If we sign no one, we are going down…..

[Older Blade]

Honestly, i've been playing and watching football for 60 years, and after following Blades for many of them and after last years debacle and the continuation this season, i am lost for words, i just don't have time to right chapter and verse but until we clear out the stagnant midfield (how many times have we seen a ball threaded through to the front men), Norwood is a lazy midfielder and we cannot afford luxury players, Flack offers nothing, and Berger is still learning (but who from?) certainly nobody in this team,

We will struggle to hold a mid table place unless we clear out a few and bring in new blood, but as someone rightly stated - Blades are always last minute dot com and bring in panic buys, with the main one being Brewster, ( i cant see Liverpool initiating the buy back clause! i can't remember anyone being such a bad buy for us, he even puts Chris Guthrie to shame!

 

[itsinyerblood]

It feels as if there's chronic mismanagement (and that's not a finger pointed at Sav) at the top of this club.

Wilder may be tied to a non-disclosure agreement, but from Sav's recent comments you don't need a degree in decoding to see that what's been said about the Board is that promises have been made that were never going to be kept. Assuming this is correct then don't expect Sav to remain silent, either that or he'll walk.

This won't be the first time that we've had people at our helm who imagine that good faith belongs to other people but has no place at this club. Well this type of mindset doesn't sit easily with me. If we're genuinely skint, and I mean for understandable reasons based on forces we had no control over then I can accept this, but finger-pointing seems to be the order of the day where our current regime is concerned, Taking responsibility would seem to be the concern of others, but not our Board. Something goes wrong it's someone else's fault, but you can bet your bottom dollar that any success will be claimed as a success by our Board.

With Sav's appointment I thought we had managed to get a manager of some pedigree, someone who'll give us the belief that's needed if we want to gain promotion. But what's been happening is the flip-side of this. Lies have clearly been told, misinformation would appear to be a convenience, but as is the case with this type of behaviour, it never remains secret for long, and this is when denial and blame shifting take over.

I've always preferred to stand back, observe, listen to the general consensus, and then, and only then, attempt to draw conclusions that more often than not are grounded in factual opinion. It may still be too early to know with any accuracy who or what is to blame for our apparent penniless state. What I do know is that large amounts of money, such as we've received over the last two and a bit years, can sometimes bring with it the sort of problems that few would have imagined. Managing far more than the bog-standard budget can prove difficult if you're not possessed of the type of savvy mindset any club needs if it wants to survive, let alone flourish.

Quite understandably, a player promoted to the Prem wants to be rewarded. And as for players we'd like to recruit, surely their expectations are that with any proposed move comes a better wage than they're used to? So this explains part of the hefty financial increase we're burdened with, and this assumes the team performs well enough to retain their status at the top table. Slipping down the table, with an inevitable consequence of relegation staring you in the face, you'd hope that this would incentivise any player to work their bollocks off to ensure we retain a place amongst this elite club. Well not in our case it seems. For reasons that mystified many supporters a regular first team place was pencilled in for a player that was obviously destined for a wage hike elsewhere, yet we seemed not to care, so the possibility of discontent amongst other players would seem to be an understandable consequence......the point I suppose I'm trying to make is that what should have been a time for high hopes turned into something bedeviled with despair, a lack of unity, and a set of problems that seemed to extend to the manager's office and beyond.

Fast-forward to our present and a Boardroom that would appear to consider being truthful as a side issue that can be swept under the carpet when it seems necessary.
No doubt Sav will be told he 'misunderstood' the club's intention, that any budgets quoted were 'possibilities' rather than absolutes. None of which helps to throw light on the delays in identifying and making contact with new recruits. To me, cutting through the waffle and bluster, we, by which I mean the Board, already knew that the type of spend we needed was never going to happen.

I do hope the Prince will take a leaf out of ol' Kev's book and make an appearance before the supporters to participate in a Q&A designed to explain, and possibly be grownup to admit to mistakes, why a decent manager was appointed without supporting him financially?

We either have an owner who is mature enough to confront these questions, or our current owner has despotic tendencies that should worry all of us.

 

[Gavlar]

It feels as if there's chronic mismanagement (and that's not a finger pointed at Sav) at the top of this club.

Wilder may be tied to a non-disclosure agreement, but from Sav's recent comments you don't need a degree in decoding to see that what's been said about the Board is that promises have been made that were never going to be kept. Assuming this is correct then don't expect Save to remain silent, either that or he'll walk.

This won't be the first time that we've had people at our helm who imagine that good faith belongs to other people but has no place at this club. Well this type of mindset doesn't sit easily with me. If we're genuinely skint, and I mean for understandable reasons based on forces we had no control over then I can accept this, but finger-pointing seems to be the order of the day where our current regime is concerned, Taking responsibility would seem to be the concern of others, but not our Board. Something goes wrong it's someone else's fault, but you can bet your bottom dollar that any success will be claimed as a success by our Board.

With Sav's appointment I thought we had managed to get a manager of some pedigree, someone who'll give us the belief that's needed if we want to gain promotion. But what's been happening is the flip-side of this. Lies have clearly been told, misinformation would appear to be a convenience, but as is the case with this type of behaviour, it never remains secret for long, and this is when denial and blame shifting take over.

I've always preferred to stand back, observe, listen to the general consensus, and then, and only then, attempt to draw conclusions that more often than not are grounded in factual opinion. It may still be too early to know with any accuracy who or what is to blame for our apparent penniless state. What I do know is that large amounts of money, such as we've received over the last two and a bit years, can sometimes bring with it the sort of problems that few would have imagined. Managing far more than the bog-standard budget can prove difficult if you're not possessed of the type of savvy mindset any club needs if it wants to survive, let alone flourish.

Quite understandably, a player promoted to the Prem wants to be rewarded. And as for players we'd like to recruit, surely their expectations are that with any proposed move comes a better wage than they're used to? So this explains part of the hefty financial increase we're burdened with, and this assumes the team performs well enough to retain their status at the top table. Slipping down the table, with an inevitable consequence of relegation staring you in the face, you'd hope that this would incentivise any player to work their bollocks off to ensure we retain a place amongst this elite club. Well not in our case it seems. For reasons that mystified many supporters a regular first team place was pencilled in for a player that was obviously destined for a wage hike elsewhere, yet we seemed not to care, so the possibility of discontent amongst other players would seem to be an understandable consequence......the point I suppose I'm trying to make is that what should have been a time for high hopes turned into something bedeviled with despair, a lack of unity, and a set of problems that seemed to extend to the manager's office and beyond.

Fast-forward to our present and a Boardroom that would appear to consider being truthful as a side issue that can be swept under the carpet when it seems necessary.
No doubt Sav will be told he 'misunderstood' the club's intention, that any budgets quoted were 'possibilities' rather than absolutes. None of which helps to throw light on the delays in identifying and making contact with new recruits. To me, cutting through the waffle and bluster, we, by which I mean the Board, already knew that the type of spend we needed was never going to happen.

I do hope the Prince will take a leaf out of ol' Kev's book and make an appearance before the supporters to participate in a Q&A designed to explain, and possibly be grownup to admit to mistakes, why a decent manager was appointed without supporting him financially?

We either have an owner who is mature enough to confront these questions, or our current owner has despotic tendencies that should worry all of us.

Bang on mate.

 

[Sportbilly /Detroit Blade]

It feels as if there's chronic mismanagement (and that's not a finger pointed at Sav) at the top of this club.

Wilder may be tied to a non-disclosure agreement, but from Sav's recent comments you don't need a degree in decoding to see that what's been said about the Board is that promises have been made that were never going to be kept. Assuming this is correct then don't expect Sav to remain silent, either that or he'll walk.

This won't be the first time that we've had people at our helm who imagine that good faith belongs to other people but has no place at this club. Well this type of mindset doesn't sit easily with me. If we're genuinely skint, and I mean for understandable reasons based on forces we had no control over then I can accept this, but finger-pointing seems to be the order of the day where our current regime is concerned, Taking responsibility would seem to be the concern of others, but not our Board. Something goes wrong it's someone else's fault, but you can bet your bottom dollar that any success will be claimed as a success by our Board.

With Sav's appointment I thought we had managed to get a manager of some pedigree, someone who'll give us the belief that's needed if we want to gain promotion. But what's been happening is the flip-side of this. Lies have clearly been told, misinformation would appear to be a convenience, but as is the case with this type of behaviour, it never remains secret for long, and this is when denial and blame shifting take over.

I've always preferred to stand back, observe, listen to the general consensus, and then, and only then, attempt to draw conclusions that more often than not are grounded in factual opinion. It may still be too early to know with any accuracy who or what is to blame for our apparent penniless state. What I do know is that large amounts of money, such as we've received over the last two and a bit years, can sometimes bring with it the sort of problems that few would have imagined. Managing far more than the bog-standard budget can prove difficult if you're not possessed of the type of savvy mindset any club needs if it wants to survive, let alone flourish.

Quite understandably, a player promoted to the Prem wants to be rewarded. And as for players we'd like to recruit, surely their expectations are that with any proposed move comes a better wage than they're used to? So this explains part of the hefty financial increase we're burdened with, and this assumes the team performs well enough to retain their status at the top table. Slipping down the table, with an inevitable consequence of relegation staring you in the face, you'd hope that this would incentivise any player to work their bollocks off to ensure we retain a place amongst this elite club. Well not in our case it seems. For reasons that mystified many supporters a regular first team place was pencilled in for a player that was obviously destined for a wage hike elsewhere, yet we seemed not to care, so the possibility of discontent amongst other players would seem to be an understandable consequence......the point I suppose I'm trying to make is that what should have been a time for high hopes turned into something bedeviled with despair, a lack of unity, and a set of problems that seemed to extend to the manager's office and beyond.

Fast-forward to our present and a Boardroom that would appear to consider being truthful as a side issue that can be swept under the carpet when it seems necessary.
No doubt Sav will be told he 'misunderstood' the club's intention, that any budgets quoted were 'possibilities' rather than absolutes. None of which helps to throw light on the delays in identifying and making contact with new recruits. To me, cutting through the waffle and bluster, we, by which I mean the Board, already knew that the type of spend we needed was never going to happen.

I do hope the Prince will take a leaf out of ol' Kev's book and make an appearance before the supporters to participate in a Q&A designed to explain, and possibly be grownup to admit to mistakes, why a decent manager was appointed without supporting him financially?

We either have an owner who is mature enough to confront these questions, or our current owner has despotic tendencies that should worry all of us.

Agree with most of this, but putting aside promises (or not) of new players, don't the players on the pitch need to take a big chunk of responsibility too?

Blame Wilder, Slav, the lack of new blood, the leaking roof, the pies, but ultimately the 11 taking the field need to take a dose of responsibility.

I don't mind them earning the big bucks, and driving their flash cars, but at least put a shift in on a Saturday afternoon.

Some of them are not good enough, or are past their best, but can all the players hand on heart say they've given their all for the club this season?

In most jobs performing like this would get you the sack, yet this lot don't seem to care enough (or some of them), that's outrageous.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Agree with most of this, but putting aside promises (or not) of new players, don't the players on the pitch need to take a big chunk of responsibility too?

Blame Wilder, Slav, the lack of new blood, the leaking roof, the pies, but ultimately the 11 taking the field need to take a dose of responsibility.

I don't mind them earning the big bucks, and driving their flash cars, but at least put a shift in on a Saturday afternoon.

Some of them are not good enough, or are past their best, but can all the players hand on heart say they've given their all for the club this season?

In most jobs performing like this would get you the sack, yet this lot don't seem to care enough (or some of them), that's outrageous.

Yes, of course the players on the pitch need to take responsibility for their performances. My point is that it's never about one solitary thing, but several points that are linked together and dependent on the quality of decision making that, sadly, has been found wanting at this level. If you take recruitment, we followed a pattern that had become our norm. We generally bought low, as if this had become a pattern that had somehow seemed unbreakable and would always succeed.

Maybe Wilder submitted lists of players he considered would raise our standard and help bridge the gap in class, or maybe the Board rejected his 'wants' and instead set our transfer strategy to follow a tried and tested path of Championship potential who might adjust to the demands of the Premiership. As the Prince falls into the category of a 'wealthy but not wealthy enough Saudi', we relied on the Premiership bonanza alone, but this took us so far and no further. I know it seems obvious, but Lundstram is the perfect example of a player not equipped to give us the consistently high performance that we desperately needed. Added to which, his moderate to mediocre levels were rewarded with a first team place, something that only Wilder was oblivious to. I recall Wilder commenting that he was "loyal but not sentimental". Well somewhere along our journey this piece of 'wisdom' seemed to have been mashed up and sentiment, maybe stubbornness, became his blindspot that eventually contributed to his downfall at SUFC. Don't for one moment think that I'm being soft on the Board. Maybe telling lies has become as commonplace in our Boardroom as any other necessity at this level. As I said earlier, you cannot keep a lie hidden forever, ultimately the truth will out, and with Sav's choice of words, this has given more than credence to a behaviour trait that we should all be worried about.

But returning to your point, yes, the players are the endgame, they train, they absorb the manager's wishes and instructions, and we hope that this is enough to compensate for whatever shortcomings we may have at this level. There used to be a time where investment was counted in hundreds of thousands, then tens of millions, and now...well now the gauge is set for the tens of millions and, in some cases, the hundreds of millions. That's the stark reality of modern day football, so for a club like the Blades the choice of manager is of such importance that without a good to great manager we're well and truly up shit creek. Which makes the apparent promises made by the Board to Sav, and the ease with which these same promises have been swept under the carpet all the more worrying. Sav doesn't strike me as a liar, but can we say the same about our Board and Chairman?

 

[metalblade]

Sheffield United
Board of directors ............
Yusuf Giansiracusa
Jan Van Winckel
H.R.H. Princess Reem bint Abdullah bin Mosa’ad
Abdullah bin Yousef Alghamdi

It would seem we don't have much of a board of directors, a lawyer, a bloke who maybe scouts around Europe but never finds much and possibly a couple of the Prince's relatives. They don't fill me with much confidence that they have a clue how to run a football club.
Jan Van Winckel has a correspondence address in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, more than likely no one on the board is even in Sheffield never mind Bramall Lane.

 

[Seth Rollins]

Hi Stegosaurus here,

I'd like to point out that I made a thread last season saying we are likely to do a double drop and I got jeered for it. Turns out, I was right.

Well fucking done. & your not right yet are you??

 

[Harry's Game]

To be honest I think we are down anyway, we probably need a complete reset of the club, New owners, new manager, new players, new training set up… now all that is going to take the best part of a decade, if we avoid League 2 in that time we have dodged a bullet.

 

[Seth Rollins]

Yes, of course the players on the pitch need to take responsibility for their performances. My point is that it's never about one solitary thing, but several points that are linked together and dependent on the quality of decision making that, sadly, has been found wanting at this level. If you take recruitment, we followed a pattern that had become our norm. We generally bought low, as if this had become a pattern that had somehow seemed unbreakable and would always succeed.

Maybe Wilder submitted lists of players he considered would raise our standard and help bridge the gap in class, or maybe the Board rejected his 'wants' and instead set our transfer strategy to follow a tried and tested path of Championship potential who might adjust to the demands of the Premiership. As the Prince falls into the category of a 'wealthy but not wealthy enough Saudi', we relied on the Premiership bonanza alone, but this took us so far and no further. I know it seems obvious, but Lundstram is the perfect example of a player not equipped to give us the consistently high performance that we desperately needed. Added to which, his moderate to mediocre levels were rewarded with a first team place, something that only Wilder was oblivious to. I recall Wilder commenting that he was "loyal but not sentimental". Well somewhere along our journey this piece of 'wisdom' seemed to have been mashed up and sentiment, maybe stubbornness, became his blindspot that eventually contributed to his downfall at SUFC. Don't for one moment think that I'm being soft on the Board. Maybe telling lies has become as commonplace in our Boardroom as any other necessity at this level. As I said earlier, you cannot keep a lie hidden forever, ultimately the truth will out, and with Sav's choice of words, this has given more than credence to a behaviour trait that we should all be worried about.

But returning to your point, yes, the players are the endgame, they train, they absorb the manager's wishes and instructions, and we hope that this is enough to compensate for whatever shortcomings we may have at this level. There used to be a time where investment was counted in hundreds of thousands, then tens of millions, and now...well now the gauge is set for the tens of millions and, in some cases, the hundreds of millions. That's the stark reality of modern day football, so for a club like the Blades the choice of manager is of such importance that without a good to great manager we're well and truly up shit creek. Which makes the apparent promises made by the Board to Sav, and the ease with which these same promises have been swept under the carpet all the more worrying. Sav doesn't strike me as a liar, but can we say the same about our Board and Chairman?

Wilder spent the majority of the money on shite players.
McBurnie,Mousset,Burke,Brewster,Berge,Robinson to name a few.
Only Ramsdale that we’ve made a profit on or are likely to.
All this fucking mess is down to Chris Wilder,The Messiah who walked away when the going got tough.

 

[itsinyerblood]

Wilder spent the majority of the money on shite players.
McBurnie,Mousset,Burke,Brewster,Berge,Robinson to name a few.
Only Ramsdale that we’ve made a profit on or are likely to.
All this fucking mess is down to Chris Wilder,The Messiah who walked away when the going got tough.

Seth, ever considered writing a two page explanation of the Sino-Japanese war? It's very complex but with your powers of omission you seem well suited to summarising with scant regard for the facts.

 

[Seth Rollins]

Seth, ever considered writing a two page explanation of the Sino-Japanese war? It's very complex but with your powers of omission you seem well suited to summarising with scant regard for the facts.

Oh. Okay then.