McCabe Question

[Deleted member 875]

Would he ever write his losses off, let the fans take over the ownership of the football club and allow the club to stay at Bramall Lane rent free, and make his money solely from the rentals of the hotel and enterprise centre?

That is exactly the same model of ownership that Swansea City have and just look at what it has done for them, now it just seems that the club are paying the cost of the the mistakes that he has made during his time.

My personal opinion is that despite a lot of clever PR he is, and has been asset stripping the club for the last couple of seasons at least, and it is only a matter of time until we get a situation similar to Coventry City where staying at our home ground becomes financially restrictive to the extent where we have to leave Bramall Lane and move elsewhere.

The club doesn't particularly need money at the moment, its needs a clearly defined strategy going forward, people at the club who genuinely care about the club, and who have the drive and energy to take it forwards again.

 

[tyneblade]

McCabe has finished putting money in so there are 3 options.

1. Sell to a buyer that is willing to meet McCabe's valuation of the assets.
2. Soldier on, relying on the supporters to maintain the asset as best they can, until you find a buyer
3. The supporters fail to meet their side of the bargain leading to liquidation.

1 isn't happening any time soon, 2 is proving hard to bear but will probably reduce McCabes price between 2015 and 2020 until somebody is willing to meet it. It certainly seems to be the clear strategy you are looking for.
If you really crave fan ownership, can face working up from the NPL and believe it can work, 3 is your best option. A 6 month boycott from the start of next season should do it.
We'll probably be in League 1 in 2020 under any of these options, it wouldn't be my choice, but with 3 you will probably have won something and got rid of McCabe

 

[SwissBlade]

Every few months we get the same questions. Write to McCabe and ask him. Perhaps tell him you led the protest against Wilson.

 

[diplomat]

The hotel is his. He bought it off the club for a quid. The enterprise centre belongs to his son. As far as I am aware the club get little or no benefit from either substantial structures built on the football club land.

 

[Bladesway]

Every few months we get the same questions. Write to McCabe and ask him. Perhaps tell him you led the protest against Wilson.

Lazy! I expect better from someone attempting to defend the man (as usual). What next, why don't you buy the club yourself. Brownies looking for the opinion of people (thats how it works you know), and his questions are valid. If you thought for one minute McCabe would reply and tell you how it really is, I'm afraid those days went a long time ago.

What I would like to know is why he appears to be stripping everything of value from the club and selling any decent player that we have and leaving every manager since Robson with a rug on wheels that he can pull away at the first sign of a few quid. Its a fair debate isn't it? Or do you still believe in some drug addled stupour that he will lead us back to great things. He has fucked this club up the arse with his splintered broom handle and then taken everything we once owned for himself.

I don't expect great things this season and I know we are a squad full of shit players and a manager who while he has integrity and seems to be doing the right things is still a novice. What I do expect at some point is that we actually stick to our guns, keep our players and don't put stupid clauses in contracts that allow them off over the hill for buttons.

Fact is if McCabe ran the rest of his businesses like SUFC he would in selling big issue rather than sipping expresso and eating Fererro Roche in his Brussels office.

The people with me yesterday afternoon will verify that the above is only skimming the surface of my feeling on the man. Legality prevents me writing my thoughts in totality.

Brownie, keep asking mate, but don't expect any answers any time soon.

 

[UnitedBlade]

McCabe has stopped funding shortfalls but we the fans don’t know what his sale valuation is. We’re told people are interested from time to time but nothing ever happens. We have to assume they don’t offer anything close to his valuation. On top of this they have to have working capital to run the club should they ever take control. Whichever way you look at this, it’s going to take tens of millions

At the moment, the football club are playing rent free but they will be cross-charged by the plc if they get back to the Championship ?

I assume McCabe doesn’t believe anyone will have the cash to buy the ground etc, so he may be willing to write off some debts if someone will buy just the football club. I’m assuming he would then definitely charge rent but maybe agree a sale option if SUFC ever get to the PL.

The notion of a Supporters Trust bidding is becoming a more attractive concept to my mind. But all the recent Trusts (thinking of Swansea and Pompey) have needed “High Worth” Individuals to stump up big chunks of money.

I’m not being flippant here but are there “High Worth” Blades who might be able to stump up significant funds and would be interested in this ?

Is a Fans Trust a realistic option for us ? They usually form in circumstances of extreme distress.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Lazy! I expect better from someone attempting to defend the man (as usual). What next, why don't you buy the club yourself. Brownies looking for the opinion of people (thats how it works you know), and his questions are valid. If you thought for one minute McCabe would reply and tell you how it really is, I'm afraid those days went a long time ago.

What I would like to know is why he appears to be stripping everything of value from the club and selling any decent player that we have and leaving every manager since Robson with a rug on wheels that he can pull away at the first sign of a few quid. Its a fair debate isn't it? Or do you still believe in some drug addled stupour that he will lead us back to great things. He has fucked this club up the arse with his splintered broom handle and then taken everything we once owned for himself.

I don't expect great things this season and I know we are a squad full of shit players and a manager who while he has integrity and seems to be doing the right things is still a novice. What I do expect at some point is that we actually stick to our guns, keep our players and don't put stupid clauses in contracts that allow them off over the hill for buttons.

Fact is if McCabe ran the rest of his businesses like SUFC he would in selling big issue rather than sipping expresso and eating Fererro Roche in his Brussels office.

The people with me yesterday afternoon will verify that the above is only skimming the surface of my feeling on the man. Legality prevents me writing my thoughts in totality.

Brownie, keep asking mate, but don't expect any answers any time soon.

Are those cheap knock offs of espresso and Ferrero Rocher?

McCabe really is a penny pinching bastard!

 

[Foxy]

As far as I am aware the club get little or no benefit from either substantial structures built on the football club land.

When they did, people wanted rid of them.

 

[metalblade]

When they did, people wanted rid of them.

????? did we ever get anything of note from either ?

 

[blade too long]

Swansea never had the debt , they fell out of the top division when it didnt leave you with a cancerous wage bill
Swanseas near extinction experience was over a piddling sum
Since it became the prem the first 5 years wasnt much different but since the turn of the century teams started coming down with wage bills 3 times as high as they entered causing financial ruin, the first 10 years parachute payments were wholly inadequate, NOW THEY JUST ABOUT COVER IT

 

[SwissBlade]

Lazy! I expect better from someone attempting to defend the man (as usual). What next, why don't you buy the club yourself. Brownies looking for the opinion of people (thats how it works you know), and his questions are valid. If you thought for one minute McCabe would reply and tell you how it really is, I'm afraid those days went a long time ago.

What I would like to know is why he appears to be stripping everything of value from the club and selling any decent player that we have and leaving every manager since Robson with a rug on wheels that he can pull away at the first sign of a few quid. Its a fair debate isn't it? Or do you still believe in some drug addled stupour that he will lead us back to great things. He has fucked this club up the arse with his splintered broom handle and then taken everything we once owned for himself.

I don't expect great things this season and I know we are a squad full of shit players and a manager who while he has integrity and seems to be doing the right things is still a novice. What I do expect at some point is that we actually stick to our guns, keep our players and don't put stupid clauses in contracts that allow them off over the hill for buttons.

Fact is if McCabe ran the rest of his businesses like SUFC he would in selling big issue rather than sipping expresso and eating Fererro Roche in his Brussels office.

The people with me yesterday afternoon will verify that the above is only skimming the surface of my feeling on the man. Legality prevents me writing my thoughts in totality.

Brownie, keep asking mate, but don't expect any answers any time soon.

I wasn't defending McCabe, simply pointing out that we get all of these on here slagging off McCabe, but other than a small car park protest aimed at Danny wilsons appointment but nobody has really done anything other than post on forums

 

[Deleted member 875]

I wasn't defending McCabe, simply pointing out that we get all of these on here slagging off McCabe, but other than a small car park protest aimed at Danny wilsons appointment but nobody has really done anything other than post on forums

Go on then clever clogs. Tell us all about your solution?

 

[tyneblade]

post: 518184, member: 875"]Go on then clever clogs. Tell us all about your solution?

FWIW my guess is £8m-£10m for the club, £15m-£20m for the ground and another £15m to subsidise promotion from this league and staying in the one above for 5 seasons.

Sadly a bankrupt shell like Pompey with no hope of paying its creditors will always be a better bet.

 

[Pinchy]

Who will pay the bills? First one to answer that question correctly, wins the freehold and a Golden Goose.

P.S. Our annual income falls way short of our annual expenditure and has done for years.

The line forms on the right, dear....

 

[SwissBlade]

post: 518184, member: 875"]Go on then clever clogs. Tell us all about your solution?

I thought I gave my suggestion in my first post...

 

[mpjacko]

Every few months we get the same questions. Write to McCabe and ask him. Perhaps tell him you led the protest against Wilson.

Because the same questions never get answered and solved. Time and time again this come up all because either KM gets a new manger (so distracting fans from the real problems) or he comes out with the same old crap (saying he is behind the club 110%) and the clappers bend over and take it. No wonder the club is in the state it's in when the clappers allow KM to do this to us without causing it a fuss. Just because it's the Blades way doesn't mean it's the right way,

 

[Revolution]

P.S. Our annual income falls way short of our annual expenditure and has done for years.

As it does at about 75 of the 92 clubs. As it did when McCabe took over. As it always has. There is no scope for him to pretend this is a surprise.

His options are:

1. Sell at a discount

2. Fund up to our allowed budget and actually try to win promotion.

3. Take all decent assets, put no money in, let the club rot and slide through the divisions

We seem to be doing option 3, for reasons that escape me.

 

[MobileBlade]

As it does at about 75 of the 92 clubs. As it did when McCabe took over. As it always has. There is no scope for him to pretend this is a surprise.

His options are:

1. Sell at a discount

2. Fund up to our allowed budget and actually try to win promotion.

3. Take all decent assets, put no money in, let the club rot and slide through the divisions

We seem to be doing option 3, for reasons that escape me.

I think you will find we are doing option 2. The problem is a number of those in the first part of the sentence are good enough for the 2nd part.

 

[Bladesway]

As it does at about 75 of the 92 clubs. As it did when McCabe took over. As it always has. There is no scope for him to pretend this is a surprise.

His options are:

1. Sell at a discount

2. Fund up to our allowed budget and actually try to win promotion.

3. Take all decent assets, put no money in, let the club rot and slide through the divisions

We seem to be doing option 3, for reasons that escape me.

I'm good if thats the way it is but he needs to stop talking option 2.

 

[Hartley Hare]

Brownie, you seem to have forgotten about the £20m+ McCabe has put into the club over the last two/three years to cover losses. Sorry but it is true.

The only cure for our ills right now is to play better football.

One would assume that the players we have chosen are good enough collectively, give DW a chance to find a system and just hope we can do it.

You all know we are a million miles away from the top flight. It will be donkey's years before we challenge again. The best we can hope for is championship football. Just one division higher than we are now.

HH

 

[SwissBlade]

Because the same questions never get answered and solved. Time and time again this come up all because either KM gets a new manger (so distracting fans from the real problems) or he comes out with the same old crap (saying he is behind the club 110%) and the clappers bend over and take it. No wonder the club is in the state it's in when the clappers allow KM to do this to us without causing it a fuss. Just because it's the Blades way doesn't mean it's the right way,

As I said, it gets asked on forums, but not to McCabe...

Your post is quite amusing as you're also pointing the finger at these so called clappers for not doing anything. I find it embarrassing that you feel the need to try and split fans into groups when at the end of the day all fans want the best for the club.

But on your point, it's almost like you're blaming the less negative fans as well as McCabe, which is even more ridiculous. It seems that many are happy to shout and bawl on here about how badly run the club is, but two home games into the season and attendances are around 17k and people are still going. As I've said before when this point comes up time and time again, why don't those with a real axe to grind just get off their arses and do something constructive to remove Dr Evil from the club?

Regarding McCabe "distracting fans" by bringing in a new manager, thats quite amusing. In almost all instances since Warnock the decision to change the manager has rarely been contested by the fans. Fans protest led to Robsons removal, a small fans protest at the appointment of Wilson, but in most cases the sackings have been endorsed by fans and the new appointments quietly accepted.

You can point the finger and say that these so called clappers are not causing a fuss, but nobody appears to be causing a fuss. If you want change do something about it because asking the same question month after month on fans Internet forums doesn't appear to have much of an effect

 

[JohnDenver]

Your post is quite amusing as you're also pointing the finger at these so called clappers for not doing anything. I find it embarrassing that you feel the need to try and split fans into groups when at the end of the day all fans want the best for the club.

Reminds me of the scenes outside Northampton Town when Coventry played their first home game there. One bunch of Cov fans abusing the other for not behaving in the way they see fit.

 

[Bladesway]

Brownie, you seem to have forgotten about the £20m+ McCabe has put into the club over the last two/three years to cover losses. Sorry but it is true.

Is it true? Of course if you believe the owner it is true. That to me is where the problem begins and ends. Those who feel he isn't telling the whole truth will say that he milked the hell out of it when he was on his way to the Premiership. So what do I mean by that? Ventures in Chengdu, Australian clubs, Brazilian clubs etc etc. Deals with companies and a platform that raised his own personal profile to what I am guessing is far more valuable than the piddling losses SUFC have incurred. I know you cannot see that in the accounts so people can easily dispute it, but McCabes stock rose in line with the success of the club at the time.

Then there is the club ownership/ground/Shirecliffe, Hotel issue(s). He owns pretty much everything if we go tits up. Now the non cynical may say he is protecting us. Unfortunately some of us think he is getting the bomb shelter ready for our slide further down. If the real bad stuff happens (administration for instance) then we end up playing at Don Valley, or worse. McCabe builds a load of appartments on BDTBL and says it was the only way he could recover all the losses he has made over x years and some people believe him.

So, why not write to him as someone suggested? Pointless. Why not stand in the car park and take your shoes off? Pointless. Other forms of protest, pointless as he then blames the fans for our plight. We end up paying for his mistakes and it ends up being our fault as we slide ever closer to the abyss. Managers come and go. I genuinely hope this one will stay the course because he was a good selection, but when Brandy gets sold in January to Peterbrorough or some such giant of the game and we are 14th and looking down rather than up, would you blame him for slinging his hook. People were booing on Saturday but I don't think it was the players or Weir they were booing, its the years of abusive ownership and the helplessness of the fans who in their hearts know that we are falling and we haven't finished yet.

Was Saturday any worse than what Wilson generally doled up? I didn't think so. So you have to ask why he got fired 5 games before the end of a season in a position that was infinately stronger than the one we are currently in. Even in the past 6 months we have slid backwards at an alarming rate. Who do you blame? Robson, Blackwell, Speed, Adams, Warnock, Wilson, Morgan, Weir or the players that played? Or do you blame the man who employed them all and then sold/sacked them.

 

[Bladesway]

As I said, it gets asked on forums, but not to McCabe...

Your post is quite amusing as you're also pointing the finger at these so called clappers for not doing anything. I find it embarrassing that you feel the need to try and split fans into groups when at the end of the day all fans want the best for the club.

But on your point, it's almost like you're blaming the less negative fans as well as McCabe, which is even more ridiculous. It seems that many are happy to shout and bawl on here about how badly run the club is, but two home games into the season and attendances are around 17k and people are still going. As I've said before when this point comes up time and time again, why don't those with a real axe to grind just get off their arses and do something constructive to remove Dr Evil from the club?

Regarding McCabe "distracting fans" by bringing in a new manager, thats quite amusing. In almost all instances since Warnock the decision to change the manager has rarely been contested by the fans. Fans protest led to Robsons removal, a small fans protest at the appointment of Wilson, but in most cases the sackings have been endorsed by fans and the new appointments quietly accepted.

You can point the finger and say that these so called clappers are not causing a fuss, but nobody appears to be causing a fuss. If you want change do something about it because asking the same question month after month on fans Internet forums doesn't appear to have much of an effect

And what if some/all have written to him? If you are lucky you get some PR bollocks phone call from him telling you how hurt he is or (tick appropriate box if you have had one of the following)

Pesky agents keep selling our players
He can't help that there was a clause in the contract to release someone for X, his agent must have been touting him around
Fair Play rules mean we have to play 11 sheep next week because we cannot afford a possible embargo on future (non) signings
XX had to be fired because it was the best way forward
XX had to be sold because I can't keep putting all my money into the club to solve its problems
We are putting right the problems of poor decision making (by someone else) in the past
insert your own additions at will........

If you are unlucky you will get a letter saying the same.

What if we did all get together and shout a few words at an empty boardroom? People like you would castigate them for dividing the club at a time when we need to be UNITED. McCabe would echo your comments and it would all go round again. But at least you could sit happy knowing there was someone else to blame for our demise.

 

[SwissBlade]

What if we did all get together and shout a few words at an empty boardroom? People like you would castigate them for dividing the club at a time when we need to be UNITED. McCabe would echo your comments and it would all go round again. But at least you could sit happy knowing there was someone else to blame for our demise.

People like me or me?

Personally I wouldn't protest, it's not something I do, but I don't castigate others for doing it.

Notice as well that I've not particularly criticised the sentiment against McCabe, but the repeated method of doing it time and time again on forums to piss and whinge (and even tell McCabe to "fuck off" as the title on another thread, mmm constructive) without actually doing anything more worthwhile about it

Again please don't point your finger at me for not joining your crusade or second guessing how people like me will react to your theoretical actions, but instead get yourselves together and do something about it properly.

 

[Coily]

People were booing on Saturday but I don't think it was the players or Weir they were booing, its the years of abusive ownership and the helplessness of the fans who in their hearts know that we are falling and we haven't finished yet.

And yet, that is exactly who they were booing.

This lot are limited enough as it is, the very last thing we should be doing is creating an environment where they are shit-scared to play.

If there are those with a beef with McCabe, they really should look to voice that directly. Either to him, before games, after games, however they see fit. I get the feeling that this isn't going to happen because deep down everyone knows it would do no good at all. There is no moneyman to bail us out, and until there is McCabe will stay.

 

[Mousey]

This thread has all the hallmarks of the Judean People's Front.

 

[Linz]

This thread has all the hallmarks of the Judean People's Front.

Splitter!

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

....but what has McCabe ever done for us?

McCabus Ite Domum!

 

[Fiery Blade]

As I have said many times before is the only way to get the message over is to boycott a game - if only 2,000 had turned up on Saturday the message would have been loud and clear to McCabe - as it is 17,000 turn up and McCabe just carries on - he couldn't give a rats arse for any Forum or indeed any supporter and as long as they keep coming through the turnstiles he will carry on and tell you there is no bigger blade !!