Sheffield United Chief Executive Trevor Birch has given his first detailed interview since arriving at Bramall Lane, and has outlined the situation at Sheffield United.
Thursday night’s ‘Football Heaven’ was filled with Blades fans angry at the club, the chairman, Birch, the players, Kevin Blackwell, their wife, the tea lady and perhaps even themselves.
So let Vital Sheff Utd have their say on this fascinating piece:
The Good:
Whilst our debts may appear to rival that of the neighbours across the city, what we need to remember is that they are owed mainly to the companies affiliated with the club, rather than a third party (such as the co-operative bank).
Considering the parachute payments have finished, the wage bill has been reduced accordingly and it appears that this has prevented the club from freefall.
The club are still sixth in the Championship, and with such a poor quality Championship division this year, providing the Blades can stay injury free, then there’s no reason that promotion is completely out of the question.
The Bad:
Putting all other debts aside (the hotel etc) we still have a football debt of well over £20million.
Considering we’ve made almost £15million on transfers in the past two years, as well as inheriting £20-25 million from West Ham United it begs the question why we still have this black-hole of debt.
Fair enough, the money from the Hammers may not have been received yet, but it’s clearly been budgeted for, as has the money received from the ‘Kyle’s’.
Had we spent big in the Premier League, spending in excess of £20million, then this debt would be explainable, but Claude Davis, Rob Hulse, Luton Shelton and Matt Kilgallon certainly can’t amount to this debt we are running.
Whilst our debts are owed to Mr McCabe, the Scarborough Group and other business ventures linked the United’s board, the fact that they’re business men, means that there will be a considerable level of interest to pay on top of the £20million. Say, 8.5% would mean that the figure to pay back is closer to the £30million mark.
Finally, Birch pointed out that investment in the playing squad isn’t always as simple as turning the funds from players sold into usable cash for incoming talent due to ‘costs, for everyday running of the club’.
All I can think is, that perhaps we need to start turning out the lights a bit more and buy the cheap printer ink. Surely, a Chairman that has been in charge as long as Kevin McCabe is used to budgeting for running costs of the club. If, the club is losing money by doing nothing, just running, it would surely be incompetence of the highest level. However, I have more faith than that, and believe that either this answer was worded wrong, or we should be told that there are debts to service and clear up before we invest in the squad.
Shep’s View:
The fact we have these debts doesn’t concern me. The fact that Kevin McCabe has said he isn’t subsiding us on a personal level, doesn’t really concern me. The squad’s ability doesn’t really concern me. What does concern me is the fact that we are still being led to believe everything’s perfect on cloud Bramall Lane, when there’s clearly something wrong.
We have this picture of Kevin McCabe, a Blade at heart, who has put his family fortune, and his heart into the club, which paid off when we reached the Premier League, and were ‘unfairly’ relegated.
So, if he’s ‘one of us’ as we’re led to believe, who just wants the club back at the top, why aren’t we told the situation. With the number of crooks we’ve had in the past twenty years, I’m sure if we had the line from the Lane ‘Things aren’t perfect, the parachute payments have finished, we need to lower the wage bill, sell a couple of assets and then perhaps next season look to build a team capable of getting back to where we want’ the Blades fans wouldn’t have immediately piled into the Cherry Street car park. Rather, the togetherness would have still been there, knowing that if we stick together, like we did under Neil Warnock, we can achieve it.
But no, we are told ‘We have the highest wage budget in the league’, followed by ‘we have the highest wage budget without parachute payments’. Followed by, ‘Beattie’s not going’….’Beattie’s gone!’ Killa’s not going unless it’s this week, followed three weeks later by ‘Killa’s gone’. ‘We’ve spent £3million on Ched Evans’…no we haven’t. Less than a million was paid up front, with a lot depending on promotion, appearances and goals. Are we the only club to mark up the price paid for a player as a PR stunt?
As for Naughton and Walker, I have nothing to say about that, it’s a deal that I believe was right for the club, perhaps it could have been handled a little better, but it was a lot of money for two reasonably inexperienced players, and there’s no way you can stand in their way. Look at any transfer of young players up and down the country.
Overall, I don’t see the huge panic of the fans. We’re in a good position in the league, have an extremely competent Chief Executive who knows the business inside out, and debts that are currently serviceable.
If we could just ask for the truth to come from Bramall Lane, rather than saying what they think we want to hear. The fans aren’t stupid (well, most aren’t, I question many), and due to most not understanding PR, see it simply as lies, and there’s no quicker way to lose the trust of the supporters, and make enemies than lying to the biggest assets the club still has.
Share this article
