Anyone else find this amusing

[Danny_Blade]

The truth is that the more money has become important in the game, the worse we’ve done. Because Sheffield is a poor city that has become poorer over time. If we don’t get cheap tickets, we don’t go. We’ve struggled to get good sponsorship deals as long as I’ve been supporting the club. We didn’t even have a four sided ground until the 70s. And we haven’t won owt for nearly 100 years.

Winning helps clubs grow. That’s why Liverpool and Man U are massive. Because they kept winning things, attracting more support, investing the money from Cup runs domestically and in Europe in better players, so they kept winning stuff.

We won’t sustain top flight football, we may manage a run of a few years but we’ll never be like Spurs or Arsenal etc who are as unlikely to go down as Burnley are to win the league and we won’t win a cup or two, because no club our size will win more than one, if they’re really lucky, like Wigan and Swansea, because the cups are usually won by the one of the big six.

Generally speaking I agree.

Regarding cheap tickets, especially now we're in the PL the revenue from ticket sales shouldn't matter as much now as it would've done in recent decades. But saying that we don't know how or how much of the PL revenue will be reinvested - and if/once we get new owners there'll be the uncertainty as to what their intentions will be for the club. BL will be more or less at full capacity next season but it should be insignificant compared to being a current PL club.

What I meant by 'sustain' in the top flight is by surviving after the first and second seasons and lasting anything up to 10 or so seasons. I know to never expect that we can remain there forever as you've already said.

Again this might be blind optimism on my part but I do think we might become capable of winning one of the cups. Granted this may be getting even harder than ever as I think the top 6 clubs in England are leaving the rest of the PL behind due to the ever increasing revenues in today's game. As you've already said its nearly a full century since we won our last cup, but the way I look at it is that its about time that changed and its just a feeling of mine that our time will eventually come where we'll have our day in the sun. But you never know on a cup run if we could be lucky enough to catch out some of the big teams on a busy European schedule plus the league schedule.

Something that intrigues me though regarding Sheffield being a poor city. Maybe its just a myth but I was always under the impression the North East was poorer or just as poor as us. But Newcastle, Sunderland and even Boro have had a fair bit more success than the two Sheffield clubs. Maybe Newcastle isn't as poor now as it used to be but as for the other 2, Boro have been in the PL quite regularly these last 20 years and won the League Cup in 2004, Sunderland have recently come out of a 10 year spell. So I'm not sure as to the reasons why these clubs have managed this and not Sheffield.

 

[BushBlade]

Generally speaking I agree.

Regarding cheap tickets, especially now we're in the PL the revenue from ticket sales shouldn't matter as much now as it would've done in recent decades. But saying that we don't know how or how much of the PL revenue will be reinvested - and if/once we get new owners there'll be the uncertainty as to what their intentions will be for the club. BL will be more or less at full capacity next season but it should be insignificant compared to being a current PL club.

What I meant by 'sustain' in the top flight is by surviving after the first and second seasons and lasting anything up to 10 or so seasons. I know to never expect that we can remain there forever as you've already said.

Again this might be blind optimism on my part but I do think we might become capable of winning one of the cups. Granted this may be getting even harder than ever as I think the top 6 clubs in England are leaving the rest of the PL behind due to the ever increasing revenues in today's game. As you've already said its nearly a full century since we won our last cup, but the way I look at it is that its about time that changed and its just a feeling of mine that our time will eventually come where we'll have our day in the sun. But you never know on a cup run if we could be lucky enough to catch out some of the big teams on a busy European schedule plus the league schedule.

Something that intrigues me though regarding Sheffield being a poor city. Maybe its just a myth but I was always under the impression the North East was poorer or just as poor as us. But Newcastle, Sunderland and even Boro have had a fair bit more success than the two Sheffield clubs. Maybe Newcastle isn't as poor now as it used to be but as for the other 2, Boro have been in the PL quite regularly these last 20 years and won the League Cup in 2004, Sunderland have recently come out of a 10 year spell. So I'm not sure as to the reasons why these clubs have managed this and not Sheffield.

Look at the catchment area for Newcastle including North Shields, South Shields etc, it’s huge for a single club. Sunderland is similar.

We have to share with Wednesday.

I can usually estimate a city’s historic wealth by looking at the ratio of ‘middle class’ areas to ‘working class’ but I just don’t know enough about Newcastle or Sunderland to do that, nor have I the inclination to research them. I do know that Sunderland were once considered a rich club. But even if they once were, they’ve fallen a long way behind the top six. They’ve got no international profile, no global sponsorship deals.

Boro won the cup because Gibson was able to pump money in, same as Blackburn winning the league with Jack Walker’s money. But finances have changed again since then and local businessmen can’t afford to fund a PL championship these days, you need to be a billionaire.

We haven’t missed one bus, we’ve missed several, we didn’t win anything immediately after the war, when we could have, we didn’t win anything in the fifties or sixties when we could have, we collapsed in the seventies when the likes of Derby and Forest were winning things, we’ve missed countless years of PL income. And the championship is full of clubs with similar sob stories, teams that have blown it much more than we have.

 

[Cerberus Blade]

Well what I was alluding to was we've never done well in the past when we've been the favourites e.g. promotion/relegation deciders and in P/O campaigns. In my opinion we tend to perform better and get results when no one expects us to e.g. the cup runs under NW and Clough not so long ago. I'm just saying it as I see it because usually that's how this club seems to be. I'm a young fan though so maybe it's not always been like this, I know we were top flight regulars for the majority of the 20th century but the club has certainly underachieved for the last 40 years.

I'm certainly with you fully on what you say though, and already I think CW & AK have turned the club around and have the faith that they will continue to do so. If we sustain in the top flight and win a cup or two then I'm sure we will be rid of the negative perceptions you mentioned.

Totally agree.

Apparently the reason why they chose a Blades shirt to be worn by Rob Carlisle in the “Full Monty” film was because we represented the poor underdog in the city. Rise up brethren! When they make the sequel to it they’ll pick a Wednesday shirt next time! (That’s assuming they’re are still in business).

 

[Danny_Blade]

Look at the catchment area for Newcastle including North Shields, South Shields etc, it’s huge for a single club. Sunderland is similar.

We have to share with Wednesday.

I can usually estimate a city’s historic wealth by looking at the ratio of ‘middle class’ areas to ‘working class’ but I just don’t know enough about Newcastle or Sunderland to do that, nor have I the inclination to research them. I do know that Sunderland were once considered a rich club. But even if they once were, they’ve fallen a long way behind the top six. They’ve got no international profile, no global sponsorship deals.

Boro won the cup because Gibson was able to pump money in, same as Blackburn winning the league with Jack Walker’s money. But finances have changed again since then and local businessmen can’t afford to fund a PL championship these days, you need to be a billionaire.

We haven’t missed one bus, we’ve missed several, we didn’t win anything immediately after the war, when we could have, we didn’t win anything in the fifties or sixties when we could have, we collapsed in the seventies when the likes of Derby and Forest were winning things, we’ve missed countless years of PL income. And the championship is full of clubs with similar sob stories, teams that have blown it much more than we have.

Another thing I sometimes wonder, am I right in thinking that because of the mass revenue a club receives by just simply being in the PL these days - does it no longer matter how poor a club is (or how prosperous the location is) in terms of how successful they could become?

For instance using revenue money wisely and reinvesting it, surely if the club is manged well (off the field) they could potentially sustain (even a club like ours) for a very long time? I suppose this all depends on what the owners are like. McCabe has always had our best interests at heart but unfortunately isn't wealthy enough, so I suppose the question is will we be fortunate enough once the club is in fresh hands will we get owners with the best of both worlds i.e. the best intentions and millions in addition to the PL revenue without being too bothered about making a buck for themselves?

 

[BushBlade]

Another thing I sometimes wonder, am I right in thinking that because of the mass revenue a club receives by just simply being in the PL these days - does it no longer matter how poor a club is (or how prosperous the location is) in terms of how successful they could become?

For instance using revenue money wisely and reinvesting it, surely if the club is manged well (off the field) they could potentially sustain (even a club like ours) for a very long time? I suppose this all depends on what the owners are like. McCabe has always had our best interests at heart but unfortunately isn't wealthy enough, so I suppose the question is will we be fortunate enough once the club is in fresh hands will we get owners with the best of both worlds i.e. the best intentions and millions in addition to the PL revenue without being too bothered about making a buck for themselves?

The best we can hope for is something like Southampton.
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