At last - United aim to hold on to striker

[alcoblade]

Sadly not us, but the giant that is Southend.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/sport/bl...s_not_for_sale__warn_Southend_United/?ref=rss

UTB

 

[SwissBlade]

And if they end up selling him this week....

 

[alcoblade]

And if they end up selling him this week....

Well in reality Swiss, we all know that everyone's for sale. But we can send out signals that we intend to put up a fight for our players, or at the first sign of a bank note, roll out the often repeated and ever so convincing line of;

"Hey, when Crystal Palace come calling, who am I to stand in the way", the one that makes us all feel like we support a progressive football club every time we sell our best payer.

UTB

 

[sheffielder]

We're a 1st division club and have been offered £1m profit in less than 6 months. As long as other areas of the team are strengthened, Thanks for the penalties and good luck Nick

 

[alcoblade]

We're a 1st division club and have been offered £1m profit in less than 6 months. As long as other areas of the team are strengthened, Thanks for the penalties and good luck Nick

It's a bright future, isn't it. Who needs hope, when you can make £1M profit in less than 6 months. What's more, it might get McCabe's debt to below £40M. That's what we go for, eh.

Anyway, those who work in football from Reading, Sunderland and Palace are missing what the real football fans know, he's only good for penalties. I wonder why McCabe says "I hope he stays".

UTB

 

[SwissBlade]

I get your point alcoblade but I don't think the club have a habit of talking on speculation... You can take the positive or negative view on this, but as you say, every club and every player has a price.

As I understand it, McCabe has been digging into his own pocket to pay the bills, what ever that means...

Ok so that's all the business bullshit part out of the way. Onto Blackman.

I'd be a lot more concerned if we were selling long, Ironside, Whitehouse or even Harry and Diego. Blackman has done well this season, clearly has a lot to offer and has a knack under pressure for taking penalties.... But we might not get to penalties at Wembley this summer!

I personally like Blackman, he looks better on the wing especially when coming inside, but he's not a winger. I find he's a bit of a square peg at times. Seems to do ok up front, but can't play on his own and we don't have any strikers that seem to click with him up top. That's not to say he won't find a partner or slot in better, but I'm just saying that if we can wheel and deal to use the money for 2-3 other attacking players then it's a gamble we should take.

It'll be a shame to see him go, but I think by letting him go it allows us a better chance to progress.

 

[alcoblade]

He has pace and trickery, but with a lot to learn. We will be left with none. There is not one player left on our books who remotely excites me.

UTB

 

[metalblade]

For once I have to agree with alcoblade, Blackman is the only attacker left who offers pace and a bit of something different or unpredictable when he is gone we will be left with 4 target men types none of which set the pulse racing. Add to that we all know any money will come in in installments and not find it's way to Wilson. Like Southend we should be sending a strong message out to teams in higher leagues that they will have a fight on to take our players and that the price will be eye watering if they do.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

the point is we sell anybody we can. no team ever got anywhere by selling players all the time. its a myth that everybody sells, its pretty much just us. none of the other top 6 would be selling blackman under the current circumstances. at least not for a bid close to £3m. huddersfield only sold jordan rhodes AFTER they got promoted, and huddersfield arent exactly a massive. they kept him for 3 successful seasons. we cant even keep our top scorer for 6 months!

 

[Latters]

the point is we sell anybody we can. no team ever got anywhere by selling players all the time. its a myth that everybody sells, its pretty much just us. none of the other top 6 would be selling blackman under the current circumstances. at least not for a bid close to £3m. huddersfield only sold jordan rhodes AFTER they got promoted, and huddersfield arent exactly a massive. they kept him for 3 successful seasons. we cant even keep our top scorer for 6 months!

Leeds managed to keep hold of Beckford until after they were promoted, even though his contract was expiring. Granted he left on a free rather than for a million quid, but that was after the job was done.

Oh what am I talking about? We should all stand and applaud the million pound profit we've made at the next game. Sod the players on the pitch, it's profits and income that the fans are paying to watch.

 

[StarBlade]

Depends on how you look at how a football club should be run.

Firstly, would we all agree that football clubs should lose millions of pounds each year? I'd imagine, we'd all say no to that, regardless of who that debt is owed to, there's not much difference between Man City and Sheff Utd in that respect. It's not good practice, it's asking for trouble and leaves us vulnerable even if we only owe money to our owner. Therefore, one way to balance books is to make profits on player transfers.

But, the problem is is that we are selling players, making profit on these by the millions, and still losing millions each year and with all that in mind, we are getting worse on the pitch, from the Premier League to League 1 in a few years, with all the losses that come with it. In short, the people running the club no matter how admirable we think they are for dipping into their own pocket ("just sign this paper transferring the ground over to the holding company please"), they are running it un-businesslike. If we were run well, then we wouldn't be needing to sell our best players. It's because of those at the top that we are in trouble; they haven't saved us, they've put us there (with good intentions I admit).

Blackman hasn't gone yet that I know, and the longer it drags on the more he's likely to stay or we get a better price, but the bigger question is how we want SUFC to be run and whether those running it are able to do so.