Stephen Bettis speaks to local Media

[KMC-1889]

I presume they feel that either the value of the club has reduced since purchase and so they're trying to get the prince to share that liability, or they feel the prince misled them in the valuation of the club when he sold it. If the latter is true, that would change my view of whether the new owners are acting with good principles or not, I'd be of the same view if they were genuinely misled, for example debts or other liabilities were hidden.

there seems to have been a couple of things - the bramall lane stand seems to be quite major and is being played down, there seems to be very little progress made which the Dore site compared to what we were told before (they don’t even have planning permission or even started public consultation yet).

It could be as simple as they want to extend the runway for payments because the club missed out on promotion and that’s altered the plans.

 

[Ukkonen]

Brother of Jack
Part of a super rich family who has recently become a director of our 1919 ownership company. Apparently he's been to the Lane a few times and caught the bug. Let's hope the bug bites him to such an extent that he invests in us.

Well, I know you cant save everyone but hopefully Tim, Jack and Ryan can save us.

 

[Jacobsenthecrab]

I've not been able to keep up with the discussion on here, and it seems to relate largely to the transfer of the club.

But specifically talking about the amount owed to the prince, which was verified by Bettis, have we any indication as to why they feel they should pay less?

I presume they feel that either the value of the club has reduced since purchase and so they're trying to get the prince to share that liability, or they feel the prince misled them in the valuation of the club when he sold it. If the latter is true, that would change my view of whether the new owners are acting with good principles or not, I'd be of the same view if they were genuinely misled, for example debts or other liabilities were hidden.

Keiron McGuire feels they got the club at a bit of a discount so based on that I can’t see how PA misled them in terms of the price.
He also thinks they wanted to flip it quickly upon promotion for a quick profit, so if that’s true the current issue is that it’s been a bad investment and they want out without further losses.
Unfortunately for them thats not how contract law works.

 

[Pedro Verde]

Keiron McGuire feels they got the club at a bit of a discount so based on that I can’t see how PA misled them in terms of the price.

Doubt the club was ever worth more than 100m. It was a Championship club and still is. Think WBA got sold for £60m. I know we still had parachute payments
I wouldnt take McGuires word on that. He doesnt know the ins and outs of the deal or if The Prince misled / hid stuff from them

He also thinks they wanted to flip it quickly upon promotion for a quick profit

Just one mans opinion. Could be true might not be

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Well, I know you cant save everyone but hopefully Tim, Jack and Ryan can save us.

Come on Ryan...save our privates.

 

[Balham]

Keiron McGuire feels they got the club at a bit of a discount so based on that I can’t see how PA misled them in terms of the price.
He also thinks they wanted to flip it quickly upon promotion for a quick profit, so if that’s true the current issue is that it’s been a bad investment and they want out without further losses.
Unfortunately for them thats not how contract law works.

Kieran Maguire, more often than not, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Apologies if already posted, however I'm not sure why it wasn't more widely known, especially by our local journalists, that Tim Ryan hadn't passed the IFR Fit and Proper Test. I literally Googled "Tim Ryan Sheffield United" and about 3 stories down was this - https://www.footballregulator.org.uk/people/timothy-ryan-sheffield-united

Independent Football Regulator

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

www.footballregulator.org.uk

 

[Keen Blade]

That was a blatantly obvious question to ask so really not sure why it wasn’t.
From a personal point of view and being non season ticket holder scum, when available, I always sit on the upper tier so not being able to, definitely affects my decision whether to go or not.

My ST's been in the middle of the kop for decades but the value of the BLUT is that non-ST folk get a brilliant view and casual attenders are thus more likely to attend more frequently.

 

[Bell4]

I already think so many casuals are electing not to bother this season…But with the BLUT shut and the patchy form of the team, it may be a while before we get them back.

It’s quite depressing isnt it .

I, like thousands more , have followed Utd home and away since 1970 . My kids have had STs , I now go to the games alone as for one reason or another our once merry band of 8/10 have quit the crusade .

I’m not entitled - I love my club but I don’t bloody like them at the moment . It’s a depressing shit show and I have to be honest it wouldn’t bother me one bit if I didn’t go again .

Anyway - see you on Saturday

 

[PrestwichBlade]

Independent Football Regulator

The Independent Football Regulator (IFR) has been established to protect and promote the sustainability of English football, for the benefit of fans and the local communities football clubs serve.

www.footballregulator.org.uk

Interesting. This the guy pictured at Pre -season training? Doesn't seem to have been announced on United website, yet appointment of Ryan was.

 

[Silent Blade]

Interesting. This the guy pictured at Pre -season training?

Yes

 

[UddersBlade]

Despite all of Stephen Bettis's answers on Tuesday on Radio Sheffield - 10 years on - part of his legacy after having received circa £500 million Premier League money - is that we cannot afford to repair a stand in our stadium so reducing our capacity!!!. Given the salary he will be earning - people can't keep saying its not his fault as he's not the owner!. A CEO is meant to give direction on a day to day basis and control day to day business decisions. It should not have been allowed to get to this situation.

 

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Interesting. This the guy pictured at Pre -season training? Doesn't seem to have been announced on United website, yet appointment of Ryan was.

He's either been brought on board to invest or possibly be the one to source further investment. Whatever the scenario I can't see anyone putting even a tenner in until both ownership cases are resolved.

 

[Pedro Verde]

A CEO is meant to give direction on a day to day basis and control day to day business decisions

I would say repairing the Bramall Lane end roof is not a day to day business decision its a large infrastructure project that needs the owners to sign off on it

 

[Kenilworth]

Yeah the questions were not from Rob were they?

Which has been my point all along with The Star and Radio Sheffield they won't question Wilder directly themselves. They want to keep that relationship sweet.

The owners have questions to answer obviously but so does Wilder as well.

Surely it adds more weight to the questions if he fronts it with, “here’s a question from the fans about the situation with Wilder”. He’s not going to do that then ask the same question from him.

Ask the Mrs to tek that spade off of yer

 

[Kenilworth]

SUFC are a member of the EFL.

If the company/owners who own SUFC, change or transfer the shares to another company that is essentially owning SUFC, then the EFL has to be notified and agree to it.

He is the CEO of SUFC.

I would assume he would have advised the owners they needed to get such a change agreed?

It would be odd, but I wouldn’t put is past them, but there is always the notion that he only knew about it after the decision had been made and he then had to go with it.

 

[Jacobsenthecrab]

Kieran Maguire, more often than not, doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

I would have to disagree on that but hey ho

 

[dexter101]

Despite all of Stephen Bettis's answers on Tuesday on Radio Sheffield - 10 years on - part of his legacy after having received circa £500 million Premier League money - is that we cannot afford to repair a stand in our stadium so reducing our capacity!!!. Given the salary he will be earning - people can't keep saying its not his fault as he's not the owner!. A CEO is meant to give direction on a day to day basis and control day to day business decisions. It should not have been allowed to get to this situation.

I don't think he said we couldn't afford to do it. I think he said the work is going to be substantial and needs to be done next summer. with reduced attendance they have made the decision not to reopen the section.

 

[S64 Blade]

I managed to listen to the interview and in all honesty, it didn’t really give us much that we didn’t already know.

I think far too much time was given to the court case - something that Bettis isn’t directly involved with. Surely it’d have been wiser questioning him on items that are within his control?

I’m still none the wiser to what the club’s strategy is. Bettis’ answer was “get promoted”. That’s a goal, rather than a strategy.

Ralph’s questioning was also weak. He’d ask something and seemingly not listen to the answer, as he rarely proved further to get an actual answer to the question rather than the one Bettis wanted to give.

Disappointing nothing was asked about the structure and make up of the board.

 

[Kenilworth]

If it’s not in Europe it’s surely USA. If it’s USA how is it similar to Bochum

Loads of Germans emigrated there.

 

[UddersBlade]

I would say repairing the Bramall Lane end roof is not a day to day business decision its a large infrastructure project that needs the owners to sign off on it

What do you thinks CEO’s job/responsibility should be ? He’ll earning a significant salary to do that job.

I don’t accept that he’s not responsible (at least in part) for why we are where we are today. He’s been a constant throughout the last 10 years and I’m not convinced he’s done a good job.

 

[CrookesBlade]

What do you thinks CEO’s job/responsibility should be ? He’ll earning a significant salary to do that job.

I don’t accept that he’s not responsible (at least in part) for why we are where we are today. He’s been a constant throughout the last 10 years and I’m not convinced he’s done a good job.

Isn’t the problem though he has no proper strategy from the owners or the capital to put that strategy into place?

The business plan for the past 10 years has been either “Wilder” or “Use parachute payments to win promotion”.

The CEO can advise but he’s not signing the cheques. So the big decisions aren’t his to make. He didn’t sack Wilder after the play off final and he didn’t bring in Selles or sign off on James Bord using a second hand Speak N Spell for recruitment.

My view of Bettis is that he is too stretched…he’s negotiating multi million pound transfer deals and making sure the toilets are clean.

I don’t think the attack line of “he’s been the one constant over the past 10 years so it’s his fault” stands up. If he’s taking the flak for what’s happening now then you have to credit him for the success in the period 2018-2023. It’s perfectly possible for somebody to do be doing the best job in difficult circumstances.

When you’ve got uninterested, distracted and absent owners (be that COH or Abdullah) who’ve left him with a bag of loose change and said “get us promotion with that” I’d defy anybody to do much better.

 

[Pedro Verde]

What do you thinks CEO’s job/responsibility should be ? He’ll earning a significant salary to do that job.

He is answerable to the owners. He will not have carte blanche to go ahead and spend a significant amount of money on a pretty large infrastructure project without the owners consent

I don’t accept that he’s not responsible (at least in part) for why we are where we are today.

Possibly he has played a part. But he will not have any input into the players we sign and what goes off on the field of play that is down to Wilder

He’s been a constant throughout the last 10 years and I’m not convinced he’s done a good job.

What issues do you think he is responsible for ?

 

[dexter101]

I would say recruitment decisions should be his decision to make as CEO. The Board should set the direction of travel (in this instance, it would be the club should head in a new direction using AI to drive cheap young talent to potentially sell at a profit. The CEO should then have been left to implement that strategy. Not be told, by the way we have got rid of the manager and we are bringing in a new manager we didn't do proper recruitment on and we have got in our mate to do the AI.

The CEO can advise but he’s not signing the cheques. So the big decisions aren’t his to make. He didn’t sack Wilder after the play off final and he didn’t bring in Selles or sign off on James Bord using a second hand Speak N Spell for recruitment.

 

[Trigger Blade]

What do you thinks CEO’s job/responsibility should be ? He’ll earning a significant salary to do that job.

I don’t accept that he’s not responsible (at least in part) for why we are where we are today. He’s been a constant throughout the last 10 years and I’m not convinced he’s done a good job.

In the interview, he was quite happy to take some credit for United’s success in the 10 years he’s been CEO. He has to take some responsibility for things that have gone wrong.

As others have said, he couldn’t give any kind of answer to probing about the club’s strategy and it sounds as though there really isn’t one.

 

[CrookesBlade]

I would say recruitment decisions should be his decision to make as CEO. The Board should set the direction of travel (in this instance, it would be the club should head in a new direction using AI to drive cheap young talent to potentially sell at a profit. The CEO should then have been left to implement that strategy. Not be told, by the way we have got rid of the manager and we are bringing in a new manager we didn't do proper recruitment on and we have got in our mate to do the AI.

I agree that it should be the CEOs remit but in reality he’s not empowered to do that.

It’s certainly seems like he was sidelined last summer for a time as he’s said the Selles/Bord decisions weren’t his.

 

[KMC-1889]

What do you thinks CEO’s job/responsibility should be ? He’ll earning a significant salary to do that job.

I don’t accept that he’s not responsible (at least in part) for why we are where we are today. He’s been a constant throughout the last 10 years and I’m not convinced he’s done a good job.

I don't think you get it. He's not a football man, so he can't be held responsible for football matters and he's not a money man, so he can't be held responsible for the lack of activity on all the major infrastructure plans.

I'll ask again, what does he actually do? He's barely doing the function of a CFO at the moment.

 

[Wapping Blade]

I think keeping the Bl stand closed is very short sighted. I am now a ST holder so doesn't directly affect me but a I was a non holder for several years and the BL upper tier was always my choice as the view is good and there is plenty of availability to sit together if needing more than one ticket for friends, family etc.. My daughter went to the Wolves game the other week with her friend and daughter and the only place they could get 3 seats together was low down on the Kop. The view was not great and her daughter couldn't see a lot due to people standing in front of her. The product we are serving up is pretty dire at the moment and it doesn't take much to find a reason not to go. Once people stop going it is much harder to get them back so removing some of your best seats in the ground is not the smartest move currently.

Agree with this. I'm a casual fan, I go several times a year when it's 15:00 or earlier on a Saturday and I sit (and enjoy sitting) in the BLUT. Not having the BLUT available makes me think twice.

 

[Sean Thornton]

I don't think you get it. He's not a football man, so he can't be held responsible for football matters and he's not a money man, so he can't be held responsible for the lack of activity on all the major infrastructure plans.

I'll ask again, what does he actually do? He's barely doing the function of a CFO at the moment.

Oversees the day to day running of a business with over 300 full and part time employees?

 

[Keen Blade]

What's a bit frustrating is that in the summer of 2024, it looked like we were picking up players of this calibre - Burrows and Cooper were 2 standouts from League 1 and young enough to develop even further. We'd sell both for a profit now, even Buzzer. O'Hare was another obvious pick up that's made your list.

Bar potentially Tanganga, I'm not sure we've done the same at all in the last 4 windows - and even JT we only gave a 3 year contract to, so basically forewent the opportunity to sell him at profit.

Tanga doesn't appear to be on an upward trajectory.
The Wall sold at the right time and we're not getting back what we paid.
Overall , our recruitment seems to have done its best to make no profit whatsoever from player trading.
Yet player-trading was one of the stated objectives of the owners
They really are the continual clowns aren't they.
Approving Wilder's nonsense recruitment instead of accepting the PL ship has sailed and trying to lay a solid platform at our new lower level.
Of course , we know they were in it for the short-term flip ,
And now they're mindfucked , unwilling to let go of the "quick-return" illusion sold to them by Wilder's promise that old washed-up big names will deliver