Money, money, money as ABBA so delightfully put it.
And Sheffield United could be in for a whole lot of it if they can maintain their present course and finish 7th or indeed 8th in the table, depending on the whole Manchester City situation.
According to a report from Yorkshire Live, The Blades are set to be in for a major windfall come the end of the season, should they manage to finish in a European place. The report states that Chris Wilder’s men would be in line for as much as £200m in revenue come the end of the campaign and going into 2020/21.
Now I am not great with money and football club finances, so I’m going to lean heavy on these guys for the figures here, but even if they are slightly askew, given what teams made in the Premier League last year as a base figure, it seems to be pretty OK.
The question then becomes; how do we go about spending the money?
What should the Blades do with their money if they finish as high as they do?
Spend it all now
Build for the future
Do we go all out in trying to making this next season or two as good as they can be by continuing our push upwards, something I’ve mentioned before isn’t necessarily a guarantee? In which case do we prioritise splurging all of our money at once, for instance paying Manchester United the apparent £30m that they appear to value Dean Henderson at?
Or do we use this money to act as a stabiliser and plan for the long-term at Bramall Lane, by perhaps not spending all that money on a certain player, but by perhaps bringing in younger talent with a view to developing them over the years, similar to what Leeds United have done with the likes of Illan Meslier and his €6m fee (£5.17m on XE.com) for the 19-year-old, and perhaps spending that money on the training ground/youth centres to make sure that we are set up for the next 10-15 years instead.
What do you think? Do you think that we should be putting all of our eggs into the present, or would you much rather us set things aside
I don’t think it’s as binary as that. Somewhere in between where we have long term goals that money is apportioned for and short term “Sander Berge” type signings that keep us moving forward. Chris Wilder is great at evolution and saying thanks and goodbye to the lesser used players (Jake Wright who did a phenomenal job for us on our journey for example) and replacing them with higher end players (Egan) therefore as the revenue increases along with a wage being released we are able to incrementally improve season on season and throughout a season.
Just buy Henderson and a few strikers up and coming ones
We need a bit of both, obviously. We need a 15+ goal striker (give Rikki a shot and get a more settled frontline) and a deep-laying playmaker (hopefully Berge, and give Egan licence to pass like Norwood)
We need a new academy, of course, though I feel the scouting is going well.
Then, we need to improve the ground. I saw us play away at the Etihad, and then about a week later watched the Cup game against Fylde, and the difference was palpable. Don’t just extend the Kop backwards – add some proper facilities underneath it. Full on the southeast corner with seating or corporate areas. Conferencing facilities are key money-making facilities, and these drive matchday turnover.