Protected the club, good chance of coming back up next season

[Sean Thornton]

Last summer I said our first recruit should be a director of football, I still haven't changed my mind as our recruitment has been terrible since we last got relegated along with mishandling of contracts and poor contract negotiations. Teams like Brentford have a fantastic scouting network because they have such an effective DoF. That said, is there any point appointing one if the Prince doesn't release any funds to them. He's pretty much made it clear that next summer is sell to buy.

Only Sheffield United could get promoted, spend relatively sod all and get relegated with parachute payments and end up skinter then before they went up.

Something is financially wrong and corrupt at this mess of a football club. We're a laughing stock both on and off the pitch.

What’s corrupt and if so report it to any relevant authority putting your real name to it.

 

[Silent Blade]

WTTWY

When was the last cheerful post you made?

 

[WF10BLADE]

When was the last cheerful post you made?

There was a jape about the fax machine yesterday?

 

[s20Blade]

I have no qualms he could have sold if he had dropped his asking price a bit. We might have not got a billionaire but someone with some cash injection and a desire and appetite to push the club forward.

I think anyone coming into the club and putting decent money in wouldn't make a difference of a few million on the asking price. We would have to be purpose bought with with everything about us aligned to what the buyer wants.

 

[Shakespeare blade]

what bollocks
all clubs of our finacial clouts rely on the odd good loan , we are no different
illiman scored only as many at mcburnie but some constantly put him down
we are a very good championship team but cant afford the step up in quality ie buying 40 50 60m pound players

the chairmans shit miracles with the pittance he has available to him
his only really fault is hes not got millions to invest , but theres little he can do to bridge the enormous gap in funding required

luton are nearly doing what we did first season back , momentum crest of a wave , be down next season if not this one dont get the crowds
covid killed us , lutons got the crowds behind them we lost that

this time the lack of funds are screwing us
if you know of any philanthropic billionaires wanting to waste some excess money do tell Princey

The shit we’ve brought hasn’t helped

 

[Sean Thornton]

There was a jape about the fax machine yesterday?

Jape

an activity done to make someone laugh


Fell at the first hurdle then?

 

[Vass Borbokis]

Agree with all this except "enjoy the ride", it's not possible really is it? If someone has enjoyed watching us this season they medically have something wrong with them.

Unless we get decent investment I'd rather finish in the play-offs than top 2 going forward. Because we've never won the playoffs and winning at Wembley would be class. Plus if you lose the play offs you avoid a season of humiliation in the Prem.. its win/win.

I wasn't saying I'd enjoyed watching us this season.
I meant more along the lines of enjoy it for what it is. Don't get too hung up on what happens for the remainder of the season. Start looking forward to next season.
As bad as this season has been, it's been a positive for the finances of the club.
We're in a better place financially than we were this time last year.

Sure there's frustration at performances etc, but how some people react on here is mind boggling (talks of protests etc).
It's a game at the end of the day.

As seen by this season, we need the finances that come with promotion to keep our club afloat.
If we become anything less than a yo-yo club, it's going to be even harder to get back to this level. (Unless an ownership change occurs).

 

[fleckagainagainagain…]

Our best hope is that FFP starts being enforced properly (signs are that it is with these points deductions), then the cost of competing at the lower end of the PL will gradually come down and we can have a go.

 

[Eza Blade]

To the car park!!!!

We are a bit of a shit show but not the only ones. Our owner has done what a lot of owners have. Struggled like fuck in a business that is bent as fuck

 

[CPB]

When I was watching us against Palace on Tuesday, I was messaging my mate about the £8m and £16m they spend on olise and eze and was moaning about what we got for the same price. I couldn't believe that Palace, a run of the mill mid table prem team could compete financially, then I googled their owners.

Combined wealth about £5 billion. That is why we cant compete. Whilst I agree that the club is piss poor at decision timing, PA is prohibited by his relatively low wealth.

I do wonder sometimes whether people expect him to bankrupt himself for us to have a season or 2 in the sunshine.

Luton aside, google the other clubs owners and their net worth. I bet a lot of champ teams have owners wealthier than ours.

It's a valid point.

FFP will mean that clubs can't spend more than their revenue as such. Or make too much in losses. But in reality what it actually does is prohibit an owner from wanting to splash the cash as well as (hopefully) safeguarding clubs' finances.
Of course the bigger clubs have less to worry about hence the FFP rule seems to effect them far less due to revenue streams.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

I wasn't saying I'd enjoyed watching us this season.
I meant more along the lines of enjoy it for what it is. Don't get too hung up on what happens for the remainder of the season. Start looking forward to next season.
As bad as this season has been, it's been a positive for the finances of the club.
We're in a better place financially than we were this time last year.

Sure there's frustration at performances etc, but how some people react on here is mind boggling (talks of protests etc).
It's a game at the end of the day.

As seen by this season, we need the finances that come with promotion to keep our club afloat.
If we become anything less than a yo-yo club, it's going to be even harder to get back to this level. (Unless an ownership change occurs).

"Start looking forward to next season" .. even if things were somehow looking positive for next season that's 6 months away which is a fairly long time.

But what's to look forward to? Our strike force is very average by championship standards, our main 2 creative players are on loan to us and not coming back. Jury's totally out on the new keeper but early indications aren't great. Possibly our defence might regain some form but can't be certain.

I do not enjoy being all doom & gloom but I get seriously baffled when people talk confidently or with optimism about next season.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Our best hope is that FFP starts being enforced properly (signs are that it is with these points deductions), then the cost of competing at the lower end of the PL will gradually come down and we can have a go.

While that may keep us up we still have the shortage of funds issue. If we - stay with me for a moment here - without some serious investment, another years PL money will still need spending and probably still won’t be enough for anything more than another desperate relegation battle.

With the apparent lack of wealthy bidders, the quick fix of getting rid of the current owner now won’t fix things as some think. I have no answers and neither do those who think they do.

 

[Silent Blade]

"Start looking forward to next season" .. even if things were somehow looking positive for next season that's 6 months away which is a fairly long time.

But what's to look forward to? Our strike force is very average by championship standards, our main 2 creative players are on loan to us and not coming back. Jury's totally out on the new keeper but early indications aren't great. Possibly our defence might regain some form but can't be certain.

I do not enjoy being all doom & gloom but I get seriously baffled when people talk confidently or with optimism about next season.

Am looking forward to tomorrow and going to Luton next week!

 

[JJBlade]

Trying to sell the club to some bastard that actually has the billions you need to compete.

Not gonna happen.
There are plenty of clubs like QPR, Watford, Millwall, Charlton, MK Dons, Wimbledon, Dagenham & Redbridge, Sutton, Wealdstone, Crawley, Orient and Barnet that they can invest in.

Can you see the familiar theme?

When these clubs are all bought up and improved it will be the turn of Portsmouth, Cambridge, Southend, Oxford, Reading,

Then Swindon, Bristol City and Rovers, Plymouth, Havant & Waterlooville, Torquay, Yeovil, Eastleigh, Truro.

If it ever stretches North in about 100 years time, Sheffield United will still be missed as an opportunity, because it isn't an opportunity

 

[Hamandcheese]

We have needlessly given ourselves too much to do to be promoted next season. We now need a miraculous summer. It is complete negligence. Again. He did exactly the same last time. Waste January, scrape together what you can in the summer, rely on loans. It's so easy to avoid this and adequately plan for the future but he clearly isn't interested.... which is strange because it's completely in his own interests

 

[Vass Borbokis]

"Start looking forward to next season" .. even if things were somehow looking positive for next season that's 6 months away which is a fairly long time.

But what's to look forward to? Our strike force is very average by championship standards, our main 2 creative players are on loan to us and not coming back. Jury's totally out on the new keeper but early indications aren't great. Possibly our defence will regain some form but can't be certain.

I do not enjoy being all doom & gloom but I get serioudly baffled when people talk confidently or with optimism about next season.

I'm looking forward to watching games where we aren't 10/1 underdogs most weeks. Playing against teams on a similar level to us.
We're currently playing in the toughest league in the world, against the best teams.

Our backs are against the wall pretty much straight away week-in, week-out at this level.
We can't go toe to toe with 3/4 of this division so the only option seems to be to go defensive and grind out results, which we're obviously struggling to do (putting it lightly).

I'm not saying we'll walk the league etc next season, but the level of the championship is miles away from the prem.

Grbic needs time to adjust. If he doesn't work out then we've got until the start of next season to bring a better option in.
Grbic could end up being number 2, with Wes, Davies and Amissah looking to be heading out.

Back 4 of RND, Trusty, Anel and Bogle with Egan, JLT, Baldock as backup is easily a top-end championship defence. If Anel goes so be it (Curtis could be ready to challenge, as well as the youngsters).

Midfield 3 of Hamer, Souza, Brooks with Davies, Arblaster as backup.
Only possibly Souza I see leaving. We'd need a couple more in midfield, but that's easily obtainable.

McBurnie with Osula/Jebbison hopefully pushing on and providing some competition.

You're then just looking for either wingers/wide midfielders/attacking midfielders/ another striker.
This just depends on what formation we're going to be going for, still seems up in the air.

Make a couple of shrewd free transfer signings and use the loan marker well (which we have done very well the last couple times we were in the championship).

 

[Toronto Blade]

Pretty obvious they are just cashing in on the Premier league money. I'm sure the likes of Fleck, Norwood and Osborn would cost abit to replace to be competitive. Brooks, Ossy and Jebbison will all be expected to be championship quality next season regardless.

Well Fleck at 32 is gone, Norwood is 33 in April ,Osborn at 29 .Norwood has been caught up by age along with Fleck. I would expect Norwood gone in the summer and Osborn probably need to save their wages and find replacements that can do a better job

 

[Nagima]

Despite Leicester getting relegated last season, they have come on quite a bit as a club though.
I think they will go up of course and then stay up next season.

They've seen fantastic new training facilities and academy, scouting network is good. They also have plans in place to expand the stadium to 40,000.

You are right they have. Their relegation obviously came a surprise considering they looked solid for years. And they have not suffered a malaise like Watford.

Bramall Lane is good enough so any improvements wanted can wait. Everything else needs an overhaul and not just throw money at it. We need a long-term vision and plan. My worry is we have alot to fix and will Wilder and the players have enough patience to get through it.

 

[raul]

When was the last cheerful post you made?

Ignore him Silent. He doesn't even go anymore.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Ignore him Silent. He doesn't even go anymore.

 

[Le Cynique]

I’m not the biggest fan of Frank’s rather aggressive posting style, but he’s spot on when he says we have a right load of sandy fannies across our support. On the plus side, people must have fairly fulfilling and enjoyable lives outside of the Blades if they can find such a large amount of energy to invest in moaning about something that they literally have no control over whatsoever.

 

[WF10BLADE]

Ignore him Silent. He doesn't even go anymore.

Might go tomorrow, there's a forum meet in car park isn't there?

 

[Nick Jansky]

I do not enjoy being all doom & gloom but I get seriously baffled when people talk confidently or with optimism about next season.

Unless you have a crystal ball you have absolutely no clue at all what next season will look like. None of us do.

But because you are a very negative person by nature you choose to put the worst possible slant on everything, always. Which suggests that you probably do enjoy a good old wallow in misery.

 

[RossingtonBlade]

You have watched a Championship game recently, right?

Yes, I watch it regularly. I also think it’s pretty naive to think we will keep majority of the squad in the summer. Big changes will happen.

 

[Panini]

I do not enjoy being all doom & gloom but I get seriously baffled when people talk confidently or with optimism about next season.

So what? They don't need your validation in order to be optimistic and you don't need anyone's validation to be negative.

If you think having optimism is a problem, consider yourself lucky you don't have that problem?

The only thing that baffles me right now is how many people think the answer to our ownership problems is for PA to drop his asking price, as if that's magically going to open the door to billionaires.

 

[Fjortoft's Aeroplane]

Unless you have a crystal ball you have absolutely no clue at all what next season will look like. None of us do.

But because you are a very negative person by nature you choose to put the worst possible slant on everything, always. Which suggests that you probably do enjoy a good old wallow in misery.

So negative I made the highly optimistic "30 points" thread just over a week ago . Though I must admit that was made before we'd signed Grbic and before sandwichgate.

Still if we can get 3 points tomorrow...