BBC article on Stephen Bettis' 10 years at Sheffield United

[coaxingstar71]

I get your solvency argument but lets be right any competent CEO ought to be able to keep a club solvemt when theyve had the hundreds of millions that we have from the PL

However these plaudits from FH and others arent surprising as the 6 clubs covered by FH have to be the least successful of any region in the entire country. If you include Bristol in Gloucestershire they come close but there is no other area of such size with such little success and low expectations as South Yorks/N Derbyshire.

We cant use our next door neighbours as the benchmark, there's a load of 'smaller' clubs than us doing better and not many bigger ones doing worse, that's the benchmark.

I'm not suggesting we're the best run club, but we certainly aren't the worst.

With regard to Bettis, although he's CEO, he still doesn't have final say in financial matters at the club, however he has provided some stability in a turbulent period in terms of the drawn out takeovers that have happened.

 

[Revolution]

I'm not suggesting we're the best run club, but we certainly aren't the worst.

With regard to Bettis, although he's CEO, he still doesn't have final say in financial matters at the club, however he has provided some stability in a turbulent period in terms of the drawn out takeovers that have happened.

In the last 10 seasons we have:

Won League One
Finished 10th in the Championship and then got promoted
Finished 9th in the PL and then got relegated
Finished in playoffs in the Championship and then got promoted
Got relegated from the PL
Lost playoff final and finished 13th in the Championship

3 PL seasons, 6 Championship seasons, 1 league one season, 3 promotions, 2 relegations, two playoff failures (one final)
Reached one FA Cup Semi Final

In the 10 seasons before that:

Got relegated from the PL
Missed the Championship playoffs, lost the playoff final, missed the Championship Playoffs, got relegated
Lost in the League One playoffs twice in a row (1 final), missed the playoffs, lost in the League One playoffs, mid table finish

1 PL season, 4 Championship seasons, 5 League one seasons, no promotions, 2 relegations, four playoff failures (two finals)
Reached one FA Cup and One League Cup Semi Final

It's clear that by the standards of my lifetime the last 10 seasons have been much more successful than the ten years before Bettis' arrival.

 

[Wards]

And yet I'd argue that, other than the 9th place PL finish, none of that should really be deemed success. We've largely been exactly where we're expected to be - a top 8 Championship/bottom 6 PL club...treading water for the most part. But that's the sum of ambition for the club and vast swathes of our support it seems. Mediocrity.

And whilst that is largely down to a lack of combined finance & investment, I'm not certain that lauding the CEO who's overseen it is worthwhile. No doubt he's done some good, no doubt he's done some bad too. At this stage I'm more on the side of it being a hindrance to success/progress but that's only from my view from afar.

Seems a good guy but I think it's one key figure that probably needs a refresh if we want to do better.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Just to say, it's a written article not a piece of radio -- but hope you're able to check it out!

That's me out then!

 

[ATL Recs]

Does it mention all the PL money we have 'squandered' over that period with nothing to show for it? The academy and training ground still arent fit for purpose despite 7 years of PL money (including parachute payments) and we have a bloated squad full of players we don't want and probably cant shift. Thats some performance from the CEO who oversaw all of that

And lets not forget the man who let Jamies recruitment. co bring all that shyte in late last summer, at what 19 million

 

[ATL Recs]

I'm not suggesting we're the best run club, but we certainly aren't the worst.

With regard to Bettis, although he's CEO, he still doesn't have final say in financial matters at the club, however he has provided some stability in a turbulent period in terms of the drawn out takeovers that have happened.

True but he will have signed off or supported Jamie's recruitment.co with the purchases late last summer -whoever came up with that list of dog poo on stupid long contracts at over inflated prices must have been using an Iphone app for guidance ???

 

[Revolution]

And yet I'd argue that, other than the 9th place PL finish, none of that should really be deemed success. We've largely been exactly where we're expected to be - a top 8 Championship/bottom 6 PL club...treading water for the most part. But that's the sum of ambition for the club and vast swathes of our support it seems. Mediocrity.

And whilst that is largely down to a lack of combined finance & investment, I'm not certain that lauding the CEO who's overseen it is worthwhile. No doubt he's done some good, no doubt he's done some bad too. At this stage I'm more on the side of it being a hindrance to success/progress but that's only from my view from afar.

Seems a good guy but I think it's one key figure that probably needs a refresh if we want to do better.

Well, I take your point, but given that the vast majority of our post war existence is nothing but mediocrity its relative success for us.

The ten years before were worse. So we’re 1996-2006 (no top flight seasons). The ten years before that were better though we finished where we started, ninth in the second tier, and the ten years before that contained our worst spell ever. And that’s 50 years. So the Bettis era stacks up well in relative terms.

The lack of success compared to other teams of a similar size is as you say down to funds largely, but also down to our pathetic playoff record and our record when we can go down on the last day. If we had even an average record on those occasions we’d have 5 or seasons minimum in higher divisions and a hell of a lot more money.

 

[KMC-1889]

Well, I take your point, but given that the vast majority of our post war existence is nothing but mediocrity its relative success for us.

The ten years before were worse. So we’re 1996-2006 (no top flight seasons). The ten years before that were better though we finished where we started, ninth in the second tier, and the ten years before that contained our worst spell ever. And that’s 50 years. So the Bettis era stacks up well in relative terms.

The lack of success compared to other teams of a similar size is as you say down to funds largely, but also down to our pathetic playoff record and our record when we can go down on the last day. If we had even an average record on those occasions we’d have 5 or seasons minimum in higher divisions and a hell of a lot more money.

My biggest issue is that everything is temporary. Yes we’ve had successes over the last ten years (how much of that can be attributed to the CEO is very questionable) but nothing long term has been established as a result of these successes. We haven’t modernised the club structure, brought in a better standard of back room or administrative staff, the pipeline of youth prospects seems to be drying up again, no real progress on the new training ground etc. we’ve got some shiny signs, a new car park and a tenant in the hotel taking the earnings.

The premium league seasons will be looked back on the same way cup runs are - fleeting success against the odds before bumping back down to ‘our level’, it’s completely beyond us to do what Wolves, Palace or any of the others have done and have a sustained period of success at a higher level.

All we’ve achieved in the last 10 years is make some players and agents very, very rich.

 

[Houston_Blade]

True but he will have signed off or supported Jamie's recruitment.co with the purchases late last summer -whoever came up with that list of dog poo on stupid long contracts at over inflated prices must have been using an Iphone app for guidance ???

Would you expect Bettis to tell the recruitment team that the players they’ve identified aren’t suitable based on all of his technical football expertise?

I’d say that by the point it gets to him, it’s just a case of getting the deal done. The onus for the poor signings lies firmly with either the structure of the football side of the club, or the individuals who decided that Chong, Matos and McGuinness were actually worth signing in the first place.

He may be culpable for the poor structure, but not the poor decisions made by the so called football experts.

 

[BerksBlade]

Would you expect Bettis to tell the recruitment team that the players they’ve identified aren’t suitable based on all of his technical football expertise?

I’d say that by the point it gets to him, it’s just a case of getting the deal done. The onus for the poor signings lies firmly with either the structure of the football side of the club, or the individuals who decided that Chong, Matos and McGuinness were actually worth signing in the first place.

He may be culpable for the poor structure, but not the poor decisions made by the so called football experts.

That's true, but could he have pushed back on the lengths of some of the contracts being offered?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Would you expect Bettis to tell the recruitment team that the players they’ve identified aren’t suitable based on all of his technical football expertise?

I’d say that by the point it gets to him, it’s just a case of getting the deal done. The onus for the poor signings lies firmly with either the structure of the football side of the club, or the individuals who decided that Chong, Matos and McGuinness were actually worth signing in the first place.

He may be culpable for the poor structure, but not the poor decisions made by the so called football experts.

The Selles era is a very short period of time inten years. Are we saying Bettis should have stopped, let’s say managers, signing players who were expensive players? After all, the managers and scouting staff are the “experts”. Anyone buying into the Snek runs the football signings claim will also cling to the Selles wasn’t interviewed fairy story.

I see we’re back with the “the positives are nothing to do with him but the negatives are all his fault” cliche previously levelled at PA and KMc as owners and both CW and NW.

 

[Sean Thornton]

That's true, but could he have pushed back on the lengths of some of the contracts being offered?

Yes. If it’s in his remit and owners don’t sign off on transfers. Bit left field l know.

 

[sheepbridge]

Presumably the 'profit' mentioned in recent years is largely down to the PL parachute payments

That, TV money and being able to sell academy players for large amounts.
It certainly isn't from spending tens of millions of pounds on players who walked away for free at the end of their contracts, or were sold at a loss.

I actually think it's pretty poor just what we have got to show for the last 10 years in terms of infrastructure investment and current playing squad considering what we have recieved and spent over that period.

 

[sheepbridge]

Hi Blades -- thought we'd pass this on if you fancy reading it. It's an article on Stephen Bettis' 10 years with the club and what United have achieved during this time.

Hope you enjoy!

Here's the link: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c5y8z7rxjq8o

Btw, welcome back to "Bizarro World".
Hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[Houston_Blade]

That's true, but could he have pushed back on the lengths of some of the contracts being offered?

Possibly, it’s a shame he didn’t as they might have gone elsewhere!

 

[N20 Blade]

Despite the disappointments over the last 10 years, the club itself has continually grown and developed it's assets, in terms of owning the stadium, owning the hotel and improving it's facilities. When you look at what's happened to our illustrious neighbours in that period, our club is in a good position and (usually) operates sensibly and within it's means.

Players and managers may come and go, but the important thing really is that the club remains solvent so the next generations of supporters can continue to enjoy supporting the club.

I agree to a point, but after three recent PL seasons we don't seem to be where we should be.

Also, palyers come and go but one manager is like a boomarang which is causing discontent with some, and arguably handbreaking our attempts to modernise further and faster.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

The ten years before were worse. So we’re 1996-2006 (no top flight seasons). The ten years before that were better though we finished where we started, ninth in the second tier, and the ten years before that contained our worst spell ever. And that’s 50 years. So the Bettis era stacks up well in relative terms.

The lack of success compared to other teams of a similar size is as you say down to funds largely, but also down to our pathetic playoff record and our record when we can go down on the last day. If we had even an average record on those occasions we’d have 5 or seasons minimum in higher divisions and a hell of a lot more money.

This made me wonder how many different clubs have finished higher than us since I've been alive.

I was born in October of 1989 so the position to beat is 9th in the top tier (1991-92 and 2019-20).

I guessed at about 20, it's actually 35!

Arsenal
Aston Villa
Blackburn
Bolton
Bournemouth
Brighton
Burnley
Charlton
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Derby
Everton
Fulham
Ipswich
Leeds
Leicester
Liverpool
Man City
Man Utd
Middlesbrough
Newcastle
Norwich
Nottingham Forest
Portsmouth
QPR
Reading
Sheffield Wednesday
Southampton
Sunderland
Swansea
Tottenham
West Brom
West Ham
Wimbledon
Wolves

 

[bornablade]

Ignoring our 'progress' over the past 10 years I'd prefer to consider the last 3 seasons ....

2024 relegated from the Premier league (conceding 104 goals)
2025 3rd in the Championship and failure to win the play-offs
2026 13th in the Championship.

I'd describe that as a club / team / (business for our Amercan owners) in decline.

 

[FriethBlade]

My biggest issue is that everything is temporary. Yes we’ve had successes over the last ten years (how much of that can be attributed to the CEO is very questionable) but nothing long term has been established as a result of these successes. We haven’t modernised the club structure, brought in a better standard of back room or administrative staff, the pipeline of youth prospects seems to be drying up again, no real progress on the new training ground etc. we’ve got some shiny signs, a new car park and a tenant in the hotel taking the earnings.

The premium league seasons will be looked back on the same way cup runs are - fleeting success against the odds before bumping back down to ‘our level’, it’s completely beyond us to do what Wolves, Palace or any of the others have done and have a sustained period of success at a higher level.

All we’ve achieved in the last 10 years is make some players and agents very, very rich.

KMC nail on head except you failed to put and one manager in your last sentence.

This is our biggest failing as a club, by a rough back of the envelope calculation every PL season is worth a minimumof 100m revenue then you add the parachute payments. Thats over 500m in revenue right? And as you say what have we built thats permanent? The ground is in decent nick but many think it needs upgrading, first team training facilities are still sub standard, academy status is still cat 2 with sub par infrastructure and the top down management in terms of people and positions is way behind even the likes of Birmingham City( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)

So that 500m has largely gone on the likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Moose, Cannon et al in fees, wages and their agents payments and we are back where we started except we do own the ground and the land its built on which is a positive

 

[Sean Thornton]

KMC nail on head except you failed to put and one manager in your last sentence.

This is our biggest failing as a club, by a rough back of the envelope calculation every PL season is worth a minimumof 100m revenue then you add the parachute payments. Thats over 500m in revenue right? And as you say what have we built thats permanent? The ground is in decent nick but many think it needs upgrading, first team training facilities are still sub standard, academy status is still cat 2 with sub par infrastructure and the top down management in terms of people and positions is way behind even the likes of Birmingham City( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)

So that 500m has largely gone on the likes of Brewster, McBurnie, Moose, Cannon et al in fees, wages and their agents payments and we are back where we started except we do own the ground and the land its built on which is a positive

( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)

 

[FriethBlade]

( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)

Well given hes in charge and has control over the staffing of the club what's your explanation. Note the ?

 

[Sean Thornton]

Well given hes in charge and has control over the staffing of the club what's your explanation. Note the ?

Is he in charge of football signings?

I’d guess the owners are actually in charge and make all the big decisions. But then never having owned or run a decent sized football club it’s at best a guess based on experience. What about you?

 

[FriethBlade]

Is he in charge of football signings?

I’d guess the owners are actually in charge and make all the big decisions. But then never having owned or run a decent sized football club it’s at best a guess based on experience. What about you?

I wasn't talking about football signings was I, I was talking about infrastructure and management, see below

"-with sub par infrastructure and the top down management in terms of people and positions is way behind even the likes of Birmingham City( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)"

 

[Sean Thornton]

I wasn't talking about football signings was I, I was talking about infrastructure and management, see below

"-with sub par infrastructure and the top down management in terms of people and positions is way behind even the likes of Birmingham City( maybe because Bettis likes to have full control ?)"

Do you think he was given the budget to achieve what you wanted?

I have no knowledge of the capabilities of the staff at SUFC or BCFC. Are you stating some aren’t up to the job? How would you know?

 

[fleckagainagainagain…]

IMO if we’re doing an article about his highs and lows, Bettis gets off incredibly lightly on the whole botched Maddy Cusack investigation. Not her case per se, but the poor handling of the report and insensitivity to her family afterwards.

That was a disgrace and symptomatic of our unprofessional careless approach to running the club behind the scenes. That sort of thing has real consequences for our reputation, her family and the ‘culture’ they’re all meant to be carrying

 

[FriethBlade]

Do you think he was given the budget to achieve what you wanted?

I have no knowledge of the capabilities of the staff at SUFC or BCFC. Are you stating some aren’t up to the job? How would you know?

Pointless discussion mate, you dont know anything and I have an opinion, let's leave it there. But in future dp me a favour if replying to my posts try and read what was written in the first one to save us some time.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Pointless discussion mate, you dont know anything and I have an opinion, let's leave it there. But in future dp me a favour if replying to my posts try and read what was written in the first one to save us some time.

You’re the one suggesting certain things. I’d guess your opinion is based on knowing very little as well but only one of us is being honest about it.