Sheffield United`s three key personnel Kevin McCabe, Trevor Birch and Chris Steer have released a statement shouldering responsibility for the relegation of the Blades.
Despite the length of the statement, they`ve apologised for the relegation of the club, and told of the reasons why the club has suffered this season, despite not mentioning a lack of investment, or anything to show from previous income.
The statement begins:
In a frank summary to fans they also:
– Apologise for the relegation of the club
– Acknowledge mistakes have been made since relegation from the Premier League, and that the number of personnel changes has negatively impacted on performance. The board here taking the blame for faults. We`ll give them credit here.
– Recognise that managers have been allowed to place too great a reliance on expensive loan signings and players on short term contracts After promising this wouldn`t happen at the end of last season, the same mistakes were made again. However, this just puts the blame on the manager`s shoulders, making the board appear to be a victim in this somehow.
– Admit that the club has been relegated with one of the highest Championship salary levels. PR Stunt, make it look as if the club was showing ambition, to be able to say they had a high wage budget, although if you look at the team, and quality of players, you have to say it`s closer to mismanagement and poor negotiating skills rather than ambition.
– Anticipate the future of the club lies in the hands of youth supported by experience. This is what the fans want to hear based on the encouraging displays we`ve seen recently, we`ve seen what happened with Sheffield Wednesday this season. Signing the likes of Clinton Morrison and Chris Sedgewick to that league, they underestimate the competition. It`s no good trying to build a team on past reputations. Make the most of the youth; we`ve already got plenty of experience in the side, and at the risk of making it sound easy if we can put in the performances next year as we have recently, there`s no reason we can`t bounce bag quick.
However, in a further statement by the Chief-Executive, there is responsibility taken, although not without mentioning that wage budget once again.
“Even though we have run with a higher than average wage bill for players since relegation, and certainly one that was clearly sufficient for us not to expect to find ourselves relegated from the Championship, we have made mistakes and ultimately the board has to accept responsibility.”
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