Have we been promoted at right time?

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

I was never envious of the big 4 being rich and throwing money around but I'm loving having this extra cash, exciting doesn't describe it. Full credit to the board...

This Summer's transfer market has been mental. Even 12 months ago I never in my wildest dreams think we'd be paying £5m, £10m, £20m on players - we're Sheffield United FFS. However, the money sloshing around the football market means this season's transfer dealings have been astronomical with some bizarre valuations being thrown about (£80m for Maguire?!)....

This season, the amount of money in the market is unprecedented and we may have just salvaged a big piece of the pie and boarded a finance ship setting sail and leaving most behind. IF we can stay up then financially we will be miles ahead of most Champ teams and clubs like Wednesday who have next to zero chance in competing at the same budget (although we all know it's not always about budget). The chasm between us and them could become insurmountable for many years if we end up staying up and strengthening and them staying put in the lower reaches of the Champ. Even if we are relegated, the quality we've signed is fantastic for the Champ.

The question I have, is have we been promoted at the best time in the modern history of football?

 

[bypassblade]

Good post well thought out yes we're in a great position but, we mustn't let it slip none of us have known spending like this, it's great and sometimes worrying. When Owls came up in 2012 I said then that we'd be in Premier before them, and was laughed at well I was proved right. In young CW we've got our best manager and he's forward thinking it's great being a Blade all time, but especially at this moment.

 

[Camden Blade]

Maybe. We are certainly in a better position than in 2006/07. We have a better, more positive and aggressive in the right way management team for a start. Wilder won't be overawed like Warnock seemed to be at times saying things like we can't compete with these in his post match interviews and I like Warnock. But the investment has been unprecedented. I thought 06/07 was our chance of kicking on and leaving Wednesday behind. It wasn't to be. But this is our time. In a year or two Wednesday could be an irrelevance to us.

 

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Good post well thought out yes we're in a great position but, we mustn't let it slip none of us have known spending like this, it's great and sometimes worrying. When Owls came up in 2012 I said then that we'd be in Premier before them, and was laughed at well I was proved right. In young CW we've got our best manager and he's forward thinking it's great being a Blade all time, but especially at this moment.

The best thing about Wilder for me, is his mission to unite the club from Board to kit man. This has been underestimated in my eyes. It's been a big part of our success....only a Blade could've done this authentically and this will be an element to us staying up and continuing to gain share of aforementioned pie.

 

[Blade for Sale]

There's never a bad time, only a wrong way of approaching it. Last time we invested in too much mediocrity in both windows:

Mikele Leigertwood - England Crystal Palace, £600,000 (compensation), May 2006
David Sommeil - England Manchester City, free transfer, 24 May 2006
Claude Davis - England Preston North End, £3,000,000, 14 June 2006
Christian Nadé - France Troyes, 27 June 2006
Li Tie - England Everton, free transfer, July 2006
Rob Hulse - England Leeds United, £2,200,000 rising to £3,000,000, 24 July 2006
Ian Bennett - England Leeds United, undisclosed, 27 July 2006
Colin Kazim-Richards - England Brighton & Hove Albion, £150,000, 31 August 2006
Paul Gerrard - England Nottingham Forest, free transfer, 27 September 2006
Matthew Kilgallon - England Leeds United, £1,750,000 rising to £2,000,000, 8 January 2007
Jon Stead - Sunderland, £750,000 rising to £1,250,000, 11 January 2007[
Mamadou Seck - France Le Havre, free, 15 January 2007
Luton Shelton - Sweden Helsingborg, £2,000,000, 15 January 2007[
Ahmed Fathy - Egypt Ismaily SC, £700,000, 24 January 2007

14 players of which arguably only 4 were successful. That should have been 7-8-9 players of genuine quality, lo and behold, something which we seem to have done this time round.

You also need to ensure a plan is in place for recovery from a possible relegation. A realistic, not pessimistic, possibility. Lo and behold, we have a squad which looks fiercely capable in the Championship, even allowing for the inevitable few departures, backed up by some financial clout given the sensible (relative to income) investment thus far.

Basically, you need Wilder and Knill, not Warnock.

 

[SwissBlade]

I was never envious of the big 4 being rich and throwing money around but I'm loving having this extra cash, exciting doesn't describe it. Full credit to the board...

This Summer's transfer market has been mental. Even 12 months ago I never in my wildest dreams think we'd be paying £5m, £10m, £20m on players - we're Sheffield United FFS. However, the money sloshing around the football market means this season's transfer dealings have been astronomical with some bizarre valuations being thrown about (£80m for Maguire?!)....

This season, the amount of money in the market is unprecedented and we may have just salvaged a big piece of the pie and boarded a finance ship setting sail and leaving most behind. IF we can stay up then financially we will be miles ahead of most Champ teams and clubs like Wednesday who have next to zero chance in competing at the same budget (although we all know it's not always about budget). The chasm between us and them could become insurmountable for many years if we end up staying up and strengthening and them staying put in the lower reaches of the Champ. Even if we are relegated, the quality we've signed is fantastic for the Champ.

The question I have, is have we been promoted at the best time in the modern history of football?

I think the simple answer is yes. As i've said (too) many times, i'm not a fan of the premier league, i don't think its great for real supporters. However, i know i am being hypocritical here when i say that i am really glad that we have been promoted now.

As a club which has always operated with limited (or even no) funds, getting promoted and walking away with a minimum of £200million for one season is astounding, it means that we have zero money worries... for now at least.

We've gone in and spent 25% of the money, which i think is reasonable and more than even the most optimistic of us will have thought possible.

I'd happily have us back in the Championship next season sitting around at the top end of that division and having cup runs forever with Wilder at the helm...

But i think the way we've played this summer we could be looking at other cup runs in the next couple of years and i'll put up with going to far fewer games in this twattish division.

Well played United, you've timed it perfectly!

 

[Tynemouth Blade]

Is there ever a 'wrong time'?

 

[Antonb]

Let you know next may

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Yes

 

[Bladeinleeds]

On thing to consider is the financial difficulty

Swansea
Villa
WBA
Norwich

Have all found themselves in despite plenty of recent PL money and parashoot payments.

£50k per week wages don’t stretch very far on parashoot pauments alone tbh.

If we were to go down we would need to do some cloth cutting accordingly to be honest. But I’m sure there are relegation wage drop clauses in the contracts we’ve agreed this summer (if it came to that).

We’d need to get established to make that divide work long term - as actually not all that many PL sides have made profit recently

 

[mattbianco1]

I was never envious of the big 4 being rich and throwing money around but I'm loving having this extra cash, exciting doesn't describe it. Full credit to the board...

This Summer's transfer market has been mental. Even 12 months ago I never in my wildest dreams think we'd be paying £5m, £10m, £20m on players - we're Sheffield United FFS. However, the money sloshing around the football market means this season's transfer dealings have been astronomical with some bizarre valuations being thrown about (£80m for Maguire?!)....

This season, the amount of money in the market is unprecedented and we may have just salvaged a big piece of the pie and boarded a finance ship setting sail and leaving most behind. IF we can stay up then financially we will be miles ahead of most Champ teams and clubs like Wednesday who have next to zero chance in competing at the same budget (although we all know it's not always about budget). The chasm between us and them could become insurmountable for many years if we end up staying up and strengthening and them staying put in the lower reaches of the Champ. Even if we are relegated, the quality we've signed is fantastic for the Champ.

The question I have, is have we been promoted at the best time in the modern history of football?

Never a bad time obviously, but i've said previously, i'm glad in a way that we didn't go up in 2012 (hear me out)... Our paths with Chris Wilder would've gone in different directions. Whilst I liked Danny Wilson and the fact he had a squad in that first season capable of staying up in the Championship, I feel if he had got us up, we wouldn't have kicked on, in a way we would've turned into a Weds or Forest etc.

By missing out for 5 consecutive years it meant that fate had it's way and we got Wilder.

 

[maidmarion]

I think the simple answer is yes. As i've said (too) many times, i'm not a fan of the premier league, i don't think its great for real supporters. However, i know i am being hypocritical here when i say that i am really glad that we have been promoted now.

As a club which has always operated with limited (or even no) funds, getting promoted and walking away with a minimum of £200million for one season is astounding, it means that we have zero money worries... for now at least.

We've gone in and spent 25% of the money, which i think is reasonable and more than even the most optimistic of us will have thought possible.

I'd happily have us back in the Championship next season sitting around at the top end of that division and having cup runs forever with Wilder at the helm...

But i think the way we've played this summer we could be looking at other cup runs in the next couple of years and i'll put up with going to far fewer games in this twattish division.

Well played United, you've timed it perfectly!

I love your posts, they are always so reasoned and succinct.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

I love the Blades wherever we are in the Leagues.
UTB

 

[Half a magnet]

We’ve got an ambitious manager, we needed to get promotion to keep him happy and prevent other clubs coming in for him.

 

[guancheblade]

I was never envious of the big 4 being rich and throwing money around but I'm loving having this extra cash, exciting doesn't describe it. Full credit to the board...

This Summer's transfer market has been mental. Even 12 months ago I never in my wildest dreams think we'd be paying £5m, £10m, £20m on players - we're Sheffield United FFS. However, the money sloshing around the football market means this season's transfer dealings have been astronomical with some bizarre valuations being thrown about (£80m for Maguire?!)....

This season, the amount of money in the market is unprecedented and we may have just salvaged a big piece of the pie and boarded a finance ship setting sail and leaving most behind. IF we can stay up then financially we will be miles ahead of most Champ teams and clubs like Wednesday who have next to zero chance in competing at the same budget (although we all know it's not always about budget). The chasm between us and them could become insurmountable for many years if we end up staying up and strengthening and them staying put in the lower reaches of the Champ. Even if we are relegated, the quality we've signed is fantastic for the Champ.

The question I have, is have we been promoted at the best time in the modern history of football?

Based on your theory, wouldn't it not have been better to get promoted a season earlier before the transfer madness? Maybe then we wouldn't have had to fork out £10M for a Bournemouth reserve, and McBurnie may have come at under double digits. Then we'd have had millions more to splash around this summer.

 

[Scooter_mcgavin]

On thing to consider is the financial difficulty

Swansea
Villa
WBA
Norwich

Have all found themselves in despite plenty of recent PL money and parashoot payments.

£50k per week wages don’t stretch very far on parashoot pauments alone tbh.

If we were to go down we would need to do some cloth cutting accordingly to be honest. But I’m sure there are relegation wage drop clauses in the contracts we’ve agreed this summer (if it came to that).

We’d need to get established to make that divide work long term - as actually not all that many PL sides have made profit recently

I don't see it like this. Wilder has maintained that he will never put the club at risk. The 100m for this season, 40m in parachute next season would see us comfortably in profit should we get relegated. The problem with your Villa's, WBAs and Norwich's is that they took a few seasons to go back up. Once those parachutes run out, then that's where the problems kick in.

 

[boss hog]

If we can stay up it will completely transform the club ,both financially and the perception of the club with regards players seeing us as a good club to play for and pundits who at the moment think we're the next huddersfield.

 

[GrayBlade]

I’ll throw this out. How has the ownership dispute has impacted on the financial backing? Could it be that Wilder has actually been given more money than if say McCabe or HRH alone was running the show?

 

[BushBlade]

I think we’d have been better off going up last season (or the previous one if that had been possible). Transfer fees have caught up with the money paid to clubs so we’re having to pay a larger percentage of our income on each player.
There were also a number of badly run ‘established’ clubs like Swansea, Stoke that have slipped up, which made it easier for promoted clubs to stay up.

But I don’t think there’s a bad time to go up and there are several reasons why it’s great that we’ve gone up this time.
Our ageing forwards. We needed at some point soon to replace Sharp, Duffy, Clarke and possibly McGoldrick. That wasn’t going to be cheap and without a cash injection from our owners would have meant selling other players to finance it.
The ownership issue. Whoever wins can sell us if they so choose and the probability of getting a decent owner should be higher. Championship clubs attract chancers who think they’ve picked up a ‘bargain’. A PL club costs more but with a better chance of a return so you may get proper investors rather than rich egotists spending daddy’s money.

The gap is only going to get wider. We’re getting close to a cycle where there is a group of teams on parachute payments that distort the championship, spend a couple of seasons there, then go back up, like Villa and Norwich last season. It’s almost becoming a closed shop with maybe nine or ten clubs that will yo-yo between the championship and the PL. We might just have caught the last bus.

 

[Manuel Azaña]

By missing out for 5 consecutive years it meant that fate had it's way and we got Wilder.

By that logic my good man, how many years must pass before it arrives down S6?

25, 50, 75, 100, 100+

Hopefully, never in my lifetime, i'm planning to age like Methuselah.

 

[BushBlade]

Based on your theory, wouldn't it not have been better to get promoted a season earlier before the transfer madness? Maybe then we wouldn't have had to fork out £10M for a Bournemouth reserve, and McBurnie may have come at under double digits. Then we'd have had millions more to splash around this summer.

I’ve just posted the same. (It took me a while to write as I was interrupted). Two seasons ago (whilst impossible) would have given us the best chance of staying up as Stoke, West Brom and Swansea all floundered. I reckon we’d have done a much better job than Huddersfield did in our second season.

 

[mattbianco1]

By that logic my good man, how many years must pass before it arrives down S6?

25, 50, 75, 100, 100+

Hopefully, never in my lifetime, i'm planning to age like Methuselah.

Wait till Megson comes back

 

[BushBlade]

By that logic my good man, how many years must pass before it arrives down S6?

25, 50, 75, 100, 100+

Hopefully, never in my lifetime, i'm planning to age like Methuselah.

I think it could get harder each season. With parachute payments and FFP an owner can’t just buy his way out of the championship like they used to. They need to be a lot cannier and have a top class manager and recruitment staff. Top managers don’t grow on trees.
Chancer is going through the typical learning curve of every owner, starts off rich and naive and takes advice from the wrong people - loses loads of money. Now we’re at the ‘I’ve fucked this, I’m not sure how to sort it out or who to trust so I’ll fall back on a reliable coach that I know’.
Bruce might have done something there, I genuinely think the championship will be wide open, Chancer appeared to trust him and let him get on with it and he’s used to managing dysfunctional clubs. Things might just have fallen into place for him. Oh well.

 

[Speedracer]

We’ve got an ambitious manager, we needed to get promotion to keep him happy and prevent other clubs coming in for him.

Err.....have I missed a whoosh parrot here?

 

[Manuel Azaña]

Wait till Megson comes back

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Its the start of a new tv deal so more money than ever in the league due to worldwide rights increasing. When we got relegated it was the last year of the old tv deal so the next years clubs profited from money more than we did.

If we stay up 2 years then we've got 3 years of parachute payments at higher levels than those who've just gone down get.

So yes. Its quite a good time to go up.

 

[Speedracer]

Err.....have I missed a whoosh parrot here?

To answer my own question I thought your post said NEED not needed, sorry Half a magnet.

 

[Topplayersleave]

I think the simple answer is yes. As i've said (too) many times, i'm not a fan of the premier league, i don't think its great for real supporters. However, i know i am being hypocritical here when i say that i am really glad that we have been promoted now.

As a club which has always operated with limited (or even no) funds, getting promoted and walking away with a minimum of £200million for one season is astounding, it means that we have zero money worries... for now at least.

We've gone in and spent 25% of the money, which i think is reasonable and more than even the most optimistic of us will have thought possible.

I'd happily have us back in the Championship next season sitting around at the top end of that division and having cup runs forever with Wilder at the helm...

But i think the way we've played this summer we could be looking at other cup runs in the next couple of years and i'll put up with going to far fewer games in this twattish division.

Well played United, you've timed it perfectly!

Agree with everything except the bit about being happy to come back down again. We have to do all we can to stay up and improve constantly, Wilder want's a legacy and to be a recognised, quality Premier League club is it.
It's amazing what a downer getting relegated is, it's not easy to pick yourself up and go back up again as many clubs including us have found out. Our best three or four performers will have attracted a bit of attention and probably leave to stay in the Prem and all of a sudden you're starting all over again as opposed to just continuing with the plan.

 

[ShefRedandWhite]

Unless the bubble bursts the teams who get promoted from the Championship will be saying the same every season.
What's important is what is done with the relative riches of the time, and keeping it sustainable yet ambitious (thank god we have CWAK).

 

[SwissBlade]

Agree with everything except the bit about being happy to come back down again. We have to do all we can to stay up and improve constantly, Wilder want's a legacy and to be a recognised, quality Premier League club is it.
It's amazing what a downer getting relegated is, it's not easy to pick yourself up and go back up again as many clubs including us have found out. Our best three or four performers will have attracted a bit of attention and probably leave to stay in the Prem and all of a sudden you're starting all over again as opposed to just continuing with the plan.

I understand the negatives of getting relegated and of course its not realistic that we'd come back down and enjoy life again, there would be turmoil with players and staff leaving...

However. given a choice, as a supporter, i'd rather we were in the Championship as i think life is generally better for us there - more games, not so much disruption because of TV as most games are on Sat or Tuesday etc, better quality media reporting, better social interactions,

As a club we're obviously better off in the prem financially etc, but I think as a whole football is better in the Championship than the Premier League.

Controversial as it to say, but i think the quality of football is better to watch in the Championship. Premier League is boring as fook to watch