blades blog Have the blades lost their edge?

Posted: February 10th 2010
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Every so often there comes a pinhead point in a club’s history upon which is balanced its entire future. Like an elephant perched on the short edge of an Apple I-pad, the club teeters as it wobbles from side to side and occasionally threatens to buckle under pressure. It’s pivotal and the result is likely to define the club in its modern guise for the current era.

In the best traditions of the back-door, hush-hush PR school of publicity Sheffield United Chairman Kevin McCabe thrust his new Chief Executive Trevor Birch (only two months in the role) onto BBC Radio Sheffield’s Thursday evening Football Heaven show to basically announce that he’s had enough and will not ‘subsidise’ the club any longer.

Oh yes, it was wrapped up in PR speak with lots of  “remains a passionate and committed supporter” and lashings of “loves the club and wants to stay . . .” but the message was loud and clear and the key phrases that matter were not dressed up at all: “if a good deal came in for the club he would stand aside”. Oh dear.

Boom, there it was. Trev slipped it in like he was ordering a round of drinks: “Two Bacardi’s, a rum ‘n coke, a pint of best, a packet of pork scratchings and oh, do you fancy a once-famous Championship football club? The writing was on the wall especially for us saddos that read the Sheffield United plc page of the website (probably just four unique users). It’s a little-known cyber back street that announced in September 09 boardroom changes with executive Jason Rockett turning his attention to McCabe’s property group. The same website page then announced a significant restructuring of the plc and football club boards signalling Mr Rockett’s retirement in December 09 and the departure of former club board chairman Terry Robinson. And all this don’t forget, a year after the club was delisted from the AIM stock market. Oh dear.

Now comes the recently-appointed Trev, a former player in his day with a claim to fame of being the last player signed by Bill Shankly at Liverpool, though he only played in the Reserves, and had subsequent playing spells with Shrewsbury and Chester. More significantly perhaps could be the fact that since 2002 Trevor has also been chief executive of Chelsea, Leeds, Everton and Derby. Wikipedia, in its infinite wisdom, says that, following his accountancy training, he specialises in insolvency and whilst chief executising at three of those four previously mentioned clubs he was involved in “significantly restructuring their finances”. Trevor told Radio Sheff his role was to help the club stand on its own two feet and to assist with finding investment to help take SUFC forward. Oh dear.

Not to worry Blades, Trev says the debts relating to the football club are indeed, as we’ve all been led to believe, minimal. Phew! But Kevin McCabe, his family and the Scarborough Group are owed soft loans of £26m whilst there’s also the matter of the bank debt of £22m against non-football assets such as the new hotel at the ground. Oh dear.

The significant facts outlined by Trev are:

• McCabe has taken his investment as far as he can
• Every club is a selling club apart from Man Utd
• We run the highest wage bill in the Championship outside the parachute payment clubs
• We have to cut our cloth according to our coat

Never mind, I think to myself, yet again we’re peeking over the shoulders of the play-offs, we still get decent crowds and we’ve hung on to a couple of decent players. That’s what the Wendies shout back at us on the message boards and on the phone-ins. But every single Blade I’ve talked to recently knows the truth and it’s not very pretty. We caught a wave in the Premiership and we’ve surfed it ever since. Our parachute payments meant we could gamble on a bounce-back promotion but we missed subsequent waves, the momentum is fading and we’re heading for the beach. However loyal the faithful are, 25,000 will not continue to come back for punishment to see a selling club offer its wares to the highest bidder mediocre Championship season after mediocre championship season. Where are our brightest stars now we ask?

Kilgallon allowed to leave in order to recoup vital cash before he’s out of contract, Walker told to return to Spurs (even though he’s on a season-loan) whilst he’s on the coach to Watford 50, mins before the transfer deadline closed and Morgan out injured for up to six weeks – a defence decimated by a combination of business factors over playing considerations. 22 players have made their playing debuts for the club this season. Like many other clubs, we are loanees United. The back four have to get on to the pitch early before kick-off if only to introduce themselves to each other. It’s pathetic.

“Sheffield United are a great club and I had great times there,” said Matty Kilgallon after swapping the Blades for the Black cats. “. . . but I was ready to go on to the next level and I can do that here.” And so, without a hint of regret or a second thought, Killa delivers a back-handed slap across the chops, a dismissive and patronising waft at his old club stuck, apparently, at an inferior level. Who can blame him. Only once in the last 15 seasons have we spent a term out of the Championship, a very enjoyable trip out, but we were hanging on like grim death before we were shoved into the next available lift to come down again. And so Killa treads a path worn depressingly threadbare by the likes of Tonge and Jags, Naughton and Beattie. Off these talents toddle, not necessarily to better things, but to a club with a financial structure better suited to their immediate ambitions.

Of course we could sneak in the play-offs and of course promotion is not out of the question, but come on, look at the facts. The top four clubs in the division have an average goal difference of +25, we have +1, not dissimilar to the 10 clubs beneath us any one of which could put together a half decent run and sneak into the play-off Lottery. Just three straight wins separates us in 7th from Scunthorpe in 19th. It’s not false modesty to keep saying we’re not good enough and it’s not a whingers charter, it’s just that we know what’s coming because we’ve been here before and last Thursday, for the first time, the club virtually admitted it. Oh dear.

I personally believe Blackwell has worked miracles under the circumstances and I will generously put his more eccentric decision making down to the hidden pressures of plc club and board management. At the time of writing it’s hard even to blame McCabe when you consider that the club is a going concern, has enjoyed many considerable ground improvements and was financed to the point, more than once, to enable it to challenge for promotion to the Premiership. Financial management appears to have been prudent and if it’s a going concern attractive to a potential purchaser, isn’t that down to the chairman? History will no doubt serve a more considered judgement on his stewardship of the Blades.

But one thing is certain, McCabe let it be known, through his new chief exec that he won’t subsidise the club for ever and it must stand or die by its own means. Oh dear.

What happens next may shape our club for the next decade or beyond.