Paddy McNair

[Rodley]

Really solid target but can’t see us affording his wages.

 

[Grizzly blade]

We need some quality, strength and experience to anchor this team through the spine. Plus some consistency in both appearances and performances.
If it’s a free transfer we can throw more wages at it.

It may not be glamorous or exciting but it’s a solid champ signing that ticks the boxes.

Few more of these in defence and keeper and build the attacking players with the flair and pace that’s missing knowing that the back line is solid enough to pretty much stand on its own without needing the midfield and forwards running over 12k a match to make us defensively solid.

Really hope he’s got a similar keeper signing lined up!

 

[Bladezz]

Don’t bet on that mate.

I can see him going to one of the three who go up.

He is nowhere near say a Leicester / Southampton / Leeds.

But if it was say a Ipswich / Norwich etc I could 100% see it.

 

[Champagneblade]

Not happening, his wages are too high. He’s on 27k a week.

Not after 30th of June he isn’t!

 

[jt64]

29? Been stuck in the Championship for seven years? What's not to like!

 

[Eppyblade]

Meh....typical uninspiring SUFC/Wilder signing from our primary school level recruitment team...

 

[biggiesablade]

I'm sure he's a nice lad but he can't sign everyone he likes.

 

[mancunianblade]

29? Been stuck in the Championship for seven years? What's not to like!

Perfect player to help us maintain our championship status, need do enough to survive but not enough to go up, don’t want to be pushing for promotion to the corrupt premier league

 

[nopigfansintown]

Good player, a no brainer really.

 

[jt64]

Perfect player to help us maintain our championship status, need do enough to survive but not enough to go up, don’t want to be pushing for promotion to the corrupt premier league

If anyone seriously thinks that we are in the remotest of danger of back to back relegations, even in the event of no signings, then either they have little clue how bad the bottom end of the Championship is, massively underrate our own players, or likely both

 

[Grizzly blade]

If anyone seriously thinks that we are in the remotest of danger of back to back relegations, even in the event of no signings, then either they have little clue how bad the bottom end of the Championship is, massively underrate our own players, or likely both

If anyone seriously thinks the players we have left after the OOC players has gone would survive next season without any additions truly have no clue as to the scale of the issue and likely over rate their actual ability or under appreciate the effect this season has had on morale or likely both

 

[jt64]

If anyone seriously thinks the players we have left after the OOC players has gone would survive next season without any additions truly have no clue as to the scale of the issue and likely over rate their actual ability or under appreciate the effect this season has had on morale or likely both

I'm going to have to look at who exactly is out of contract, but I can't take anyone seriously who thinks we are as bad as you say we are

 

[JayGreen17]

He's as destined to play for us as Holgate was

Exactly… this is hardly ITK stuff!

 

[PaddysMad]

Easy way best way

 

[ancientblade]

If anyone seriously thinks that we are in the remotest of danger of back to back relegations, even in the event of no signings, then either they have little clue how bad the bottom end of the Championship is, massively underrate our own players, or likely both

quite right watched qpr v pigs on saturday 2 awful teams in terms of quality rohl has just got wednesday well organised and difficult to break down as much as hes maligned on here bannan is there only class player we would beat both those teams comfortably

 

[Bladezz]

quite right watched qpr v pigs on saturday 2 awful teams in terms of quality rohl has just got wednesday well organised and difficult to break down as much as hes maligned on here bannan is there only class player we would beat both those teams comfortably

I’d be confident we beat both of those. But it’s the top teams we need to beat to get promoted. Blaster and Hamer will be top end championship players. Then we just need someone else with him then to make it perfect. Then we need a few bench players to cover for injuries.

A midfield of:

Hamer
Blaster
Davies
Osborn
2 more midfielders

Would give us arguably best midfield in the championship. We could sell Souza and be able to really replace him with 2 good championship midfielders.

Same principle goes for the defence with Anel too.

Goalkeeper just need him gone and we need to sign 3 goalkeepers.

Strikers is where it all comes down too it. Keeping Mcburnie is a start and then after that it’s some partners for him.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I’d be confident we beat both of those. But it’s the top teams we need to beat to get promoted. Blaster and Hamer will be top end championship players. Then we just need someone else with him then to make it perfect. Then we need a few bench players to cover for injuries.

A midfield of:

Hamer
Blaster
Davies
Osborn
2 more midfielders

Would give us arguably best midfield in the championship. We could sell Souza and be able to really replace him with 2 good championship midfielders.

Same principle goes for the defence with Anel too.

Goalkeeper just need him gone and we need to sign 3 goalkeepers.

Strikers is where it all comes down too it. Keeping Mcburnie is a start and then after that it’s some partners for him.

Forget promotion next season. That’s not going to happen unless the board release some funds. They've already shown last summer and the last time we were relegated that they're not willing to. The parachute payments will be invested in the wage bill in order to retain those players that we want to keep. There's then the short sightedness of signing expensive waged loan players who leave at the end of the season, leaving the team and squad short.

I'd take 4-5 seasons in the Championship if it meant building a competitive and capable team for the long term. Sometimes the patient game beats the quick one. We're going to be in a rebuild and my worry is that Wilder resigns many of the out of contract players through desperation.

Just about every team in England has changed their squads and teams for the better over the last five seasons. We've gotten worse and have suffered for it big time, despite spending three of the last five seasons in the Premier League, the alleged home of the riches. Only Sheffield United could get promoted twice, spend three out of five seasons in the top flight and end up with an inferior squad and skint.

We are an amateur s*** show. Promotion next season? No chance.

As for best midfield in the division? Osborn has always been a 6/10 average player at best. Arblaster has shown glimpses of what he's capable of but it unproven at Championship level, so it's a bit early to judge what he's doing next season. As for Davies, will we get 10 games out of him before he's injured again.

Frankly I'll be pissed off if our midfield is Osborn, Hamer, Arblaster and Davies next season, as yet again we'd be sticking with what we have and not strengthening the team.

 

[jt64]

Frankly I'll be pissed off if our midfield is Osborn, Hamer, Arblaster and Davies next season, as yet again we'd be sticking with what we have and not strengthening the team.

I'm not sure who you could realistically bring in that would improve that midfield

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I'm not sure who you could realistically bring in that would improve that midfield

If you asked any neutral fans what they thought of that midfield, not one would say that they thought that was the best midfield in the Championship. Most would say they'd want Hamer for their team, or say Hamer could get into their team. On offence to Osborn, but I doubt there are any fans out there who'd say "I can't believe how lucky Sheffield United are to have Ben Osborn. I'd love it if we could sign him."

Saying it's our best midfield is one thing. Saying it would be best in the division is just laughable, no offence. Forget you support Sheffield United for a second and take an honest look.

There are some really good midfielders tearing up League One. Their fees would be low and so would their wages. They'd probably be fitter and less injury prone as an added bonus.

 

[jt64]

If you asked any neutral fans what they thought of that midfield, not one would say that they thought that was the best midfield in the Championship. Most would say they'd want Hamer for their team, or say Hamer could get into their team. On offence to Osborn, but I doubt there are any fans out there who'd say "I can't believe how lucky Sheffield United are to have Ben Osborn. I'd love it if we could sign him."

I wouldn't have any arguments with anyone who'd think that. If I had a deeper dive into the Championship, I'd probably agree with it. I'm just not sure what you can realistically do which would make things significantly stronger, at least in terms of permanents - loan market could work very well here, if Leicester don't fuck up promotion and consider Choudhury surplus to requirements that'd make it look a lot better (as an example). I certainly wouldn't be worried by that midfield though, and wouldn't be chucking money at Championship retreads on permanent deals

 

[Bladezz]

Forget promotion next season. That’s not going to happen unless the board release some funds. They've already shown last summer and the last time we were relegated that they're not willing to. The parachute payments will be invested in the wage bill in order to retain those players that we want to keep. There's then the short sightedness of signing expensive waged loan players who leave at the end of the season, leaving the team and squad short.

I'd take 4-5 seasons in the Championship if it meant building a competitive and capable team for the long term. Sometimes the patient game beats the quick one. We're going to be in a rebuild and my worry is that Wilder resigns many of the out of contract players through desperation.

Just about every team in England has changed their squads and teams for the better over the last five seasons. We've gotten worse and have suffered for it big time, despite spending three of the last five seasons in the Premier League, the alleged home of the riches. Only Sheffield United could get promoted twice, spend three out of five seasons in the top flight and end up with an inferior squad and skint.

We are an amateur s*** show. Promotion next season? No chance.

As for best midfield in the division? Osborn has always been a 6/10 average player at best. Arblaster has shown glimpses of what he's capable of but it unproven at Championship level, so it's a bit early to judge what he's doing next season. As for Davies, will we get 10 games out of him before he's injured again.

Frankly I'll be pissed off if our midfield is Osborn, Hamer, Arblaster and Davies next season, as yet again we'd be sticking with what we have and not strengthening the team.

Let’s hope we strengthen then. Think we all know it’s needed and a good opportunity to spin it all round and rebuild properly as you say.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Let’s hope we strengthen then. Think we all know it’s needed and a good opportunity to spin it all round and rebuild properly as you say.

We all know we need a rebuild, it's whether the club will back Wilder and give him what he needs to do it, without going on the cheap like we did last summer.

 

[Nicesheffielder]

Don't give CW a massive budget he's SHOCKING with owt above 3million spucked bucket loads on shite

 

[andy m]

If you asked any neutral fans what they thought of that midfield, not one would say that they thought that was the best midfield in the Championship. Most would say they'd want Hamer for their team, or say Hamer could get into their team. On offence to Osborn, but I doubt there are any fans out there who'd say "I can't believe how lucky Sheffield United are to have Ben Osborn. I'd love it if we could sign him."

Saying it's our best midfield is one thing. Saying it would be best in the division is just laughable, no offence. Forget you support Sheffield United for a second and take an honest look.

There are some really good midfielders tearing up League One. Their fees would be low and so would their wages. They'd probably be fitter and less injury prone as an added bonus.

Name a better one then.

 

[nopigfansintown]

Goalkeepers: Grbic, Davies (third choice). One more option to really challenge for the number one spot.

Left wing back:

Osborn is a versatile option. It's imperative we sign at least one, preferably young left wingback, as Osborn is a stopgap.You don't want to be going into next summer needing two. Really sad about RND but can we trust his fitness? I'd be delighted if he proved me wrong


Right Wing back:

You could go with Bogle and Baldock, but I'd be tempted to move Baldock on due to fitness concerns and my hope that we'll dominate the ball in most games.

Centre backs:

Anel, Robbo, Trusty, Curtis. I wouldn't be against Holgate for the right money. I want another big centre back with leadership qualities. Egan is at that age now that any deal has to be right for the club. If not, move him on.

Midfielders: Arblaster, Brooks, Hamer, Osborn, Peck, Davies. I'd try and offload Souza for the right money. For me he's a defensive midfield specialist or he's nothing. I wouldn't carry a luxury like that in the championship. I'd add one or two to the above including a leader.

Attacking midfielders: I think Marsh and Arblaster have the potential to play here. It depends where the management want to play Arblaster longer term and where they think Marsh is in his development. I'd bring one in to lessen the desperation on obtaining striker signings.

Strikers: Really tough. It's a no brainer to retain Mcburnie given the lack of numbers and proven quality on the books, and the onerous financial packages for a replacement(s). Best case scenario imo is that we keep Jebbo and Mcburnie and add one more to the squad. We are seeing Brewster through to the end. We have no choice.


I think we need around 8-10 players depending on the approach.

Outs: Basham, Lowe, Amissah, Foderingham Norwood, Archer, Mcattee, RND, Slimane, Coulibaly, Traore, Larouci, Baldock. Maybe Egan.

 

[Champagneblade]

I’d be confident we beat both of those. But it’s the top teams we need to beat to get promoted. Blaster and Hamer will be top end championship players. Then we just need someone else with him then to make it perfect. Then we need a few bench players to cover for injuries.

A midfield of:

Hamer
Blaster
Davies
Osborn
2 more midfielders

Would give us arguably best midfield in the championship. We could sell Souza and be able to really replace him with 2 good championship midfielders.

Same principle goes for the defence with Anel too.

Goalkeeper just need him gone and we need to sign 3 goalkeepers.

Strikers is where it all comes down too it. Keeping Mcburnie is a start and then after that it’s some partners for him.

I’m quite bullish like you to be honest and don’t think we write anything off.

Look at the Ipswich team. They’ve hardly lost at all. Are there many players we’d take from them over ours?

Some close calls like Moore / McBurnie based perhaps on the fitness/availability of the latter.

Arblaster and Hamer already makes it look like a Rolls Royce midfield at that level.

Probably flog Souza.

You’ve then got 150+ PL appearance Tom Davies to add, exciting youngsters Brooks and Peck and that’s not to mention we could be in for O’Hare and if not him a top tier loan. Slimane will potentially also have had a year to acclimatise and a proper pre-season and Osborn may also be retained to cover all gaps.

Potentially Egan and Robbo will be reunited. If you assume Anel leaves, you have options like Dunne of QPR, McNair of Boro, Kipre of WBA, Gibson of Norwich, Tuanzebe of Ipswich, all experienced at that level.

We have plenty of wingbacks already on the books plus there are one or two options on a free and the likes of Harrison Burrows that we should be looking at.

Just depends where we are with the forward players.

 

[nopigfansintown]

I’m quite bullish like you to be honest and don’t think we write anything off.

Look at the Ipswich team. They’ve hardly lost at all. Are there many players we’d take from them over ours?

Some close calls like Moore / McBurnie based perhaps on the fitness/availability of the latter.

Arblaster and Hamer already makes it look like a Rolls Royce midfield at that level.

Probably flog Souza.

You’ve then got 150+ PL appearance Tom Davies to add, exciting youngsters Brooks and Peck and that’s not to mention we could be in for O’Hare and if not him a top tier loan. Slimane will potentially also have had a year to acclimatise and a proper pre-season and Osborn may also be retained to cover all gaps.

Potentially Egan and Robbo will be reunited. If you assume Anel leaves, you have options like Dunne of QPR, McNair of Boro, Kipre of WBA, Gibson of Norwich, Tuanzebe of Ipswich, all experienced at that level.

We have plenty of wingbacks already on the books plus there are one or two options on a free and the likes of Harrison Burrows that we should be looking at.

Just depends where we are with the forward players.

It's mad to write anything off at this stage imo. We're in a rebuilding stage but we have enough of the pieces to think we can give it a good go.

 

[Broomhall Blade]

Forget promotion next season. That’s not going to happen unless the board release some funds. They've already shown last summer and the last time we were relegated that they're not willing to. The parachute payments will be invested in the wage bill in order to retain those players that we want to keep. There's then the short sightedness of signing expensive waged loan players who leave at the end of the season, leaving the team and squad short.

I'd take 4-5 seasons in the Championship if it meant building a competitive and capable team for the long term. Sometimes the patient game beats the quick one. We're going to be in a rebuild and my worry is that Wilder resigns many of the out of contract players through desperation.

Just about every team in England has changed their squads and teams for the better over the last five seasons. We've gotten worse and have suffered for it big time, despite spending three of the last five seasons in the Premier League, the alleged home of the riches. Only Sheffield United could get promoted twice, spend three out of five seasons in the top flight and end up with an inferior squad and skint.

We are an amateur s*** show. Promotion next season? No chance.

As for best midfield in the division? Osborn has always been a 6/10 average player at best. Arblaster has shown glimpses of what he's capable of but it unproven at Championship level, so it's a bit early to judge what he's doing next season. As for Davies, will we get 10 games out of him before he's injured again.

Frankly I'll be pissed off if our midfield is Osborn, Hamer, Arblaster and Davies next season, as yet again we'd be sticking with what we have and not strengthening the team.

Next season is our best chance too go straight back up, we can't afford too wait 4 to 5 years.
It looks like it's us Burnley and Luton coming down there is no paticularly strong side in that three. Factor in the fact Leeds, Leicester will probably go up and maybe Southampton it won't be a particularly strong Championship next season.
If those three do go up it could be a very interesting Premiership relegation battle next season with potentially 3 big clubs coming down next season.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Next season is our best chance too go straight back up, we can't afford too wait 4 to 5 years.
It looks like it's us Burnley and Luton coming down there is no paticularly strong side in that three. Factor in the fact Leeds, Leicester will probably go up and maybe Southampton it won't be a particularly strong Championship next season.
If those three do go up it could be a very interesting Premiership relegation battle next season with potentially 3 big clubs coming down next season.

We have 16 players out of contract of which at least 75% probably won't be offered new deals. The nucleus of the remaining squad left includes the likes De Souza, Slimane, Davies and Traore, none of whom are reliable, assuming we can't offload Mr Samba Pointy Finger Man.

The squad and team will be threadbare before we start signing any potential replacements. I highly doubt we will have a squad good enough as we need too many players. It may be our best chance, but I just can't see us being ready in one summer, especially given this clubs record of signing players late into pre-season or no one at all.

Without including out of contract players we will have the following to build on.

Grbic
Trusty
Robinson
Ahmedhodzic *
Davies
Slimane
De Souza
Arblaster
Brooks
Hamer
Brewster
Osula
Traore

* likely to be sold

That is not a good Championship team and certainly not one that will compete near the top.

Most teams have squads of 22-25 players. The leaves us 9-12 players to sign. Even if we retain 5 out of contract players we're still way short and some on this list like Brewster and Davies are too injury prone to be dependable, so that's an extra two players to consider replacing.

With our clubs recent obsession with signing season long loans, these will likely arrive at the end of pre-season, scuppering preparations for the new season once more, as it will take them a month into the season to get up to match fitness and used to the team and Wilder.

I don't trust this club to be capable of building a team capable of promotion in one summer given our piss poor record over the last 5 seasons.

Sorry. I'm just not that optimistic, particularly when we haven't even recruited a head of recruitment yet, which puts us behind already on scouting. We should have been identifying targets for the Championship back in January and speaking to agents to sound out interest and potential moves. Knowing us we'll recruit a new head of recruitment in mid-July and blame this on the lack of signings. Add to this the lame excuses we make when we haven't signed anyone while everyone else around us seems to be managing it. This club is run by amateurs when it comes to recruitment and squad building.

 

[Broomhall Blade]

We have 16 players out of contract of which at least 75% probably won't be offered new deals. The nucleus of the remaining squad left includes the likes De Souza, Slimane, Davies and Traore, none of whom are reliable, assuming we can't offload Mr Samba Pointy Finger Man.

The squad and team will be threadbare before we start signing any potential replacements. I highly doubt we will have a squad good enough as we need too many players. It may be our best chance, but I just can't see us being ready in one summer, especially given this clubs record of signing players late into pre-season or no one at all.

Without including out of contract players we will have the following to build on.

Grbic
Trusty
Robinson
Ahmedhodzic *
Davies
Slimane
De Souza
Arblaster
Brooks
Hamer
Brewster
Osula
Traore

* likely to be sold

That is not a good Championship team and certainly not one that will compete near the top.

Most teams have squads of 22-25 players. The leaves us 9-12 players to sign. Even if we retain 5 out of contract players we're still way short and some on this list like Brewster and Davies are too injury prone to be dependable, so that's an extra two players to consider replacing.

With our clubs recent obsession with signing season long loans, these will likely arrive at the end of pre-season, scuppering preparations for the new season once more, as it will take them a month into the season to get up to match fitness and used to the team and Wilder.

I don't trust this club to be capable of building a team capable of promotion in one summer given our piss poor record over the last 5 seasons.

Sorry. I'm just not that optimistic, particularly when we haven't even recruited a head of recruitment yet, which puts us behind already on scouting. We should have been identifying targets for the Championship back in January and speaking to agents to sound out interest and potential moves. Knowing us we'll recruit a new head of recruitment in mid-July and blame this on the lack of signings. Add to this the lame excuses we make when we haven't signed anyone while everyone else around us seems to be managing it. This club is run by amateurs when it comes to recruitment and squad building.

But that doesn't alter the fact that our best chance of getting back to the Premiership is potentially next season, whether or not our owner sees it like that I have know idea.