath (1999): deservedly sacked. Was terrible
Neil Warnock (2007): resigned after relegating us despite being 7 points clear of relegation with 8 games left of the PL season
Bryan Robson (2008): sacked after leading the best paid Championship squad we've ever had to the heady heights of midtable and describing the Derby as "just another game"
Kevin Blackwell (2010): sacked after a 3-0 home defeat to Neil Warnock's QPR. Race had run after we limped to a 9th place finish the season before; his tendered resignation after the 2009 play off final should have been accepted.
Gary Speed (2010): resigned to take the Wales job
Micky Adams (2011): sacked after relegation to the third tier. Truly awful manager.
Danny Wilson (2013): sacked as we stalled in the final laps of his second season.
David Weir (2013): sacked as it became clear he was well out of his depth
Nigel Clough (2015): resigned after the Board refused to sign another load of his crocks (Jake Buxton IIRC)
Nigel Adkins (2016): sacked after leading us to our worst finish in 30 years

You could question the appointment of almost all of those but they were all backed in terms of playing staff budget. Including Wilder - we lost £5.5m in the L1 promotion season (split between McCabe and Prince Abdullah).

Final point: he really, really should accept the Court's judgment and let it go. It's over Kev, enjoy the Premier League.

That's a very rosy view of what happened to those managers isn't it? You make it sound like none of this was McCabe's fault. What about the Blackwell sacking, where he allowed him to remain in summer and recruit new players, then sacked him 3 games into the new season? Where was the sense in that? And the Wilson sacking...yes, we'd had a dip in form over the past few games, but were still in a play-off spot. Sensible? I don't think so. The appointment of Robson, who had failed everywhere he'd been, just because he was a big name in the game - sensible? I don't think so. David Weir - never been a manager before - but famous name as a footballer - sensible appointment? I don't think so.

How about the fact that McCabe appointed these dufffers in the first place?

I've consistently said for years now...I do not doubt for one minute that McCabe has always had the best of intentions for our football club - and for that I respect him. However, he's been a bloody disaster with his AWFUL decision-making and that has set the club back for years. I'd like to look back on his time here and appreciate him for the good things he did - in particular the improvements to the ground and the fact that he kept us afloat through difficult times. But that's it. That's the full extent of my respect for him. And every time I see or hear him opening his big gob in public now I feel myself cringing inside. The man is an egotistical, megalomaniac, who likes to picture himself as the saviour of Sheffield United - when in fact he's been complicit in our decline.

Kev, you've had your moment, I appreciate all the very positive things you've done for our club, I don't appreciate the way you mis-managed it though - and most of all, I think it's time you shut the fuck up and left the club alone now.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Does anyone remember the times before McCabe? Has anyone read "Fit and Proper"? Anyone remember Paul Woolhouse, Steven Hinchcliffe, Sam Hashimi's attempted takeover?

We could have gone under had Kev not steadied the ship.

And your point is ...what?

The others were even worse?