Sheffield United have chosen profit over fans with a season of record-breakingly bad football

[PaulHalfway]

We made profits in our last two PL seasons. Just not enough to cover player investment. Hence the cash flow issues.

Exactly, but if you get relegated but still owe 60 million on the players purchased in the PL, you have one hell of a problem to deal with financially

 

[Sean Thornton]

Exactly, but if you get relegated but still owe 60 million on the players purchased in the PL, you have one hell of a problem to deal with financially

Something many fail to grasp.

 

[blade too long]

this shows we have nett spent around 30m compared to sum massive spends

Premier League - Transfer income and expenditures

This statistic shows, which clubs of the Premier League in the season 22/23 had the highest transfer expenditures and/or transfer incomes.

www.transfermarkt.co.uk

3 clubs nett spend is positive due to selling 80m plus players

 

[raul]

More received wisdom and acceptance of The Plan (TM), but
A) Where in TP is the sub-plan to deal with the majority of the squad being out of contract?
B) What's the point of coming back up with the same ownership?

 

[Bladesman]

Something many fail to grasp.

Surprised you have not thrown the towel in on this one. I have seen you try to explain the situation to people endlessly on here and people refuse to grasp it.

 

[Pedro's Winger]

What is our potential at present? With our playing staff contracts, sub par training facilities and relatively poor owner? I think championship is about right for us, I'm not beating the club down BTW. It would of been exciting to see owner splash the cash but I'd rather we be stable as a club not looking over our shoulder. If we hadn't crippled majority of our squad we would have picked more points up but I predict we would have still dropped.

In the short term it must be possible to put in more competitive performances than we currently are.
Losing is one thing but losing in a gutless, defeatist manner is another.
Realising potential isn't just about spending money, as some clubs in the Prem have demonstrated. It's about being organised, smart with transfers and contracts, developing youth and so on.
The notion we just accept mediocrity until a fantasy sugar daddy arrives is daft.
There's a real danger here that we are sleepwalking into an acceptance that United can't succeed like other clubs have because we're just United and that's what we do.
That breeds apathy, disinterest, falling crowds and a sense of 'what's the point' that could cause much longer lasting damage.

 

[Rochdaleblade]

I would dispute that we are building a squad capable of promotion from the championship next season.

 

[jt64]

I would dispute that we are building a squad capable of promotion from the championship next season.

Having watched the team currently in fifth last night, I beg to differ

 

[PaulHalfway]

Of the 'massive investment' which wasn't actually at all massive investment at Premier League standard, we have sold on 2 of the players in Ramsdale for a profit, and Berge for a loss but after 3 years playing in which he helped us achieve a 9th place finish and a promotion.

That then leaves around 80m on players over 2 seasons which isn't at all a lot by premier league standards. Of those players, cases can be made for McBurnie, Mousset and Bogle all contributing and not being total wasted spend.

The club cannot hide behind Wilder's spending as a reason to not spend in the Premier League again as they have done this season. If that is our approach then how will we ever progress? This owner is running us into the ground, look how many players are out of contract after this season. It's a total joke, and I find it baffling why he doesn't come in for more criticism at games especially.

We got promoted to the premier league and sold our best 2 players, it's as simple as that. Yes you can make a case for Hamer being sensible business but a progressive club would have brought him in to play with Berge, not to replace him.

He doesn’t come in for criticism at games because PA and his entourage don’t attend games
He has stated he has no money left and is looking to sell to a respected and responsible buyer
We are totally stuck and in limbo land until he sells

 

[biggiesablade]

In the short term it must be possible to put in more competitive performances than we currently are.
Losing is one thing but losing in a gutless, defeatist manner is another.
Realising potential isn't just about spending money, as some clubs in the Prem have demonstrated. It's about being organised, smart with transfers and contracts, developing youth and so on.
The notion we just accept mediocrity until a fantasy sugar daddy arrives is daft.
There's a real danger here that we are sleepwalking into an acceptance that United can't succeed like other clubs have because we're just United and that's what we do.
That breeds apathy, disinterest, falling crowds and a sense of 'what's the point' that could cause much longer lasting damage.

I'd welcome a change of management, I'd love an upturn in performances and results but I'm quite satisfied with the financial health of the club being protected for future years out of the prem and without parachute payments. We can't succeed because we are just United, we can't succeed because we do not have the money to sustain and continously improve a Premier league side year after year. Unfortunately. I did think clever tactics, a strong work ethic and pure grit could do it for us under Wilder. I'm over that idea haha.

 

[Smirth]

He doesn’t come in for criticism at games because PA and his entourage don’t attend games
He has stated he has no money left and is looking to sell to a respected and responsible buyer
We are totally stuck and in limbo land until he sells

The criticism is that he is asking for far too much for us, and way more than what we are actually worth. All while having invested little of his own money (by both Premier League and Championship standards) and meaning he is going to profit from the sale regardless. He is being greedy and holding out for more.

Meanwhile we deteriorate and become worse and worse. When we go down this season season we probably don't have a talent such as Ndiaye in the u23s to drag us back up again. We currently have 10 players under contract, of which maybe only half you could say we know are good enough for the level. This is because our esteemed owner 'likes having players in the last year of their contract as the play better.' Unless of course those players are actually wanted by other teams then they get sold (Ndiaye & Berge).

His attempts to a 'respected and responsible' buyer have completely failed. He'll sell us to anyone who is stupid enough to offer him the crazy money he is asking for us. Somewhat unsurprisingly the only ones he's found at that price point would be in no way fit to own a football club.

 

[PaulHalfway]

Minor pedantic point, but on the balance sheets Berge's value at the point we sold him was nowhere near what we actually paid for him, without looking into the exact contract details more than 70% of his value would already have been wiped off through amortisation. From a football accounting point of view we sold an asset booked at £5-7m or there abouts for more than that

The cost of a player is written off annually in the accounts against the length of the contract the player has
Purchase price 20 million on 4 year contract
Each year 5 million taken as cost in the accounts
After year 2 the player sits on the Balance Sheet at a value of 10 million
If you then sell him in year 3 for 15 million a 5 million profit is taken in the accounts that year

 

[dingledog]

At least we don't owe tax to HMRC

YET!!!

 

[Neuschwanstein]

Welcome to the Premiership. Only winners are players and agents.
An appalling system that feeds into itself.

 

[Carlton Blade]

I'm a harsh critic of the owner. However, unless I'm missing something we've chosen to pay our bills with our income and no owner capital injection, not to set up an ISA called "SUFC PL TV Money" to hide all the profit?

 

[Sean Thornton]

.

 

[Snowflake]

I would dispute that we are building a squad capable of promotion from the championship next season.

Which players in the current squad are not good enough for the Championship ?
Add in three or four youngsters who will be good enough and perhaps a couple with experience and the squad are likely to be promoted. What then happens is the problem as we don’t have enough young talent that will be PL standard

 

[Snowflake]

Welcome to the Premiership. Only winners are players and agents.
An appalling system that feeds into itself.

You missed out managers.Highly paid and often well compensated for “failing”.

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

Surprised you have not thrown the towel in on this one. I have seen you try to explain the situation to people endlessly on here and people refuse to grasp it.

True that some people refuse to grasp the argument, but that does not speak against the validity of the argument. It possibly speaks more about facts not fitting agendas.

 

[Houston_Blade]

Arsenal F.C. Multi-Year Cap Hits

Arsenal F.C. (AFC) player cap figures, cap hits, seasons

www.spotrac.com

I wonder why they beat us

Aaron Ramsdale annual salary of 6m quid is one third of our squads 19m wage bill
166m a year arsenals wage bill 8 times more than us

they should be 8 times better, how can we possibly compete with such numbers

Our wage bill is £19m? Is it 2006 still?!

 

[Houston_Blade]

Something many fail to grasp.

The answer is to buy better players who you can sell when you go down, that’s the issue. We spent the money on completely the wrong players and instead of selling our assets on relegation we sold them on promotion back to the PL instead. Retarded.

In fairness to the club Archer and Hamer appeared to be those players this season, however Hamer will be worth about £2m if he keeps playing out of a position in a side that gets hammered every week.

 

[Sean Thornton]

The answer is to buy better players who you can sell when you go down, that’s the issue. We spent the money on completely the wrong players and instead of selling our assets on relegation we sold them on promotion back to the PL instead. Retarded.

In fairness to the club Archer and Hamer appeared to be those players this season, however Hamer will be worth about £2m if he keeps playing out of a position in a side that gets hammered every week.

Yes but you can’t ignore the fact that both wanted to leave.

 

[Pedro's Winger]

I'd welcome a change of management, I'd love an upturn in performances and results but I'm quite satisfied with the financial health of the club being protected for future years out of the prem and without parachute payments. We can't succeed because we are just United, we can't succeed because we do not have the money to sustain and continously improve a Premier league side year after year. Unfortunately. I did think clever tactics, a strong work ethic and pure grit could do it for us under Wilder. I'm over that idea haha.

In other words, you've given up. If you're thinking about being in the Championship without parachute payments we're going to be down for several years and will potentially find our way back to the third division.
We did succeed in the first year under Wilder and other clubs with relatively limited resources have found ways to succeed.
Historically, United's standing is in the top 20 of English football. Why would or should we just give up?

 

[Carlton Blade]

More received wisdom and acceptance of The Plan (TM), but
A) Where in TP is the sub-plan to deal with the majority of the squad being out of contract?
B) What's the point of coming back up with the same ownership?

Honestly, I imagine the plan is 2 fold

1) Get promoted in 2 years, repeat spend levels. Relegated
2) PPs run out. Operate as Rotherham+

 

[Houston_Blade]

Yes but you can’t ignore the fact that both wanted to leave.

You also can’t ignore the fact that Ndiaye wasn’t being paid enough and should have been tied down much earlier, then when OM came in for him we can ask for proper money and not just whatever we could get.

Berge I’m not overly fussed about, we kept him last season and replaced him with Hamer, the only issue is that we’ll probably have to sell Hamer on relegation.

 

[adiosmiamigo]

I would dispute that we are building a squad capable of promotion from the championship next season.

Maybe building a squad capable of staying in the Championship.

 

[Carlton Blade]

I hate that we sold Ndiaye and I don't believe it was essential to survive as a club. I fully understand the argument against that view

To use that money on Trusty, Traore, Slimane, Souza, loans for McAtee, Thomas, Larouchi is a cruel joke. I find it even more difficult to justify the Ndiaye sale based on that return (I'm not including Archer here because of the ambiguity over whether he was just the fee Villa paid to use £18.5m of United's FFP space. But even if you do, the return is scarcely better)

 

[Davalon]

Some decent points in that article but also shows ignorance. We're getting the same criticism that Norwich got from some quarters.

The attitude seems to be that we should blow everything gained from reaching the PL.

No doubt the same people would criticise the owner and club when financial ruin ensues.

 

[BadgersBigToe]

I'll paste it below.

Sheffield United have chosen profit over fans with a season of record-breakingly bad football​

Everything is broken at Bramall Lane; it was never meant to be like this​

Daniel Storey
October 31, 2023 6:00 am(Updated 9:33 am)
Opinion
Chief Football Writer

Sheffield United’s defending has been abysmal this season (Photo: Getty)


The irony doesn’t so much linger in the wings as slap Paul Heckingbottom hard across the cheek. Sheffield United have now made the worst start to a season in Premier League history, pushing Sheffield United 2020-21 into second place. That team was managed by Chris Wilder. Reports suggest that Heckingbottom will soon be sacked, to be replaced by… Wilder.

Everything is broken or quickly breaking at Bramall Lane; it was never meant to be like this. Over their last five league games, when Heckingbottom was hoping to build on the slight wisps of promise, Sheffield United have conceded 20 goals and scored just two. They have now taken one point from 10 games and outsiders are starting to whisper about other unwanted records.

Their joint-top goalscorer is own goals, with two. They have been ahead for three per cent of their Premier League minutes. None of this is fun.
To pick out one problem feels cruel, such is the length and breadth of Heckingbottom’s must-do-betters. But Sheffield United’s defending so far this season has been record-breakingly, off-the-side-of-chart bad. They are on course to allow 300 shots on target and 764 shots across a full season, which would “beat” the worst offending totals from last season’s Premier League by 102 and 145 respectively.

It is true that the Blades haven’t played any of the three teams directly above them, but not playing Sheffield United yet is one of the reasons why they are there at all.
If Heckingbottom does lose his job soon or later, he will have paid a high price for overachievement. This club were 16th in the Championship when Heckingbottom replaced Slavisa Jokanovic.

In less than 18 months he took them out of trouble and into the play-offs and then followed semi-final disappointment with automatic promotion with 91 points. That he was left off the nominations list for the Championship Manager of The Season was a gross omission.
Heckingbottom was hardly provided with the tools for his improbable mission. Abdullah bin Mosaad, the club’s owner, has long insisted that Sheffield United are available for sale but purchases by Henry Mauriss and Dozy Mmobuosi fell through over concerns about the substance of their wealth. The second half of the promotion season was spent under transfer embargo.

Not that it mattered: Heckingbottom had bought only two players for a fee over the preceding 18 months and one of those cost £250,000.
If Heckingbottom’s promotion cheer has quickly dissipated, he has a robust defence than his team for the absolution of guilt. The stark reality: the squad that started last season was stronger than they find in a higher division.

Due to enforced sales and expiring loans, Sheffield United lost their top goalscorer, top two assist providers and second and third highest chance creators and then they lost their captain to serious injury thereafter. Supporters ispoke to on the eve of the season believed that, without a takeover, relegation was a certainty. No news is bad news.

Heckingbottom was hardly provided with the tools for his improbable mission (Photo: Reuters)
Heckingbottom was permitted to recruit 10 new players – although three were on loan, one was a free transfer and three others cost £5m or less. The age profile of those signings was instructive too: the majority are aged 22 and under and Gustavo Hamer is the oldest at 26. Sheffield United looked to be building a squad to flourish in the Championship after relegation.

But then sacking the manager would suggest a demand for more. It would decree that Sheffield United are not simply Luton Town, happy just to be here and to be future-proofed after years of financial turmoil. If Heckingbottom would concede defensive underperformance, a back four of Jayden Bogle, Luke Thomas, Auston Trusty and Jack Robinson is not Premier League quality. You cannot escape reality forever and Heckingbottom is a manager who deals in nuts and bolts.
That is the most galling aspect of this deep funk. Six months ago, this group of supporters were celebrating after securing promotion against West Bromwich Albion. The triumph itself partly explained the joy – the realisation of a goal that had been pursued relentlessly over the previous 18 months.

But revelry blended with excitement. The joy of promotion lies in the prize, not simply the achievement. Too quickly that got lost on the wind.
The futility that may haunt Sheffield United over the next 28 matches is a dangerous entity. Last season, the three promoted clubs all stayed up. But Fulham and Bournemouth spent handsomely, enjoyed parachute payment benefits and had retained some of the better players from their previous Premier League seasons. Nottingham Forest were the exception and spent £160m to stay up.

If you cannot come up and cope, what’s the point in coming up at all? Clubs do indeed get vast broadcasting revenue, but fans being left to only celebrate the bottom line is a dystopian football culture.

Futility is fuelled by hopelessness that stems from a perceived – and in Sheffield United’s case realised – lack of competition. You turn up and, if you’re lucky, you might get a point every now and then and occasionally you’ll have a good day against a meagre opponent. 60 per cent of matches become write-offs.

As the Sheffield United season ticket-holder muttered to his granddaughter after the defeat to Manchester United: “You get bugger all for trying your hardest”. That might well become the epitaph to their fated campaign. “Enjoy the moment,” advised Heckingbottom when promotion was confirmed to the fanbase and the players. Oh Heck – maybe he saw what was coming next.

Did this article come with free razor blades

 

[Rodley]

More received wisdom and acceptance of The Plan (TM), but
A) Where in TP is the sub-plan to deal with the majority of the squad being out of contract?
B) What's the point of coming back up with the same ownership?

Add them into the head scratchers along with…C) How do “good intentions” equate to trying to flog us to the two last interested parties?

Football isn’t sustainable. You can probably be sustainable in League 2, but that wouldn’t be fun. It requires heavy subsidy from whomever owns you.

For all the pious nonsense about the “reset”, clutching our P&Ls as a comfort blanket as we get annihilated every week, we’ll still be looking into the abyss next year only this time with half a squad.