Executive management

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

F

Fruitbat

New Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2021
Messages
1
Reaction score
16
I reckon that, at the very heart of the shitshow that has been our preparation for a return to the PL, sits Stephen Bettis. The Prince cops a lot of flack, some of it well-deserved, some of it less so. But I’d have thought that much of the failure to prepare for this season, sits squarely with Bettis. We read a lot about how well-managed clubs, such as Brighton, are planning 4-5 transfer windows in advance. How they maximise the on-sale value of their squad. How they are rigorous and targeted in their recruitment. These are all strategic and medium-term management issues - areas which sit with the Chief Executive. Of course, he can’t make Ndiaye or Berge sign if they don’t want to. But for crying out loud, these issues did not jump out from behind a bush with just days to go before the new season! Even the very basics - having agreements for replacement in place BEFORE announcing the departures to the world - weren’t done, so ratcheting up the prices we needed to pay.
The squad needs new blood for sure, but if I were the Prince, or any new owner, I’d be looking beyond the playing and coaching staff, and installing professional and competent executive management.
 

Fruitbat said:
I reckon that, at the very heart of the shitshow that has been our preparation for a return to the PL, sits Stephen Bettis. The Prince cops a lot of flack, some of it well-deserved, some of it less so. But I’d have thought that much of the failure to prepare for this season, sits squarely with Bettis. We read a lot about how well-managed clubs, such as Brighton, are planning 4-5 transfer windows in advance. How they maximise the on-sale value of their squad. How they are rigorous and targeted in their recruitment. These are all strategic and medium-term management issues - areas which sit with the Chief Executive. Of course, he can’t make Ndiaye or Berge sign if they don’t want to. But for crying out loud, these issues did not jump out from behind a bush with just days to go before the new season! Even the very basics - having agreements for replacement in place BEFORE announcing the departures to the world - weren’t done, so ratcheting up the prices we needed to pay.
The squad needs new blood for sure, but if I were the Prince, or any new owner, I’d be looking beyond the playing and coaching staff, and installing professional and competent executive management.
Click to expand...
We should do. I reckon we’re the only premier league club with one bloke running the show. I know we used to parachute in Carl Schieber during transfer windows to help out on the football side of things. No idea if we’ve made him a permanent member of staff or not though.

We could probably do with a more fleshed out staffing situation on the football side of things. Hecky strikes me as someone who’s be able to work under a director of football for example.
 
Yeah I’m not sure how much you can throw at Bettis either. No idea who, if anyone is helping him to deliver what needs to be done. If he’s not allowed to bring people in then it’s harsh to blame. Can’t do it all.
 
S64 Blade said:
Yeah I’m not sure how much you can throw at Bettis either. No idea who, if anyone is helping him to deliver what needs to be done. If he’s not allowed to bring people in then it’s harsh to blame. Can’t do it all.
Click to expand...
Had a quick look at how Brighton and Brentford are structured given the plaudits they get for how they’re run off the the field. I know we can’t copy their counting or player identification methods but it would make sense to me to look at how successful clubs are at least structured and take note.

Brentford have a DoF and technical director and a technical director for their B team. Brighton have a technical director but no DoF I don’t know if that’s because their owner and deputy chairman are more hands on. But either way I’d say it’s clear there’s space for at least one person to come in on the footballing side of things
 
I think it is actually worse than that. The preparation for this season appears to me to be just another sign that Bettis is way out of his depth running a £100m+ turnover company. In my view he was Wilder's worst signing...... which is some achievement! (Didn't Wilder want him in to be a conduit between himself and the Prince?) I can't think of any off field aspect of the club that is well run: - supporter communication (e.g. the mixture of silence and misinformation about the partial closure of the Kop), the continuing disaster that is Bramall Lane catering, the ticket office incompetence, including the ludicrous fiasco that stopped thousands of Blades going to Wembley, the recruitment process, the not so superstore, the administration of the academy and training facilities, medical support for players etc etc. All of these aspects of running a football club are at best at Third Division standard at Bramall Lane. I know Bettis can't run all of these things, but as CEO it is his job to make sure there are competent people in place to run them and to continue to hold those people to account for their achievements. I can't see any evidence that this actually happens.
 
Hard to know without having the inside track.
It's more believable that Bettis is too thinly spread and trying to do his best with very limited resources. Like Heckingbottom.

My conclusion, typically, is that the blame probably lies with the Prince.
 
We have nobody in senior management who knows what 'good' looks like in how to run a premier league football club in this day and age.

The only real way to change that is to headhunt someone from a top premiership side who understands what structure you need in place to be successful. Someone who will tell the owner how it is and what we need to do to progress to the next level.

Until we do that we will continue to be run like a first division team
 
FriethBlade said:
We have nobody in senior management who knows what 'good' looks like in how to run a premier league football in this day and age.

The only real way to change that is to headhunt someone from a top premiership side who understands what structure you need in place to be successful. Someone who will tell the owner how it is and what we need to do to progress to the next level.

Until we do that we will continue to be run like a first division team
Click to expand...

A proper sporting director would be a good start. There should be a buffer between PH & the Board.
 
Just get Stuart Webber in he worked wonders at Norwich and Huddersfield with no money and now the rules have relaxed on foreign players he would be able to exploit the European market again like he has done previously.
 
Just like any company if things go tits up blame somebody further down the chain. The Prince is in charge so the buck stops with him.
 
there a few bigger wasters employed at S2 !
can somoene tell me what the flying fk McCARTHY does for his £000s ?
apart from man the player tunnel like a well dressed bouncer on matchdays
 
It’s difficult to comment when we don’t no what their scope is.

Whatever it is, it hasn’t been done with the urgency required this window. I’ve never known us enter a season with seemingly so much still to do.

Some is getting done but are we so confident that we will write off 10% of the season while we get our ducks in line?
 
Yogi said:
We should do. I reckon we’re the only premier league club with one bloke running the show. I know we used to parachute in Carl Schieber during transfer windows to help out on the football side of things. No idea if we’ve made him a permanent member of staff or not though.

We could probably do with a more fleshed out staffing situation on the football side of things. Hecky strikes me as someone who’s be able to work under a director of football for example.
Click to expand...
It was made patently clear at the famous presser by Chairman Giansyracusa that Hecky was appointed as FOOTBALL manager (nothing else) and that we would be a development club - if Bettis needs help wheeling & dealing , he shouldn't look to Hecky - he needs more support from the absent owner or the absent chairman or a competent assistant.
 

Keen Blade said:
It was made patently clear at the famous presser by Chairman Giansyracusa that Hecky was appointed as FOOTBALL manager (nothing else) and that we would be a development club - if Bettis needs help wheeling & dealing , he shouldn't look to Hecky - he needs more support from the absent owner or the absent chairman or a competent assistant.
Click to expand...
It’s up to Bettis to put a structure in place that works.

Maybe he pushes more ownership on the recruitment team. Maybe others need to be engaged.

Whilst the buck will always stop with the owner, it’s not his job to micro manage how Bettis sets out the day to day to function properly.

I don’t get why he never communicates. He’s there when we sack someone or hire someone. He might just pop out if we sign or sell someone, at a push.

As far as overall progress of anything he doesn’t share anything; safe standing, ground development, Academy site search, catering, fan engagement etc.

It would be like my employer only communicating when quarterly results were out or when a senior figure left lr was hired yet never once spoke of their vision for the organisation.

This whole blanket silence on everything is not a good look.
 
Until the Prince sells up, he'll stick with Bettis, hopefully the new owner will want their own man in.
 
Champagneblade said:
It’s up to Bettis to put a structure in place that works.

Maybe he pushes more ownership on the recruitment team. Maybe others need to be engaged.

Whilst the buck will always stop with the owner, it’s not his job to micro manage how Bettis sets out the day to day to function properly.

I don’t get why he never communicates. He’s there when we sack someone or hire someone. He might just pop out if we sign or sell someone, at a push.

As far as overall progress of anything he doesn’t share anything; safe standing, ground development, Academy site search, catering, fan engagement etc.

It would be like my employer only communicating when quarterly results were out or when a senior figure left lr was hired yet never once spoke of their vision for the organisation.

This whole blanket silence on everything is not a good look.
Click to expand...
I reckon the blanket silence speaks volumes about the stability of the club.
The two failed sales of the club and the financial cliffedge and the uncertainty of whether we'd get promotion meant that quite literally no-one at the club knew what fate awaited us.
Administration and/or selling the ground for development must have been under consideration until promotion saved us.
We survived but as an entity so weak as to be unsuited to a season in the PL.
If we avoid relegation it will be a miracle , but let's all get praying !
 
Sticking to transfers, I suspect that Bettis has to report everything to The Lard Arse who has to approve it before it can go up to The Prince for signing off or otherwise. Hence the turgid crawl of our transfer business unless it’s a freebie. If Bettisssss got a deal done in the UK at 11 this morning, he’d be having to report to LA at 4am and he’s not shifting his lardy arse for the Blades at that time. Then depends where PA is. If he’s in Dubai and LA gets to think about Bettissss at 9.00am PA gets to know at 8.00 pm when he may or may not feel like responding. Meanwhile it’s 5 pm in UK.

Ffs get a trusted transfer committee in place with an agreed budget and power to negotiate contracts. (PS. Don’t allow Wilder anywhere near it).
 
Fruitbat said:
I reckon that, at the very heart of the shitshow that has been our preparation for a return to the PL, sits Stephen Bettis. The Prince cops a lot of flack, some of it well-deserved, some of it less so. But I’d have thought that much of the failure to prepare for this season, sits squarely with Bettis. We read a lot about how well-managed clubs, such as Brighton, are planning 4-5 transfer windows in advance. How they maximise the on-sale value of their squad. How they are rigorous and targeted in their recruitment. These are all strategic and medium-term management issues - areas which sit with the Chief Executive. Of course, he can’t make Ndiaye or Berge sign if they don’t want to. But for crying out loud, these issues did not jump out from behind a bush with just days to go before the new season! Even the very basics - having agreements for replacement in place BEFORE announcing the departures to the world - weren’t done, so ratcheting up the prices we needed to pay.
The squad needs new blood for sure, but if I were the Prince, or any new owner, I’d be looking beyond the playing and coaching staff, and installing professional and competent executive management.
Click to expand...

How old are you, son, because I think you’ll go far?…

Edit: Post of the year…💥
 
Last edited:
Fruitbat said:
I reckon that, at the very heart of the shitshow that has been our preparation for a return to the PL, sits Stephen Bettis. The Prince cops a lot of flack, some of it well-deserved, some of it less so. But I’d have thought that much of the failure to prepare for this season, sits squarely with Bettis. We read a lot about how well-managed clubs, such as Brighton, are planning 4-5 transfer windows in advance. How they maximise the on-sale value of their squad. How they are rigorous and targeted in their recruitment. These are all strategic and medium-term management issues - areas which sit with the Chief Executive. Of course, he can’t make Ndiaye or Berge sign if they don’t want to. But for crying out loud, these issues did not jump out from behind a bush with just days to go before the new season! Even the very basics - having agreements for replacement in place BEFORE announcing the departures to the world - weren’t done, so ratcheting up the prices we needed to pay.
The squad needs new blood for sure, but if I were the Prince, or any new owner, I’d be looking beyond the playing and coaching staff, and installing professional and competent executive management.
Click to expand...
Why would our media team team be given the green light to film Illiman recieving Billy's number 10 shirt if both parties knew of his impending departure🤔?
Let me guess,because the club are permanently hell bent on screwing the fans cor we're a bunch of drongo's......
Oh wait a minute😳.
I hope you don't attend games with those notions in your head mate.We need all the SUPPORT we can muster this season.👍
 
Shawy24 said:
Sticking to transfers, I suspect that Bettis has to report everything to The Lard Arse who has to approve it before it can go up to The Prince for signing off or otherwise. Hence the turgid crawl of our transfer business unless it’s a freebie. If Bettisssss got a deal done in the UK at 11 this morning, he’d be having to report to LA at 4am and he’s not shifting his lardy arse for the Blades at that time. Then depends where PA is. If he’s in Dubai and LA gets to think about Bettissss at 9.00am PA gets to know at 8.00 pm when he may or may not feel like responding. Meanwhile it’s 5 pm in UK.

Ffs get a trusted transfer committee in place with an agreed budget and power to negotiate contracts. (PS. Don’t allow Wilder anywhere near it).
Click to expand...
This is true, re. the time zones if we have to go through this sort of approval process. Could be one reason why it's seems to take forever, but I don't think it's purely this based on how sloppy we are with most aspects off the field.

A lot of it may be the usual case of too much work, with too few people. We don't really know who we have actually moving things along and implementing any changes. Bettis shouldn't be the person doing it all and I suspect he's not, but it may not be enough.
 
Westran said:
Until the Prince sells up, he'll stick with Bettis, hopefully the new owner will want their own man in.
Click to expand...

Actually, wasn't the Prince keen on getting rid of Bettis and it was Wilder that talked the Prince into getting him back?

Sheffield United FC

The place to get all your Sheffield United news on the first team, academy and Sheffield United Women. Download the app via the App Store and Google Play Store
www.sufc.co.uk www.sufc.co.uk

I am almost certain Prince was against this at the time. I could be wrong though.
 
Who is Bettis - a complete stooge….or just simply the invisible man??…what would be different if he wasn’t around, probably nothing, other than saving a considerable salary….
 
Black Cloud said:
Who is Bettis - a complete stooge….or just simply the invisible man??…what would be different if he wasn’t around, probably nothing, other than saving a considerable salary….
Click to expand...
It's easy to say that without seeing the day to day running of the club. I'm certain PH has mentioned that he leads on transfer negotiations, bet he has overall responsibility for all of the budgets and will set strategic direction for all areas of the club. l'm sure he has lots of areas of responsibility.

To be clear I'm not saying he does any of it well, we seem to be badly managed in every area except for the management of the squad. Fan experience seems very low on the agenda of the club, ticketing, kits, match day catering, open days gone, very little happens that isn't completely necessary and what does happen seems disjointed and poorly coordinated.
 
Fruitbat said:
I reckon that, at the very heart of the shitshow that has been our preparation for a return to the PL, sits Stephen Bettis. The Prince cops a lot of flack, some of it well-deserved, some of it less so. But I’d have thought that much of the failure to prepare for this season, sits squarely with Bettis. We read a lot about how well-managed clubs, such as Brighton, are planning 4-5 transfer windows in advance. How they maximise the on-sale value of their squad. How they are rigorous and targeted in their recruitment. These are all strategic and medium-term management issues - areas which sit with the Chief Executive. Of course, he can’t make Ndiaye or Berge sign if they don’t want to. But for crying out loud, these issues did not jump out from behind a bush with just days to go before the new season! Even the very basics - having agreements for replacement in place BEFORE announcing the departures to the world - weren’t done, so ratcheting up the prices we needed to pay.
The squad needs new blood for sure, but if I were the Prince, or any new owner, I’d be looking beyond the playing and coaching staff, and installing professional and competent executive management.
Click to expand...
Well said mate this sums it up 100% shortsightedness has put us where we are .
 

There’s a lot of supposition on this thread. I don’t think Bettis is faultless but there’s a lot of speculation about the inner workings and approval channels of the club.

A company of £100m+ t/o in any other industry would probably be fairly stable and staff up accordingly, we can go from sub £30m to £150m with a good or bad season or two on the pitch. It’s hard to scale up/down quickly on the admin side accordingly. Must be a nightmare to run.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom