The accounts, our strategy and options for the future?

[Keen Blade]

Even if they do invest. They aren't allowed to contribute anywhere near as much as they'd need to for squad building purposes to replace the parachute payments. Our financial competitive advantage is over. It's done. They destroyed our chances in the summer

And in January 25 when they gave Wilder £10m + 5 years wages for a Cannon that will never fire
(A repeat of the Brewster error)
And in January 26 when they financed his crap loans.
These owners have NO CLUE and are now wedded to the Bettis/Wilder axis of power along with all its failings & favoured personnel ,
because they royally fucked up with Selles last summer.
It's like watching a car-crash in slow-motion.
Based on their first 18 months performance, you can see what's gonna happen with these owners at the wheel ,
and you want to scream at their ignorance & ineptitude , but you're powerless to prevent what's coming.
What beats me is that they can invest in a foreign country with no knowledge of the sport in which they're investing , yet rely simply on the incumbents who happened to be there ...
Without having their own local adviser or expert to help them take a dispassionate view of what they've bought.
This is not just a dig at foreign ownership.
Whatever you say about the Prince , he knew his football.
This lot are just playing at it and costing the club an absolute fortune.
Nothing is progressing or improving.
Not recruitment.
Not fitness.
Not the investment at Dore.
They and Wilder talk about "building a club" but there's little evidence of that.

Mind you , we did get a free hamburger the other week and we now have some dazzling coloured lights around the ground

 

[georgebernardshaw]

And in January 25 when they gave Wilder £10m + 5 years wages for a Cannon that will never fire
(A repeat of the Brewster error)
And in January 26 when they financed his crap loans.
These owners have NO CLUE and are now wedded to the Bettis/Wilder axis of power along with all its failings & favoured personnel ,
because they royally fucked up with Selles last summer.
It's like watching a car-crash in slow-motion.
Based on their first 18 months performance, you can see what's gonna happen with these owners at the wheel ,
and you want to scream at their ignorance & ineptitude , but you're powerless to prevent what's coming.
What beats me is that they can invest in a foreign country with no knowledge of the sport in which they're investing , yet rely simply on the incumbents who happened to be there ...
Without having their own local adviser or expert to help them take a dispassionate view of what they've bought.
This is not just a dig at foreign ownership.
Whatever you say about the Prince , he knew his football.
This lot are just playing at it and costing the club an absolute fortune.
Nothing is progressing or improving.
Not recruitment.
Not fitness.
Not the investment at Dore.
They and Wilder talk about "building a club" but there's little evidence of that.

Mind you , we did get a free hamburger the other week and we now have some dazzling coloured lights around the ground

Let’s just crack on, shall we?

 

[ml1997]

We clearly need to change a few things at the club. We need to invest more in our academy (yes it’s very good but we need to keep it that way) and not spend massive money on big name players (Phillips, Ings the worst offenders).

We need to sell players when their value is highest, not when it suits us. That’s why we need contingencies for Peck, Seriki and Brooks leaving this summer and we should have a strategy to maximise value.

We need to revolutionise our recruitment. It’s not horrendous but we drop far too many clangers, we often seem to buy players because they’re available, not because they’re needed.

If and when we reach the premier league, spend the money on making the club, squad and ground better in 3-5 years rather than an odd mixture of speculative punts and short sighted signings. That’s the way we can become a club suited for premier league football.

I think we keep Wilder until wholesale changes are made throughout the club (not before we change as we attempted with Selles) and then say thank you and goodbye. This is assuming he can keep us as a regular top 6 challenger.

 

[bladesmanluke]

And in January 25 when they gave Wilder £10m + 5 years wages for a Cannon that will never fire
(A repeat of the Brewster error)
And in January 26 when they financed his crap loans.
These owners have NO CLUE and are now wedded to the Bettis/Wilder axis of power along with all its failings & favoured personnel ,
because they royally fucked up with Selles last summer.
It's like watching a car-crash in slow-motion.
Based on their first 18 months performance, you can see what's gonna happen with these owners at the wheel ,
and you want to scream at their ignorance & ineptitude , but you're powerless to prevent what's coming.
What beats me is that they can invest in a foreign country with no knowledge of the sport in which they're investing , yet rely simply on the incumbents who happened to be there ...
Without having their own local adviser or expert to help them take a dispassionate view of what they've bought.
This is not just a dig at foreign ownership.
Whatever you say about the Prince , he knew his football.
This lot are just playing at it and costing the club an absolute fortune.
Nothing is progressing or improving.
Not recruitment.
Not fitness.
Not the investment at Dore.
They and Wilder talk about "building a club" but there's little evidence of that.

Mind you , we did get a free hamburger the other week and we now have some dazzling coloured lights around the ground

I think you're being a little harsh. They absolutely fucked up this season, but the jury is still out for me as they are making the right noises. They won't be able to finance a promotion push in my opinion. They will be judged on how well they run a championship club now

 

[Balham]

I think you're being a little harsh. They absolutely fucked up this season, but the jury is still out for me as they are making the right noises. They won't be able to finance a promotion push in my opinion. They will be judged on how well they run a championship club now

The manager will tell the owners that they can finance a promotion push if they give him some leeway to shape the squad as he wants to in the summer.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Wilder reminds me of the Bassett and Warnock scenario.

Give all 3 money to spend and their transfer record is surprisingly poor.

Give all 3 virtually no budget with loans and free transfers and all 3 were the best in the business.

The irony is if money is tight then Wilder is one of the best in the business. He currently has the excuse of no Summer prep and some of the players not being his type of player.

So being reasonable with common sense he keeps his job and you give him until November with the target being top half.

Our fans have been spoilt expecting at least playoffs every season but based on budgets playoffs would be an unreasonable expectation next season. Anything in the top half would be decent.

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Or…you can love what Wilder gave us and accept he’ll be taking the club forward into the summer and next season.

 

[Sheffsteel]

Always makes me laugh how ordinary fans are better business experts than self made millionaires.

Would advise some to put in a CV, they make running a football club sound so simple.

In reality the best buys are too expensive. Should we gamble and pay over the odds for a player?

The best value is in players with injury records or were good but have recently hit poor form. Should we gamble?

Do we buy talented footballers with weak mentalities who don’t care about the club they play for.

What about buying a few very average players with leadership qualities and battling mentalities.

So much about football is a gamble and there are no guarantees.

Think it’s funny that our owners have backed the managers and shown good ambition to date, yet because it hasn’t worked, then after the event are now being criticised for being over ambitious.

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Wilder reminds me of the Bassett and Warnock scenario.

Give all 3 money to spend and their transfer record is surprisingly poor.

Give all 3 virtually no budget with loans and free transfers and all 3 were the best in the business.

The irony is if money is tight then Wilder is one of the best in the business. He currently has the excuse of no Summer prep and some of the players not being his type of player.

So being reasonable with common sense he keeps his job and you give him until November with the target being top half.

Our fans have been spoilt expecting at least playoffs every season but based on budgets playoffs would be an unreasonable expectation next season. Anything in the top half would be decent.

Well Bassett is a club legend so I’ll let others comment on that…re: Warnock, as I remember it he spent years with no cash in the Championship then when McCabe chucked him a few bob he got us up. Still maintain he’d have kept us up but for the Hulse injury…

 

[nopigfansintown]

By all means disagree, but if they're playing the best football of their careers, which is hugely doubtful, they're doing it with a lack of fitness, ability to adapt, ability to recover from a knock back and who are so good to watch that, once we go behind in the second half, folk leave early as they know full well we ain't coming back. A good proportion of this team will leave and be soon forgotten, including CW's buys.

Oh for a Bob Booker or Monty type right now. Not the most gifted but give 100% of what they've got on the day, every match. We're being mugged off by too many in the squad and Wilder isn't covering it up or sorting it out.

The pub owners around the ground will be happy though.

The claim was that Peck, Seriki, Arblaster, Brooks have played the best football of their career under Wilder. If you disagree with that you have WDS (Wilder Derangement Syndrome). There's no cure for that except maybe a visit to Specsavers. They've all come on this season with the exception of Arblaster (for obvious reasons).

These lads are also amongst our fittest players if not the fittest (Arblaster aside for obvious reasons). It's the senior pros letting the club down - not the kids. A bit of burnout at this point is to be expected

 

[Pedro Verde]

Still maintain he’d have kept us up but for the Hulse injury…

Warnock bottled too many games that season against average sides especially away from home

 

[nopigfansintown]

Coventry, Hull and Boro have appointed younger, more analytical managers who are charged with team selection, coaching and tactics and are reaping the benefits. I may well be proven wrong but Millwall seem to be a classic case of the one-good-season team which has seen the stars align but which I expect to fail in the playoffs then sink back to 8th-13th next season.



Who exactly is playing the best football of their career? There's an argument for Bindon (not ours), Seriki and Brooks but the rest are well off it.

It's axiomatic that Brooks and Seriki are. When exactly did they play better? They looked like they'd be lucky to have long term Blades careers prior to this season and definitely prior to last season. Wasn't Seriki bombed out by Rotherham and Rochdale or was that a different Seriki?

Peck is at least matching his output last season under Wilder .He was shocking pre Wilder's return. I suppose the WDS's give Wilder no credit for rebuilding Peck again this season?!

 

[nopigfansintown]

Coventry had mark robins before "younger analytical manager" who pretty much built Coventry pedigree from being mid-bottom end fodder. They then kept the same squad that finished in the play offs and added 2 or 3 key players, lampard was already set up to do well, I think most managers would have (pretty much all we needed to do as well)

Hull have had a scattergun approach for managers, they then recruited experienced players thats been there and done it at the top end and most who played for the same club at the same time can see why they gelled (we saw the mentality here with those players. They have taken it to Hull)

I will give you Boro they tried there hand woth Carrick who did half decent job with a good squad, then managed to pull out a further 2 youngish decent managers, bur again with a squad thay hasnt had much turnover with a few tweaks incoming, was pretty much set for top 6 challange.

But Robins isn't one of the cool hipster manager gambles so he deserves no credit.

 

[Cheeky Blade]

Warnock bottled too many games that season against average sides especially away from home

He did indeed.

 

[CPB]

This original post sounded like it was a take on the accounts but turned into, "lets change manager"

For me everything has to be in context.

Yes this season we are not going to achieve our objectives of top 6. But we know a big reason for that was our very poor start under Selles and what initially continued under Wilder. (Squad had no confidence at all at first)

And we've made some pretty dire signings this season too. Far too many that are not starting 11 quality. Most of these are from the summer of course.

Wilder has done a good (not fantastic let's be fair) of turning it around and getting us well off the bottom. We have flirted with going on a run to get top 6 but it was always a tough ask. And in the end we've become even more inconsistent.

It's going to be a new type of season for us next one. First since 2018-19 that we aren't either in the PL or a parachute club.

Sure we could roll the dice this summer and change manager. No guarantee we won't make another mess of it.

Even with Thomas Frank... He's set Spurs on a relegation path. (FYI if we are in the market it ain't gonna be Frank!)

Said it before and I'll say it again. Id rather have more stability and let Wilder and co.target what we need for next season between now and the summer.

And if it was any other manager that had taken over and done what we've done, don't think people would be calling for any change. Think the feeling would be. "Glad we ain't going down, let's see what happens next season".

 

[Balham]

It's axiomatic that Brooks and Seriki are. When exactly did they play better? They looked like they'd be lucky to have long term Blades careers prior to this season and definitely prior to last season. Wasn't Seriki bombed out by Rotherham and Rochdale or was that a different Seriki?

Peck is at least matching his output last season under Wilder .He was shocking pre Wilder's return. I suppose the WDS's give Wilder no credit for rebuilding Peck again this season?!

I agreed that Seriki and Brooks* are playing better now than ever before. I don’t agree about Peck, I thought he was better last season before he was hung out to dry by Sellés’ suicidal tactics. It is good that he’s added goals to his game though.

*totally disagree that Brooks “looked like he’d be lucky to have a Blades career” last season by the way. He was one of our bright sparks in the straitjacket football we played.

Who else has improved this season beyond where there were in the past?

 

[Snowflake]

And in January 25 when they gave Wilder £10m + 5 years wages for a Cannon that will never fire
(A repeat of the Brewster error)
And in January 26 when they financed his crap loans.
These owners have NO CLUE and are now wedded to the Bettis/Wilder axis of power along with all its failings & favoured personnel ,
because they royally fucked up with Selles last summer.
It's like watching a car-crash in slow-motion.
Based on their first 18 months performance, you can see what's gonna happen with these owners at the wheel ,
and you want to scream at their ignorance & ineptitude , but you're powerless to prevent what's coming.
What beats me is that they can invest in a foreign country with no knowledge of the sport in which they're investing , yet rely simply on the incumbents who happened to be there ...
Without having their own local adviser or expert to help them take a dispassionate view of what they've bought.
This is not just a dig at foreign ownership.
Whatever you say about the Prince , he knew his football.
This lot are just playing at it and costing the club an absolute fortune.
Nothing is progressing or improving.
Not recruitment.
Not fitness.
Not the investment at Dore.
They and Wilder talk about "building a club" but there's little evidence of that.

Mind you , we did get a free hamburger the other week and we now have some dazzling coloured lights around the ground

Given that they own the club they can deal with it as they wish. They can play with it as you say. Nothing we can realistically do with it.

 

[Silent Blade]

Wilder reminds me of the Bassett and Warnock scenario.

Give all 3 money to spend and their transfer record is surprisingly poor.

Give all 3 virtually no budget with loans and free transfers and all 3 were the best in the business.

The irony is if money is tight then Wilder is one of the best in the business. He currently has the excuse of no Summer prep and some of the players not being his type of player.

I have always said Wilder is the penny wise, pound foolish type of manager when it comes to signing players.

 

[nopigfansintown]

I agreed that Seriki and Brooks* are playing better now than ever before. I don’t agree about Peck, I thought he was better last season before he was hung out to dry by Sellés’ suicidal tactics. It is good that he’s added goals to his game though.

*totally disagree that Brooks “looked like he’d be lucky to have a Blades career” last season by the way. He was one of our bright sparks in the straitjacket football we played.

Who else has improved this season beyond where there were in the past?

O'Hare looks a lot better to me. McCallum too.

The players that have dipped who were here last season: Campbell (weight and fitness), Cooper (carrying an injury), Burrows ( under both Selles and Wilder), Hamer (arguable; obvious weight and fitness issues).

Players that have improved: Brooks, Seriki, O'Hare, McCallum, Peck (arguable), Cannon (arguable; if so not by much).

Miscellaneous: Arblaster (long term injured), T Davies Shackleton ( both Crocks), A Davies.

 

[Keen Blade]

Let’s just crack on, shall we?

We've no choice , have we ?

 

[KMC-1889]

It is worth mentioning again that Wilder tried absolutely everything to keep Brooks and Seriki out of the team this season (and Brooks out last time). Have we all forgot the run of games with Tanganga at RB behind Ogbene? Only injuries to Mee & Ogbene forced him to change.

He was ready to bomb Peck out last season to make room for Dozell.

Let’s not pretend he’s some sort of player whisperer, his record with developing players is poor. Hes good at getting players to play to their ceiling but even that has deserted him this season.

 

[Keen Blade]

I think you're being a little harsh. They absolutely fucked up this season, but the jury is still out for me as they are making the right noises. They won't be able to finance a promotion push in my opinion. They will be judged on how well they run a championship club now

I admit , I do have my harsh moments , especially after reading the flowery BS in the 18 Dec 25 reports which accompany the June 25 accounts.

The harsh truth is that barely anyone with PL ambition can run a non-parachute Championship club and break-even , let alone make a profit.
Especially if they chuck money away like this club has recently.
They have to get a grip soon , before they lose heart and we start to slide.

 

[Keen Blade]

The manager will tell the owners that they can finance a promotion push if they give him some leeway to shape the squad as he wants to in the summer.

It was ever thus

 

[JayGreen17]

I think is the biggest point. We know that this summer we will have to sell, just to cover a drop in income.

So if we need to raise £20m just from sales (which I am sure is what I saw someone mentioned), who are you selling and how much do you think we will get?

Before anyone starts casting long lists of players like Chong and McGuinness, unless we want to buy some pick a mix, they aren't generating any cash at all!

I will try and be realistic but my list is going to be:

Brooks-I think at present he is the one that will draw the most attention. If we kept him, I also think we would need to invest in someone to play the same role on the other wing. maybe £8m
Cannon- hasn't worked out but I think we might get £2m for him
Hamer- I can't see him going for big money but I don't think we are in a position to build a side around him and we probably need to find a way of doing that. £6m?
Campbell- He's done OK for us, but one I think we might get a bit of cash for, saw something about Celtic and Rangers maybe being interested. £2m
Shackleton- might be stretching it a bit here but going into the last year of his contract, maybe we could get £500k?
RND- entering last year of his contract and hasn't set the world alight at QPR (thanks Roygbiv) maybe £500k? other option here would be to sell McCallum or Burrows and have him as back up...

Struggling to find another £1m, although we have relied heavily on the loan market so maybe we can save a bit in wages...


This leaves a starting 11 with no signings or loans of:


Cooper

Tanganga Mcguiness Sasnauskas

Seriki Burrows
Reidwalde

Arblaster Peck

O'Hare

Bamford


Faxon
McCallum
Curtis
Rothwell
One
Marsh
Baptiste

Get rid of Peck, AND retain Brooks

 

[JayGreen17]

AND…. Whatever we do we need to move EARLY…

this last minute dealing has massively impacted us now for 5 windows it has to stop..

We’ve seen what a team can do when they steal a march in those first 10 games… look at Coventry..

 

[jt64]

AND…. Whatever we do we need to move EARLY…

this last minute dealing has massively impacted us now for 5 windows it has to stop..

I take it you do realise that teams deal late because everyone deals late and they do not know who is surplus to requirements until late?

 

[nopigfansintown]

AND…. Whatever we do we need to move EARLY…

this last minute dealing has massively impacted us now for 5 windows it has to stop..

We’ve seen what a team can do when they steal a march in those first 10 games… look at Coventry..

It has cost us badly in the last three seasons. Speed and numbers. Eschew bringing in big numbers in January. It's basic governance. I suppose last season couldn't be helped due to the takeover poker.

 

[Champagneblade]

I take it you do realise that teams deal late because everyone deals late and they do not know who is surplus to requirements until late?

Ideally you move early.

But that only works if you are Man U, Man City etc.

You can make some early moves. Wrap up a few out of contract lads.

But I don’t know why Managers always talk about doing business early.

They know very well that if they borrow a top loan player from City, for example, they will only know late on who they will let out.

 

[54yrblade]

The claim was that Peck, Seriki, Arblaster, Brooks have played the best football of their career under Wilder. If you disagree with that you have WDS (Wilder Derangement Syndrome). There's no cure for that except maybe a visit to Specsavers. They've all come on this season with the exception of Arblaster (for obvious reasons).

These lads are also amongst our fittest players if not the fittest (Arblaster aside for obvious reasons). It's the senior pros letting the club down - not the kids. A bit of burnout at this point is to be expected

And not being able to see games out last season, heads dropping every time there was a setback, not fit enough to compete across matches, unable to turn over the teams at the top when it really, really mattered and that's before we have a deep dive into the play off final.

The 2016 - 19 side would mop this lot up for breakfast and still be hungry for more.

Not WDS, just evidenced on the pitch, now and historically.

Good morning!

 

[Blademan89]

Given that they own the club they can deal with it as they wish. They can play with it as you say. Nothing we can realistically do with it.

Cant we carry a coffin through Lowfields park down to bramall lane and have about 5 fans hold a banner up outside crucible? Wear away colours to home games and also pretend we are protesting? Maybe those that do attend could do a half hearted attempt of throwing 6 tennis balls on the pitch.