Our club is inherently broken, but current on-pitch issues are distracting from the bigger picture.

[CornwallBlade]

I'll take slight issue with that as after finishing 9th we spent £20m on a young GK £23m on a young striker, having spent £20mJanuary on a young CM.

As it turns out, all 3 never really offered much ROI and with hindsight we'd have been better off spending the money on a thorough infrastructure and training facilities - but i don't think we can be too critical of not backing up the 9th place finish with not speculating...

To put things in perspective, Forest spent £360m (£215m nett) in the 2/12 yrs since promotion in 2022. Since promotion last season, Sunderland have spent £161m and, I believe only 4 of the PO final team are now 1st team starters. By comparison, we were tinkering around the edges.

 

[Champagneblade]

You’re right. As Rodley said earlier in the thread, there was a moment when, having finished 9th we reached, to use a military term, culminating point. At that point it is shit or bust and we failed to grasp what was there for the taking.
Every other PL club who’ve come up through the divisions and remained there has done it. Obviously, you’re betting everything on it but the idea that any Championship side can gain promotion and stay up without doing so is unrealistic

This is where I have some sympathy with Wilder because the Board and owner did not have the cash that was needed.

We were keen on Matty Cash. We got Bogle. Much as a like Bogle, Cash has been a consistent PL performer. We wanted Watkins but we ended up with the punt that was Brewster. We wanted Omar Colley, who ended up playing 129 Serie A games yet we ended up with Robinson filling in.

At that critical moment we didn’t have the cash. So even at that level we had to gamble on future development rather than proven quality.

Now every team misses out on players but we didn’t step across to similar ability targets, we had to go for lesser players, though 9th to 20th is still some drop off, we certainly failed to grasp the nettle when the opportunity was there.

 

[Kenilworth]

What's the alternative? Bolton, Wigan, Stoke, Norwich, Reading?

Maybe Middlesbrough or West Brom?

When you put it in the context of what the alternative is to being a faceless PL mid level franchise - yes I choose 8pm Sunday kick offs over away trips to Fleetwood or Swindon...

A segue from Bladey Bladeness to Blandy Blandness

 

[Champagneblade]

great point ive said a few times, it annoys me that only managers who support the club or have strong links to club can be successful. ie wilder or hecky who was wilder under a different name

that excluding the incumbent, we have had 10 permanent managers since Warnock left. theyve lasted on average 51 games which is effectively a season. with a win rate of 40.7%. then looking at the managers in between Bassett & Warnock, was even worse, lasted on average 44 games & a win rate of 40.2%

although danny wilson has the highest win rate of any permanent sheff utd manager

At a lower level than almost all the others. That’s always worth adding in.

 

[Balham]

I'll take slight issue with that as after finishing 9th we spent £20m on a young GK £23m on a young striker, having spent £20mJanuary on a young CM.

As it turns out, all 3 never really offered much ROI and with hindsight we'd have been better off spending the money on a thorough infrastructure and training facilities - but i don't think we can be too critical of not backing up the 9th place finish with not speculating...

Two major issues with the transfer business in 2020: firstly, we paid a premium for English potential when the team needed some experienced heads. Secondly, we spent relatively highly on transfer fees but our wage bill was, by some distance, the lowest in the division. We finished exactly where we deserved to.

On the ROI: we doubled our money on Ramsdale, got 2/3 of Berge's fee back with him having a year left on his contract. That's pretty good going. The less said about Brewster's disastrous time with us, however, the better...and we'll get to relive it with Tom Cannot.

 

[Revolution]

Two major issues with the transfer business in 2020: firstly, we paid a premium for English potential when the team needed some experienced heads. Secondly, we spent relatively highly on transfer fees but our wage bill was, by some distance, the lowest in the division. We finished exactly where we deserved to.

On the ROI: we doubled our money on Ramsdale, got 2/3 of Berge's fee back with him having a year left on his contract. That's pretty good going. The less said about Brewster's disastrous time with us, however, the better...and we'll get to relive it with Tom Cannot.

We also kept Berge long enough for him to help us get promoted again, which is a big mark in favour of that deal.

The same could be said for McBurnie although we ended up getting nothing for him.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

A segue from Bladey Bladeness to Blandy Blandness

Got a good mate who's a Blackburn fan and the stories he tells are a stark warning to us about what's the worst that can happen. PL blandness wins over mid Championship blandness every time.

If we don't get the infrastructure behind the scenes sorted, this fate awaits us. I've been involved in numerous top level sporting programmes and I reckon most (if not all) had more infrastructure than we currently do.

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Two major issues with the transfer business in 2020: firstly, we paid a premium for English potential when the team needed some experienced heads. Secondly, we spent relatively highly on transfer fees but our wage bill was, by some distance, the lowest in the division. We finished exactly where we deserved to.

On the ROI: we doubled our money on Ramsdale, got 2/3 of Berge's fee back with him having a year left on his contract. That's pretty good going. The less said about Brewster's disastrous time with us, however, the better...and we'll get to relive it with Tom Cannot.

Id say issue Number Three (and the biggest in my eyes) was we spent £23m on a 5th choice striker but had no squad depth in centre midfield or centre back.

And whilst I accept we turned a decent profit on Ramsdale, the opportunity cost of not using that money to either sort the behind the scenes infrastructure and/or pack the squad with more quality, is what really hurt us.

 

[KMC-1889]

And whilst I accept we turned a decent profit on Ramsdale, the opportunity cost of not using that money to either sort the behind the scenes infrastructure and/or pack the squad with more quality, is what really hurt us.

It doesn’t matter that we made a profit on him when that £20m could have been better spent on other players if we had the organisation in place to enable us to look further than Wilder’s little black book of agents.

 

[Balham]

Id say issue Number Three (and the biggest in my eyes) was we spent £23m on a 5th choice striker but had no squad depth in centre midfield or centre back.

And whilst I accept we turned a decent profit on Ramsdale, the opportunity cost of not using that money to either sort the behind the scenes infrastructure and/or pack the squad with more quality, is what really hurt us.

All driven by the manager, who didn't believe that we had a tactical or personnel problem in those areas. That aged well

We didn't have an option to use the Ramsdale income for anything other than plugging the post-relegation revenue gap. Had we sold him as a Premier League team, the outcome may have been different.

Bottom line is, as you point out, we had £40m to spend in the summer of 2020. We properly, properly fucked up and we're still paying the price.

 

[Kenworthy’s Tash]

I've seen various debates of late over certain things we should or shouldn't do. The primary topics being around whether Wilder should remain in place as manager, or if we should cast our net out for someone else, as well as whether we should change to playing 2 forwards.

While there is certainly merit to debating these topics, I think it misses the bigger picture. Which is that we currently look like a club that has zero clue of what it wants to be.

Over the last 15 years, we've made multiple attempts to break away from the pigeonhole we'd established for ourselves over multiple decades prior. The "Bladey Blade" method, of running harder, working harder, showing more "pashun" than the opponent. An approach which has occasionally borne fruit, but since the departure of a certain Mr Warnock, has only delivered success via Wilder and Hecky, a pair you can effectively view as master and disciple.

Now, if we look at the attempts to correct course, it becomes blatantly clear that there has always been a failure to truly commit to the alternate path:

2025: Hire Selles. A man with a significantly different tactical outlook to his predecessor. Club proceeds to recruit the bare minimum, until Selles throws the board under the bus in a press conference. After which we make a number of last ditch signings to bolster the squad. Poor performances, as a result of a combination of the above, plus a lack of uptake on Selles' strategies, result in his early departure. We re-hire Wilder and return to the status quo.

2021: Slav. A man with a significantly different tactical approach to his successor. Club proceeds to make zero recruitment (our only permanent signings were Adam Davies and Adlene Guedioura), and wonder why Slav was unable to get Wilder's many square pegs, to fit into 11 newly-rounded holes. The response is to dismiss Slav, and bring in mini-Wilder, and return to the status quo.

2015: Adkins. A man with a significantly different tactical approach to his successor. A true failure in all regards. We recruited badly, except for the re-signing of Billy Sharp. Adkins' past tactics that brought success at the likes of Scunthorpe and Southampton, were almost entirely absent. The board, in contrast to all other examples here, did actually give him time to turn things around. But it never came. Instead we held out to the end of our worst season in decades.

2013: Weir. A man with a significantly different tactical approach to his successor. The club did a few things right on this one. Brought in staff at Weir's behest. Separated the Assistant Manager role into tactics and fitness. Hired a number of players to be moulded around the centrepiece of Weir's tactic: Kevin MacDonald. Oh wait, what was that? A 200k release clause? Wolves are paying it? Oh, bugger. Well, here's Jose Baxter to make up for it. I know he's a totally different type of player, but you'll make it work, won't you? (Spoiler: He didn't make it work). Weir proceeds to flounder without a midfield maestro to build his team around, and we tumble down the league until he's dismissed, and replaced by Nigel "I need a right back" Clough.

The archaic approach of "Outrun. Outright. Outplay." isn't sustainable. We need a Director of Football. We need the club to have a focused tactical approach, at all levels, to ensure prolonged exposure to one method of playing for senior players, and an easier, less jarring path to the first team for youth prospects. We need a thoroughly defined recruitment strategy. At present, everything feels like we're throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks.

Regardless of where we end up this season, we need to be employing a long-term strategy for the club. We cannot carry on in this manner - making a half-arsed effort to set ourselves up for the future, only to bail on it immediately and go back to what we did before. It might take a bit of suffering to get there, but we're already suffering as it is. At least if we commit to change, the pain might become worth it.

This is absolutely bang on and why I was completely opposed to bringing Wilder back. The owners had the right idea to try and transition/ modernise our club so that one day we could actually get a foothold in the prem.

In fact, I would say that COH spineless reverting back to the status quo is actually worse than them picking the wrong manager in Selles to try and implement their vision.

The whole thing is depressing and although we will stay up under Wilder, our club will simply not evolve into something more modern & better.

 

[LBA_Blade]

The only comms from the club we have had is that they want us to become more ‘modern’ in every aspect of the club, thus far it seems that this couldn’t be further than the truth! and with next to no comms from them, we have no idea of actual strategy or any short medium or long term plan.

The major problem we have is investment and attracting it to the club to keep growing the fan base and the brand. To go up and stay up we probably need £200million and that isn't a wild stab in the dark. Leeds have a net spend of £95 million and Burnley £57 million and that is before any infrastructure improvements. Leeds new stand is expected to cost at least £150million, Fulham recently spent £100 million on their "riverside development" that also has non-matchday income. For the long term growth of the club we need investment on 3 fronts. We have the academy and new training ground that is committed, we need investment in the squad (although never say never with promotion, if it was on the cards this year we would need a full change 1-11 to even compete)

The 3rd for me is a huge potential for non-match day and match day income and that is the South Stand Carpark. Although not using it as a carpark out of the front using google maps to measure distances you can easily fit a 45 x 45 metre block, on one level, which gives 2,025 square metres. Due to the height of the hotel (8 story) and the South stand a 2nd level could be easily justified giving 4,090 square metres of space and possibly even a 3rd/4th. This is equivalent to a large supermarket for context on just 2 levels, however using the local demographic and the proximity of the students and other locals, you need shops that don't attract too many cars.

2 options to consider having a smaller local store such as a Tesco/Sainsbury's/Morrisons local and then the best way would be to split the venue with the upper level being a food and drink court adding in shops like Greggs, some form of coffee shop, pizza etc alongside a licence premises. Downstairs alongside the 247 store having clothes shops that appeal to the student budget and market.

I have attached a rough diagram of the area that could be used, it still gives access to the South stand, hotel and turnstiles and still offers parking within the carpark. On an average of the whole space (not individual lets) we are easily looking at £1mill annually in just rental income based on 2 floors. Due to footfall during matchdays there could be clauses added regarding income that comes to the club based on sales especially in the food court as footfall would increase.

An other alternative is to have the convenience store separate at the front within the carpark/potentially inside if we are extending to 3 or 4 floors and have the lower floor as vintage arcade games/drinks bar type set-up, these have been popular in Leeds, although on a 4 floor scale with the Arcade Club (https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/) in the Kirkstall area of Leeds (also in Bury and Blackpool). The licence premises could be from the Arcade club along with their food offering too, you could maximise the space and offer Sheffield students and locals something to do whilst also generating non-match day income. One of the floors could be a dedicated food and drink space making it easier on match days

 

[Sean Thornton]

The major problem we have is investment and attracting it to the club to keep growing the fan base and the brand. To go up and stay up we probably need £200million and that isn't a wild stab in the dark. Leeds have a net spend of £95 million and Burnley £57 million and that is before any infrastructure improvements. Leeds new stand is expected to cost at least £150million, Fulham recently spent £100 million on their "riverside development" that also has non-matchday income. For the long term growth of the club we need investment on 3 fronts. We have the academy and new training ground that is committed, we need investment in the squad (although never say never with promotion, if it was on the cards this year we would need a full change 1-11 to even compete)

The 3rd for me is a huge potential for non-match day and match day income and that is the South Stand Carpark. Although not using it as a carpark out of the front using google maps to measure distances you can easily fit a 45 x 45 metre block, on one level, which gives 2,025 square metres. Due to the height of the hotel (8 story) and the South stand a 2nd level could be easily justified giving 4,090 square metres of space and possibly even a 3rd/4th. This is equivalent to a large supermarket for context on just 2 levels, however using the local demographic and the proximity of the students and other locals, you need shops that don't attract too many cars.

2 options to consider having a smaller local store such as a Tesco/Sainsbury's/Morrisons local and then the best way would be to split the venue with the upper level being a food and drink court adding in shops like Greggs, some form of coffee shop, pizza etc alongside a licence premises. Downstairs alongside the 247 store having clothes shops that appeal to the student budget and market.

I have attached a rough diagram of the area that could be used, it still gives access to the South stand, hotel and turnstiles and still offers parking within the carpark. On an average of the whole space (not individual lets) we are easily looking at £1mill annually in just rental income based on 2 floors. Due to footfall during matchdays there could be clauses added regarding income that comes to the club based on sales especially in the food court as footfall would increase.

An other alternative is to have the convenience store separate at the front within the carpark/potentially inside if we are extending to 3 or 4 floors and have the lower floor as vintage arcade games/drinks bar type set-up, these have been popular in Leeds, although on a 4 floor scale with the Arcade Club (https://www.arcadeclub.co.uk/) in the Kirkstall area of Leeds (also in Bury and Blackpool). The licence premises could be from the Arcade club along with their food offering too, you could maximise the space and offer Sheffield students and locals something to do whilst also generating non-match day income. One of the floors could be a dedicated food and drink space making it easier on match days

I know it’s easy to be a critic but where if the non match day footfall to interest Tesco or the like or sizeable licensed premises?

 

[finlaytheblade]

The thumbs will be down to opening all those kiddies birthday cards………

There are so some bent postman but I wasn't one ! Thankyou

 

[LBA_Blade]

I know it’s easy to be a critic but where if the non match day footfall to interest Tesco or the like or sizeable licensed premises?

For me it's in the uni student population for a sizeable licensed premises or themed type of complex, cinema/bowling/Arcade etc there are around 60,000 students in the Sheffield area across the 2 unis. You have Bramall Court student accommodation literally across the road that has 262 beds, which although only a small % there are others too nearby.