Proper game changing investment.

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shorehamview

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There's a piece on the Grauniad's site about what Man City are doing now, mainly off the pitch, and that's properly game changing. Signing relatively cheap players on permanent deals and getting a few loans in isn't game changing. Does anyone remember when the prince was first announced as bringing money in just how excited we were? I bet we all thought that we'd be laughing, and come the end of the January transfer window that we'd be laughing even more.

Well, it's February now, and we are no longer laughing. In fact, your Royal Game Changer, we've not been laughing for some time. Those tears you see are not tears of laughter, they are mainly tears of despair.

When we heard the phrase "game changing" we thought that perhaps that might just mean "for the better". We didn't realise that it would turn out to be a slippery slide down to the bottom of the league.

So far "game changing" has meant "giving Kevin McCabe a pound coin and turning up to shake hands with people a bit". Anyone who watches United could have given Kevin McCabe a quid and waved a bit.

So how "game changing" will our investment be? My suspicion will be that our "rich" prince will turn out to be "not that rich at all, really".
 

I don't doubt the wealth of the Prince, however I have always doubted his naivety. His early interviews seem to indicate that it's just a case of picking up a paper, making a call, and the tides would turn for him. We're in a division of 24 teams, only 3 can be successful. Regarding his company, I checked the website out last night, it looks shoddy (broken links, errors on pages etc) and certainly not a multi-million dollar business website. I do wonder how "switched on" he is. There's one thing to be born with wealth, another thing entirely to earn it even if the amounts are the same.

One has sprung to mind is this; that the 50/50 relationship between the Prince and KM just may not be working in practice. Here we have two men, one who has put in £50M-£100M, the other who has put in £1. In a 50/50 world, where a department wants an investment of say £1M, who puts in how much? £500k each? Is that fair? Some would say yes, and I would too. But then, I would ask, what is the point of the man of the larger investor handing over half the company for someone who has committed just 1/50,000,000 of his own investment. To save him the £500k? Any future profit (we can laugh) will be shared too with the £1 man. It just doesn't look right in my opinion.
 
I very much doubt McCabe is putting anything more into the football side of things. In simple terms, he wrote off his considerable debt but kept the only things that have value: the ground and Shirecliffe.

The Prince got 50% of the football club in the expectation that he will provide future funds on the football side.

He hasn't received wealth but is a self made businessman. I reckon he's worth a similar amount to McCabe around £100m.

It's nothing like Man City that have thrown hundreds of millions at their club.

I have no idea how much they will have allocated to spend to save us from relegation, then hopefully to push for promotion.

He would almost certainly need other partners with money once we get back to the Championship.

They won't have masses but let's pray they have enough for a decent loan striker. It will have to be one step at a time.

I wouldn't like to contemplate them walking away, who else would take the serial failure on ?
 
If the prince walks off into the sunset then we will probably end up Portsmouth style.

Only the Blades could turn what at first looked an amazing proposition into a complete pigs ear.
 
My personal take on the Prince is that he was never going to come in and start buying over priced players at this level. For a start the Financial Fair Play thing was an issue, but also i thought there were bigger issues to sort.

So much turmoil with manager changes since we came down from the Premier League to where we were when he came in. Clough came along at the right time and I believe that he will be part of the rebuilding job. Weir, despite his inexperience probably ticked a number of boxes, but it didn't work. As a result of all the change in the last 5-8 years we've ended up with a lot of players brought in by so many different managers that it was a problem.

In addition we have a priority of shifting many players out, which has happened and allowing Clough to bring his players in. The striker problem is a massive problem. It was known at the club last season, pre season and before Clough came in. But its still not been sorted. Bringing in a Leon Clarke for 750k for me isn't the answer, but competing with the top end teams like Wolves when we're getting easily beaten by Crewe isn't going to help attract players that can do the job.

When the prince came in we were told it would be game changing. Fair enough. But show is a plan of what he intends to do. We've seen very little from him. He's had chance to get his feet under the table and i'm sure the signings we've made this Jan wouldn't have happened without his backing or at least his assurances. But we need to see how the future looks.

Investment doesn't guarantee success on the pitch, for us i think it'll take a while.

One other thing. For those saying that we don't need the money from the FA Cup, think again. The precise reason that the Prince has invested his £1 was to make money. His love for United may grow, but he wants to see money coming in to further line his pockets and/ or to make us more attractive to other investors. An FA cup run in his first season which brings in a wedge of cash... thats exactly what he'll want to see. He'll of course want to see us heading up through the league first, but the cup will be a welcomed cash injection and money that he doesn't need to find from his pocket to spend on players etc
 
"Game changing investment" will become another in the long list of McCabe gaffes.

It was a better soundbite than "we can now stop selling anything with a modicum of talent, but that's partly because we haven't got any talent left".

Either way, it really shouldn't take game changing investment to keep Sheffield United out of England's fourth division.

UTB
 
I suspect the Prince has provided much needed working capital to pay the routine bills and expenses, not covered by income.

We have been trading at a loss for years.

I just don't think it is easy to ship in three or four solid championship standard players the like of Brayford. Firstly, you have to convince them that a move to us will not damage their career, then you have to persuade them that we have more to offer than a team forty plus places up the league. Then you have to pay them more than all your other players, which destroys your wage structure, and increases operating losses.

Brayford only came to follow Cloughie, his old mentor and because he was a forgotten man stuck in Cardiff's reserves.

It is not as easy as you may think.

It is going to take years to recover our position, there are no quick fixes. At least we have a decent manager, who it seems within all these constraints, is slowly bringing in better players.

I just can't see us going down, but it is worrying all the same.

HH
 
I agree with Swiss that I would have been appalled if we had spent 750k on Leon Clarke like Wolves did but they also signed the lad from Wigan, Dicko in this window. Had we done this I think that would have shown that we meant business
 
So far "game changing" has meant "giving Kevin McCabe a pound coin and turning up to shake hands with people a bit". Anyone who watches United could have given Kevin McCabe a quid and waved a bit.

But I'd have felt I'd have been mugged if I had
 
"Game changing investment" will become another in the long list of McCabe gaffes.

It was a better soundbite than "we can now stop selling anything with a modicum of talent, but that's partly because we haven't got any talent left".

Either way, it really shouldn't take game changing investment to keep Sheffield United out of England's fourth division.

UTB

We should have two strikers lined up for the START of the loan window.

Game changing funding should make it easy as well - bonus for the loan club if we stay up and similar for the player.

I suspect the funding is not there.
 
I just can't see us going down, but it is worrying all the same.

I used to think that but after the Bradford game I said that we're an injury crisis away from relegation.

It's got worse since then. We need positive loans to stay up, and after Micky Adams' efforts that scares me.
 
We should have two strikers lined up for the START of the loan window.

Game changing funding should make it easy as well - bonus for the loan club if we stay up and similar for the player.

I suspect the funding is not there.


You can't line them up if they don't want to come to a side threatened with the 4th division. True, you can always break the bank to overcome it, but do we really want to do that, given whatever pot we have will be fixed?

We're all agreed we need strike power. Getting it is another thing.

UTB
 
You can't line them up if they don't want to come to a side threatened with the 4th division. True, you can always break the bank to overcome it, but do we really want to do that, given whatever pot we have will be fixed?

UTB

Yes, we really do want to break the bank, if that is the difference between going down and staying up.
 
You can't line them up if they don't want to come to a side threatened with the 4th division. True, you can always break the bank to overcome it, but do we really want to do that, given whatever pot we have will be fixed?

We're all agreed we need strike power. Getting it is another thing.

UTB

Can we afford not to - If we have the cash?
 

Can we afford not to - If we have the cash?
Good point, we have 3 unknowns;

Do we have the cash?
Will we blow it avoiding relegation when we might not need to?
will we get relegated without it?

I don't think there are mountains if cash and I think that we will stay up without breaking the bank. I am getting more worried by the week though.

UTB
 
Good point, we have 3 unknowns;

Do we have the cash? Unlikely
Will we blow it avoiding relegation when we might not need to? Not likely
will we get relegated without it? Very likely, and if so I predict the Prince will be gone just as fast as Jacob Esan and his millions.

I don't think there are mountains if cash and I think that we will stay up without breaking the bank. I am getting more worried by the week though.

UTB
 
Good point, we have 3 unknowns;

Do we have the cash?
Will we blow it avoiding relegation when we might not need to?
will we get relegated without it?

I don't think there are mountains if cash and I think that we will stay up without breaking the bank. I am getting more worried by the week though.

UTB

Main point is that it wasn't some fan in a pub nor someone claiming to be 'in the know' on a forum but our Chairman who uttered the immortal words:

"It is game changing".
 
I suspect the Prince has provided much needed working capital to pay the routine bills and expenses, not covered by income.

We have been trading at a loss for years.

I just don't think it is easy to ship in three or four solid championship standard players the like of Brayford. Firstly, you have to convince them that a move to us will not damage their career, then you have to persuade them that we have more to offer than a team forty plus places up the league. Then you have to pay them more than all your other players, which destroys your wage structure, and increases operating losses.

Brayford only came to follow Cloughie, his old mentor and because he was a forgotten man stuck in Cardiff's reserves.

It is not as easy as you may think.

It is going to take years to recover our position, there are no quick fixes. At least we have a decent manager, who it seems within all these constraints, is slowly bringing in better players.

I just can't see us going down, but it is worrying all the same.

HH
But we were told the Prince's money was for investment in the 1st team or is that just another lie we have been fed because the evidence is certainly pointing that way.
 
Main point is that it wasn't some fan in a pub nor someone claiming to be 'in the know' on a forum but our Chairman who uttered the immortal words:

"It is game changing".
Agreed, probably a gaffe. But game changing can cover a multitude of scenarios. That said, relegation to the 4th division isn't one of them :-(

UTB
 
Good point, we have 3 unknowns;

Do we have the cash?
Will we blow it avoiding relegation when we might not need to?
will we get relegated without it?

I don't think there are mountains if cash and I think that we will stay up without breaking the bank. I am getting more worried by the week though.

UTB


And also, what if we blow the cash and still get relegated?
 
It's probably worth a reminder of what McCabe actually said:-

<< This is game-changing for this club and the funds being invested in the team are substantial."
"The money being made available is for investment at first-team level and that means building a squad that can get us back to the upper echelons of English football".
"The plan of action is simple and that is to improve the first-team squad whether that be through the loan system or in the January transfer window," he said.
"I would also say to our supporters that this also ensures we can keep our own young players, hopefully on longer contracts.
"We are going to look to make shrewd signings at the right time, with the strong belief we will get promoted not only from League One but with a squad that can gain promotion from the Championship >>

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944355

The plain facts are that we've signed 18 players since July 2013.
Four of those players cost us a transfer fee. Probably totalling around £1M
We've gained a transfer fee for McDonald of £250K.
So we've spent more than we've received for the first time since The Premiership era.
I think we can categorically state that wouldn't have happened without any additional investment at all.

Can signing 18 players and spending £750K be classed as "game-changing"?
Starting from the very low base of raising £2M+ a year through sales, it probably can to a certain extent.

Once again, the problem is that much of the initial investement was squandered by Weir.
11 of his 14 signings are nowhere near our current first team.
At least the players signed by Clough appear to have first-team potential AND he's picking them.
 
Sothall_Blade oh that's great! Don't be coming here and providing the genuine quote in its entirety! You've just ruined a perfectly good whinging thread :)

On weirs signings. It's perhaps a little unfair on him to dismiss them as money squandered. It's in Cloughs interests to get his own signings playing. The likes of Cuvelier, brandy, Taylor may come back better for their loans. Baxter, McGinn and Coady are all in and around the first team. Mcginty and king, granted were shocking signings. I'd say the jury is out with the rest. Weirs problem was the number of signings he made

Edit: I'm picking bones with the above, but I agree with the sentiment of your post though :)
 
It all goes to prove it doesn't matter how much money you have, it's how you spend it...
 
It's probably worth a reminder of what McCabe actually said:-

<< This is game-changing for this club and the funds being invested in the team are substantial."
"The money being made available is for investment at first-team level and that means building a squad that can get us back to the upper echelons of English football".
"The plan of action is simple and that is to improve the first-team squad whether that be through the loan system or in the January transfer window," he said.
"I would also say to our supporters that this also ensures we can keep our own young players, hopefully on longer contracts.
"We are going to look to make shrewd signings at the right time, with the strong belief we will get promoted not only from League One but with a squad that can gain promotion from the Championship >>

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23944355

The plain facts are that we've signed 18 players since July 2013.
Four of those players cost us a transfer fee. Probably totalling around £1M
We've gained a transfer fee for McDonald of £250K.
So we've spent more than we've received for the first time since The Premiership era.
I think we can categorically state that wouldn't have happened without any additional investment at all.

Can signing 18 players and spending £750K be classed as "game-changing"?
Starting from the very low base of raising £2M+ a year through sales, it probably can to a certain extent.

Once again, the problem is that much of the initial investement was squandered by Weir.
11 of his 14 signings are nowhere near our current first team.
At least the players signed by Clough appear to have first-team potential AND he's picking them.

Whilst your post is well reasoned Sothall the reply is more aimed at the overall situation than the post.

Would Chelsea or Man City be sitting in the bottom four with 'game changing investment'?

I'd suggest they wouldn't and nothing much would have stopped them hitting the play offs this season.
Should they have missed on this year nothing would prevent them doing what Rangers have done this season next season.
i.e. dominate the league

Turns out the statement made by our leader was not as well thought out as the response from Sothall.
 
Sorry but the prince is just another Jacob Esan. It will turn out to be a waste of time and the chances of getting a good quality striker are about the same as Man United winning the league. Would you come into a relegation fight?? If Clough had money to spend on players he would have been making a list since he came in October then the JTW wouldn't be panic buying they would have been carefully prepared transfers going after good players at vulnerable clubs. The way i see it we had nothing to spend and had to get rid before we brought in we shipped out the following :-

Taylor
Brandy
Cuvelier
McGinty
McMahon
Williams
King

That then allowed us to bring in

Paynter
Brayford
Harris
Scougall

I can not see that costing us any money what so ever, we got rid of 7 and brought in 4 which leaves room for maybe 1 more as we will then be up to the limit on loan players.

Does that look like a side with a lot money?????
 
davidpinder you're forgetting just how bloated the squad was when Clough took over. We had 26 senior professionals on the books.

GK (2+1) Long, Howard, [Willis]
DR (2+1) Westlake, McMahon, [Hodder]
DL (4) Hill, McGinty, Williams, Lappin
DC (3) Collins, Maguire, Kennedy
MR (2) Flynn, Brandy
ML (2+1) Murphy, McFadzean, [Johns]
MC (4+1) Doyle, McGinn, Cuvelier, Coady, [Whitehouse]
AM (2) Baxter, De Girolamo
FW (6) Porter, Taylor, Baxter, King, Ironside, Miller

It's looking a lot better now, down to 22 with some talented youngsters as back up. That 22 includes McFadzean, Whitehouse and Ironside, all of whom I expect to leave on loan once the window opens.

GK (2+1) Long, Howard, [Willis]
DR (1+1) Brayford, [Hodder]
DL (2) Harris, Hill
DC (3+1) Collins, Maguire, Kennedy, [Barry]
MR (1+1) Flynn, [Calvert-Lewin]
ML (2+1) Murphy, McFadzean, [Johns]
MC (4+3) Doyle, McGinn, Coady, Whitehouse, [Reed], [Dimaio], [Whiteman]
AM (3+1) Baxter, De Girolamo, Scougall, [Khan]
FW (4) Porter, Paynter, Ironside, Miller

Of those we've shipped out, can you honestly say any would improve the squad now other than perhaps Brandy and Taylor? Even then, they'd only be any use if they got their heads sorted out and realised what it means to be a senior professional at a major club.

The problem is that it seems that the players' heads go down far too easily and that fitness is an issue. That Walsall's physical preparation and conditioning is better than ours (cf our resident Saddler, Barry Blunt) is unacceptable.
 

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