Sheffield’s Struggle

[jamiejohn]

First off can Sheffield accommodate two football clubs? Yes it can, despite no real success since the war both clubs retain more than decent support and at the first sign of even moderate success good support. When we first got relegated to the third tier many Wednesday fans used to say would Man U get these crowds in the third division well we were never going to find out same as we will never find out if we would get the sort of attendance the Manchester clubs get if we were the best two teams in the country. Secondly would we be better off as a one city club, we would obviously have a better supported club but not necessarily more successful, Newcastle, leeds and Leicester are no match for Manchester or Merseyside. Is it because Sheffield is a poor area, well the other year after Wembley despite having the most expensive tickets in the league we had our highest gates in years due to the raised expectations which tells you success or the promise of it brings people to the ground. So why are both clubs so unsuccessful? Well I believe we both spend too much time worrying about each other and any owner knows they only have to be top dog in the city to keep most of the fans happy. It’s sad that the birthplace of the game has become so irrelevant but it also has to be mentioned that if sheikh mohamed had come to Sheffield it would be oh so different and thats nothing to do with either club, the city or the fans. City had it we didn’t 

[Athelwulf]

2 hours ago, hirstyboywonder said:

 

Mandaric sold Leicester to King Power in 2010. BY 2014 they were promoted as Championship winneras and by 2016 they were Premier League champions. 

 

Winning the PL for a team like that is perhaps once in a generation kind of thing but they were able to put their plan in place and get up within 3 full seasons in charge.  Failing to do that ourselves was disappointing but not having a sufficient plan in place to rebuild and refresh was and is continuing to be our downfall. It is shocking that we are in such a poor position financially having spent next to nothing in the transfer market for about 4 years. 

 

I agree.

 

Although I would say that Mandy's way of doing things had run its course by the time he came here, which is why the approach for Colin was his last throw of the dice.

 

As he said, by that juncture there was so much cash coming down from the PL to the parachute clubs that it was beyond him.

 

In essence, Leicester got in several seasons before us, and escaped the trap.

 

As for Chansiri, I agree that he's not had a plan.

 

My point has been that his options were limited were he to try to gain promotion quickly, because of what had happened before his arrival.

 

If you gamble then it's a feast and famine situation due to P&S.

 

I've criticized him savagely over the years, but it's mainly been directed at his hiring and firing of managers, his stubbornness, and his adherence to Paixao rather than financial matters.

 

The appointment of Moore is the only thing which gives me hope for us.

 

We're now almost at the end of his first attempt to reach the PL by gambling.

 

We'll see now if he's capable of instituting a plan.

 

If he can't, then he's done good and proper.

[Beauchief Owl]

Whilst ever DC continues to take bad advice, not learn from past mistakes and refuses to accept what a terrible job he's made of running the club (other than running it into the ground, that is), the outlook is bleak.  Should he lose interest and cut funding then the outlook is even bleaker.

Either we get new ownership or DC has a totally new approach that is less hands-on if we hope to progress, as I see it.

[Elderly Owl]

19 hours ago, Pughies Jockstrap said:

The city is certainly big enough to support 2 clubs but I agree its not a traditionally passionate football city like say Manchester Liverpool Glasgow and to a slightly lesser extent Birmingham. For those of you who think Wed v Utd is tasty go to a Glasgow derby. I have and honesty thought I was in Beirut. 

But you have to take into consideration that apart from the sunshine, palm trees and hotels without prostitutes, Glasgow is the British equivalent of Beirut anyway.  I would strongly suggest to Owlstalkers that if they are going to pick up a car from Glasgow Motorpoint ( not that far from Celtic Park) they should pay extra and get it delivered to somewhere where you are not going to get your COVID jab en route to Intensive Care.

You’re wrong by the way- Sheffield is as passionate about footie as anywhere I’ve been. Just do a quick replay of Waddle’s free kick, Bright’s header, Tudgay’s screamer and (my personal favourite) Big John Ritchie’s missile of a header from that ridiculously long right wing cross from David Ford at The Sty to get you back on track!

[sonofbert2]

14 hours ago, davey_wells said:

The current bunch of players are so inept, stupid and gutless I'm genuinely angry at them now.

 

I'm angry that they havent accepted just how bad they are, just how ridiculous their inability to recover from conceding a goal is, or their sheer lack of care in anything they're doing.  They do not give a throw about what a mess they've put this club into. 

 

I'm angry that this isnt a bunch of kids trying their best but getting outplayed, its a bunch of heavily overpaid losers who have consistently shown they are borderline unprofessional.

 

And I'm angry that these lot, in combination with the biggest disaster of an owner I could ever imagine, have quickly made SWFC a complete laughing stock, a true calamity, resulting in my lad of 10 completely deserting being a fan, uninterested in the players, club, results and how far we've dropped.  A lost fan, bored to death of supporting a complete shambles that gives absolutely zero back in terms of joy... and I can't blame him.

 

 

 

 

 

Just give him a reyt big cuddle and tell him it’s fun.

 

[Elderly Owl]

11 hours ago, Athelwulf said:

 

I agree.

 

Although I would say that Mandy's way of doing things had run its course by the time he came here, which is why the approach for Colin was his last throw of the dice.

 

As he said, by that juncture there was so much cash coming down from the PL to the parachute clubs that it was beyond him.

 

In essence, Leicester got in several seasons before us, and escaped the trap.

 

As for Chansiri, I agree that he's not had a plan.

 

My point has been that his options were limited were he to try to gain promotion quickly, because of what had happened before his arrival.

 

If you gamble then it's a feast and famine situation due to P&S.

 

I've criticized him savagely over the years, but it's mainly been directed at his hiring and firing of managers, his stubbornness, and his adherence to Paixao rather than financial matters.

 

The appointment of Moore is the only thing which gives me hope for us.

 

We're now almost at the end of his first attempt to reach the PL by gambling.

 

We'll see now if he's capable of instituting a plan.

 

If he can't, then he's done good and proper.

Absolutely THIS. I haven’t criticised him because I don’t think he has done the wrong things deliberately and I still think he would love to see us in the Prem and not just for business reasons. I think he genuinely cares. ( others will have a different view and I respect that)

However, as I have stated squillions of times before, the financial balance of this league  is so undermined by the parachute payments and ridiculous FFP regulations, that without expert advice he is, and always was bound to fail. I think he is an honourable man whose loyalty to his “advisers” is misplaced.

A new plan is overdue, and one that we can share would be helpful.

[Athelwulf]

1 hour ago, Elderly Owl said:

Absolutely THIS. I haven’t criticised him because I don’t think he has done the wrong things deliberately and I still think he would love to see us in the Prem and not just for business reasons. I think he genuinely cares. ( others will have a different view and I respect that)

However, as I have stated squillions of times before, the financial balance of this league  is so undermined by the parachute payments and ridiculous FFP regulations, that without expert advice he is, and always was bound to fail. I think he is an honourable man whose loyalty to his “advisers” is misplaced.

A new plan is overdue, and one that we can share would be helpful.

 

You mind how you go, EO.

 

You'll get pilloried for writing things like that on this site.

 

 

I guess you and I are just both old enough to know that our problems didn't start the day Channers walked through the door.

[Buck Rogers]

I'm not tight and I'm from Sheffield.
In fact, I've just got back from M&S Simply Food where I bought a stonebaked pizza AND a bottle of Pinot Blush.

But get this. I paid FULL PRICE for the wine instead of the stuff that was discounted by £2.

 

Definiely room for two big Sheffield clubs in the Prem by my reckoning.

[Musn't Grumble]

On 18/04/2021 at 08:30, Jim said:

Sheffield’s not big enough or passionate enough a football city to carry two clubs. It’s been blatantly obvious for years. If the city had one club like Leeds, Leicester or Newcastle it would’ve been far more successful.

 

I've been involved in other sports where local teams have merged. It rarely ends up better.

 

Thing is that, in Sheffield at the moment, you get two rubbish football teams and if they merged you'd end up with just one rubbish football team.

 

When both teams are doing well, it's fine... Take 1993, for instance. 75,000 dee-dahs making an early start for a 300 mile round trip and filling Wembley (a few hundred more than watched the two local European Superduper Premier Elite League clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham, a day earlier).

 

Besides, we already have a Sheffield FC.

[Elderly Owl]

32 minutes ago, Athelwulf said:

 

You mind how you go, EO.

 

You'll get pilloried for writing things like that on this site.

 

 

I guess you and I are just both old enough to know that our problems didn't start the day Channers walked through the door.

I think you might be my brother...

[Sova]

15 minutes ago, Musn't Grumble said:

 

I've been involved in other sports where local teams have merged. It rarely ends up better.

 

Thing is that, in Sheffield at the moment, you get two rubbish football teams and if they merged you'd end up with just one rubbish football team.

 

You would right now, but Jim says "would've been", and I think he's right there. If he's saying that Sheffielders aren't passionate about football, I don't agree with him, but if he's arguing that Sheffield's size means that Sheffielders would have to be truly exceptionally passionate about football for the city to sustain two decent teams, I do.

[shezzas left peg]

Captain "Angry Bird" bazza and this lot let toy town do the double over us for the first time in history... 

Nothing else to say really. 

[BowOwl]

Oddly this big 6/12 whatever makes the Sheffield derby bigger.

No more Manc/Mersy/London derbies in the league (or too many lifeless ones in this new league)
No more Man U v Arsenal, possibly the main rivalry of the 90/00's Prem period

What big city league derbies could be left - Birmingham etc & Newcastle/Sunderland. 

[Athelwulf]

5 hours ago, Musn't Grumble said:

 

I've been involved in other sports where local teams have merged. It rarely ends up better.

 

Thing is that, in Sheffield at the moment, you get two rubbish football teams and if they merged you'd end up with just one rubbish football team.

 

When both teams are doing well, it's fine... Take 1993, for instance. 75,000 dee-dahs making an early start for a 300 mile round trip and filling Wembley (a few hundred more than watched the two local European Superduper Premier Elite League clubs, Arsenal and Tottenham, a day earlier).

 

Besides, we already have a Sheffield FC.

 

I think that had we had always had one team, then there's no doubt that we would have been very successful.

 

The reason being that in the past revenue largely came from gate receipts.

 

Nowadays it's about sponsorships and rich Arabs.

 

Why would the Sheffield clubs attract either?

 

Sheffield FC would, but I doubt Wednesday or United would.