Restricted Budget

[Railway Blade]

I don’t expect Anel to be here come start of the season

Some good players in that line up, but don’t forget injury issues with Seriki and Davies and Campbell and Hamer with fitness worries

On the plus side Blaster to come back

It’s a strong squad that does well not a strong 11

Agreed and it's my guess that he's possibly holding back on some signings to see how his intense training, coupled with the first pre season games, affects some of those potentially fragile squad members.

 

[Blade58]

It lacks experience, goals and match winners. If Hamer gets injured we’re really short on matchwinners.

Good point you make

We need a couple of Baldocks and Billy’s in the team to drive them on

Too many players that don’t even speak during a game

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

Good point you make

We need a couple of Baldocks and Billy’s in the team to drive them on

Too many players that don’t even speak during a game

Sorry but come on. "Too many players that don't speak during a game" - you having a laugh?

 

[Kevincarterversion2.0]

Selles literally said we can pay transfer fees if needed. The muppet journalist from Cardiff only gave half of the story. Yet still folks melting down on here.

 

[Blade58]

Sorry but come on. "Too many players that don't speak during a game" - you having a laugh?

All about opinions. They talk but there’s very little driving the team on

They really are a quiet bunch

 

[HeCanDoMagic]

All about opinions. They talk but there’s very little driving the team on

They really are a quiet bunch

What is your opinion based on though? Not being able to hear them from row M of the south stand?

 

[Blade58]

What is your opinion based on though? Not being able to hear them from row M of the south stand?

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss

 

[Blade58]

What is your opinion based on though? Not being able to hear them from row M of the south stand?

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss to gee a few up

 

[Flatulent_Bob]

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss to gee a few up

You can say that again!

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I don’t expect Anel to be here come start of the season

Some good players in that line up, but don’t forget injury issues with Seriki and Davies and Campbell and Hamer with fitness worries

On the plus side Blaster to come back

It’s a strong squad that does well not a strong 11

Hopefully with us moving in a modern direction of data analytics we'll be seeing less fitness related issues. Hamer already looks in better shape in pre-season than he was playing for us last season. To have players unable to complete 90 minutes by the end of a season was inexcusable. The modern game requires athletes now as the game is so much quicker.

 

[MartBlade]

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss to gee a few up

I totally agree with this … we didn’t appear to have many natural leaders on the pitch last season after we lost Souttar. While I know a lot of people like to give Wilder all the blame for us going deep and defensive too often… in my experience decent leadership and communication on the pitch prevents that from happening. For me it’s absolutely critical that we get a real leader into the defence in particular because we have the steel and the talent in there but not much organisation at times.

 

[bertieblade]

Yes holding not only stood out as a decent player but we looked to be a much better organised team whenever he played, but Soutar had wonderful organisational skills.
A player of their “type” would be the glue that holds the team together

 

[ITALIANO BLADE]

get free agents in best way lots of quality out there for nowt

 

[JD88]

I don’t expect Anel to be here come start of the season

Some good players in that line up, but don’t forget injury issues with Seriki and Davies and Campbell and Hamer with fitness worries

On the plus side Blaster to come back

It’s a strong squad that does well not a strong 11

Agree with all this. Will also add that we really need some pace in the team and it also looks a small team. If , as the owners statements say, we are building to be in the league above then you have to have the physicality and power. All signings this summer should be ticking the physicality and power boxes, especially down the spine of the team. Pacy wingers are a must also.

 

[Houso]

I think there's a lot of brinksmanship from Selles.

Loans are par for the course. The frees are interesting though. Wonder who we're looking at there.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I think there's a lot of brinksmanship from Selles.

Loans are par for the course. The frees are interesting though. Wonder who we're looking at there.

It'll be interesting as we normally only see rumours linking us to out of contract players from the Championship and Premier League. Now we could be looking at players from leagues all across Europe. The cast net is so much bigger now with the potential to find real quality.

 

[NateDogg]

Please allow people to have their tantrums. Its all some people have.

 

[KMC-1889]

It would be a strange strategy in this “last chance saloon” season of final parachute payments to change the manager and then not back him go get us over the top.

Unless you feel that the results exceed the performance levels by an a factor that is unsustainable. Given our end of season collapse and underlying numbers throughout the season this is not an unreasonable.

We’ll never know if Wilder would have been able to repeat his 90 pts, right now we don’t know if we’ll even need 90pts (Sunderland did it with 76). But Selles’ form with a poor Reading team and a terrible Hull side suggests he’s just as likely as anyone else to achieve promotion.

It’s all a gamble, it’s a coin flip. Personally I’m happy we’ve tried to move on from Wilder, he’ll always be a united legend for that 2016-2020 run but the wilder we got in 2024 wasn’t the same manager and to be honest I’m sick of our club being represented by someone so unprofessional. From players fighting on a pitch, to going out boozing after matches, to his overly/emotional press conferences. It’s embarrassing and sets poor professional standards for the rest of the team.

My hope is that by bringing Selles and his team in we’re finally going to start behaving like a modern club, about 20 years after everyone else.

 

[Sean Thornton]

It would be a strange strategy in this “last chance saloon” season of final parachute payments to change the manager and then not back him go get us over the top.

Loans are a sensible strategy as long as - obviously - they are the right ones. It means that if we buy championship level players, again the right ones ( and there are no guarantees with either option) we aren’t stuck with championship players with 2/3 years left on a contract for a possible PL campaign. Also leaves us with more options come January.
Not spending now doesn’t automatically mean the owners are skint or clueless.

 

[Rodley]

Unless you feel that the results exceed the performance levels by an a factor that is unsustainable. Given our end of season collapse and underlying numbers throughout the season this is not an unreasonable.

We’ll never know if Wilder would have been able to repeat his 90 pts, right now we don’t know if we’ll even need 90pts (Sunderland did it with 76). But Selles’ form with a poor Reading team and a terrible Hull side suggests he’s just as likely as anyone else to achieve promotion.

It’s all a gamble, it’s a coin flip. Personally I’m happy we’ve tried to move on from Wilder, he’ll always be a united legend for that 2016-2020 run but the wilder we got in 2024 wasn’t the same manager and to be honest I’m sick of our club being represented by someone so unprofessional. From players fighting on a pitch, to going out boozing after matches, to his overly/emotional press conferences. It’s embarrassing and sets poor professional standards for the rest of the team.

My hope is that by bringing Selles and his team in we’re finally going to start behaving like a modern club, about 20 years after everyone else.

I’ve no issue with the managerial change, that’s water under the bridge and I’ve no interest re-litigating it again and again.

But for me if we’re implementing a new tactical system, with a new manager, in the last year of parachute payments - I would have thought we would back him with the tools to get sufficient quality to get us over the top. And back him to do it early enough in the window to fly out of the traps in four weeks.

 

[KMC-1889]

Based on what I see not what I hear

Like I say, a couple of Billy Sharp or George Baldock types wouldn’t go a miss to gee a few up

I’ve no idea what you’re looking at but i spent most of last season on the Kop watching Robinson and Anel bicker constantly and scream at the full backs and midfielders. We also managed to rack up half a million quid in fines by players trying to (literally and metaphorically) take games by the scruff of the neck.

If anything there’s too much big mouthing going off and we need more players that lead by example, like Souttar did.

 

[MTBlade]

I keep seeing 'here we go again' with the initial 'loans and frees' preference.

I see it slightly different to some-

Loans- loan fees are now paid and if we get good players, this can be a cheaper way than buying someone that isnt as good.
Yes, they aren't 'our' players, but Forest went up with a lot of loan players and stayed up (with a cple of financial questions).

Frees- football is changing and players are running contracts down, so when they sign for another club after there contract is up, they get a signing on fee instead of the other club getting a transfer fee. I suspect it puts more money in there pocket.
Again, another cheaper way of doing things and I'm sure there are good players out there that we can pick up.

Anyway, thats my glass half full mentality.

 

[Blade58]

I’ve no idea what you’re looking at but i spent most of last season on the Kop watching Robinson and Anel bicker constantly and scream at the full backs and midfielders. We also managed to rack up half a million quid in fines by players trying to (literally and metaphorically) take games by the scruff of the neck.

If anything there’s too much big mouthing going off and we need more players that lead by example, like Souttar did.

Bickering is not encouragement and driving the team on

A few leaders who actually lead by example and who drive on their team mates. I see fk all of that

There’s some players in that side I can’t say I’ve even seen them open their mouths ……….. at all

As I say a couple of Starman and Billy types are missing in my humble opinion

 

[Eric_Brooks]

Selles literally said we can pay transfer fees if needed. The muppet journalist from Cardiff only gave half of the story. Yet still folks melting down on here.

My own take on this is that selles is looking at loans, for example phillips and Devine however they may need to buy them rather than loan. Spurs will want to balance their books

 

[bertieblade]

I think economics dictate that we are looking at loans or frees, but will buy if the right young prospect becomes available.
I.e. £400k for a 16 year old keeper

 

[Sharrow Snuff Mill]

A restricted budget ? Of course we have. I have never known us have an unrestricted budget !

 

[The Crab]

Aye
Perhaps “Sports Journalist of the Year” is an obscure euphemism for ‘lady parts’

If there was a nuclear war, and all the other sports journalists died, he still wouldn’t be the best one.

They always said only cockroaches would survive a nuclear war.

Cockroaches and that fat bastard…

 

[Blade58]

I would hope the Star have got their Q’s mixed up?

“Ruben Selles is hopeful that Sheffield United can supplement their squad with a couple of extra players in the next fortnight, despite insisting that the focus remains on quantity rather than quality in the transfer market.”


Hopefully 2 more next couple of weeks?

https://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/sheffield-united/sheffield-uniteds-immediate-transfer-priority-confirmed-amid-ruben-selles-good-news-hope-5220516

 

[Rodley]

Loans are a sensible strategy as long as - obviously - they are the right ones. It means that if we buy championship level players, again the right ones ( and there are no guarantees with either option) we aren’t stuck with championship players with 2/3 years left on a contract for a possible PL campaign. Also leaves us with more options come January.
Not spending now doesn’t automatically mean the owners are skint or clueless.

All depends on the quality of the loans. In the absence of the Owners doing an interview it’s difficult to get a feel for what their aims are.

Looking back on my 35 years of Bladedom, we’ve had probably 3 or 4 transfer windows where we’ve gone for it. For whatever reason we failed to act like the big city club with aspirations to push on for so long, you fear it will happen again.

I dread to think what will happen if this billionaire gets hold of SWFC.

 

[Sean Thornton]

All depends on the quality of the loans. In the absence of the Owners doing an interview it’s difficult to get a feel for what their aims are.

Looking back on my 35 years of Bladedom, we’ve had probably 3 or 4 transfer windows where we’ve gone for it. For whatever reason we failed to act like the big city club with aspirations to push on for so long, you fear it will happen again.

I dread to think what will happen if this billionaire gets hold of SWFC.

The same criteria applies to players signed for a fee.