Can we ever be a “Powerhouse” of Football again?

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Cerberus Blade said:
It was a description of our club at the turn of the last century.

We were, by anyone’s reckoning, one of the best teams in the country.

Along the way, something went wrong?

We’re still one of the best supported clubs in the country. In fact, considering our underachievement, we are doing very well. But we failed to keep up with the Manchester, Liverpool and some London teams, who were behind us back then.

And even worse, little clubs with no history or tradition are miles ahead of us.

What does it take to be a “Powerhouse” of football again?

It’s not just about what happens on the pitch for sure.

Be great if we could be a Powerhouse again one day?
Click to expand...

We should never have sold Alf Common. :(
 
If we build steadily, season on season then perhaps we can eventually break into that top two in this division with some smart purchases and of course sales of young talent.

I reckon that we need this season and next season to have a lot of luck, as well as getting the right players in. Trouble is that by next season Billy, Leon, McG, Coutts, Bash will all be another year older and if the likes of Fleck, JOC and Norwood have good seasons, there will be renewed interest in them.

So it means that even with the best will in the world to build your side, theres no chance to compete with sides coming down with 100's of millions when we can make at best 12-15 off our best young talent.

That top two will never get any closer and clubs will be breaking the bank and FFP to do it
 
Define "powerhouse"?

If it means being successful in the Premier League then there is absolutely no reason why we can't be.
 
No we can’t, the other question is “would we want to be?”. For me this is also a “no”. We’d have to sell our souls to the devil and at some point it would all go tits up as it does with all the “new money” clubs.

The top 6 clubs now have had a minimum 10 years of financing and the likes of Man U and Liverpool were rich in the old world as well. Teams like us just don’t belong in that world. You’ll have teams like Wolves, Fulham etc who do well for a bit but they’re screwed if they ever get relegated. Be happy with our lot and hope for a few play off pushes and a lack of relegation battles, that’s about the best we’ll get.
 
I’d love to see us become a “powerhouse” but I can’t see that happening any time soon. I’d be more than happy to do what Leicester has done, they’ll not do what they did again but their name is on the list of PL winners and ours isn’t.
 
We can't afford to compete with most of this division, let alone the one above - so for me, no - not any time soon.
 
The Bassett era, I like probably many on here thought "we're back". The Warnock ere, again thought "we're back". Both times I thought we'd build to higher. Both times, let down by the Chairman and board.
Be careful what you wish for people say. I certainly did not wish wish to be lower for longer in our history than ever.
The boards in charge of our club since 1976 have continually let down this wonderful fan base of ours, despite having a real decent representation of local folk. Foreign owners, yes please if it leads to £20s plenty and a Premier league stay. Being stuck too much in tradition without cultural growth has cost us dear since the mid 70s. If only we'd been forward thinking enough to trust the lady boy Samantha! Perhaps we'd have been taken over by some Thai ladyboys, leading to a female CEO to moan at or hero worship??
Every club of our size during the period mentioned ( and remember we were quoted on National Television as being the SIXTH biggest in the country) has done better than us.
Prince to win control? Well he cannot do any worse than what has happened. Two promotions in nearly 30 years the majority of that with one man at the top.
The model was Bolton. Plenty of seasons in the premier league. The model was WBA. let's yo yo for a while. The modal was Portsmouth or Coventry. At least we'd have the memories of cup wins. The four mentioned will probably say "excuse me", as they push past us again on the way back to the premier league.
Let's make our own model but for that things have to change and I just don't see it.
So after that long rant, the answer is probably not.
 
I question this dream we are all chasing. Everyone in the championship wants to get to the prem and that is fair enough we are in it for the glory. But once we get there what will it be like.

You have the top 6 who can challenge for the league. The next 3 or 4 fitting for Europe and the rest hoping they don’t get relegated. What sort of league / glory is that.

I have a mate at work who is a Huddersfield fan. He goes to the match hopping for a draw. Bollocks to that.

I don’t want to see other teams wonderful players I want to see my team compete and win. Over the last three season arguably one of the best was the promotion year in league 1 what does that tell us?

Personally I like the championship. It’s competitive you get good grounds to visit and good away followings to your ground. What more do you want.

Well apart from a rich Russian to take us to the champions Leauge lol.
 
Will Sheffield United ever conquer effective nuclear fusion or solve the problem of world poverty?

Discuss..... (if you have nothing better to do).
 
No. Simply because Sheffielders don’t like change. We don’t want some “foreigner” (and by that I mean anyone from outside the ‘S’ postcode) coming in and doing summat. McCabe’s only got away with it for so long because he’s the biggest Blade ever.

Do we need ‘billions’? No. We need about £5m for a good striker. We haven’t even got that. Powerhouse? I’d argue we’re currently punching above our weight as it is.
 



The last time we were a genuine powerhouse of football was in an era when football was in its infancy, teams were built from 11 local lads and some teams didn’t even exist.

Much would have to change for us to even have a sniff of that kind of success.
 
Without massive and sustained investment unfortunately we cannot compete with the big city teams in the North West and London
Sheffield is not a big industrial cosmopolitan city and is not really attractive to foreign investment
It’s a shame but that’s the way it is
 
Cerberus Blade said:
It was a description of our club at the turn of the last century.

We were, by anyone’s reckoning, one of the best teams in the country.

Along the way, something went wrong?

We’re still one of the best supported clubs in the country. In fact, considering our underachievement, we are doing very well. But we failed to keep up with the Manchester, Liverpool and some London teams, who were behind us back then.

And even worse, little clubs with no history or tradition are miles ahead of us.

What does it take to be a “Powerhouse” of football again?

It’s not just about what happens on the pitch for sure.

Be great if we could be a Powerhouse again one day?
Click to expand...

Not a chance!
 
This is a great thread and is something I’ve discussed at length for years.

For me, like many, the answer is no and I wouldn’t want to be. Simply put, being successful relies on spending more money than other clubs. That isn’t sport to me. It isn’t competition and it is no fun. There is no glory in buying titles. I seriously do not know how Man City / Chelsea fans have been able to celebrate whatever they’ve won, because all that’s happened is some rich owners bought them and bought a few premier league titles. Is that an achievement in sport? I consider Man Utd/Liverpool slightly differently to those clubs above, but in more recent years the same applies.

I can honestly say with hand on heart, that if we ever ended up like Man City I would not go any more. Sounds silly but I’m serious. Maybe I’d still like to see top players playing at the lane, however I don’t think I could ‘support’ a club like that. Cheering a goal/win would feel false.

So this isn’t about accepting mediocrity for me, it’s about having a club to be proud of from top to bottom. Then, if and when we ever do succeed, maybe win a cup one day, it will mean a hell of a lot to me and you.
 
SotonBlade said:
A full and reasoned post as always....:D
Click to expand...
If only twitter would go to one word. There is a quote by Mark Twain and it goes like this, 'I'm sorry for writing a long letter, I didn't have time to write a short one'
 
TomHeffernan said:
If we won the FA Cup in my lifetime I'd die a happy man.
Click to expand...

I'd take less than that, i'd take an appearance in the Final. To be honest & without wishing to sound odd, the 15 minutes of half time break in the semi v. Hull, rank as some of my best as a Blade. For that beautiful moment, I really believed. I thought we were actually going to get to an FA Cup Final, actually get the chance to be at one. An. FA. Cup. Final. Just imagine that. :)
 
Nicolaus_Copernicus said:
I'd take less than that, i'd take an appearance in the Final. To be honest & without wishing to sound odd, the 15 minutes of half time break in the semi v. Hull, rank as some of my best as a Blade. For that beautiful moment, I really believed. I thought we were actually going to get to an FA Cup Final, actually get the chance to be at one. An. FA. Cup. Final. Just imagine that. :)
Click to expand...

I felt the same.
 
Birdwell Blade said:
This is a great thread and is something I’ve discussed at length for years.

For me, like many, the answer is no and I wouldn’t want to be. Simply put, being successful relies on spending more money than other clubs. That isn’t sport to me. It isn’t competition and it is no fun. There is no glory in buying titles. I seriously do not know how Man City / Chelsea fans have been able to celebrate whatever they’ve won, because all that’s happened is some rich owners bought them and bought a few premier league titles. Is that an achievement in sport? I consider Man Utd/Liverpool slightly differently to those clubs above, but in more recent years the same applies.

I can honestly say with hand on heart, that if we ever ended up like Man City I would not go any more. Sounds silly but I’m serious. Maybe I’d still like to see top players playing at the lane, however I don’t think I could ‘support’ a club like that. Cheering a goal/win would feel false.

So this isn’t about accepting mediocrity for me, it’s about having a club to be proud of from top to bottom. Then, if and when we ever do succeed, maybe win a cup one day, it will mean a hell of a lot to me and you.
Click to expand...
amen bro’ ;)
my brother in law is a massive city fan.. him and his mates have started going to Stockport for ‘the craic’ after they got thrown out recently for standing up
the bubble will burst sooner or later .. that’s the thing the plastic fans don’t get.. there is more to football than just winning .. at least in England
 



Only if we bring Ched back in Jan!!
 
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