All is obviously not well at the club at the moment, and with so much being said little has been said about the perspective have prospective players may have of us.
I believe these issues are hindering recruitment.
- We do not pay PL wages. So no wonder 'gone to Villa/Fulham' is a thing.
- We have limited ambition. We 'think Burnley' rather than 'think Leicester'. Not particularly inspiring.
- Our training/medical facilities are relatively basic. (Wilder has rightly tried to address this point)
- We do not have a particularly well known coaching staff with pedigree in the top level of the game (with respect to those at the club):
- The players we have are not especially high profile in the game. Would you rather play with Grealish or Norwood? Any ones which are, are (rightly or wrongly understandably or not) sold at pretty much the first opportunity. The fact that big clubs do not see some of ones that are successful like Egan and JOC as worthy for going for would also be a concern. The fact that our relatively high profile signings in Berge and Brewster have not pulled up any trees will also be worrying.
- There does not appear to be a smooth relationship with the board and the manager.
- There is uncertainty with the board regarding the ongoing payments/dispute with Kevin McCabe.
- The sponsorship/commercial deals we have are not particularly high.
- The manager: Publicly calls out players for their mistakes and recently appears to create a culture of fear and harshness when things are not going well.
A significant portion of the fanbase are happy with this approach as 'he says it how it is'. There are other issues as well (not going into them here) though there is also uncertainty about whether the manager is here for the long term.
- The recruitment of other players is quite limited to the British Isles, showing us as being out of date with modern times.
Even small things like pre-season matches are utterly uninspiring. Inter Milan was a great friendly but the exception proves the rule, other sides do glamorous tours to Austria, USA etc. while we go to Matlock and Falkirk.
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I understand that many of these things cannot be changed easily, but one of them can be and that's our 'vision' and that goes to what Wilder says in press conferences.
Recently he has talked about our model being 17th in the PL, who would want to be a part of that? I think he says that to cover for our shortcomings so I understand that though don't agree with it.
I think one word to sum things up: Uninspiring.
Currently, if I was a football agent I would not recommend my clients to look at Sheffield United and if I was a prospective player who would be good for the club I would be hesitant in coming here.
If SUFC can work on changing that the mentality and recruitment will flourish and we will be in a more positive place going forward.
UTB
I believe these issues are hindering recruitment.
- We do not pay PL wages. So no wonder 'gone to Villa/Fulham' is a thing.
- We have limited ambition. We 'think Burnley' rather than 'think Leicester'. Not particularly inspiring.
- Our training/medical facilities are relatively basic. (Wilder has rightly tried to address this point)
- We do not have a particularly well known coaching staff with pedigree in the top level of the game (with respect to those at the club):
- The players we have are not especially high profile in the game. Would you rather play with Grealish or Norwood? Any ones which are, are (rightly or wrongly understandably or not) sold at pretty much the first opportunity. The fact that big clubs do not see some of ones that are successful like Egan and JOC as worthy for going for would also be a concern. The fact that our relatively high profile signings in Berge and Brewster have not pulled up any trees will also be worrying.
- There does not appear to be a smooth relationship with the board and the manager.
- There is uncertainty with the board regarding the ongoing payments/dispute with Kevin McCabe.
- The sponsorship/commercial deals we have are not particularly high.
- The manager: Publicly calls out players for their mistakes and recently appears to create a culture of fear and harshness when things are not going well.
A significant portion of the fanbase are happy with this approach as 'he says it how it is'. There are other issues as well (not going into them here) though there is also uncertainty about whether the manager is here for the long term.
- The recruitment of other players is quite limited to the British Isles, showing us as being out of date with modern times.
Even small things like pre-season matches are utterly uninspiring. Inter Milan was a great friendly but the exception proves the rule, other sides do glamorous tours to Austria, USA etc. while we go to Matlock and Falkirk.
---
I understand that many of these things cannot be changed easily, but one of them can be and that's our 'vision' and that goes to what Wilder says in press conferences.
Recently he has talked about our model being 17th in the PL, who would want to be a part of that? I think he says that to cover for our shortcomings so I understand that though don't agree with it.
I think one word to sum things up: Uninspiring.
Currently, if I was a football agent I would not recommend my clients to look at Sheffield United and if I was a prospective player who would be good for the club I would be hesitant in coming here.
If SUFC can work on changing that the mentality and recruitment will flourish and we will be in a more positive place going forward.
UTB
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