Prince on Sheff United Way

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FriethBlade said:
Easy to be critical but I rhought he made some very good points, especially regarding all of the contracts running down at the end of the season.

I guess as ever the proof will be in the pudding. If we bring in 4 or 5 very good signings in the next few weeks things will look to be back on track
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Also, we clearly have a policy on academy players contracts when moving up to the first team regarding their wages. So I do understand now why Ndiaye's contract seemed poor but I guess thats because its meant to be in line with any other of the lads who get moved up to the first team. Also as I thought we had started to negotiate Ndiaye's new contract ages ago even before last year. I really don't think we could have done more to keep him apart from literally strapping him to a goal post at shirecliffe.

I do agree that as a club we can't let any decent player walk out for free. It's not something we can afford to do.

What does irk me is we essentially ended up in an embargo over a 2 million quid shortfall in cashflow. I think that is still quite poor management of finances which ever way you look at it and I can believe that was done on purpose to stop any incomings and outgoings in January.

Trying to sell the club hoping to retain an interest probably won't get him the sale either. A lot of new owners want to buy the club lock stock and barrel. So no surprise the takeover talks seem to be going nowhere.

Maruiss takeover then there wasn't much out there about him or his finances or if he even existed so I can understand why we thought fuck it let the EFL do some digging on this. As for Dozy could he really not see he was shithouse from the start? Even if he did pay us some cash it still doesn't mean much as that money was clearly part of his hustle. Maybe we don't have the resources to do extensive due diligence but we do have a computer and access to fucking Google.

AWetFlannel said:
So he wants praise for appointing Hecky because it was a big decision and he got it right. In fact, he always knew Hecky was the right choice. It was the bloody fans who wouldn't have accepted him, so he went for Slav instead. So despite knowing Hecky was the best man for the job, he bottled it because he was scared of the fan reaction.

He caps this rambling mess off by saying anyone can make obvious decisions, but big decisions, when the fans are against you, are when an owner really deserves credit. :oops:
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He isn't wrong though. Had we appointed Hecky right off the bat a lot of the fans would have said it was the tin pot cheap choice and why are we not looking at Slav etc. I am sure I probably thought the same at the time.

His point about credit was you don't get the credit when you make a good decision as an owner.
 

Frank the tank said:
He was right though
This forum was full of furious fannys saying hecky would be the cheap option and demaded a slav type manager

His mistake was not allowing slav to sign the players he needed to fit his system
In retrospect he should have simply kept hecky on
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Well given he appointed him eventually anyway, clearly he should've just done it straight away.

Given what he said today, he was wrong to bottle it the first time and not appoint the best man for the job AND he was wrong to appoint a manager who didn't fit and then not back him. He then wants credit for being brave and appointing him later.
 
reedy63 said:
Good interview, however, if he wants to sell the club but still wants to be involved with the club. he can,t have both ways
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Of course he can. Not saying that's what is best but it's certainly something I can see happening.

I think he genuinely wants what's best for the club but doesn't and never will have the clout to do it himself. Retaining him as a minority partner might not be the worst idea given the charlatans that could become outright owners.
 
AWetFlannel said:
Well given he appointed him eventually anyway, clearly he should've just done it straight away.

Given what he said today, he was wrong to bottle it the first time and not appoint the best man for the job AND he was wrong to appoint a manager who didn't fit and then not back him. He then wants credit for being brave and appointing him later.
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Thats what ive just said
Although i understand why he didnt
Fickle pitch fork wielding fannies who you can never placate one way or the other
 
JohnDenver said:
His answer to the question of due diligence for Mauriss and Dozy was pretty risible. Fair play to SUW for asking it.

The whole interview reinforced my opinion that we need him to sell asap.
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Agreed. So he's selling a business supposedly worth £170m, but you don't bother with too much due diligence yourself as the EFL/EPL will pick anything up? WTF!
 
reedy63 said:
Good interview, however, if he wants to sell the club but still wants to be involved with the club. he can,t have both ways. To be honest I take what he says as a pinch of salt.
The Sooner he goes the better it will be.
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Yep, he still has to go. It's clear he can't afford to run us and doesn't have the contacts that will make a serious investment in the club either.

AWetFlannel said:
Well given he appointed him eventually anyway, clearly he should've just done it straight away.

Given what he said today, he was wrong to bottle it the first time and not appoint the best man for the job AND he was wrong to appoint a manager who didn't fit and then not back him. He then wants credit for being brave and appointing him later.
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Regardless of when he appoints him it will have still been seen as the tin pot option.

Not backing Slav or expecting Slav to change was a poor.
 
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The prince can not afford to run the club on his own admission. what would be the point of keeping him on, he has no money.I would be very surprised if whoever takes over would be willing to keep him on.
 
Some key bits with some of my thoughts.:

Denied that any bid was agreed to sell Ndiaye prior to this season. Stated that he negotiated with him via facetime and wanted to get him to LA away from distractions to talk in person over new deal. AFCON played a part in decision to sell as did the prospect of going down with Ndiaye leaving on a free. Claims it's better for the future of the club to bring in young permanent signings.

No opinion on safe standing. Removal of Kop posts would've happened if no Covid. Club lost circa 30 million due to Covid. No new plan re post removal. Didn't think he really answered the question tbh.

Berge has been offered new deals in the past

Various reasons for contract situations: not keen to negotiate due to divisional status, age of players and opinion that players perform better in their last year and reduce output when sat on long deals. I was surprised he wasn't pushed on young players contracts as that seems like madness.

No questions re hotel reopening or new training ground.

New ownership: 70-80% there. Wants to retain a stake in the club. New owner would have controlling interest. Due diligence only his problem to a limited extent. Football authorities have much bigger resources and he trusts them to make the decision. Admission that club is now worth much more in the Prem. I felt an opportunity was lost to ask whether he thought a lack of due diligence had damaged the club and could continue to do so as it prevented past and potentially future takeovers materialising. Essentially it's very time consuming seeing of tire kickers this way.

Dozy has paid part of a down payment but not all of it.

Dazzler Smith is a friend due to fair reportage of the court case.

Favours new over legacy media as he can talk on camera rather than in print. Also unhappy with his past portrayal in legacy media. Happy to talk to them in future.

Wont discuss budget or individual player contracts as potentially damaging

On Squad building. Targeting young players for e.g. 5 million rather than more expensive 20 million pound deals like last time. Sees it as imperative to get average age down which fits into our none renewal of Sharp, Stevens etc.

Gives Wilder a share of credit for our promotion last season. Is on good terms with him and has had various meetings. Says he is a better manager now than when he left and can't understand why he isn't with a championship club.

Says he's a fan with a long term interest in future of the club. This is reflected in transfer approach and desire to maintain a minority shareholding.
 
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Bladesman said:
Yep, he still has to go. It's clear he can't afford to run is and doesn't have the contacts that will make a serious investment in the club either.



Regardless of when he appoints him it will have still been seen as the tin pot option.

Not backing Slav or expecting Slav to change was a poor.
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Agree, it was seen as the cheap option and it was. I thought it wouldn't work, but it did. He's admitted he appointed the wrong manager because he was scared of fan pressure. Surely that is poor n'all?
 
Tickhill Blade said:
Agreed. So he's selling a business supposedly worth £170m, but you don't bother with too much due diligence yourself as the EFL/EPL will pick anything up? WTF!
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Yeah not a good answer really especially with regards to Dozy. Many on here found out he was full shit quite quickly without too much Googling.
 
Princy does waffle on a fair bit but perhaps just him trying to articulate as best as he can. Hal & Nick did an excellent job and actually asked some probing questions. I do think Princy has a slight Hal man crush.

Found it quite funny that the time we'd have missed Ili during Africa cup of nations increased from 4-5 games to 8-9 games about 5 minutes later.

I'll be in LA for the Forest game - can you organise for me to watch at his house? 😃
 
Thanks to SU Way for getting the interview and raising fans concerns. The problem was many of the answers deteriorated into long drawn out waffle. What I got from that was;

1. The Prince has now changed his mind about the sale and wants to be a part of the Club moving forward. He also said he wants UW to continue to be involved in a minority stake if possible. That may explain why there is little progress to report as potential buyers may want a clean break. He later talks about 70/80% chance of selling and 20% prefer to stay in a partnership. Not sure if thats the stake he wants to retain in the Club or the odds of him selling at all?
2. PA says we are in advanced talks with 2/3 parties but nothing is imminent. Not sure how advanced can become not imminent.
3. His reasoning behind why he uses third parties to communicate rather than more traditional media channels is down to 2 issues. One he's not forgiven local media for the court coverage. That was 4 years ago!! Two he doesn't like speaking to newspapers because they twist facts. Welcome to the real world!!
4. Darren Smith was positive about the Court case on twitter thats his reasoning for him being used for information. That was also 4 years ago. Good question from Hal about Radio Sheffield which PA conceded he may now give an interview to.
5. PA says he has invested up to £70 million in Club in answer to the question about the Clubs valuation.
6. Prefers to let EPL do the majority of due diligence on new owners as they have the resources and process. So expect more of the same in terms of owners credibility.
7. The embargo happened because we were expecting a down payment from Dozy of £11 million and only got £9 mill. Half answered the question as to why we got into a financial mess by saying he took the decision not to sell players to aid promotion.
8. Says we are on top of contracts- open to debate - and we never forget where a players contract position is. Then a long meander into how the NFL deal with contracts and usually wait until the last year of a contract because a player tries his best to get a new contract and then his performances drop off when he signs the new one. Don't understand this logic at all a players value decreases rapidly in the last year of his contract??? Not saying he's suggesting this is how SUFC operate so no need to mention it surely?
9. Got more than £14/15 million for Ndiaye. Says Ndiaye missing for 5/8 games in Africa cup was one of the considerations for selling. So why have we bought Slimane?
10. Made a comment about obtaining matching rights with OM for the Ndiaye deal. Not sure how this works other than if OM sell him for less than they paid we get something in return?
11. Didn't really answer the question about Berges contract other than to say he along with Ndiaye had indicated they didn't want to renew. Said delay on some contracts is because we don't know what division we will be in but surely thats going to be the norm over the next few years unless we storm the EPL.
12. Finishes on him putting money back into the Club from player sales so hopefully PH will get all the money.

Probably one of his poorest interviews to date imo and thats no reflection on SU Way as they raised a number of challenging questions. We don't seem to be any further forward in changing ownership and the waters have been muddied by the implication PA wants to stay on in part. Until this is resolved we will continue to flounder imo.
 

The whole Slav thing was a strange one.
He basically admitted to deliberately neglecting to hire who he thought was the best man for the job (Hecky). Under no circumstance is that in the best interests of the club. To then claim that if Hecky had been appointed and got off to a bad start (like Slav did) then the fans would have been on his case is nonsense.

PA cannot claim credit for firing someone he admittedly didn’t think was right to start with and replacing him with someone he chose not to hire in the first place.

Aside from that and the current state of the playing squad I quite like the guy.
 
Melbourne Blade said:
Princy does waffle on a fair bit but perhaps just him trying to articulate as best as he can. Hal & Nick did an excellent job and actually asked some probing questions. I do think Princy has a slight Hal man crush.

Found it quite funny that the time we'd have missed Ili during Africa cup of nations increased from 4-5 games to 8-9 games about 5 minutes later.

I'll be in LA for the Forest game - can you organise for me to watch at his house? 😃
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Depends if Senegal get all the way to the final. Senegal did win it last time round.
 
Addison said:
Probably one of his poorest interviews to date imo and thats no reflection on SU Way as they raised a number of challenging questions. We don't seem to be any further forward in changing ownership and the waters have been muddied by the implication PA wants to stay on in part. Until this is resolved we will continue to flounder imo.
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My only real desire was to get some hope about the takeover and it being done before the January transfer window, but seems miles away.
 
AWetFlannel said:
So he wants praise for appointing Hecky because it was a big decision and he got it right. In fact, he always knew Hecky was the right choice. It was the bloody fans who wouldn't have accepted him, so he went for Slav instead. So despite knowing Hecky was the best man for the job, he bottled it because he was scared of the fan reaction.

He caps this rambling mess off by saying anyone can make obvious decisions, but big decisions, when the fans are against you, are when an owner really deserves credit. :oops:
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It’s funny how someone can watch the same interview and come to totally opposite conclusions.
 
FATTYFOULKE said:
It’s funny how someone can watch the same interview and come to totally opposite conclusions.
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Someone has got it wrong then. You could explain why you think the opposite based on what he said?
 
Addison said:
Thanks to SU Way for getting the interview and raising fans concerns. The problem was many of the answers deteriorated into long drawn out waffle. What I got from that was;

1. The Prince has now changed his mind about the sale and wants to be a part of the Club moving forward. He also said he wants UW to continue to be involved in a minority stake if possible. That may explain why there is little progress to report as potential buyers may want a clean break. He later talks about 70/80% chance of selling and 20% prefer to stay in a partnership. Not sure if thats the stake he wants to retain in the Club or the odds of him selling at all?
2. PA says we are in advanced talks with 2/3 parties but nothing is imminent. Not sure how advanced can become not imminent.
3. His reasoning behind why he uses third parties to communicate rather than more traditional media channels is down to 2 issues. One he's not forgiven local media for the court coverage. That was 4 years ago!! Two he doesn't like speaking to newspapers because they twist facts. Welcome to the real world!!
4. Darren Smith was positive about the Court case on twitter thats his reasoning for him being used for information. That was also 4 years ago. Good question from Hal about Radio Sheffield which PA conceded he may now give an interview to.
5. PA says he has invested up to £70 million in Club in answer to the question about the Clubs valuation.
6. Prefers to let EPL do the majority of due diligence on new owners as they have the resources and process. So expect more of the same in terms of owners credibility.
7. The embargo happened because we were expecting a down payment from Dozy of £11 million and only got £9 mill. Half answered the question as to why we got into a financial mess by saying he took the decision not to sell players to aid promotion.
8. Says we are on top of contracts- open to debate - and we never forget where a players contract position is. Then a long meander into how the NFL deal with contracts and usually wait until the last year of a contract because a player tries his best to get a new contract and then his performances drop off when he signs the new one. Don't understand this logic at all a players value decreases rapidly in the last year of his contract??? Not saying he's suggesting this is how SUFC operate so no need to mention it surely?
9. Got more than £14/15 million for Ndiaye. Says Ndiaye missing for 5/8 games in Africa cup was one of the considerations for selling. So why have we bought Slimane?
10. Made a comment about obtaining matching rights with OM for the Ndiaye deal. Not sure how this works other than if OM sell him for less than they paid we get something in return?
11. Didn't really answer the question about Berges contract other than to say he along with Ndiaye had indicated they didn't want to renew. Said delay on some contracts is because we don't know what division we will be in but surely thats going to be the norm over the next few years unless we storm the EPL.
12. Finishes on him putting money back into the Club from player sales so hopefully PH will get all the money.

Probably one of his poorest interviews to date imo and thats no reflection on SU Way as they raised a number of challenging questions. We don't seem to be any further forward in changing ownership and the waters have been muddied by the implication PA wants to stay on in part. Until this is resolved we will continue to flounder imo.
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Yeah not his best interview. Some stuff just didn't make sense.
 
He is saying the same thing about the takeover he said many months ago he wanted to sell what’s changed he wants to sell but wants to say.
Waffles on Sander Berge makes me very concerned that Sander may be on his way

How does this all this make me feel ……CONCERNED
 
AWetFlannel said:
So he wants praise for appointing Hecky because it was a big decision and he got it right. In fact, he always knew Hecky was the right choice. It was the bloody fans who wouldn't have accepted him, so he went for Slav instead. So despite knowing Hecky was the best man for the job, he bottled it because he was scared of the fan reaction.

He caps this rambling mess off by saying anyone can make obvious decisions, but big decisions, when the fans are against you, are when an owner really deserves credit. :oops:
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I actually wanted to jump in and ask something about this.answer Nick beat me to it with a different question and then the moment was gone, we'd moved on.
 

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