Less of a Footballing failure, more a Business failure

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There's a fatal flaw in all these threads (Wilder out/keep Wilder, Brewster is shit, why aren't we playing Burke) that we are seeing this as a footballing failure which can be fixed by footballing decisions.

It's actually a business failure: The root cause of our struggles is the same most other struggling businesses: cash flow.

We could spend a bit on transfer fees, which might never end up getting paid, but wages that have to come out the bank every month? We haven't got the cash. It was always going to be tough but with Covid the tap has turned off.

Result of that is we had to give up Deano and take 3rd or 4th choice transfers who'd accept the low wages. And this January, not even a loan signing.

The better news is we go into next season in Championship with low wage bill. Fans back in the stadium and the tills ringing again we'll get the finances sorted and the football successes will follow.

Knowing this will make you less pointlessly angry at our loyal and hardworking players so we can give them our support. Even as they struggle and fail to get a shot off, even against Fulham ffs.
 

Why are we the only cunts without a pot to piss in. Even Bristol City who have a decent fanbase but a rather uneventful history have themselves a billionaire. Seems they grow on trees everywhere but Sheffield 😭
 
Admirable OP that has a certain resonance to it.

However, it ignores the FACT that we have not spent well with the budget we have had in the PL.

None of :-

Robinson
Freeman
McB
Ramsdale
Burke
Brewster
Moose
Berge

Have hit the ground running. And we are talking £100m +.

All have had moments. All too fleeting in many cases but, so far, have NOT taken us forward in the way it might have been expected.

Poor Recruitment, as much as any other “business” factor has been the biggest single reason we have failed this season, as it has caught up with us.

I’m just not buying the “cash flow” excuse !!

UTB
 
Admirable OP that has a certain resonance to it.

However, it ignores the FACT that we have not spent well with the budget we have had in the PL.

None of :-

Robinson
Freeman
McB
Ramsdale
Burke
Brewster
Moose
Berge

Have hit the ground running. And we are talking £100m +.

All have had moments. All too fleeting in many cases but, so far, have NOT taken us forward in the way it might have been expected.

Poor Recruitment, as much as any other “business” factor has been the biggest single reason we have failed this season, as it has caught up with us.

I’m just not buying the “cash flow” excuse !!

UTB
I think the list is rather than the one you mention.
 
Admirable OP that has a certain resonance to it.

However, it ignores the FACT that we have not spent well with the budget we have had in the PL.

None of :-

Robinson
Freeman
McB
Ramsdale
Burke
Brewster
Moose
Berge

Have hit the ground running. And we are talking £100m +.

All have had moments. All too fleeting in many cases but, so far, have NOT taken us forward in the way it might have been expected.

Poor Recruitment, as much as any other “business” factor has been the biggest single reason we have failed this season, as it has caught up with us.

I’m just not buying the “cash flow” excuse !!

UTB

100% - we’ve spent in the region of £120m since promotion.

the issue is that I don’t think there’s a signing since promotion (that currently) ranks above a 6 out of 10. That will hopefully change long term, But there has been a tonne of money wasted or not providing value for money currently

Hindsight is easy but how many would we happily purchase again for the outlay? bogle??

We’ve also spent all that money at left ourselves with a hugely unbalanced squad. We only had 3/4 centrebacks and 3/4 midfielders and 100’s of wingbacks and strikers - we were also ways going to be screwed with a couple of injuries in the wrong places.
 
I think the list is rather than the one you mention.
Agreed. But these represent the £5m + signings where we could have expected more.

Squad fillers for low fees are exactly that, and would not realistically be expected to mount consistent challenges for a regular shirt.

UTB
 
100% - we’ve spent in the region of £120m since promotion.

the issue is that I don’t think there’s a signing since promotion (that currently) ranks above a 6 out of 10. That will hopefully change long term, But there has been a tonne of money wasted or not providing value for money currently

Hindsight is easy but how many would we happily purchase again for the outlay? bogle??

We’ve also spent all that money at left ourselves with a hugely unbalanced squad. We only had 3/4 centrebacks and 3/4 midfielders and 100’s of wingbacks and strikers - we were also ways going to be screwed with a couple of injuries in the wrong places.

Money spent on transfers is not necessarily relevant to cashflow especially if you can do part-exchange or buy from clubs who owe you money
Wages on the other hand are cash, so a limited cashflow severely limits the wage bill you can sustain.

Unfortunately, wages have more impact on the quality of recruitment than the transfer fee. Good players want high personal rewards.
It is our low wages that have prevented us from improving the squad and lack of cash that has prevented us from paying higher wages.
Therefore, it is cashflow that has played the biggest part in our poor season.

You are right, apart from Bogle, none of the signings rate more than 6/10. Because we would have to pay between 50k and 100k per week for any player good enough to have significantly improved the squad. It doesn't matter how clever your scouts are - if you are not offering what they are worth, they will go to someone who will.

So we recruited from a very limited pool of players:
1. Players from teams that we could do swaps with or who owed us money so we didn't have to lay out any cash on the transfers
2. Players who are not worth more than 10k-30k a week so wouldn't get a better offer elsewhere

Bearing that in mind, our recruitment doesn't look too bad. But its not going to win you many games in the Premier League

Read Soccernomics by Simon Kruper and Stefan Szymanski
 
You are right, apart from Bogle, none of the signings rate more than 6/10. Because we would have to pay between 50k and 100k per week for any player good enough to have significantly improved the squad. It doesn't matter how clever your scouts are - if you are not offering what they are worth, they will go to someone who will.

It doesn't take clever scouting to look beyond the British Isles for players with a similar level of talent to Watkins, Cash, Antonee Robinson, Swift but with much lower wage demands
 
Admirable OP that has a certain resonance to it.

However, it ignores the FACT that we have not spent well with the budget we have had in the PL.

None of :-

Robinson
Freeman
McB
Ramsdale
Burke
Brewster
Moose
Berge

Have hit the ground running. And we are talking £100m +.

All have had moments. All too fleeting in many cases but, so far, have NOT taken us forward in the way it might have been expected.

Poor Recruitment, as much as any other “business” factor has been the biggest single reason we have failed this season, as it has caught up with us.

I’m just not buying the “cash flow” excuse !!

UTB
Just because these players have not been as good as fans wanted does not mean that they are not good players nor that the recruitment was poor.
In business terms it is too early to make that judgement
 

Just because these players have not been as good as fans wanted does not mean that they are not good players nor that the recruitment was poor.
In business terms it is too early to make that judgement
Robinson lasted 6 months.

Freeman effectively the same.

Early judgements can and have been made.

Unless many of those listed improve their individual performances, and quickly, a similar outcome is inevitable. It could be strongly argued several are already there.

The judgement in this case, I am afraid, will be that they have been both bad signings and, poor players for SUFC.

If it IS taking us 3 years to get something like out of these players, that is far too long and, as such, will also mean they have been poor signings.

Just exactly how long do you think it should take ?

Not sure I can take another year of 1 or 2 of them, who have been, IMHO abject.

UTB
 
Admirable OP that has a certain resonance to it.

However, it ignores the FACT that we have not spent well with the budget we have had in the PL.

None of :-

Robinson
Freeman
McB
Ramsdale
Burke
Brewster
Moose
Berge

Have hit the ground running. And we are talking £100m +.

All have had moments. All too fleeting in many cases but, so far, have NOT taken us forward in the way it might have been expected.

Poor Recruitment, as much as any other “business” factor has been the biggest single reason we have failed this season, as it has caught up with us.

I’m just not buying the “cash flow” excuse !!

UTB

All our signings have been younger players with 'potential', rather than the finished article, who are ready to play in the Premier League.

We've probably signed them because we can't compete wages wise with the rest of the league, so have taken a gamble on players. Sadly these gambles haven't yet paid off and we're still relying on the squad that took us up, many of whom were League One not so long back.
 
All our signings have been younger players with 'potential', rather than the finished article, who are ready to play in the Premier League.

We've probably signed them because we can't compete wages wise with the rest of the league, so have taken a gamble on players. Sadly these gambles haven't yet paid off and we're still relying on the squad that took us up, many of whom were League One not so long back.
Berge aside, I’d suggest all of your so called “gambles” have absolutely not paid off as yet. 100%.

Time is running out for some of them to turn the tide.

My genuine concern is that based on what I have seen, it’s difficult to predict huge upticks in performances in a lower division.

Slow is slow.
Weak is weak.
Poor technique is poor technique.

And the goals don’t get any bigger either !!!

UTB
 
Berge aside, I’d suggest all of your so called “gambles” have absolutely not paid off as yet. 100%.

Time is running out for some of them to turn the tide.

My genuine concern is that based on what I have seen, it’s difficult to predict huge upticks in performances in a lower division.

Slow is slow.
Weak is weak.
Poor technique is poor technique.

And the goals don’t get any bigger either !!!

UTB

McBurnie has scored goals in the Championship. Brewster did in his 6 month stint there.

i think they these players need chance to make mistakes and learn the system. The Premier Leauge is too ruthless for that. Although the Championship can be that too and of we want to go up, then we neer to find a settled side quickly
 
I think we needed to spend less on fees and more on wages, it's admirable buying young talent, but it's like buying a wall charger, solar panels and battery storage for your house when you've got a diesel.

We needed a few known quantities like Henderson, and a few more top level experienced signings even if they were older and wanted a bit more cash, would've paid for themselves if they kept us in midtable for a couple of seasons. Then we have the capability to buy young and develop them.
 
Considering the business is football I'm not sure what you're getting at.

Successful football = successful business
 
McBurnie has scored goals in the Championship. Brewster did in his 6 month stint there.

i think they these players need chance to make mistakes and learn the system. The Premier Leauge is too ruthless for that. Although the Championship can be that too and of we want to go up, then we neer to find a settled side quickly
Yeah. I know 👍.

Banking on them to do that for us next season, based on what I see, will prove a huge mistake.

Of course I hope I’m wrong, cos there is no doubt the gaffer will have them both heavily involved and so much depends on them young shoulders.

Both have to step up big time and I’m adamant one of them doesn’t have the tools to do so 👀.

Time will tell !!

UTB
 
Yeah. I know 👍.

Banking on them to do that for us next season, based on what I see, will prove a huge mistake.

Of course I hope I’m wrong, cos there is no doubt the gaffer will have them both heavily involved and so much depends on them young shoulders.

Both have to step up big time and I’m adamant one of them doesn’t have the tools to do so 👀.

Time will tell !!

UTB
I think we need a promise from you that IF (big if here) McBurnie scores 20+ goals next season, you will accept he’s had a decent season without any of the “buts” that Leon received.
 
I think we need a promise from you that IF (big if here) McBurnie scores 20+ goals next season, you will accept he’s had a decent season without any of the “buts” that Leon received.
If anyone wants to put £20 on this happening against my £100 it does not (for a worthy charity to be agreed), then roll up.

You can even have league AND cup goals.

One taker only cos I’m not a Rothschild !!

UTB
 
Where have all the gobshites gone ?

😉,

Bluebell Wood OK ?


UTB
 
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I think we needed to spend less on fees and more on wages, it's admirable buying young talent, but it's like buying a wall charger, solar panels and battery storage for your house when you've got a diesel.

We needed a few known quantities like Henderson, and a few more top level experienced signings even if they were older and wanted a bit more cash, would've paid for themselves if they kept us in midtable for a couple of seasons. Then we have the capability to buy young and develop them.
The better the player, the more he earns, the bigger the transfer fee.
 
Yeah. I know 👍.

Banking on them to do that for us next season, based on what I see, will prove a huge mistake.

Of course I hope I’m wrong, cos there is no doubt the gaffer will have them both heavily involved and so much depends on them young shoulders.

Both have to step up big time and I’m adamant one of them doesn’t have the tools to do so 👀.

Time will tell !!

UTB
You obviously haven’t watched any of the championship games this season then, have you? It’s dog shyte.
 
If anyone wants to put £20 on this happening against my £100 it does not (for a worthy charity to be agreed), then roll up.

You can even have league AND cup goals.

One taker only cos I’m not a Rothschild !!

UTB
I don’t think he will, I just think he’ll deserve some praise if he does. I don’t think we’ll be creative enough anymore to get someone 20 goals.
 

If anyone wants to put £20 on this happening against my £100 it does not (for a worthy charity to be agreed), then roll up.

You can even have league AND cup goals.

One taker only cos I’m not a Rothschild !!

UTB
McBurnie wont score 20 goals next season because he’s shite.
 

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