At long last Sheffield United have a breakthrough regarding the financial takeover which has dragged on for almost the entire summer. According BBC Radio Sheffield’s Rob Staton, the EFL’s approval of the Blades’ takeover is set to be expected in the coming days.
Unitedites have had to be patient over the summer. At one stage the takeover speculation looked to have hindered some of the transfer business, as multiple deals began to stall due to the saga. However, Chris Wilder and the new recruitment team stuck to their guns and have produced some magnificent signings.
Not only have the Blades managed to trim some of the club’s highest earners off of their wage bill, but they’ve also decreased the squads average age whilst adding plenty of Championship experience to that mix.
The notable signings of Callum O’Hare, Harrison Burrows and Michael Cooper have been the highlight of the summer – all three players could still be with the Blades five years from now. The latter two will hold significant market value if they live up to their potential, so it is shrewd business by the club to bring in new assets.
My opinion on Prince Abdullah’s time as Sheffield United owner
Although Prince Abdullah has had his fair share of criticism, not a single Sheffield United fan can say that he hasn’t had the club’s best interests at heart. During his sole ownership of the Blades we have seen a 9th place finish in the Premier League, an automatic promotion from the Championship, and an FA Cup semi-final. And whilst managers and players have a big role to play in these achievements, ultimately it is Prince Abdullah that sanctions deals for players.
Nobody can say the club hasn’t spent a penny since he has been in charge either; between 2019/20 to 2020/21 the club spent £66 million in the first season and £46 million in the second season. This £112 million outlay on player purchases in those years was more than five times as much as the previous eight years combined.
Over the last 12 months alone he attempted to give Iliman Ndiaye the biggest contract in the club’s history by far in order to keep him at Bramall Lane. He has spent money on new state of the art training pitches at Shirecliffe. Additionally, he has recently purchased land at the HSBC Sports and Social club, in Dore, in order to begin plans on building a brand new training ground for the men’s first team which would allow the United academy to move to a category one youth academy. This would mean that not only would the development team test themselves against better players but bigger teams would no longer be allowed to steal United’s top youth prospects away from them.
Hopefully there is solid investment forthcoming in the infrastructure and squad but we’ll only know as time progresses. I hope the new owners show transparency and give us optimism for the future.
Can’t say I agree with your assessment of the Prince. He has taken more money out of this club than every previous chairman combined (£100 million plus) on an investment of £10million. He used the clubs own money to buy his 50% of the shares from McCabe. His managers brought him about £450 million TV revenue – wilder on a shoestring – yet all 3 managers called him out for breaking agreements. He introduced a new Chairman Yusuf Giansiracusa, who publicly announced the club couldn’t care less what the fans wanted and he left us on the brink of administration 2 seasons ago at the bottom of the championship on -2 points with about 6 senior players left after trying to sell us to 2 fraudsters. Best interests of the club at heart? – don’t think so – best interests of himself were his only priority.
Please explain how he has personally taken £100,000,000 out of the club.
I have each of the accounts throughout his tenure, it’s not salary, it’s not dividends, just interested to see, with proof, how he’s taken the money.
Rubbish think you re talking about McCabe. He took utd as far as he could that’s why he s selling the club
I agree with every thing the Clay Cross Blade says ,and as 4 Yusuf Ak 47 comes 2 mind