How did McCabe become a successful businessman?

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

Serious question. I know nothing about his business affairs, except he invests in lots of obscure football clubs in strange places. I know he hires people like Bryan Robson, and lets managers spend a fortune on average players then sells really good players for buttons. That's pretty much my knowledge of the man. Anybody like to educate me on his business empire?

 

[SwissBlade]

Property, made shed loads of money in it.

 

[beightonblade]

and pre crash yer cudn't fail .....just look at the fookers on them tv programmes !

 

[drinksmat]

Like most club owners the money is made before they get involved in football.

 

[beightonblade]

How to end up a millionaire owning a football club.............................................

start off a trillionaire !

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

lol. i wish i had trillions. im a superstar on football manager! i took afc wimbledon from the conference south, all the way to european and premier league champions. even with all the moaning players leaving cos they wanted to move to a "more metropolitan club" whatever that means. if my euromillions comes up, i'll show you all how a football club should run. tellin thee! first move...bring back fluorescent glow in the dark, get green flys stuck on them, away kits!

 

[sitwell]

All these very rich punters questioning a multi millionaire how he happened to make more money than a euro millions winner

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

All these very rich punters questioning a multi millionaire how he happened to make more money than a euro millions winner

yeah, but i bet he's crap on football manager! probably signs michael owen for 8 million, and sells messi for a tenner rising to £30 after 10 goals!

 

[sitwell]

yeah, but i bet he's crap on football manager! probably signs michael owen for 8 million, and sells messi for a tenner rising to £30 after 10 goals!

no thats kevin blackwell

 

[UnitedBlade]

Serious question. I know nothing about his business affairs, except he invests in lots of obscure football clubs in strange places. I know he hires people like Bryan Robson, and lets managers spend a fortune on average players then sells really good players for buttons. That's pretty much my knowledge of the man. Anybody like to educate me on his business empire?

Born on Shoreham Street, left Rowlinson with 4 'O' levels, set up Scarborough property company in 1980, currently worth £120M [unless The Times Rich List is showing something lower now]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCabe_(businessman)

If you look at the Scarborough website they have an investment portfolio of over £1bn pounds. If he keeps his funding in tact whilst the recession recovers and picks winners elsewhere in the world (ie Nigeria) he's going to be worth more than £120M eventually.

http://www.scarboroughgroup.com/about-us.html

Let's hope his magic business touch returns and some funding comes SUFC way.

I think it would be fair to say he's better at business than anyone else who contributes to this forum.

This will probably descend into another argument about McCabe and SUFC but as you were asking about his business, those are the facts.

 

[georgebernardshaw]

Born on Shoreham Street, left Rowlinson with 4 'O' levels, set up Scarborough property company in 1980, currently worth £120M [unless The Times Rich List is showing something lower now]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McCabe_(businessman)

If you look at the Scarborough website they have an investment portfolio of over £1bn pounds. If he keeps his funding in tact whilst the recession recovers and picks winners elsewhere in the world (ie Nigeria) he's going to be worth more than £120M eventually.

http://www.scarboroughgroup.com/about-us.html

Let's hope his magic business touch returns and some funding comes SUFC way.

I think it would be fair to say he's better at business than anyone else who contributes to this forum.

This will probably descend into another argument about McCabe and SUFC but as you were asking about his business, those are the facts.

I have not made this public before, but at the time of Bryan Robson's nadir (the defeat at Hillsborough), I contacted the club by email to make my feelings known. Not expecting any sort of reply, I was surprised to receive an email asking for my mobile number, saying he was overseas and would ring me at 9.00 p.m. UK time.

At 9.00 exactly, my mobile rang and a voice said "It's Kevin here, what's the problem?" - over the next twenty minutes, he gave me the chance to vent my spleen, and then told me he could make no promises, but he was watching the situation closely. He then told me that it was 5.00 a.m. their time, and he was just getting ready to leave for a flight to the States!

Whilst we did not agree on everything, he never tried to patronise me and there was also some industrial language used on both sides - I formed the opinion that he genuinely did care for the club, and although there will be dissenting voices to this, nothing has happened since to change my mind.

As I have said before, the reason that our pot to piss in has gone missing is not down to Kevin McCabe's lack of faith, it's down to market forces working against his company's fortunes - it was the same company fortunes that got us to the Premiership, when we were all very happy to have him on board and riding the wave.

So that's it lads, unpopular it may be, but that's the way it happened.

George

 

[beightonblade]

^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[SwissBlade]

lol. i wish i had trillions. im a superstar on football manager! i took afc wimbledon from the conference south, all the way to european and premier league champions. even with all the moaning players leaving cos they wanted to move to a "more metropolitan club" whatever that means. if my euromillions comes up, i'll show you all how a football club should run. tellin thee! first move...bring back fluorescent glow in the dark, get green flys stuck on them, away kits!

This is the man that thinks that Danny Wilson is no longer interested in the Blades job and doesn't even sign players... all based on a look of disinterest

 

[SwissBlade]

georgebernardshaw you'll do for me. Its not the first time i've heard something like this from fans.

Some people on here would have you believe that he is the devil by the way they write about him, so its good to get reminded about what he can actually be like.

 

[sitwell]

I worked in the next office to McCabes sister for years and can confirm that his whole family are genuine big Sheff Utd fans who do care passionately for the club. As for his business acumen ,how many proprty tycoons have gone under in the last couple of years ,ask Anthea Turner .I personally would prefer McCabe in charge than some foreign ne'er do well who will be here for a couple of years and then leave the club in the state Portsmouth find themselves in.

 

[Grecian2000]

how many proprty tycoons have gone DOWN in the last couple of years ,ask Anthea Turner.

There, fixed it for you Sitters. It's hundreds and Anthea's never been happier.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

There, fixed it for you Sitters. It's hundreds and Anthea's never been happier.

Sorrybut are you saying that McCabe went down on Anthea Turner

 

[mpjacko]

Serious question. I know nothing about his business affairs, except he invests in lots of obscure football clubs in strange places. I know he hires people like Bryan Robson, and lets managers spend a fortune on average players then sells really good players for buttons. That's pretty much my knowledge of the man. Anybody like to educate me on his business empire?

You are making the mistake that he runs his business like he does at Sheffield United. They are the complete opposite. Had he run United like he does in his business, we would not be in the situation that we are in now and prob back in the PL.

 

[KenMcnaughtsNuts]

I have not made this public before, but at the time of Bryan Robson's nadir (the defeat at Hillsborough), I contacted the club by email to make my feelings known. Not expecting any sort of reply, I was surprised to receive an email asking for my mobile number, saying he was overseas and would ring me at 9.00 p.m. UK time.

At 9.00 exactly, my mobile rang and a voice said "It's Kevin here, what's the problem?" - over the next twenty minutes, he gave me the chance to vent my spleen, and then told me he could make no promises, but he was watching the situation closely. He then told me that it was 5.00 a.m. their time, and he was just getting ready to leave for a flight to the States!

Whilst we did not agree on everything, he never tried to patronise me and there was also some industrial language used on both sides - I formed the opinion that he genuinely did care for the club, and although there will be dissenting voices to this, nothing has happened since to change my mind.

As I have said before, the reason that our pot to piss in has gone missing is not down to Kevin McCabe's lack of faith, it's down to market forces working against his company's fortunes - it was the same company fortunes that got us to the Premiership, when we were all very happy to have him on board and riding the wave.

So that's it lads, unpopular it may be, but that's the way it happened.

George

ahem. whats that in the sky? is it a bird? is it a plane? no wait...it's mel sterland!

anyways...i don't necessarily doubt his intentions. but almost all his decisions have been incredibly poor. about the only good thing he did was sack neil warnock. but only after letting him fritter away all our money on utter garbage, and then making one of the worst appointments in the history of football. every year we let our best young players go, for basically a pittance. then expect to win the league with a half-baked team. we talk about bringing through the kids, but the only ones we have are crap because the ones who are any good are sold for buttons. then we waste the money we "couldn't turn down" on wages for 30+ hasbeens. i know it's old ground, but when do the good decisions start?

sod sleepless in seattle, they should make a movie called banging your head against a brick wall in sheffield 2.

 

[georgebernardshaw]

ahem. whats that in the sky? is it a bird? is it a plane? no wait...it's mel sterland!

anyways...i don't necessarily doubt his intentions. but almost all his decisions have been incredibly poor. about the only good thing he did was sack neil warnock. but only after letting him fritter away all our money on utter garbage, and then making one of the worst appointments in the history of football. every year we let our best young players go, for basically a pittance. then expect to win the league with a half-baked team. we talk about bringing through the kids, but the only ones we have are crap because the ones who are any good are sold for buttons. then we waste the money we "couldn't turn down" on wages for 30+ hasbeens. i know it's old ground, but when do the good decisions start?

sod sleepless in seattle, they should make a movie called banging your head against a brick wall in sheffield 2.

A couple of points, Ken,

Firstly, your flying pigs analogy seems to doubt my thread.

Secondly, "when do the good decisions start?" - how long have you been a Blade?

George

 

[grafikhaus]

About the only good thing he did was sack neil warnock. but only after letting him fritter away all our money on utter garbage, and then making one of the worst appointments in the history of football.

And there you go. Opinions, opinions. I can assure you not everybody agrees with you about Warnock and many would have him back in a flash. It's these decisions that we don't have to make.

FWIW, I am massively disappointed by McCabe's recent performance, but old enough to remember it could be a lot worse - Brealey, MacDonald, Woolhouse, Hashimi etc.

Don't forget the good things he's done - financed us into the PL and, certainly not least, dug his heels in over cheating West Ham and won when all except Dave Whelan were siding with the 'system'.

Talking of which, decent article about Spam here. Highlight are:

Had it not been West Ham, Sullivan says he and Gold would have avoided such a financial risk. The debts were enormous. There were millions owed to Sheffield United in the wake of the Carlos Tevez affair; all this when the assets amounted to so little and there was no guarantee of securing the Olympic Stadium.

and:

Every player was being paid on the drip. Sheffield United were being paid on the drip. Every possible loan had been taken out. The assets were the players being paid on fat contracts and a stadium — because of where it is — that is probably worth less than my supermarket.

Apparently, just over £20m still to come...

 

[Eskimo]

Thanks GBS. I agree with your point of view on McCabe. On a long car journey a few weeks ago I mused about what i might have done differently with regard to the big decisions Kev has made and on most of them (not all), at the time I would have done the same. Here goes - not intended as a complete list or necessarily in order, Yes means I would in his position at the time have done the same thing:

Appointing Warnock - Yes
Being tight with Warnock to get the debt down in early years - yes
Internationalising the club thro partnerships etc - Yes
Supporting Warnock finally with money for transfers - Yes
Not renewing Warnock's contract - No
Appopinting Robson - NO no no no no no. God knows why he listened to that prat from Manchester - whatsisname
Sacking Robson - Yes
Progressing the Tevez thing through court - Yes I'd like to think so
Appointing Blackwell - Yes
Selling Beattie - Hmm No
Keeping Blackwell after Wembley 2009 - Yes
Selling Kyles - inevitable I think - Yes
Supporting Blackwell with Kyles' money - Yes
Sacking Blackwell - Yes but timing was lousy, I would probably have hung on a bit or sacked him before season started.
Appointing Speed - Have to say Yes - obvious successor
Appointing Adams - Yes but would have gone for O Driscoll first choice
Sacking Adams - No probably not
Appointing Wilson - No but I wasn't against the decision like some

Point of all this is I don't have much room to criticise what has happened. What would you have done/

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Appointing Warnock - Yes
Being tight with Warnock to get the debt down in early years - yes
Internationalising the club thro partnerships etc - Yes
Supporting Warnock finally with money for transfers - Yes
Not renewing Warnock's contract - No
Appopinting Robson - NO no no no no no. God knows why he listened to that prat from Manchester - whatsisname
Sacking Robson - Yes
Progressing the Tevez thing through court - Yes I'd like to think so
Appointing Blackwell - Yes
Selling Beattie - Hmm No
Keeping Blackwell after Wembley 2009 - Yes
Selling Kyles - inevitable I think - Yes
Supporting Blackwell with Kyles' money - Yes
Sacking Blackwell - Yes but timing was lousy, I would probably have hung on a bit or sacked him before season started.
Appointing Speed - Have to say Yes - obvious successor
Appointing Adams - Yes but would have gone for O Driscoll first choice
Sacking Adams - No probably not
Appointing Wilson - No but I wasn't against the decision like some

Not a lot I could disagree with there either - hindsight would question whether the international partnerships were wise, but I wasn't arguing with his foresight at the time he made the investment.

The choices of where the money was spent when Warnock was finally given money and the appointment of Robson must both surely sit with Our Terry - much of the rest can be linked back there.

I had mixed feelings when Warnock went. I was sad to see him go but also felt he'd run his course - he'd also thoroughly pissed me off with the Portsmouth thing. At the time I wanted to bring in someone young and forward thinking - my Dad was desperate to bring some Spaniard who was doing alright at Swansea in. I wonder what he's up to? (Martinez, not my Dad - he's probably banging about on here somewhere).

 

[Bladesway]

Fact is you get rich by not getting your cheque book out.

GBS, have the same story to tell going back to 1999 when he called me at home. Same old routine as well. Wrote to me on the back of it and convinced me to renew my season ticket. I don't doubt the mans intentions but I am guessing Peter Sutcliffe had good intentions once as well. Its his decision making I doubt (McCabes, not Sutcliffe).

 

[Revolution]

I like your list, Eskimo, and I'm going to have a go myself, if you don't mind: Like you, "Yes" means I would in his position at the time have done the same thing, trying to remember what I thought at the time:

Appointing Warnock - Yes
Being tight with Warnock to get the debt down in early years - yes
Internationalising the club thro partnerships etc - No
Supporting Warnock finally with money for transfers - Yes, but I might have been a bit more discerning about which purchases I would approve
Not renewing Warnock's contract - Yes
Appopinting Robson - NO no no no no no.
Sacking Robson - Yes
Progressing the Tevez thing through court - Yes
Appointing Blackwell - Yes
Selling Beattie - No no and no again
Keeping Blackwell after Wembley 2009 - Yes
Selling Kyles - I would not have sanctioned the sale of both of them with Kilgallon certain to leave as well.
Supporting Blackwell with Kyles' money - Yes
Sacking Blackwell - Yes, but earlier or later as Eskimo says
Appointing Speed - Yes
Appointing Adams - No
Sacking Adams - Yes, he had to go.
Appointing Wilson - No, and I would have been wrong

 

[blade too long]

lets not forget his expertise is property
are we proud how Bramall Lanes been developed , and that in the face of planning permission opposition from the wednesday bias council. lets not forget we spent 4/5 million over 3 applications over 3 years ( wasted as it never stood a chance< hes not a mason ) on the project to get the world cup bid , Strafford knocks up a 240 quid video tells a bucket of lies about money they didnt have, and they got the ok after 3 week
Football wise hes a fan , whos knowledge of pro football is that of a fan

Hes probably gets more stick for Robson than he deserves, on paper it didnt look so bad , no one could foresee how catastrophic he was
And hes there with the money even now , despite income falling well short of out goings
Yes a Russian oligarch would be nice, please apply to S2 4SU IF YOU HAVE A SPARE 400 MILLION YOU WANT TO FRITTER

 

[metalblade]

Appointing Warnock - Yes
Being tight with Warnock to get the debt down in early years - yes
Internationalising the club thro partnerships etc - N0
Supporting Warnock finally with money for transfers - Yes
Not renewing Warnock's contract - Yes
Appointing Robson - NO no no no no no. God knows why he listened to that prat from Manchester - whatsisname
Sacking Robson - Yes
Progressing the Tevez thing through court - Yes I'd like to think so
Appointing Blackwell - Yes
Selling Beattie - Yes, although I would not have bought him £40k per week was way too much
Keeping Blackwell after Wembley 2009 - Yes
Selling Kyles - inevitable I think - No (see Beattie wages above) I wouldn't have needed to sell anyone
Supporting Blackwell with Kyles' money - See above
Sacking Blackwell - Yes but timing was lousy, I would probably have hung on a bit or sacked him before season started.
Appointing Speed - No IMO we needed someone with experience
Appointing Adams - No
Sacking Adams - Yes
Appointing Wilson - No, but having said that Danny has not done a lot wrong we will have to see if the 2nd season syndrome kicks in.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I've been against McCabe's stewardship of the club for many years now because of the way he's gone about running the club. I have nothing against the man himself and don't doubt his passion. He's also done a few things I whole-heartedly agree with and appreciate. Such as improvements at the ground. The ground had been low priority for many years and it desperately needed attention.
He gets credit for pursuing the Tevez affair to the utter end, even when many fans were saying it's time to leave it and move on. It was more than just the money for me, there was a matter of principle.
I do appreciate that he is a Sheffield man and a Blade. For all the things I think he's done wrong, I would worry much more if we had a "disconnected" foreign sugar daddy. Two terrifying issues have been thankfully off the radar, they are 1) moving to a new stadium, and 2) the merger idea.

I believe that it is a mistake to treat a football club like any other business. Just because it has a profit and loss account doesn't mean you can run it like you would ICI. Sports clubs have elements and a dynamic that are unique. The off field activities were something I was opposed to from the beginning. Sometimes some of them will work, other times not. No business is guaranteed success and the good times that boost the club's finances would always have to be taken with the bad times that detract. Personally, I have no desire to become a fan of someone's business empire.
Some of the link-ups with foreign clubs could have worked, but don't seem to have added too much. Same with the academy - I'm still waiting for a manager to actually make proper use of it.
I also feel McCabe has appointed some people that should never have been at the club, such as Torry Robinson. On the other hand, I think people are way too harsh on the appointment of Robson. Although many said at the time it was a bad decision, I can understand why he went for it - and it could have worked.

 

[mattbianco1]

Serious question. I know nothing about his business affairs, except he invests in lots of obscure football clubs in strange places. I know he hires people like Bryan Robson, and lets managers spend a fortune on average players then sells really good players for buttons. That's pretty much my knowledge of the man. Anybody like to educate me on his business empire?

Try this link:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=kevin mccabe

 

[mattbianco1]

ahem. whats that in the sky? is it a bird? is it a plane? no wait...it's mel sterland!

anyways...i don't necessarily doubt his intentions. but almost all his decisions have been incredibly poor. about the only good thing he did was sack neil warnock. but only after letting him fritter away all our money on utter garbage, and then making one of the worst appointments in the history of football. every year we let our best young players go, for basically a pittance. then expect to win the league with a half-baked team. we talk about bringing through the kids, but the only ones we have are crap because the ones who are any good are sold for buttons. then we waste the money we "couldn't turn down" on wages for 30+ hasbeens. i know it's old ground, but when do the good decisions start?

sod sleepless in seattle, they should make a movie called banging your head against a brick wall in sheffield 2.

Foxy, Linz, can we get a dislike button?