Optimistic about next season?

[adamawdhali]

I feel quite optimistic to be honest. Get bogle, Brewster, JOC , lowe back with coulibaly coming back from loan (if he’s any good). Hopefully big season for Ndiaye next year. Although he won’t completely fill that MGW hole, he’ll be able to play in his more natural number 10 role. Hopefully some new midfielders and I think that’s a really good squad. All depends on the owner though. Also let’s be realistic, berge will be sold and maybe egan although I think egan is the easiest to replace

 

[Woodward's Currie]

until we know our squad, once the transfer window has shut and the financial position the club is it prior to the start of the season its impossible to have any sort of informed view on how things will go.

l am however optimistic that our current board will do the best they can for the club as by helping the club they are also making their investment look more attractive to any potential buyer.

 

[S64 Blade]

Overall, yes. We should be there or thereabouts again.

 

[Black Cloud]

Agree with the comments...would obviously prefer to keep Berge & Egan but we do have to be realistic....if we do keep them then we are promotion contenders ....if not then back to the play offs

 

[bertieblade]

Dear Fellow Blades:

Little more than 24 hours is hardly enough time to process what happened on Tuesday following the expiration of extra-time. There are, however, a few things we can say with confidence. We have never been more proud to be a Blade. We're proud of the leadership that Paul, Jack and Stuart have demonstrated since November. We're proud of the competitive grit that our players demonstrated despite all those voices counting them out. We're proud of the class exhibited by our fans before, during and after the match at the City Ground and indeed, throughout the season. We have had our share of setbacks over the past 24 months, some amplified by our own failings. Nevertheless, while the loss weighs heavy on our hearts, we are incredibly optimistic about our future. Character matters. We lost our way for a while but Paul and the enduring faith of our fans led us back to the right path. While it is okay to take some time to absorb the pain of not achieving this year what we all know is our rightful destiny, we take solace in the knowledge that great things lie ahead for the Club.

H.R.H. Prince Abdullah bin Mosa'ad
Owner

Yusuf Giansiracusa
Chairman

 

[bladesmanluke]

Any time I've been optimistic about a season I've been disappointed.

I expected nothing in 05/06. We were promoted in 2nd.
I expected to only push for the playoffs in 16/17. We won the league.
I expected another 8th to 10th in 18/19. We were promoted in second.

On the other hand. I expected promotion in 09/10. We finished mid table.
I expected mid table in 10/11. Relegated.
I expected to win the league in 11/12. Ched.
I certainly didn't expect what happened in 20/21.

So no, I'm not optimistic

 

[Stretch]

Until we have done our transfer business it is impossible to say really.

Replacing MGW's quality is going to be a major challenge, then we may lose Berge and possibly Ndiaye if there is enough interest.
The centre of midfield also needs significantly strengthening.

It's a huge window ahead, with a few key positions to address.

 

[ormester]

I warned people it will be difficult next season because one we need 7 players
No funds etc and the Prince basically not bothered

 

[west_yorks_blade]

Dear Fellow Blades:

Little more than 24 hours is hardly enough time to process what happened on Tuesday following the expiration of extra-time. There are, however, a few things we can say with confidence. We have never been more proud to be a Blade. We're proud of the leadership that Paul, Jack and Stuart have demonstrated since November. We're proud of the competitive grit that our players demonstrated despite all those voices counting them out. We're proud of the class exhibited by our fans before, during and after the match at the City Ground and indeed, throughout the season. We have had our share of setbacks over the past 24 months, some amplified by our own failings. Nevertheless, while the loss weighs heavy on our hearts, we are incredibly optimistic about our future. Character matters. We lost our way for a while but Paul and the enduring faith of our fans led us back to the right path. While it is okay to take some time to absorb the pain of not achieving this year what we all know is our rightful destiny, we take solace in the knowledge that great things lie ahead for the Club.

H.R.H. Prince Abdullah bin Mosa'ad
Owner

Yusuf Giansiracusa
Chairman

Not sure what the point or purpose of this statement is.
But if Jim Royle was involved it’s no wonder.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

Bah! Humbug!

 

[Sheffsteel]

I feel optimistic but to be honest I always tend to be optimistic before a season starts.....otherwise why renew your season ticket?

There are genuine factors that I can understand will cause pessimism.
Ei The loss of our 2 highest quality players (Gibbs-White and no doubt Berge).
Also our midfield is slow, old and getting older....we need fresh legs in there.

However there are genuine reasons to be optimistic and I start a season by focussing on that.
We had close to 50% of the squad out injured for many matches but we still reached the play-offs .....imagine having our injured players back next season? We have some genuine high quality young players.....N'Dieye, Bogle, Brewster....even Jebbison (not seen much yet but he's highly rated at the club as being special). We now have a team spirit and a closeness between management, players and fans.

Due to having Heckingbotham, McCall, Lester and even Sharp at the club....we now have a "United" club.....that fact takes any club a long way.

 

[Mojo]

Dear Fellow Blades:

Little more than 24 hours is hardly enough time to process what happened on Tuesday following the expiration of extra-time. There are, however, a few things we can say with confidence. We have never been more proud to be a Blade. We're proud of the leadership that Paul, Jack and Stuart have demonstrated since November. We're proud of the competitive grit that our players demonstrated despite all those voices counting them out. We're proud of the class exhibited by our fans before, during and after the match at the City Ground and indeed, throughout the season. We have had our share of setbacks over the past 24 months, some amplified by our own failings. Nevertheless, while the loss weighs heavy on our hearts, we are incredibly optimistic about our future. Character matters. We lost our way for a while but Paul and the enduring faith of our fans led us back to the right path. While it is okay to take some time to absorb the pain of not achieving this year what we all know is our rightful destiny, we take solace in the knowledge that great things lie ahead for the Club.

H.R.H. Prince Abdullah bin Mosa'ad
Owner

Yusuf Giansiracusa
Chairman

It's a nice statement but I can't take solace in the knowledge great things lie ahead im afraid cause I don't have that knowledge

 

[Sheffsteel]

Agree with the comments...would obviously prefer to keep Berge & Egan but we do have to be realistic....if we do keep them then we are promotion contenders ....if not then back to the play offs

Sounds so simple doesn't it?

Maybe I'm on my own here BUT if we kept Berge and Egan of course I'd be happy but also incredibly nervous.
If we gamble next season and fail then we will end up like Derby with points deductions in league 1.
The same fans who demand that we gamble financially will be the same people criticising the board for their failure to run a football club properly.

Keeping Berge and any highly paid players we can't afford is the same as cheating.
Find it weird how most of our fans don't mind us cheating off the field, spending money we don't have.
Of course we could do a Bournmouth, Wolves or Villa....who took massive financial risks in the Championship but gained promotion.

 

[HighfieldBlade]

Always optimistic

 

[Bladesman98]

Definitely optimistic.

Brewster and Bogle coming back in will have a big impact. Add a few smart loans like MGW and we have a squad worthy of challenging.

Hard to keep Berge but another season with us would be great for his development IMO. He’s shown how good he is since playing more advanced so let him take MGW position and watch him piss it for a full season.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Optimistic but will struggle to replace MGW and Berge if he goes.

 

[AdamSufc1997]

Need about 7+ new players which will be interesting. More youth coming through also

 

[mancunianblade]

I’m not saying we won’t unearth a gem from the lower leagues or bring in an untested young player on loan who turns out to be dynamite but people need to temper their expectations a little I think.. MGW, Hourihane and Davies were on proper PL wages that won’t be the case with the next influx

 

[BushBlade]

Sounds so simple doesn't it?

Maybe I'm on my own here BUT if we kept Berge and Egan of course I'd be happy but also incredibly nervous.
If we gamble next season and fail then we will end up like Derby with points deductions in league 1.
The same fans who demand that we gamble financially will be the same people criticising the board for their failure to run a football club properly.

Keeping Berge and any highly paid players we can't afford is the same as cheating.
Find it weird how most of our fans don't mind us cheating off the field, spending money we don't have.
Of course we could do a Bournmouth, Wolves or Villa....who took massive financial risks in the Championship but gained promotion.

The difference between us, Wolves, Bournemouth and Villa is that the other three had wealthy owners who could afford to take these gambles using their own money. If you can afford it, and you’re prepared to risk losing it, there’s nothing wrong with taking the gamble.

If you’re borrowing money to take a gamble, then you risk the future of the club, just like Leeds did all those years ago, and others since.

There is a veil of secrecy over PA’s true wealth but it seems he’s not in a position to risk losing millions of his own money.

What we do know is that our parachute payments are going to be reduced by about £10m next season. Even by getting our out of contract players off the wage bill, it’s unlikely to cover that deficit.

So, in all probability, we will have to sell players to raise the funds to cover the loss of this money and to bring in sufficient players. Having seen what happened at Derby, I doubt PA is going to risk the same, going into administration means he’ll lose the lot, I don’t think he’s that stupid.

So, we have to be ready for losing some of the players we’ve grown to love. Probably Berge, because he’s one of our most valuable and needs to be playing at a higher level for his own career’s sake. We just have to hope that we recruit well, like we did under the early Widler years, when we actually invested our transfer income wisely and reaped the benefits and not go down the Blackwell route of signing crocks, shit players and players on loan/short term contracts who are no better than we could have signed permanently.

It’s not going to be easy but nowt worth having usually is. It’s certainly not impossible.

 

[Davalon]

Not optimistic at this stage but I hope that changes when we see what sort of squad we'll be going with.

 

[TimofeeVee]

Optimistic.....I've seen before, how the spirit from the final match of a season carries over to the next season, even if all the players don't....I can't wait to get back, and right the wrongs of last season COYRAWW

 

[Roygbiv]

I am based on the fact that almost every club in the league is struggling financially. We already have a head start on most clubs by having good Championship quality players already here who won't be going anywhere.

If it was pre Covid I think we'd be in for a real struggle but the league is likely to be even poorer next season with no money going round and the 3 coming down (if it's Burnley) not prone to spending like Fulham and Bournemouth did. Luton, Huddersfield and to a lesser extent Millwall show it doesn't take much money to mount a play off challenge. I think it all depends on the loan signings. MGW was great but the others didn't improve the first 11. We need our loans to be much better this season.

 

[CrookesBlade]

I'll reserve any real optimism/pessimism til I've seen our transfer dealings.

Some positives though are:

Management - 3 astute coaches who know the division and how to get the best out of the players we have. I've no doubt if allowed to recruit (whether that's with cash, frees or loans) they are best placed to remedy the issues in the squad. We aren't sat here waiting on another appointment and they can get on with the job of preparing the squad for pre season. This isn't like last time we were in this situation with Blackwell where we were dragged through initially by the quality of the squad which diminished over time along with our league position.

Talented young players - We have Brewster and Bogle to come back in who were starting to hit some real form prior to their injuries. Add Ndiaye to that who I don't believe will be going anywhere before January (assuming we sell Berge or Egan). Looking forward to seeing how Osula gets on as well.

GK position - we go into pre season with that position sorted which has rarely been the case over the past 10 years or so. We are also looking at hanging onto Davies so we have decent cover as well.

Released/Retained list - we seem to have released the right players and don't seem to be interested in retaining Hourihane. If we were talking about hanging on to any of them Id be worried as it would suggest recruitment is to be minimal and we simply needed the bodies.

Recruitment - whatever this will be at least everybody seems to be singing from the same hymnsheet. We haven't got Manager and Board pulling in different directions which led to the poor and costly recruitment in the PL which has to count for something PH has spoken of the need to recruit early rather than wait til the last minute which I don't think he would if it was unlikely to happen (but then this is SUFC so who knows).

Plenty of reasons to be fearful as well. I expect Berge and Egan to leave, its going to be very difficult find another MGW in the loan market, we are relying on a number of players comfortably into their 30s and there is no guarantee the training pitch is going to be sorted.

See what happens I suppose.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Dear Fellow Blades:

Little more than 24 hours is hardly enough time to process what happened on Tuesday following the expiration of extra-time. There are, however, a few things we can say with confidence. We have never been more proud to be a Blade. We're proud of the leadership that Paul, Jack and Stuart have demonstrated since November. We're proud of the competitive grit that our players demonstrated despite all those voices counting them out. We're proud of the class exhibited by our fans before, during and after the match at the City Ground and indeed, throughout the season. We have had our share of setbacks over the past 24 months, some amplified by our own failings. Nevertheless, while the loss weighs heavy on our hearts, we are incredibly optimistic about our future. Character matters. We lost our way for a while but Paul and the enduring faith of our fans led us back to the right path. While it is okay to take some time to absorb the pain of not achieving this year what we all know is our rightful destiny, we take solace in the knowledge that great things lie ahead for the Club.

H.R.H. Prince Abdullah bin Mosa'ad
Owner

Yusuf Giansiracusa
Chairman

P.S.

I don’t know football, I don’t like Sheffield and you’re all a bunch of cunts.

Yusuf

 

[dillis]

Need to keep Berge.
Realistically we won’t be able to replace MGW like for like but I would imagine we will have been looking for replacements for a few months now. Brewster and Bogle back will be big pluses.
Lot of deadwood out of door will free up money for wages, lot of good free agents around.
Ultimately it will depend on recruitment. Will the league be harder next season? I’m not so sure.

 

[South Sea Blade]

Sounds so simple doesn't it?

Maybe I'm on my own here BUT if we kept Berge and Egan of course I'd be happy but also incredibly nervous.
If we gamble next season and fail then we will end up like Derby with points deductions in league 1.
The same fans who demand that we gamble financially will be the same people criticising the board for their failure to run a football club properly.

Keeping Berge and any highly paid players we can't afford is the same as cheating.
Find it weird how most of our fans don't mind us cheating off the field, spending money we don't have.
Of course we could do a Bournmouth, Wolves or Villa....who took massive financial risks in the Championship but gained promotion.

Why does keeping Egan and Berge amount to cheating?

The rules are clear - you can lose up to £39m over 3 consecutive seasons. Last season we registered a profit of £10m. This year we will have received £45m in parachute payments plus the sale of Ramsdale (£26m). Yes, there will be losses due to the cut in TV revenue but that will be nowhere near enough to put us in serious financial trouble.

We can also realise funds from the sale of fringe places such as Lowe, Burke and possibly McBurnie which could raise £15m. We could sell Jebbo to Everton for £5m.

Berge is under a long contract (2024) and has a release clause of £35m. I don't think we need to sell him for anything less than £22m, and what price would we get for Egan.....£5m? Hardly seems worth it to me.

I think we need to keep the core of the team and add one or two loans from Premier League teams with the hope of landing another standout player like MGW. A bunch of free transfer players to cover Centre-back injuries and try to get Scott Twine for a couple of million from MK Dons. Lewis-Potter would be great but I fear he will be too much for us now.

Up front we should stick with what we have.

 

[Addison]

Pride

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www.sufc.co.uk

Not optimistic until the Club addresses the issue of whether we are up for sale or not. We will continue to rely on the Harry Potter of the EFL Paul Heckingbottom to create some miracles. Of more concern is the potential for his position to be affected if a sale goes ahead.

Revenue will be down £10 million due to lower parachute payments. Player sales will have to make up the shortfall. Berge, Egan and Bogle are likely departures. Loans have already been taken out against the payments. We are unlikely to pay EPL wages for loanees as a consequence. Will we be waiting until the end of the transfer window to do our business again whilst paying consultancy fees to United World to manage sales?

We got where we did with the goals and assists of MGW and Sharp. MGW going leaves a huge hole that is unlikely to be filled. We need to kick start incomings and outgoings now not in August.

The warm words in the statement are thin on action. Where is the commitment to provide the Manager with financial support to mount a promotion challenge and go again. Wheres the commitment to provide him with all the resources he needs? Whats happening with the plan? Is it being rewritten again? Isn't it time now to be honest with the supporters and tell us where we are with a potential sale or alternatively dismiss it out of hand.

Whilst there appears to be some action on addressing the state of the pitches at the training ground when will the Club address the poor medical off field support and the lack of a Head of Sports Science? As for the eyesore at the side of the Ground have we given up on the Hotel because we are strapped for cash?

Without investment the Club will drift. The lack of direction that has been evident since November is likely to continue leaving Bettis and PH plate spinning in Sheffield in the continued absence of a 3 person Board resting on their laurels overseas.

Good that the silence has been broken by PA but deeds not words now is appropriate. I look forward to the visibility of the plans that will lead to the promised great times ahead. Until then I'll reserve judgement on what the future holds for SUFC.

 

[Black Cloud]

Berge takes over as the creative playmaker for Illy and Brewster/Sharp.’If’ he stays I think he rips it up next season....
Keeping Egan is also vital...Bash is scaring me defensively and Robo, although so much improved, still looks to have a major bollock in him...
Heads up Blades after Tuesday....

 

[Harry's Game]

I don’t know football, I don’t like Sheffield and you’re all a bunch of cunts.

That‘s Simon Jordan’s Tinder profile

 

[SelbyBlade]

Unfortunately pessimistic for the following reasons.
We are going to have to trim big to make the books balance. The triumvirate is going to be down to Illy, likely we will lose Eegs and we may have to cash in on Jebbo with Everton apparently sniffing around.

We have now lost Didz already which only leaves us with Billy, Brewster and McBurnie as Mousett has gone and it's likely (hopefully) so will Burke.

If we have four strikers then next season it will probably be propped up by Osula. He is not ready to score enough of the goals needed.

We will lose our creativity with MGW and Berge leaving so could struggle to create. Illy is still a bit greedy and not enough of a provider.

On the plus side Bogle coming back in gives some creativity, but we need it from the whole 5 middies to create enough to challenge.

Other things to think about;
Despite respecting Pommpey, Wilder will massively improve Boro as he has had a season with them, all he needs. The three coming down will mostly keep their squads and we know how good Norwich are in the Championship. I suspect it will be Burnley coming down but they have a decent squad even if they can't invest due to their ownership. So there are already four clubs that will be strong. Also either Hudders or Forest will be there again. If it's Hudders and they keep their manager and Goalie will be up there, so its no walk in the park for us.

Sorry I feel pessimistic but we needed to go up this season and we nearly got there. It was a phenomenal effort by all the management team, players and the supporters.

But if we remain in the Championship for the near distant future I will keep renewing my season ticket. I quite like the VAR free championship.