Hecky presser today

[SwissBlade]

How do you divorce having a squad having basically negligible asset value in 12 months with the club as a whole? Because I can’t see a reasonable argument that squad management is anything apart from a key outout to judge the efficacy of any club administrator. Any business needs to preserve the value of its assets.

Osula and Jebbison are reportedly out of contract next summer. As are most of the core which we’d need to try and compete with in the Championship.

It’s not divorcing, you focussed on a very specific aspect when quoting me. I referred to the club as a whole rather than just that specific negative that you highlighted

I’m pretty sure the club has been active in issuing renewed contracts. We had a big discussion topic on the retained list this summer… so I’ve no doubt others will be given contract offers when the time is right. Like Berge and Ndiaye were. The fact they didn’t sign shouldn’t be overlooked

I’m sure Osula and Jebbison will be offered deals commensurate to their worth perhaps they'd be wise to sign when it comes through

 

[AWetFlannel]

Can someone explain why the the interviewer is getting hate?

 

[Rodley]

It’s not divorcing, you focussed on a very specific aspect when quoting me. I referred to the club as a whole rather than just that specific negative that you highlighted

I’m pretty sure the club has been active in issuing renewed contracts. We had a big discussion topic on the retained list this summer… so I’ve no doubt others will be given contract offers when the time is right. Like Berge and Ndiaye were. The fact they didn’t sign shouldn’t be overlooked

I’m sure Osula and Jebbison will be offered deals commensurate to their worth perhaps they'd be wise to sign when it comes through

I don’t think having a squad is “very specific” it’s absolutely intrinsic to the function of the business and the fortunes of the club.

In less than 5 months, a lot of our players can sign pre-contracts elsewhere. AFAIK Foderingham, Baldock, Egan, RND, Lowe, Bogle, Basham, Fleck, Osborn, McBurnie, Coulibaly and Adam Davies have one year left. Jebbison and Osula as well. That’s rank mismanagement.

That leaves us about 7 or 8 senior players. With a much reduced income in the Championship. And an owner, if he doesn’t sell, with very little cash.

 

[Nick Jansky]

The upbeat nature was evident but I think that was for the publics benefit tbh.

No. I think he’s made of better stuff than a lot of our fans. He’s not one to chuck the towel in.

 

[Rodley]

No. I think he’s made of better stuff than a lot of our fans. He’s not one to chuck the towel in.

Here we go.

I don’t think the fans will give Hecky and the team anything except their full support.

 

[bornablade]

'From when we took over in November 2021 we've moved on 18 players and brought 6 in...'

Now Prince what was that you were saying about Wilder should take some credit for last year's promotion?

 

[SwissBlade]

I don’t think having a squad is “very specific” it’s absolutely intrinsic to the function of the business and the fortunes of the club.

In less than 5 months, a lot of our players can sign pre-contracts elsewhere. AFAIK Foderingham, Baldock, Egan, RND, Lowe, Bogle, Basham, Fleck, Osborn, McBurnie, Coulibaly and Adam Davies have one year left. Jebbison and Osula as well. That’s rank mismanagement.

That leaves us about 7 or 8 senior players. With a much reduced income in the Championship. And an owner, if he doesn’t sell, with very little cash.

I've not disagreed that it's part of the function of the club. I've said that the part you quoted was related to the club as a whole.

At the risk of repeating myself and going around in circles, I've also said that it looks to be something which has a process in place since the evidence shows that a) players are offered new contracts when they are getting towards the end and b) players have signed contracts or been released

So I am not sure why you're trying to suggest otherwise. Your doomsday scenario is based on players not signing contracts which is an entirely different situation to contracts being offered.

Can we learn lessons and improve? I'm sure we can, but we don't have an inside view on how these processes work and the impact on cash flow.

Financially we have guaranteed income for the next few years so we can plan around that, this may allow us to offer better deals, but also we've had some unknowns, such as sponsorships and less tangible income streams which will no doubt grow, this will affect the whole club and any business plan that we put in place in the next 9 months. This will also set budgets for playing contracts

 

[Nick Jansky]

Here we go.

I don’t think the fans will give Hecky and the team anything except their full support.

Fans have been quick to get on players’ backs before. I’ve got little doubt that will happen again if things go as many seem to think. My money is on Lowe or Larouchi, whichever is picked, being the first to cop for it.

Other than that, I don’t like wasting my time on negative people, much prefer positivity no matter what the circumstances might be. That’s just a personal preference, but thankfully one that I’m pretty sure Hecky shares.

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

We couldn't afford to write off £15m?

Promoted clubs get a minimum of £100m for going up, plus £75m of parachute payments.

That's on top of 2 previous years of PL money (19/20 and 20/21) and 2 years of parachute payments (21/22) and 22/23).

Getting promoted again should have AT THE VERY LEAST allowed us to keep hold of our assets. But we couldn't afford to write off £15m?

As ever with the Best Owner Ever, it just doesn't add up.

Isn’t the £15m a bit irrelevant? The player was unwilling to commit to us. To his teammates. His gaffer. The fans. The club who offered him PL football. He doesn’t want to be here. But he’s keen on fucking Burnley?! He won’t down tools but he has no desire to stay beyond that. Where is the sense in keeping him? We can get a fee for him now that offers more protection to the club long-term. Keeping him and him walking for free is the sort of business acumen that would leave some clubs on the brink of administration.

If we were on about Ndiaye I’d sound a lot different however and I’d be a massive hypocrite. Because he was nothing short of sensational. Streets ahead of any player I’ve ever seen at United. And he was on a very low wage (scandalous). Him I’d have found a way to keep. But I think they tried and it nearly worked. He nearly rejected his boyhood club - crazy really.

 

[Rodley]

I've not disagreed that it's part of the function of the club. I've said that the part you quoted was related to the club as a whole.

At the risk of repeating myself and going around in circles, I've also said that it looks to be something which has a process in place since the evidence shows that a) players are offered new contracts when they are getting towards the end and b) players have signed contracts or been released

So I am not sure why you're trying to suggest otherwise. Your doomsday scenario is based on players not signing contracts which is an entirely different situation to contracts being offered.

Can we learn lessons and improve? I'm sure we can, but we don't have an inside view on how these processes work and the impact on cash flow.

Financially we have guaranteed income for the next few years so we can plan around that, this may allow us to offer better deals, but also we've had some unknowns, such as sponsorships and less tangible income streams which will no doubt grow, this will affect the whole club and any business plan that we put in place in the next 9 months. This will also set budgets for playing contracts

I just don’t know how anyone can reasonably say, notwithstanding the efficacy, there is an adequate process of managing contract renewals when the outcome is no one has signed a new contract. And if there is a process, it isn’t working.

 

[Ned the Donkey]

Can someone explain why the the interviewer is getting hate?

Because...

To be fair he's (Rob Staton?) doing his job.

If the questions sound like the questions of a fucking wanker - and they do - it's because the toy-chucking fucking wankers are the ones who have been the most, er, vocal for the past week; and when I say "vocal" I mean "screaming at the pitch of their lungs like weapons-grade toddlers having a nuclear meltdown".

Rob Staton seems like a decent bloke and a good journalist, I half wonder if he wishes he had better questions to ask, but to some extent it's his job to channel the voice of the people, and when a lot of the people are acting insane then it makes his job very difficult.

Or maybe he's just a twat. I don't know.

 

[AWetFlannel]

Because...

Didn't seem like wanker questions to me, which ones?

 

[Keen Blade]

Think kompany has said in his interview that berge no where near were he needs to be yet we all thought he had a good pre season except Saturday.

I've always been frustrated with Berge because , whilst he has physique & talent , he has never really pushed himself to his limits with us - if Kompany can change the lad's ambition & mentality , there is room for Berge to develop into far more than he has shown for us.
But we've had 3 years and never developed him , so I didn't see that changing.

 

[SwissBlade]

I just don’t know how anyone can reasonably say, notwithstanding the efficacy, there is an adequate process of managing contract renewals when the outcome is no one has signed a new contract. And if there is a process, it isn’t working.

Because you don’t know the ins and outs of the process and the budget.

Players have signed contracts, just not the ones we just sold

 

[cooperblade]

I just don’t know how anyone can reasonably say, notwithstanding the efficacy, there is an adequate process of managing contract renewals when the outcome is no one has signed a new contract. And if there is a process, it isn’t working.

Read so many times on here in the last few weeks about us offering new contracts but there's zero evidence of it actually happening. We're either not doing it, we're shit at doing it or we're making shit offers.

In terms of a new contract, I can fully understand how it would be difficult to get Sander to agree to something (assuming we tried). That's zero excuse for letting the manager plan for him staying until now though.

However I cannot believe that we’ve tried to get Osula, Jebbison, Wes, McBurnie, Baldock and Egan (and others) to sign new deals but not managed it with a single one of them. It appears we're still in some of sort of weird contract freeze driven by the massively flawed logic of someone who should be nowhere near football decisions.

Maybe it all becomes clear at some point but I still haven't been able to work out what the plan is. I thought Hecky's interview was excellent - struck a great balance between saying what he feels and nor getting sacked.

 

[Rodley]

Read so many times on here in the last few weeks about us offering new contracts but there's zero evidence of it actually happening. We're either not doing it, we're shit at doing it or we're making shit offers.

In terms of a new contract, I can fully understand how it would be difficult to get Sander to agree to something (assuming we tried). That's zero excuse for letting the manager plan for him staying until now though.

However I cannot believe that we’ve tried to get Osula, Jebbison, Wes, McBurnie, Baldock and Egan (and others) to sign new deals but not managed it with a single one of them. It appears we're still in some of sort of weird contract freeze driven by the massively flawed logic of someone who should be nowhere near football decisions.

Maybe it all becomes clear at some point but I still haven't been able to work out what the plan is. I thought Hecky's interview was excellent - struck a great balance between saying what he feels and nor getting sacked.

Agreed, Hecky was absolutely superb. The level of resilience he’s shown is pretty phenomenal as it can’t be easy to have the rug pulled from beneath him.

The contract situation is a shambles. No other way of dressing it up. But yes, I’ve been struggling to understand the strategy. Fewer assets under contract make the squad (and club) far less valuable and the recent sales have significantly increased the odds of relegation. That is going make a sale more difficult.

 

[S64 Blade]

I just don’t know how anyone can reasonably say, notwithstanding the efficacy, there is an adequate process of managing contract renewals when the outcome is no one has signed a new contract. And if there is a process, it isn’t working.

I wonder who the last player to sign a new contract was, whilst fairly well within their current one?

Ndiaye 2 years ago? I can’t think of any others.

 

[Rodley]

Fans have been quick to get on players’ backs before. I’ve got little doubt that will happen again if things go as many seem to think. My money is on Lowe or Larouchi, whichever is picked, being the first to cop for it.

Other than that, I don’t like wasting my time on negative people, much prefer positivity no matter what the circumstances might be. That’s just a personal preference, but thankfully one that I’m pretty sure Hecky shares.

We all like positivity and I tend to avoid negative people as a matter of course. But we’ve got to call it as we see it.

And more importantly the distinction between our fanbase and the deluded next door is that there’s a finite amount of shit we’re prepared to eat before the shoes come off.

 

[Rodley]

I wonder who the last player to sign a new contract was, whilst fairly well within their current one?

Ndiaye 2 years ago? I can’t think of any others.

The embargo frustrated things presumably.

 

[cooperblade]

What we really need press conference wise is an appearance from Mr Norwood, he'll tell it as it is!

 

[Eric_Brooks]

I think Alf is in charge of the new contracts

 

[I should coco]

We all like positivity and I tend to avoid negative people as a matter of course. But we’ve got to call it as we see it

If you 'tend to avoid negative people', why the hell are you on here?

 

[Rodley]

If you 'tend to avoid negative people', why the hell are you on here?

Because I don’t live in Sheffield so it’s a way of keeping in touch with the Blades and the fanbase.

I left Sheffield because I tend to avoid negative people

 

[Blade56]

Fucking great interview.

Diplomatic but not ducking the difficult questions either.

If anyone can get us through, it's him.

If a takeover had happened and we had money to spend I would have advocated paying Hecky off and getting a top experienced manager in. It hasn’t happened, and in a way I’m glad cause unlike spunk it on a whim Wilder I’m really happy to have Hecky Thump in charge.

Surprisingly I don’t think he look as stressed today as he has been last few interviews, in fact I thought he was somewhat upbeat. Maybe he knows something positive. He says non of injured are near where he wanted them to be so that’s McB, RND and Brewdog out, or is it

 

[bornablade]

If a takeover had happened and we had money to spend I would have advocated paying Hecky off and getting a top experienced manager in. It hasn’t happened, and in a way I’m glad cause unlike spunk it on a whim Wilder I’m really happy to have Hecky Thump in charge.

Surprisingly I don’t think he look as stressed today as he has been last few interviews, in fact I thought he was somewhat upbeat. Maybe he knows something positive. He says non of injured are near where he wanted them to be so that’s McB, RND and Brewdog out, or is it

'I would have advocated paying Hecky off and getting a top experienced manager in'

We should learn from the Brian Robson, Nigel Adkins, Slav appointments and avoid 'top experienced managers' like the plague.

 

[Silent Blade]

In terms of a new contract, I can fully understand how it would be difficult to get Sander to agree to something (assuming we tried). That's zero excuse for letting the manager plan for him staying until now though.

A few days ago you posted in here "Bettis' statement - Wow!", I replied asking "what's wrong with it", still waiting for your answer. Now you are saying you can now understand the situation?

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

Agreed, Hecky was absolutely superb. The level of resilience he’s shown is pretty phenomenal as it can’t be easy to have the rug pulled from beneath him.

The contract situation is a shambles. No other way of dressing it up. But yes, I’ve been struggling to understand the strategy. Fewer assets under contract make the squad (and club) far less valuable and the recent sales have significantly increased the odds of relegation. That is going make a sale more difficult.

I don’t think there is a strategy behind the contract situation. I think we’re in this place simply because we ran out of money last season - Hecky alluded pretty strongly to this in response to the question about contract renewals. I don’t see how you can offer new contracts if you don’t know how you’re going to pay for them, and that was clearly the case last season.
I would like to think that immediately after promotion, there was a rethink on strategy as a result of our improved financial situation. That would need to include more efficient management of debt, freeing up cash flow, recruitment and retention, among other things. I expect ( hope) that budgets have been earmarked within newly available funds to address contract renewal for those existing players that we wish to retain. Short term priority, however, needs to be a focus on new recruitment while the window is open. Immediately after that, I would expect us to sort out the existing contract situation. We still have time in which to do this, although financial circumstances have forced us to sail very close to the wind.

I very much doubt that this view will be popular, but it’s how I see it.

Up the Blades, and bring on tomorrow !

 

[Rodley]

I don’t think there is a strategy behind the contract situation. I think we’re in this place simply because we ran out of money last season - Hecky alluded pretty strongly to this in response to the question about contract renewals. I don’t see how you can offer new contracts if you don’t know how you’re going to pay for them, and that was clearly the case last season.
I would like to think that immediately after promotion, there was a rethink on strategy as a result of our improved financial situation. That would need to include more efficient management of debt, freeing up cash flow, recruitment and retention, among other things. I expect ( hope) that budgets have been earmarked within newly available funds to address contract renewal for those existing players that we wish to retain. Short term priority, however, needs to be a focus on new recruitment while the window is open. Immediately after that, I would expect us to sort out the existing contract situation. We still have time in which to do this, although financial circumstances have forced us to sail very close to the wind.

I very much doubt that this view will be popular, but it’s how I see it.

Up the Blades, and bring on tomorrow !

I don’t disagree with that. But we’ve had the time now to get people under contract. The embargo ended months ago.

 

[Westran]

Maybe we should have binned off JOC then as he had an even worse injury. You do realise that the serious injury was caused by playing for Sheffield United don't you?

We did stick by both of those players.

 

[cooperblade]

A few days ago you posted in here "Bettis' statement - Wow!", I replied asking "what's wrong with it", still waiting for your answer. Now you are saying you can now understand the situation?

Bettis said "the player expressed a strong interest to leave"

Hecky said "Sander was happy to stay, he would have stayed and given everything. I'm disappointed and Sander is in a way"

Hecky also said "Vinie was coming in to play with Sander"

From this, I take it that the CEO and the manager do not agree on how the situation played out (they're saying the complete opposite things) and that Sander's departure was a surprise to the manager to the extent that he'd been recruiting players who he thought would combine well with him.


I can understand how it would be difficult to get Sander to sign a new deal (although I'm still not sure why so many posters are so confident about how hard we tried to do that - or even if we did try). Think it's a fair assumption to say he's probably one of the highest earners and probably somewhere close to our wage ceiling so there's not loads of room for movement. We're also unlikely to be able to help him achieve his ambitions within the game (neither are Burnley by the way).

I cannot understand how it is OK for the manager's planning to be totally undermined by something that he obviously wasn't expecting to happen. I know nothing's certain in football and things change all the time but we're not talking about Internazionale coming in at the last minute with a huge bid and the player being desperate to go. We've sold a player who the manager didn't expect us to sell, at the last minute, with no replacement at the club and the player himself is "disappointed in a way". That can't be right, can it?