Blades Manifesto 2024

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

I'm not sure it's very reasonable to compare Tottenham's £1.2bn state of the art stadium to 170 year old Bramall Lane, in fairness!

I could be wrong, but I seem to recall the Lane usually comes out at the top end of match day experience studies done by the EFL, BBC et al, whilst simultaneously being right up there for the cheapest match day?

That doesn't even factor in everything outside the ground - there are a plethora of options within a 10 minute walk of the ground that cater to pretty much anyone and everyone. Drinkers, eaters, kids, old 'uns. Away fans generally love coming up to Sheffield for that reason.

The Kop having no covered concourse in 2024 is ridiculous and a face lift to some of the facilities would be nice. But otherwise, whilst we may lack the sparkle some of the rich clubs can apply, I would suggest the vast majority of the football league would be envious of what we can offer up for your time and money on a Saturday afternoon.

Being devils advocate, why should the club lose revenue to local businesses when the sole reason people are coming to the area is to consume our product?

The current reason is, they do it better. That's a simple remedy if the club wanted to...

 

[YES Blade]

I'm not sure it's very reasonable to compare Tottenham's £1.2bn state of the art stadium to 170 year old Bramall Lane, in fairness!

I could be wrong, but I seem to recall the Lane usually comes out at the top end of match day experience studies done by the EFL, BBC et al, whilst simultaneously being right up there for the cheapest match day?

That doesn't even factor in everything outside the ground - there are a plethora of options within a 10 minute walk of the ground that cater to pretty much anyone and everyone. Drinkers, eaters, kids, old 'uns. Away fans generally love coming up to Sheffield for that reason.

The Kop having no covered concourse in 2024 is ridiculous and a face lift to some of the facilities would be nice. But otherwise, whilst we may lack the sparkle some of the rich clubs can apply, I would suggest the vast majority of the football league would be envious of what we can offer up for your time and money on a Saturday afternoon.

Why shouldn’t we compare to Spurs? Fair enough they’re setting the standard at elite level, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t have an ambition to emulate what they are doing but at a level to suit the size of our club.

At the minute our facilities are low level Championship and with the kop we’re talking League One/Two standards.

I really don’t see why we shouldn’t be aiming for far better.

 

[Chief]

Being devils advocate, why should the club lose revenue to local businesses when the sole reason people are coming to the area is to consume our product?

The current reason is, they do it better. That's a simple remedy if the club wanted to...

You're not wrong, there's definitely money to be made and we don't try to maximise the potential. But I think United's core fanbase would continue to use the city centre over the stadium and you'd need to be shovelling millions into redevelopment before you see any long term change of culture in that regard.

My point is it's a nice to have, not a need to have. I could understand if it's not especially high on the new owner's list of priorities unless they've got fortunes to spend.

 

[NotFallowfieldBlade]

8) Make Fallowfield the new CEO and successor to Steven Bettis

 

[Pollingtonblade]

The ground is Premier league the kop is league2

 

[themaninblack]

I’ve seen videos and read about Tottenham. It really seems over the top and a bit American for me. It seems very Tottenham. Spend a fortune, look pretty but no excitement.

I get that in shitholes like around the spurs ground they need to cater better in the ground but we have a thriving food and drink scene hundreds of metres from our ground so not sure it’s the same

I get that people want different. Is this just an entertaining the kids thing though?

I went to the two European rugby finals at the Tottenham stadium this year, the first was on a Friday evening with the big one the following day; I’ve watched football, rugby and cricket all over the world and this is without doubt the best sporting venue I have ever been to. On the Friday we went to one of the local pubs before the game but the facilities inside the ground were so good that on the Saturday we just went straight to the ground and had our pints there. The atmosphere was amazing as well.
Obviously SUFC can’t afford something on the same scale but perhaps we could aim the same standard of excellence?

 

[GodricBlade]

Yeah I kind of get it, I’m all for improvements in the ground, but it’s also a puzzling one as I have no idea what people hoped for with a fan experience.

The fan experience for me is and always has been about simplicity. I don’t go to the ground for gourmet food and artisan craft drinks, it’s not somewhere I spend a lot of money for the 2 hours I’m there. I generally need a piss, warm water to wash hands with would be a bonus,

In winter it’s generally grab a quick hot drink and a pie before kick off, the queues are never bad, quick tap on the phone and away to my seat. Half time quick piss, hip flask in colder weather. If the weather is decent I’ll perhaps get a pint, the missus would like a Prosecco but she doesn’t drink much anyway so no drama. Perhaps we could have a vip section on the kop with a bit of a wine selection and some canapés being brought round but it’s not a biggie if we don’t get it

After the game it’s out and away to a pub to meet with mates

I’d be reluctant to have a selection of cocktails for people to choose from as it just slows the process down and creates queues.

I’ve never really thought about this before to be honest so it’s got me thinking

I’m with you in not suggesting gourmet food, cocktails or fine dining would be the way to go.
You’re right - for the majority, going to a match should be a relatively simple football experience rather than afternoon tea at Chatsworth.
But simple can be better - just like warm water to wash your hands is an upgrade on cold water. And a paper towel to dry them on would be nice, instead of the back of the coat of the fella in front of you.
Improve the service at the bar, add a bit of variety to the food & drink, ramp up the quality (the Footy Scran thread shows what’s possible) and that’s great.
And just having some pints pulled ready would make things better. I don’t want to spend 15 minutes having a piss & getting a drink - I want to spend 5 minutes doing that & the rest of the time chatting to my mates.
I’ve got a pal who had a stroke & has been left with some mobility issues. He feels unsafe in the ground as not enough handrails or easy access seats available, let alone easy access bogs.
I remember when Towngate Motors used to parade their cars around the ground at half-time - those were the days. Now we get Gaz mumbling on about summat & interviewing an occasional human, who you can’t hear.
Something a bit more engaging that that would be nice - a penalty competition for the kids, a brass band (with or without Sue Perkins), younger age-group teams showing off their skills, a juggler, a competition to chuck wet sponges at Bettis…. owt.
I’m always at the ground early as no longer fancy the scrum of the pubs so I imagine if you’re arriving close to kick-off, it’ll be a different experience. And each to their own in terms of choice.
I just think the club could make simple a great deal better than they do currently.
Now, where’s my tartan blanket. I’m getting a bit chilly.

 

[petcharlie]

Kids is one level, the next level is providing an all year round revenue stream that enables us to have a multipurpose site that can cater to the modern world....

I fully agree with that .Seems having a facility of a stadium and not using it for other events besides football is a bit of a waste . I think we should be utilising what we could offer to other organisations and individuals . Having a hotel on site the opportunities are there to exploit .I don't think we are doing this at the moment ,seems we could do more in the way of publicity and promoting it more .

 

[Scarebus]

All these ideas about the match day experience and I'm just interested in getting into the ground quicker as close to kick off as possible, getting out quicker at the end, and maybe a 'piss in your seat at half time' provision. That would pretty much complete it.

 

[Chief]

Why shouldn’t we compare to Spurs? Fair enough they’re setting the standard at elite level, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t have an ambition to emulate what they are doing but at a level to suit the size of our club.

Because there's only handful of clubs that can even try to compare to Spurs' ground, and we are no where near that list and it's unreasonable to think we ever will be.

At the minute our facilities are low level Championship and with the kop we’re talking League One/Two standards.

I know it's not a perfect comparison because the away end is usually the worst bit of the ground, but how many concourses have you been on in the Championship or the Premier League that are really that much better than our concourses?

Most of the time you're squashed into a 10-20 foot deep concourse where the catering staff are about as shit as ours. Villa Park, Anfield, Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge are all brilliant stadiums, but this is still the case.

Fulham are one of the richer clubs, in the most affluent area of the country with a day-tripping fan base that share the away end with you... and even then it's still uncovered/open air and a bit shit.

The only one's that offer something markedly better are the newly built stadiums, i.e. Brighton, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham.

We don't do anything great but we've got a traditional old ground and it's pretty similar to the other old grounds around the country. It's really not that bad in three quarters of Bramall Lane...

with the kop we’re talking League One/Two standards.

...but that is hard to disagree with.

 

[SwissBlade]

Kids is one level, the next level is providing an all year round revenue stream that enables us to have a multipurpose site that can cater to the modern world....

23 times a season plus cup games

 

[VictoryBlade]

8) Make Fallowfield the new CEO and successor to Steven Bettis

But how will he know he's being appointed?

 

[Snowflake]

So new toilets, WiFi and smashed burgers on the menu then? That’s it?

Half time is only 15 mins long and that’s just enough time to go to the toilet and get a drink. I’m intrigued as to what the point would be to bring in more stuff. Would a Greggs really get people excited. Always seemed fairly basic food offerings

I was just replying to the one point that you made about toilets. There are 90 minutes before the match as well as half time when food and toilets are important to some people.
I appreciate that they are not for you, but football crowds are changing and are much more varied that they were when I took my daughters 30 years ago, let anyone in the 60’s when I first went regularly.

 

[dexter101]

I think what will be interesting with new owners is what they see the Blades "brand" being.

I would say currently we are a club that represents the general culture of Sheffield. Understated, don't blow our own trumpets, hard work, graft etc.

This is also what I love about the club, because I also love the city.

Someone buying the club might want to expand that existing brand. In which case, renovating the Kop would be priority as well as the academy, community work etc.

I think the problem with this is... its not... "sexy". Going up to the PL, we (and I would argue Burnley and Luton were the same, except Luton had a nice story to them last season) were never going to bring any form of attraction because we are "just" Sheffield United.

The interesting bit will be if they see the brand being something different. Not suggesting they will come in and build a Tottenham style stadium but how can they attract more fans from outside of Sheffield. Tottenham will be doing it because fans of other sports are now going to their ground, seeing the amazing facilities etc.

I love Bramall Lane, but I am not sure it could be turned into that?

I went to Elland Road for a conference earlier in the year, their conference suite was very nice, probably generates a good bit of revenue (which we definitely need to be doing if we don't already) but I doubt many people are going and coming out wanting to be Leeds fans.

What ever they do it will hopefully provide a long term vision for everyone which is something we have not had

 

[Houston_Blade]

If you want to diversify the make up of the support then toilet and food facilities need to be better. If you want the current crowd make up then perhaps not, but we cannot pretend that we are still in the 1970s

I’m still of the mindset that anything better than the Saltergate away end bogs is pure luxury. Who needs a roof?

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

I’m still of the mindset that anything better than the Saltergate away end bogs is pure luxury. Who needs a roof?

I went to the Shay (Halifax Town) in 1985, and the away end was a pile of mud and rocks!

Don't remember what the bog were like, but can't imagine they were salubrious.

 

[Houston_Blade]

I went to the Shay (Halifax Town) in 1985, and the away end was a pile of mud and rocks!

Don't remember what the bog were like, but can't imagine they were salubrious.

I used to ball boy at Saltergate as a kid and going for a piss in the kop or the away end was an experience, particularly in winter.

We’d try and sneak into the changing rooms if we were on that side of the ground but often had a roofless piss.

 

[bornablade]

One way or another, we should be getting new owners and (hopefully) investment in the next 12 months. If that’s the case, what would you like the priorities to be? For me, after the roller coaster of the last decade, I’m keen to see some medium-term planning and investment, even if it means less spending on the first team in the short term.

In an ideal world, and assuming stoke/brentford levels of investment (I know, I know, just humour me), my priorities would be:

1) New single-tier, steep rake Kop with significant safe-standing and decent facilities. We’ll have to put the club in significant debt to do this but raising finance for infrastructure is sensible compared with raising debt for player recruitment. Should put our capacity up above 35k.

2) Major investment in recruitment personnel and technology. We’ve started to improve on this but need way more. I’d suggest we focus on young British players first, then build up our ability to recruit in 2-3 core European markets. We should allocate a certain % of annual player recruitment $ to buy promising youngsters. We have proven capability as a club at developing players, which complements this strategy perfectly.

3) Build the new 1st team training ground at Dore If planned carefully to last us the next thirty years and I think we be a big bonus when it comes to player recruitment.

4) Develop Shirecliffe into a quality Cat 1 academy and boost the community sports facilities available, if there is space. Might even be able to nick a few extra fans from that part of town.

5) Invest to make our women’s team top 10 in the country. Women’s football is growing incredibly quickly and improving quality year on year. I think the club does a great job with its media coverage but, with our size, there’s no reason why we can’t be a leading UK club. I’d do this for its own sake, but happily it also helps the next priority…

6) Huge focus on attracting women and ethnic minorities as the next generation of fans. I’m not making a political point here (please don’t respond if you think I am) but sheffield’s population of white men isn’t growing significantly any time soon. And it’s hard to pull people away from either blades or owls families (it’s taken us 20 years of sustained success to move that needle). But there is massive untapped potential in the city. It will take a deliberate approach - maybe recruiting community leaders, changing up our food and events offerings, free tickets etc - but we only need another few thousand people to become season ticket holders and it changes things dramatically. I do think this will change the atmosphere somewhat, but I think if we build a monster new kop, there’s plenty of scope for different types of experience around the ground.

7) Appoint a Director-of-Football with a 3-7 year plan. I love Wilder and think he might succeed with us again. But he needs to our last ‘Football Manager’ boss. He’s a one off. Going forward, I’d like to see us have a stated strategy on the way we play (technical, high-pace, front foot football) and a set of player recruitment and development criteria that we work within. The DoF, Head of Recruitment, First Team Manager and CeO need to be on a committee and have some creative tension, but DoF needs to sign off. We need to build a squad that can play at least two different formations, to give us tactical flexibility and allow for new young coaches to put their stamp on things. A proper plan should avoid bloated, unbalanced squads and situations where top players let contracts expire before we cash in.

What would yours be?

All very good points and I wouldn't disagree with any of them.

However I'd like us to extend point number 6. The marketing department at the Lane should be charged with the objective of making sure that every seat is sold for every match. As soon as the QPR game kicked off they should be focussing on a strategy of filling the ground for the next home game, on this occassion Watford on 01/09/24.

Your suggestion in point 6 is valid but our proactivity in selling seats shouldn't be aimed at women and ethnic minorities alone.

One of the most perishable assets we possess are those seats. Once a game kicks off then an empty seat can never be sold again for that particular match, (just like an airline or theatre seat or hotel bedroom). The marketing department need to make sure those assets earn their keep.

 

[Charlieblade]

Don’t understand why fans are dripping about facilities? You are going to a football match. That’s about two hours, once week, unless Sky TV change the dates/times at short notice?
Enjoy your Bovril, and eat before you go to the match.

 

[SGBlade]

Don’t understand why fans are dripping about facilities? You are going to a football match. That’s about two hours, once week, unless Sky TV change the dates/times at short notice?
Enjoy your Bovril, and eat before you go to the match.

Agree to an extent. I’m not overly fussed about facilities, although I do think it’s a ‘nice to have’ and there’s a basic minimum you should expect for the ticket price.

Mainly what I’d love to see is a massive, steep rake stand with great views and safe standing. The atmosphere would be awesome and it would be a stand-out in the modern age of soulless bowl stadiums.

If you’re building that, you may as well put in decent facilities and / or use space in your other stands to cater for more niche needs of some sections of our support. We all get old and picky/cold/tired at some point. And with every match likely to be on TV in the future, I’d prefer we do everything that’s reasonable to keep all fans coming to Bramall Lane for as long as possible.

 

[Snowflake]

I’m still of the mindset that anything better than the Saltergate away end bogs is pure luxury. Who needs a roof?

The wives of our new owners ?

 

[bikerblade]

People comparing to Spurs. My old collegue was a ST holder for many years, gave it up. He said some of the prices increased by as much as 50%, they used to include Cup games but that was dropped. He likes the ground (buys a ticket as and when) but in his opinion it's targetted at the PL tourists. He reckons there are a few thousand people there just to see a PL game (fair enough) but this has affected the atmosphere.
Each to their own and I can only go off his opinion.
So if for all the wish lists to be met - what % increase would you consider to be a fair trade off? Would this actually result in unintended consequences (fewer ST holders) smaller crowds on matchday. Or, would the added/improved facilities offset this loss by fans who wouldn't have attended before.
There must be a sweet spot.
I was always told, the first rule is to retain your existing customers.

 

[dexter101]

People comparing to Spurs. My old collegue was a ST holder for many years, gave it up. He said some of the prices increased by as much as 50%, they used to include Cup games but that was dropped. He likes the ground (buys a ticket as and when) but in his opinion it's targetted at the PL tourists. He reckons there are a few thousand people there just to see a PL game (fair enough) but this has affected the atmosphere.
Each to their own and I can only go off his opinion.
So if for all the wish lists to be met - what % increase would you consider to be a fair trade off? Would this actually result in unintended consequences (fewer ST holders) smaller crowds on matchday. Or, would the added/improved facilities offset this loss by fans who wouldn't have attended before.
There must be a sweet spot.
I was always told, the first rule is to retain your existing customers.

I know Tottenham season ticket holders who actually don't support the team, they just like going to watch PL football.

 

[Ricardo Mantelban]

How about just improve the basic facilities of the ground toilets etc, and have a pre match area for a variety of drinks and food entertainment, like the fanzone but a lot bigger and better. Something like the Cambridge Street place but smaller and adjacent to the ground. I’ve not been to the box park at Wembley but a community version of that.

 

[Houston_Blade]

The wives of our new owners ?

Why should women get a roof if men don’t?!

 

[Sheffsteel]

One way or another, we should be getting new owners and (hopefully) investment in the next 12 months. If that’s the case, what would you like the priorities to be? For me, after the roller coaster of the last decade, I’m keen to see some medium-term planning and investment, even if it means less spending on the first team in the short term.

In an ideal world, and assuming stoke/brentford levels of investment (I know, I know, just humour me), my priorities would be:

1) New single-tier, steep rake Kop with significant safe-standing and decent facilities. We’ll have to put the club in significant debt to do this but raising finance for infrastructure is sensible compared with raising debt for player recruitment. Should put our capacity up above 35k.

5) Invest to make our women’s team top 10 in the country. Women’s football is growing incredibly quickly and improving quality year on year.

Good post and I agree with the sentiment however think we're in the minority.

Unfortunately most fans are only interested in short term instant success, so they'd prefer the budget to go towards the squad.
You can imagine the sarcasm on here.....we should all feel proud having some of the best facilities in the country to watch league 1 football.
Think many believe infrastructure expenditure should come out of the owners own budget.

Regards your points
1: Many say "let's build a new single tier Kop", however unless we great increase the height, a steeper rake results in a reduced capacity. They also say give people more leg room, so again would reduce the current Kop capacity. Not sure any investor would spend money to deliberately reduce income.

Also the massive issue with building a totally new Kop is it would take 2 years to complete, so capacity would reduce to 20K.
What do you say to people who have been season ticket holders on the Kop for decades?
Once people get into the habit of finding other things to do on a Saturday and watching us on Sky for 2 years, will they be keen to return.
So building a brand new Kop would piss off so many loyal fans and could really damage our fanbase.

2: People have mentioned the top class facilities at Spurs, the fancy conference facilities at Leeds.
Many have said we don't need them but I think there should be choice.
So although the Kop is the worse part of the stadium, one could argue the priority is the South stand with underground car park.
My view is that in reality the South stand represents the face of the club.
So imagine improved luxurious directors box, a string of state of the art executive boxes, a top class restaurant, much bigger and improved
changing rooms, a massive state of the art media centre, top class facilities for journalists.
People with influence would be so impressed and look forward to visits to Bramall Lane, it would greatly improve our reputation in the game.

A new top tier on the South stand would give us an extra 6000 seats.
These could be used if we decided to build a brand new Kop, capacity would be 26K, so all ST holders would be protected.

Regards expanding our support or encouraging ethnic minorities.
We could have a scheme where we give away 2000 tickets each match to young children in the South Yorkshire area
and to schools with a high level of minorities, basically give free tickets to kids that would not normally attend any of our matches.

3: I remember when the BLUT was finished McCabe said that it's great idea because there's a level of flexibility regards how many tickets are allocated to away fans. Remember the 1st game the BLUT was used, we gave Liverpool 3K in the bottom tier and an extra 1.5K in the BLUT.
With an increased capacity if there was away demand we could give them 4.5K tickets instead of the usual 2.9K.

4: Was impressed with the fanzone area at the side of the Kop and it made me think there should be more initiatives like this to
offer additional entertainment and attractions.

5: I'm still on the fence regards women's football because I don't think it can ever be universally profit making.
Tickets are £5 to £10 and crowds in the top flight increased from a 1,924 average to a 5,387 average (which is still lower than league 2 level)
However the main reason for the large increase was 2 clubs, Man Utd and Arsenal.
Man Utd's average increased from 3K to 10K and Arsenal average increased from 3K to 15K
however for those 2 clubs there are 10's of 1000's that can't get a ticket to watch the mens team
so if you're unable to watch the mens team then the next best might be to watch the womens team.

I remember Emma Hayes once saying giving away free tickets and charging £5....is showing the product in a bad light.
She suggested prices were increased but then it would make you wonder if attendances would drop to non league level.

 

[Shadota]

I think the standard on the pitch, is drastically let down by the venue it is watched in. In comparison with a number of clubs who are/have been relatively on equal footing with ourselves, the lack of investment in infrastructure is astonishing.

I will say that I love the Kop with all my heart, but there is no denying that it needs to be brought up to a modern yardstick in terms of hospitality. Just the fact that it's lacking a roof across all the various amenities (sans toilets) is embarrassing in this day and age. And there has been talk of removing the pillars for donkey's years now, yet we still haven't bothered to do anything about it.

First task should be the Kop. I doubt there is anyway to work with what is already there, so that means a total knockdown and start from scratch. Pillars gone, concourse under cover, and improved refreshments. There are many grounds where the snap is light years ahead of the shoddy crap we put on. Hull is perhaps the best I've seen in the Championship, but here's an example from a ground we're heading to soon:



I'd love to see us team up with a proper catering firm, capable of delivering food which is not just pre-packaged crap, that is put under a heat lamp for hours.

 

[Youngand70]

Tottenham stadium has an onsite Microbrewery far better than 500 free pints of Carling

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

People comparing to Spurs. My old collegue was a ST holder for many years, gave it up. He said some of the prices increased by as much as 50%, they used to include Cup games but that was dropped. He likes the ground (buys a ticket as and when) but in his opinion it's targetted at the PL tourists. He reckons there are a few thousand people there just to see a PL game (fair enough) but this has affected the atmosphere.
Each to their own and I can only go off his opinion.
So if for all the wish lists to be met - what % increase would you consider to be a fair trade off? Would this actually result in unintended consequences (fewer ST holders) smaller crowds on matchday. Or, would the added/improved facilities offset this loss by fans who wouldn't have attended before.
There must be a sweet spot.
I was always told, the first rule is to retain your existing customers.

I'm sure the multi-year £multi-million deal with the NFL covers any old timer season ticket holders who no longer go...

It's really not about us as regular fans. It's how do we maximise all year round income and have the facilities to host NFL, Rugby League Magic Weekends, Euro/World Cup matches, Taylor Swift Concerts, large corporate functions, hotel with all year round occupancy, restaurants that are used all week ...

 

[bikerblade]

I'm sure the multi-year £multi-million deal with the NFL covers any old timer season ticket holders who no longer go...

It's really not about us as regular fans. It's how do we maximise all year round income and have the facilities to host NFL, Rugby League Magic Weekends, Euro/World Cup matches, Taylor Swift Concerts, large corporate functions, hotel with all year round occupancy, restaurants that are used all week ...

If that is the route you wish to take, then that is fair. I personally have not the slightest interst in NFL, Rugby, Taylor Swift etc. We are all different and if this is your vision, blocking out some supporters then good luck.
It would probably be better (and cheaper) to move to the Sheffield Arena for the vision you portray.