Thoughts? Championship football?

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bornablade said:
So what do we have here. The pies and beer are crap and an owner who's made £billions out of manufacturing bog paper. Something doesn't smell right here.

As an investigative journalist think this is what you should be looking at.
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Useful that
 

AndySmithJourno said:
Going by what I can find on reliable sources. He's richer than me thats for certain.
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C'mon then "journo". I am in belligerent mood. What reliable sources can you quote that means the Prince is worth £18 billion? I see a link to 155.62 million The bloke has a well publicised love affair with the Pats which has been in existence years before his involvement with us. Seriously, if he had £18 billion which team would he invest in for a return? He is aSaudi prince amongst thousands of Saudi princes, albeit closer to the throne than most. If he had 1% of £18 billion (18,000 x £1million) to invest that would mean he would have £180 million. Do you really think he would be failing to invest at leat 0.1% (£18 million)? Simple. He has't got it and not being daft , if he did, he would invest it better than ploughing it in to United.
 
wizadry said:
Not been impressed with the quality of football in the Championship this season to be honest, too much money being paid to mediocre players is most of the problem as they have no drive to make themselves any better so it won't change anytime soon.[/QUOTE/]


Completely agree. The Championship football that I've seen on the television this season has for the most part been utter tripe. Far and away the 3 worst games of football, if you can call them that, that I've had the misfortune to endure have been the Pigs' games at Norwich, Birmingham and Wigan. Utter dross.

There is a tendency at the moment, particularly amongst Pig fans and Pig fans in the media such as Staton, to talk up the Championship as if it's way ahead of League 1. Frankly, it isn't. People are mistaking the lavishing of lots of money on transfer fees and wages for an increase in standards and quality. All I see are a lot of sides made up of athletes playing safety-first, frightened football. That's why Barnsley have had no problems; they have gone up and are one of the few teams that attack games with a bit of ambition and tempo to their play.
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theres no doubt we will need major investment in the championship what pigs forget is theres teams higher than them in league that havent spent as much or got there wage bill its just tuna man prepared to spend any amount of money to get in prem we will need to release at least 5 and maybe bring 3 good championship players in especially a quality centre back and next season will all be about staying in the division then progressing the season after i have every confidence that chris wilder will get us to the premier league in 3 or 4 years time weve just got to have a bit of patience
 
How much have Huddersfield spent? I dont think L...s have spent that much either, both doing well without spending millions.
 
AndySmithJourno said:
Would be great to get your opinions. UTB.
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Just like everyone else on this thread has said, let's wait until we get there.

You could have posted something similar in Feb 2012 or Feb 2013 and look what happened then.

We are Sheffield United. If there is a way to cock it up, however unlikely it may seem, we are capable of taking it.....with bells on.

Please stop this shite. The Sheffield Massive will be lovin' it. Just lovin' it.
 
Snowman said:
C'mon then "journo". I am in belligerent mood. What reliable sources can you quote that means the Prince is worth £18 billion? I see a link to 155.62 million The bloke has a well publicised love affair with the Pats which has been in existence years before his involvement with us. Seriously, if he had £18 billion which team would he invest in for a return? He is aSaudi prince amongst thousands of Saudi princes, albeit closer to the throne than most. If he had 1% of £18 billion (18,000 x £1million) to invest that would mean he would have £180 million. Do you really think he would be failing to invest at leat 0.1% (£18 million)? Simple. He has't got it and not being daft , if he did, he would invest it better than ploughing it in to United.
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I'll join your belligerence and add that I recall the Prince mentioning that the Premiership was the goal and when that dream was secured he'd look to sell at a profit. Now, there are a lot of questions, many variables that need addressing, but in our quest for something better than this 'agricultural' division we need to realise that with speculation comes risk, sometimes good, other times worrying. If the Prince were to sell who he'd sell to is something we'd have no control over. Nothing new there, but well worth considering. I agree, talk of billions of pounds seems far fetched and created to cause over-excitement. Of course the money that comes with being in the Premiership means we could consider better quality players, but then there's wages etc, so all relative factors that need to be considered.

Being a Premiership team would 'up' our attractiveness to a prospective buyer, but it's a world far removed from where we currently exist. I'm not getting carried away, I'll be happy to become an established Championship team (at least for a few seasons), but once that's secured I imagine I'd hunger after top drawer football. As I hope many other Blades would too. First things first, let's wave goodbye to Division 1, still lots of work to be done here first.
 
If there's one reason above all other why we should be optimistic about our chances in the Championship it's the manager. I've every confidence he will do the right things to make us competitive.

If there's one reason why we should have doubts it's whether we will get the financial backing to push on.

Personally I think we can do it. I know we're not there yet but I honestly believe that there's no reason why we shouldn't get auto this season. In our previous seasons in the Championship, except the last one, we've always been up there near the top and that's with lesser managers and less committed players.

Talking about it doesn't make it not happen btw.
 
Here's my take on it.

Most impressive sides I have seen of late....Huddersfield and Leeds.

Seen Brighton, Newcastle, Derby, Pigs and there was nothing to be afraid of.

We keep the ball very well in midfield, we can still pass it when playing in the league above. What we will face however, are sides who are also good with the ball and sides who have players who can cause huge problems for defenders.
So for me, the difference isn't in the style of play or the quality we have in midfield, it's the quality we have at each end that is the difference. We would need to look at our strikers and defenders first and foremost.
And with that in mind, here is my opinion.
Out of our forwards, we lack no genuine top Championship quality players. Sharp is heading down due to age but can finish. Hanson would be a handful, but not quality. Lavery has potential perhaps while Done is now struggling in this league. Clarke....well he's always injured and has struggled when at his best up there.
As for defenders....EEL might be an option to sign if we go up, but looking at him is he good enough? Clarke...can't get a game now....Wright is getting on. If we keep with Wing backs then Freeman might be ok, but I believe the only ones we have good enough are Lafferty and JOC.

So, from your article I will add that we need a whole new forward line, and at least 2 centre halves. While our prince isn't worth a tenth of the 18billion sadly. He won't be throwing tens of millions in, and neither will the other owner. We will have to recruit well looking at potential, and possible loans from top clubs. That said, the way we play will still make us a force up there as its nowt special.
 
Have you not heard about the footballing gods? This is only relevant once we are promoted. I will read it then and offer a critique of your thoughts. Until then I'm focused on the third division and our next opponents.
 
this we only have league one players bit

Im pretty sure there are a fair few in our squad thats already played in the championship
we arent taking a team of ex shrewsbury , oldham port vale level players

didnt a certain billy sharp score plenty up there
our keeper wasnt he at cardiff, championship
Flecks played in the championship
duffy played with birmingham
EEL , here from wolves
O Connel hes from brentford
o shea played at boro and mk dons in the champs
coutts , derby championship
basham played in the prem and championship with blackpool
lavery , championship with the unmentionables
as did leon clarke
Chapman , in the prem with boro
just off the top of my head, theres 12 for starters
so YES we do have players who could cope

we are top because of the QUALITY we already have
a squad riddled with championship players
 
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itsinyerblood said:
I agree with Ricky, where did you get the figure of £18 billion from? If it's been quoted elsewhere a legitimate source would be appreciated.

I, along with several other forum members, recall being told that when we get to the Championship the Prince will loosen his purse strings and give us the backing we'll need if we're to speculate and grow as a club. These days an ambitious Championship side needs to think in terms of millions for quality recruitment rather than a few hundred thousand. Of course it'd be lovely to pick up bargain here and there, but the reality of modern Championship ambition is that a club needs the finances to match those ambitions.
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The issue here is that the FFP rules don’t allow huge owner investment on players. The benefactor model is only allowable in Leagues 1 and 2 so for all the bluster about the real investment coming in the championship, I don’t see it as the rules don’t allow it. Tunaman said if it wasn’t for FFP he would be investing £300million in players for the pigs. Fact is he can’t and buying Jordan Rhodes might land them in hot water next season if they don’t go up.


Bournemouth overspent on their FFP limit to get up but got away with it by being promoted and escaping Football League jurisdiction. I can’t see (nor would I advocate) us taking that kind of risk.
 
kennyblade said:
theres no doubt we will need major investment in the championship what pigs forget is theres teams higher than them in league that havent spent as much or got there wage bill its just tuna man prepared to spend any amount of money to get in prem we will need to release at least 5 and maybe bring 3 good championship players in especially a quality centre back and next season will all be about staying in the division then progressing the season after i have every confidence that chris wilder will get us to the premier league in 3 or 4 years time weve just got to have a bit of patience
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If we go up, I reckon our outs at the end of the season (excluding kids that are realised) will be something like:-


McNulty

Hussey

Scougall

Clarke

Done

K. Wallace (I think he’s still our player)

Brayford

O’Shea (end of loan)

Chapman (end of loan)

EEL (end of loan)

Riley (end of loan)


Then I reckon we’ll need a really good centre half and a really good striker to come in for the departing players. With Fleck, Coutts, Basham, Carruthers and Duffy supplemented by Whiteman and Brooks, we might be OK in the centre of the park.

We’ll need a player or two in the wide areas depending on what formation we’re looking at.


I don’t think we’ll rip the squad that gets us up to pieces. I think Moore, O’Connell, Lafferty, Freeman, Fleck, Duffy and Sharp will all be starters in the championship (if we get there). Coutts, Carruthers, Wright, Hanson and Lavery will all be retained at least as part of the squad IMO.
 
1danewhitehouse said:
The issue here is that the FFP rules don’t allow huge owner investment on players. The benefactor model is only allowable in Leagues 1 and 2 so for all the bluster about the real investment coming in the championship, I don’t see it as the rules don’t allow it. Tunaman said if it wasn’t for FFP he would be investing £300million in players for the pigs. Fact is he can’t and buying Jordan Rhodes might land them in hot water next season if they don’t go up.


Bournemouth overspent on their FFP limit to get up but got away with it by being promoted and escaping Football League jurisdiction. I can’t see (nor would I advocate) us taking that kind of risk.
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I agree dane, but I've never advocated breaking any rules, just doing our best to ensure that Wilder has the right tools to achieve what he, and the club, wants. These days it's not unusual for a Championship club to buy players valued in the millions. To repeat, if we can find a few bargains too then so much the better.
 

itsinyerblood said:
I agree dane, but I've never advocated breaking any rules, just doing our best to ensure that Wilder has the right tools to achieve what he, and the club, wants. These days it's not unusual for a Championship club to buy players valued in the millions. To repeat, if we can find a few bargains too then so much the better.
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I agree with all of that mate. My point was really in response to being told "the real investment comes in the championship". That seems like a line from the club with little substance as League 1 is actually less restrictive in terms of the investment that's allowed given the benefactor model.
 
1danewhitehouse said:
I agree with all of that mate. My point was really in response to being told "the real investment comes in the championship". That seems like a line from the club with little substance as League 1 is actually less restrictive in terms of the investment that's allowed given the benefactor model.
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Fair comment, but it puzzles me that a club like SUFC should allow comments like this to enter the public domain without being concerned that they'll come back to haunt them. Re. the Liverpool-sized spending quotes. There's almost a hint of Trump-like denial about this sort of thing. Say what you like just to placate 'gobby' fans and then deny what was said, or that it was misinterpreted in the first place.
 
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