When Shield Met McCabe (Latest interview)

[Worksop II]

I think you're missing my point. He's almost accusing someone unnamed at the club of fraud.

Maybe he is, but is it £5 above the "normal level" - or is it £5,000 above the normal level - numbers would be nice to quantify what we are talking about

 

[pommpey]

I think you're missing my point. He's almost accusing someone unnamed at the club of fraud.

Interesting. So, according to him (we allege) players have been signed on inflated deals, for inflated lengths of time?

Who was Chief Executive and/or Charman at the time of this?

I'm waiting for McCabe to be put under enough pressure to actually blame Clough for this and the whole thing to end up in court. I mean, nothing interesting ever happens at Sheffield United does it? We could do with some media attention.

pommpey

 

[BushBlade]

Maybe he is, but is it £5 above the "normal level" - or is it £5,000 above the normal level - numbers would be nice to quantify what we are talking about

He said 'well above'.

 

[BushBlade]

Interesting. So, according to him (we allege) players have been signed on inflated deals, for inflated lengths of time?

Who was Chief Executive and/or Charman at the time of this?

I'm waiting for McCabe to be put under enough pressure to actually blame Clough for this and the whole thing to end up in court. I mean, nothing interesting ever happens at Sheffield United does it? We could do with some media attention.

pommpey

Thank you. I thought I wasn't getting my point across.

Edit; My reading of it is that someone has been lining agents' pockets. We all know that in the past fees have been over inflated to the benefit of the managers (George Graham etc). The way that was done was through agents.
So the implication is someone at the club is/was being backhanded by agents to pay them inflated fees.

 

[Sean Thornton]

KM: In the main, on new players. Simple. That’s where it’s gone. On too many players, too many transfer fees and too many agency fees paid well above the normal levels.

What exactly is he saying here? What is the implication?

One implication is how come they let it happen? You'd think with trading losses on the table they'd have looked at the cheques they were signing.

 

[Deaneandagana]

He's shot himself in the foot / groin / mouth - yet again, so which is it Kev £8m between you or £8m each?

Further SU financial inconsistencies & mixed messages.

Deary deary me, when will he learn

 

[pommpey]

Thank you. I thought I wasn't getting my point across.

Edit; My reading of it is that someone has been lining agents' pockets. We all know that in the past fees have been over inflated to the benefit of the managers (George Graham etc). The way that was done was through agents.
So the implication is someone at the club is/was being backhanded by agents to pay them inflated fees.

Exactly.

But any transfer has to have executive approval.

If Clough went to McCabe and said he was siging Coutts ona five year £240k pw with a £2k appearance bonus and £1k per goal bonus and 15% share of any promotion bonus, would you think McCabe would simply say 'Yeah, okay Nige. Whatever you say. Sign him'. Or would there be some sort of cost-versus-benefit scrutiny? I mean, who does that at SUFC?

If I was MD of a building company and my PM came to be wanting to buy a new crane or digger, I'd need to see some sort of benefit statement over time that the business would profit from it's existence. Unless of course its a tax fidd ...

Oh, hang on!

pommpey

 

[BushBlade]

Exactly.

But any transfer has to have executive approval.

If Clough went to McCabe and said he was siging Coutts ona five year £240k pw with a £2k appearance bonus and £1k per goal bonus and 15% share of any promotion bonus, would you think McCabe would simply say 'Yeah, okay Nige. Whatever you say. Sign him'. Or would there be some sort of cost-versus-benefit scrutiny? I mean, who does that at SUFC?

If I was MD of a building company and my PM came to be wanting to buy a new crane or digger, I'd need to see some sort of benefit statement over time that the business would profit from it's existence. Unless of course its a tax fidd ...

Oh, hang on!

pommpey

No, I'm talking about agents fees.

 

[BushBlade]

One implication is how come they let it happen? You'd think with trading losses on the table they'd have looked at the cheques they were signing.

Yes, why has this only come to light now? Surely someone at the club should know enough about agents' fees to notice they were high. I don't change my tyres that often but I know I can get a budget one for about £50. If I sent someone to get me four new tyres and they billed me £5k I'd be asking some questions.
This is fundamental; we've done 70 odd deals recently according to KM, how did we not know we were paying too much in agents' fees until now?

 

[Esablade]

"As owners, we have both put in £8m this season alone."

Slightly ambiguous tbh, something that could be read either way. "We have each put in £8m separately" or "The both of us together, between us, have put in £8m".
Got to say, I read it as the latter. Which wouldn't be clear about how the £8m is split between each of the partners too.

Still a large amount, still worthy of credit. But still leaves all sorts of questions needing to be asked. i.e. is the £8m (or £16m?) merely a generous gift, or is it loaned (&, in line with what you've said about stadium rental, what mechanisms are in place for recouping loans, if so)? Is this some sort of ongoing thing? If the club isn't up for sale (as confirmed into the interview) & Kev remains "fully committed" to SUFC (also confirmed) what does this mean in terms of ongoing funding strategy - are we recommitted to "paying our way" or is Kev, like Princey, himself recommitted to injecting funding into the club in a way he wasn't before the prince's arrival?

As many have said over recent days, what matters most are the plans going forward, not Kev explaining how hurt he is about having his methods questioned.

"During this season, both of us have put in £8 million..in total"

Is from whence the confusion stem's..

 

[HoodedClaw]

Exactly.

But any transfer has to have executive approval.

If Clough went to McCabe and said he was siging Coutts ona five year £240k pw with a £2k appearance bonus and £1k per goal bonus and 15% share of any promotion bonus, would you think McCabe would simply say 'Yeah, okay Nige. Whatever you say. Sign him'. Or would there be some sort of cost-versus-benefit scrutiny? I mean, who does that at SUFC?

If I was MD of a building company and my PM came to be wanting to buy a new crane or digger, I'd need to see some sort of benefit statement over time that the business would profit from it's existence. Unless of course its a tax fidd ...

Oh, hang on!

pommpey

Wasn't it Brannigan that would've signed off purchases?

Not saying it was true or not but isn't this what Phipps etc was moaning about when saying they let it effetively all be run by Clough and Pals?

 

[Sean Thornton]

No, I'm talking about agents fees.

Difficult to tell but I'm not sure the above normal levels comment referes just to agents fees. Could it mean overall spending on transfers in general?

 

[Alfreton14Blade]

"During this season, both of us have put in £8 million..in total"

Is from whence the confusion stem's..

Exactly, it's ambiguous, it needs to be interpreted (rather than being transparent). But the "in total" used in that version does very strongly suggest that the £8m is a joint-effort.
The "both of us" bit of the phrase seems to be a colloquialism.

Interesting how defensive McCabe gets after making that particular statement, warding off further questioning on the point, in the interview with Staton.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

If it's cost us fucking 8 million quid on this shambles we are being run worse than we all thought - Mcabe the Prince both ought to hang their heads in absolute shame.

 

[Deleted member 875]

If it's cost us fucking 8 million quid on this shambles we are being run worse than we all thought - Mcabe the Prince both ought to hang their heads in absolute shame.

I would be interested to know what is going out of the club to the Scarborough group in lieu of use of the ground and the academy.

Bet it isn't cheap

 

[coaxingstar71]

The problem is that unless anyone can go through the club accounts with a fine toothcomb, no one is really going to be able to prove or disprove what KM tells us.

 

[billyblademan]

Wasn't it Brannigan that would've signed off purchases?

Not saying it was true or not but isn't this what Phipps etc was moaning about when saying they let it effetively all be run by Clough and Pals?

Wasn't there a quickly shut down thread recently stating something about MB?

 

[Sean Thornton]

I would be interested to know what is going out of the club to the Scarborough group in lieu of use of the ground and the academy.

Bet it isn't cheap

£310k for the year to 2015.

Totally unsubstantiated rumour going around, as usual from "someone high up at the club" it's now £1.5 million.

Who knows apart from the board?

 

[Deleted member 875]

£310k for the year to 2015.

Totally unsubstantiated rumour going around, as usual from "someone high up at the club" it's now £1.5 million.

Who knows apart from the board?

Where did you get the info that it was £310k from, is it openly available?

What baffles me is that after all these years of being told we are losing money hand over fist, is where all the money is going? With the income streams we have, and the money that has gone in to the club, there is something seriously amiss to lose £8m during the course of the financial year

 

[Sean Thornton]

Where did you get the info that it was £310k from, is it openly available?

What baffles me is that after all these years of being told we are losing money hand over fist, is where all the money is going? With the income streams we have, and the money that has gone in to the club, there is something seriously amiss to lose £8m during the course of the financial year

Sheffield United Ltd accounts, year ended 30/6/2015

 

[YES Blade]

Who really cares if it's £8m or £16m that has been put in by the owners, either way it's a shit load of money that has been put into a League One club just to cover losses.

If McCabe turned round and said the club has lost £8m/£16m this year, any player with any value will be sold and we'll be entering administration soon, then I would care. As long as the owners cover the losses (losses due to their mistakes) then I don't care, I'm more interested in what is happening on the pitch to be honest.

 

[BushBlade]

Difficult to tell but I'm not sure the above normal levels comment referes just to agents fees. Could it mean overall spending on transfers in general?

Good point, I read it as agents' fees.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

I think you're missing my point. He's almost accusing someone unnamed at the club of fraud.

In which case, United will surely be taking the culprit(s) to court and getting their money back. Won't they?
Or does the law of the land not apply to our Football Club?

As with outgoing players, do we just shrug our shoulders, blame the pesky agents and continue to drift down the league table.

 

[BushBlade]

In which case, United will surely be taking the culprit(s) to court and getting their money back. Won't they?
Or does the law of the land not apply to our Football Club?

As with outgoing players, do we just shrug our shoulders, blame the pesky agents and continue to drift down the league table.

Or maybe it's better to just make innuendos whilst brushing it under the carpet so it isn't revealed just how big a clusterfuck the club is?

 

[Jostein's Bandage]

I can't even be bothered listening to him anymore. He talks a load of old shit, he should be a politician.

Paid £75m for Baxter, thought he was as good as Ronaldo. Sammon is on higher wages than Messi. We spend 5 grand a week on bog roll because it's made from gold. Aye whatever mate. We know you aren't spending shit on the club anymore, we weren't born yesterday, just shut your face already.

 

[Jostein's Bandage]

To anybody who actually believes he and prince two-bits have put in £16m between them this year alone, why couldn't they make it £17m and kept Murphy? As for all the running costs, every club in the entire league has running costs. I'm pretty sure it doesn't cost £16m a year to keep Bury or Exeter afloat. All these other clubs manage to run without having £16m pumped in and they don't have anything like the income we have. Some fans would believe McCabe if he said the easter bunny was real.

 

[Boxer Blade]

Thats spoilt me f....in easter

 

[William Henry Foulkes]

"As owners, we have both put in £8m this season alone."

Slightly ambiguous tbh, something that could be read either way. "We have each put in £8m separately" or "The both of us together, between us, have put in £8m".
Got to say, I read it as the latter. Which wouldn't be clear about how the £8m is split between each of the partners too.

Still a large amount, still worthy of credit. But still leaves all sorts of questions needing to be asked. i.e. is the £8m (or £16m?) merely a generous gift, or is it loaned (&, in line with what you've said about stadium rental, what mechanisms are in place for recouping loans, if so)? Is this some sort of ongoing thing? If the club isn't up for sale (as confirmed into the interview) & Kev remains "fully committed" to SUFC (also confirmed) what does this mean in terms of ongoing funding strategy - are we recommitted to "paying our way" or is Kev, like Princey, himself recommitted to injecting funding into the club in a way he wasn't before the prince's arrival?

As many have said over recent days, what matters most are the plans going forward, not Kev explaining how hurt he is about having his methods questioned.

If you llisten to the whole interview imo it's pretty clear that it's £8m combined - but, from memory, you have to take into account some things he said at the start.

The exact phrase used is ambiguous - but the bigger picture does make sense.

(Lawyer/Pedant Alert: Yes it is *conceivable* it means £8m each.)

 

[pommpey]

If you llisten to the whole interview imo it's pretty clear that it's £8m combined - but, from memory, you have to take into account some things he said at the start.

The exact phrase used is ambiguous - but the bigger picture does make sense.

(Lawyer/Pedant Alert: Yes it is *conceivable* it means £8m each.)

It matters not a jot. Whatever it is, it is a vast amount of money for a third division club, with a collective of sheddable, pretty ordinary footballers shipping goals and losing matches and struggling to acquire a final position in the fucking playoffs.

I am heartened that the majority of contributors on this site are now starting to ask the right questions about how this bloody club is being run after years and years of incompetence, ambivalence and decay. I am not suggesting McCabe is a crook - he isn't. What he is (in my opinion) is wholly unfocussed on our advancement and is simply tarting up the development to retain the 'value' of the bigger asset. It's sound business sense and maybe he had had it with ploughing cash into what happens out there on the park. But we are now starting to realise what the true story is, and whilst he owns vast amounts of the club's structure, everyone who contributes to the plan, week on week is just reinforcing the misery.

Don't be surprised if the expected clear out in the summer and hoped for embarkation of new players ends up in a renegotiated set of contracts for players we have serially bemoaned at on lower wages and bonuses (because no one else will have them) and we end up marooned in this fucking division.

pommpey

 

[s10blade]

A CB last season (league1 standard) would have got us up. That would have cost £1m - £1.5m but McCabe wants me to believe he's a competant owner because he would rather mop up the mess he's made by ploughing in another £4m alongside another £4m from The Prince just to keep us going. I don't buy it and I hope nobody else does.

A blade? No doubt.
A businessman? Of course
A good football chairman? Fuck no.