Realistically how can any manager walk into a job he has just accepted and say anything else but the budget is fine?
We all know collectively the budget is far less now and is being wasted massively on some of 7 players who we can't get off the books. .
They are the hospital equivalent of bed blockers stopping new folks coming in; expect that some of the 7 are lying down in the BUPA private penthouse suites, largely thanks to the prolificacy of Clough, and Adkins with Hammond..
This is clearly impacting on who he can sign now.
Wilder might be able to currently to tell the agents where to go with their players wages demands, but realistically they also know he has had a massive 21 players clear out and hasn't got anywhere near a competitive team unless one of them blinks.
We couldn't cherry pick Tafazolli could we? It also sounds like there are plenty of other agents also holding out for big pay days.
Who holds most of the cards till the bed blockers go?
Thank you so bloody much Nigel Clough.
Davie.
There's the wage bill and there's this season's wage budget.
Everybody agrees last year's wage bill, maybe over £6m, was ridiculously high for League 1. It got out of hand in the 2015 JTW when the Board bailed out Clough when he was desperate to recover things mid-season; 5 expensive signings in the JTW and who are still with us on top of loads signed before and yet we still played in the play-offs with a patched up side.
On recruiting Adkins they had to give him a budget to spend on new blood and so they did; 5 more expensive signings on top of Clough's ( loan players cost money too). The Board will have expected Adkins to shift players and he started to eventually but mostly on loan.
So yes, by nature the wage bill and total budget will be less this year. The big gambles on Clough and Adkins' ability to do the job have failed.
We've released 10 and another 7 are on the list. We may even sell some of the retained players.
Should we fail to induce some of the listed 7 by maybe subsidising their wages at another club either on a permanent deal or on loan or by settling their remaining contract, say pay half their wages for them to leave, then I think the club will do that. In the case of Hammond he'll have to accept say a half pay-off of his contract if he wants to play football at all in the next couple of years but he'll walk away with a load of dosh for doing nothing.
I would hope the Board treat those pay-offs and subsidies as one-off expenses and put them down to experience. The cost will go on the wage bill but I don't think they'll affect Wilder's
spending budget which I hope and expect to be a very good budget for a League 1 team expecting promotion. Yes it will be less than before but two clubs got promoted on half our budget last season FGS.
I don't think it's money that will hinder Wilder for one minute. I think the gelling together and settling-in all those new players is a massive challenge. Nobody knows how some of these players, so excited to be playing at Bramall Lane, will actually respond to the 'big club atmosphere' and all the expectations and attention that goes with it.
Another historic point is that when our budget was slashed we couldn't attract a manager until Weir stepped up. Even McCall couldn't accept that poisoned chalice even though he desperately wanted to return to the club. I reckon the budget is much higher than then thanks to the prince and don't forget Wilder has taken the job within hours of being offered it. It took Mourinho 3 days to agree all that sort of stuff at Old Trafford!!
