Staff report


Board / Club

In the last 12 months it seems nothing has really changed sadly. From the court date of June 21st that cited the dispute over the original transfer of ownership (50%) to an attempted resolution at mediation in late September; we still have an impasse. Kevin McCabe and his representatives maintain that the deal was legitimate that in affect saw Sheffield United Ltd (SUL) seemingly own Bramall Lane and the Shirecliffe Academy. Prince HRH Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his UTB ownership of the club refutes how the agreement was brokered and this has led to it going to court. In affect it seems McCabe now does not want to sell up to the Prince (as in transfer his half of the ownership). The Prince somehow seems interested but with certain caveats – does he even want the land or the other assets? It is all a bit of a mess. I am not sure either men are that well positioned to take United forward either alone or together; although the latter has now no possibility of happening you feel.

McCabe seems to have the best interests at heart but does not have the funds to really make things happen and needs a new investor (like the Prince but who will actually put serious cash in and make a difference) and has gone from wanting to get out a few years ago; to now wanting to hang onto things. McCabe now feels he had made a poor deal getting into bed with HRH. He has been quite critical of him in shareholder meetings and things have gone horribly sour. McCabe admits the deal; has not worked out. Maybe him and his advisors did not do enough due diligence but easy to say in hindsight. Business deals go wrong and it not as if lots of rich businessman were queueing up to invest. The best hope is McCabe gets back majority control and finds investors (whether it be the reported interest from China) to properly take us on and do what we thought the Prince would do.

The Prince and his advisors say mostly nothing which is odd and worrying. They have not even tried to defend McCabe’s words or criticism. I remain doubtful of his intentions. He has been here for 6 years now and whilst investment has been made; I look at other clubs quite close to home where a foreign owner has put millions in (not worked of course). If the court case rules in his favour and he ends up as the majority owner, I am not sure I see him suddenly becoming interested and being actually present in Sheffield and properly investing in the club for them to take the next step. I have no idea what his intentions are for continuing this quest for control because he does not say. Sadly, I feel it is finance and business driven and that would concern me what he would do with the club if he wrestled control.
McCabe is at most of the games and seems involved emotionally as well as financially. If the Prince is so bothered about this club why is he never here although we suddenly saw him attend the Forest game (allegedly he was at the Ipswich game too) and start to become active on social media once again. His interests in the Saudi government are now at an end. He seems to tweet more about the Belgian club he is involved in but maybe the money the promised land brings us has piqued his interest. His intentions and what he wants from the involvement in the club still is shrouded in mystery. At least with McCabe we know we have got. He has been quite honest about his intentions if he gets control too but there is a concern about whom he finds to take over as it is clear he feels he made a really poor choice with Prince Abdullah.

In terms of the backing; somehow, we managed to give Wilder decent chance in the summer and in the loan windows to get for the most part the players he wanted. Of course, if we had stability off the pitch, then maybe the backing could have been greater but none of the other top 6-10 team were throwing stupid money about. Looking at clubs like Birmingham, Bolton, Derby, Villa, Wednesday etc who have had to scale back and some face an uncertain future in terms of ownership or FFP; we are not as badly positioned as others despite the odd state of affairs off the field. That is why despite the dispute, you cannot say Wilder has not had backing. It is not as if he could not spend anything and has brought in loan players on decent wages and was allowed to sign Egan and Norwood for circa 6 million. Yes, others have spent more but when you compare our outlay to the other teams we competed with; Leeds and Norwich, we were not found wanting in this area like we were the season previous when we signed League One players. The loan players impact was positive in the competition they provided and they all did their bit at different stages. Without Dowell, Madine and Hogan we may not have quite made it as they added to the group.

Now we will have to take it on a step and properly invest if we want to be a success (or even stay in the top flight). I am not going to speculate on funds but even keeping with the core and continuity you would say we will smash our transfer record by some way this summer and have to bring in several players at bigger fees than we have ever spent before.

We will wait to see what happens in the court hearing in May – my concern reading between the lines is that HRH may enough to force through a verdict to get control from the bits and pieces I have seen and understand. I am sure McCabe then may appeal and on it goes.