Prince was daft to appoint Slav when there was no money to back him , even dafter than letting Wilder loose with the PL money to spend on duds - the Brewster signing was like watching a slow-motion car crash when we all knew JoC was fucked even if the club tried to believe he wasn't.
For the Prince/club to find itself flat broke after 2 years PL without even an improved training facility or academy is just unforgivable mismanagement , but so typical of dem Blades.
Everything has to be contextualised. When we were promoted to the premier league we'd hardly spent anything on the squad (in terms of long term permanent signings) since the Weir days (certainly not net). United had a lot of ground to make up due to the asset stripping (Adams, Ramsdale, Calvert Lewin, Brooks etc) that had happened, and the lack of real investment in young players that could come through the leagues ( see Fulham, Watford, Bournemouth, Brentford etc). The fact we were promoted and stayed up given that handicap was nothing short of a modern day football miracle. At that point dissenting voices about Wilder being given money to spent, or what he'd spent it on were muted at best. Before the first season in the Prem started they didn't exist. At the meet the chairman day at Bramall Lane - before the first Prem season started - the Prince was showing off about the signings we'd made. "We've made amazing signings and I've underwritten the cost - even if I lose the court case - would be an accurate summation. People on here were ready to perform fellatio on the Prince after hearing those words. Me, I thought he knows he's going to win the court case - let's see what happens in terms of wages, fees and infrastructure investment overall under his stewardship. Words are wind!
The signings were made with the expectation that we were very likely to be relegated. This was stated by the management at various times. This of course dictated everything: wage policy, player targets, positions, renewals; everything. Our wage bill was the lowest in the Prem - even lower than Norwich who were banking the money to pay off their considerable debts from their last flirt with the Prem - and investing a slice of the leftovers in their infrastructure (academy). Year one is thus hard to assess: with hindsight the players will lose a lot of value. Overall, though, in year one they played a part in us surviving in 9th place with a cup quarter final, higher than anticipated prize money, higher sponsorship pay outs, and a third year's parachute payments. wThe big take away from year one for me was how incredibly we were outperforming our financial model. Somebody with greater foresight than me might've asked: is this sustainable? And a follow up question: are the players brought in this season demonstrating that?
It is worth noting that United made considerable gambles all season: no back up for Basham, Baldock or O'Connell was brought in. Just bargain buys or nothing. Still no top quality goalkeeper owned by the club. No Norwood competition until January. A serious club would have plugged those gaps with Premier League quality acquisitions on financial packages consistent with that. It is a myth that Wilder was adequately backed in the first PL season. A lot of this is legacy: the lack of spending in all the previous seasons and selling all our top kids had left us, arguably, with too much to do.
During season two the obvious pre season question was: has the model changed? Given the targets we continued to miss out on and the players we acquired it seems to be an emphatic no. The first thing we had to address was fixing a legacy problem from years of underinvestment: sign a goalkeeper. A large slice of the budget gone on something that needed fixing years ago. Around the same time it was revealed that the Kop post project had been delayed to the following summer (10 or 15 million - sorry I don't remember). The club then took a load of gambles on young players with no proven pedigree at this level. Our shortage of midfielders and lack of proven LCB cover was never addressed. Bogle was a gamble but at least it addressed a needed area. Essentially before a ball was kicked we were making a lot of gambles again: relying on utility men (Osborn, Lundstram, Robinson, Jagielka, bargain basement back up keepers, no real midfield cover) to do jobs that quality first team acquisitions should've been doing.
1)There are four prevailing myths (or comfort blankets) on here. One is that we spent money at levels that are consistent with an ambitious club. This is demonstrably false - the biggest indicator of league position is wages and we were bottom.
2) That we had a shit load of amazing foreign players that were begging to come to United and play for comparatively nothing. The weird signings when Wilder was manager (Restos, Verrips, Zivkovic) give the lie to this. Does anybody believe he wanted them? Where they good? What do you think of United World's amazing signings?
If this myth hasn't been extinguished after the last window it never will be. The manager clearly had little say this season, yet they brought in the most expensive, dull, domestic loans imaginable - including a legacy Wilder pick. The conclusion for season two is that Wilder played a bad hand badly, or as well as he could. I'd go with the former.
3) That Wilder (or any manger) dictates the wages at United. This one is almost too laughable to comment on: no football employee dictates the wage scale at a football club. This is done upstairs. The manager works within those parameters. Did these idiots hear Slav and Wilder moaning?
4) That 3) doesn't in any way dictate the markets you shop in. If you made this point in any other line of work you'd be laughed out of town. Sure, you can spot diamonds in the rough (Ivan Toney?) but they are difficult to spot and few and far between.
5) That infrastructure developments haven't been agreed then baulked on. Covid may give some excuse for this, but the building at Shirecliffe and Kop posts have been promised and not delivered. The talk about a new academy/training ground continued as far as the Heckingbottom unveiling. Sensible people underpromise and over deliver not the contrary. Words are wind!
Moving forward: The mood music coming out of the club and the local press is that our club is moving to a 'sustainable development model'. This is an incredibly ambitious objective to achieve when you are reducing your cost base, dependent on academy players from a Cat 2 system and you have minimal money to invest in the market. The obvious direction of travel is downwards unless you can massively outperform your financial parameters and academy limitations.
