Well Done Hecky!

True. But the point really is we weren't exactly admin skint in 2016. The players we had weren't rated at £millions and we showed no ambition. Surely Hecky knew we could've tied our key players down at least another year and pushed on. Like I said, it was a total capitulation and easily avoidable

 

Same ere pal!

 

I don't disagree with that bud, but I also don't claim to know the finances. It's a big juggling act when you have players running down on their contracts and incredibly small budgets compared to every club around you. In fact, didn't we offer Hourihane the biggest contract ever in the history of the club? So we atleast attempted. But if we broke the bank like so many clubs do, kept all our players & didn't get promoted, what would happen then? Would fans bemoan the fact we shouldnt have put all the eggs in one basket? Hindsight is a wonderful thing

I do wish we got to see that squad we had together just one more year... Who knows what could have been, mate!

 

The only good thing about Sheffield United getting promoted to the Premiership is how much it will annoy Wednesday fans. “Yes, but our crowds are massive, etc”

 

Spot on sheffield United had a great squad for the championship this season not to mention the two talents they had on loan from City in one of the weakest championships in years.
Heckys done a good job but he's had a quality squad.

 

Hecky spent the most in a transfer window and barnsley manager has in our history. And the players he had "sold" winnall and Connor had 6 months left and would have walked for nothing had they not been, others just ran their contracts down.

 

How many players who are comfortably premier league quality do you think Luton or Boro have who are just below them? 0.

Sunderland got promoted from league one and now in the play offs. Blackburn have lost 17 games and still have chance of getting the play offs. It's the worst championship in years.

 

100% this.

 

That’s like saying we have a £6m player in our squad. Just because that was a transfer fee paid doesn’t mean they are any good.

 

Think he went to Leeds for that

 

Congratulations, SheffUtd, great effort, Hecky, your the Man.

 

Generally when you pay a high fee you belive the player to be decent or you wouldn't be paying that fee.

 

Very well done Hecky.
Shows you had plenty to offer when you were with us in 2016, pity you didn't stay with us.

 

Yep .. taken em up with the club in turmoil and a transfer embargo. Well done Hecky and his staff.
One thing tho.. with Millwall and Luton doing so well, without wanting to knock their achievements... It does make you wonder about the standard of the championship this season.

 

There’s a bit of truth stretching on this thread.

Yeah the squad is pretty good but it’s not top two. Not in my eyes.

People referring to Rhian Brewster as a £25million striker. He isn’t. The deal was up to £23.5million with add ons - which haven’t been applied as he’s not been great. That’s irrelevant though. They might have paid that for him - Hecky didn’t - but it doesn’t mean he’s worth it. In fact his estimated worth now is about £4million according to transfermarkt. In reality they wouldn’t even get that for him.

It is also worth pointing out that this ‘£25million striker’ has been out injured since October and is yet to kick a ball in 2023. He’s got one league goal this season.

There was also a suggestion that Oli McBurnie is a £20million striker. Again stretching the truth. They might have paid nearly that for him, but again his current estimated value, reflecting his actual quality, is also about £4million. He’s played in a lot more games, started about half, subbed in on another dozen ish. Eleven goals. Not bad, but not outstanding either. Again, if they were to sell him what would they get for him? I could imagine him going to Rangers for maybe £3million ish?

Other than Ahmedhodzic, and maybe Sander Berge, I don’t see anyone that outstanding in that squad other than Ndiaye who I think has matured into a brilliant player, and they got him as a kid from non-league and developed him themselves. They’re a good set of players, and ought to have been good enough for top six at least, but I honestly think Heckingbottom has done a marvellous job in getting them second. I’d agree it hasn’t been the highest quality season at that level but he’s still overachieved.

And that’s before you consider the fact he couldn’t sign anyone in January due to factors beyond his control, and other off field turmoils including wages delays etc.

I think it’s a marvellous achievement and if it was a club other than Sheff Utd and a manager other than Heckingbottom people might not be so quick to try to offset what they’ve done with such arguments.

 

There have been many examples of managers who have had the cash splashed and have still failed. The job still needs doing on the pitch. Top man and a top coach, for me. If only we could have played the 'moneyball' game as well as Brentford did and allowed Hecky to go on a Thomas Franck style journey! Daydream believers, eh?

 

I think Carlton Morris is comfortably premier league quality. I’ve been saying it since he was here (I appreciate I’m in a minority) but that’s not the point I’m making. The points the madness of the league. You can get a Watford with players like Sarr & Pedro supposedly worth £40m & £30m who are languishing in mid-table & a side like Luton in the play offs.

Every year it’s the ‘weakest championship in years’. Last year it was the same with Huddersfield & Luton in there, the season before it was when we were in there & it’s because many of the better teams & players on paper can’t deal with the intensity of the league.

 

I’d correct that slightly to Barnsley spent the most in any window in its history when Hecky was the head coach. After selling pretty much all of his best players.

I think it’s very fair to say he didn’t exactly hand pick each signing himself. He might have agreed to them, or picked a preference of a couple of choices from James Cryne’s s/s, but I’m not having he spent all that money. He really didn’t - and the imbalanced, poor squad we were left with was not his doing.

The ones who left in January and then that summer did not have time left on their contracts to able to realistically keep them.

Again that was not his doing.

The fact he’d kept us just about alive and functioning until the following January when we could actually get a centre forward on the pitch (Ugbo was absolutely awful at that point, not ready, and Bradshaw wasn’t suited to playing up on his own but we had no choice) was hugely commendable. I still think he’d have kept us up pretty comfortably had he not gone to Leeds. The batshit crazy Morais wasn’t far off keeping us up and he was a more leftfield and daft appointment than Schopp and Asbaghi were.

 

It did look a shambles in that we had to sign pretty much a new team in one transfer window but it was a bit of a perfect storm. Cryne was literally dying of cancer & trying to sell the club. He wasn’t going to tie players down to long term contracts in that position especially on the kind of money they would’ve wanted.

I personally didn’t agree with selling Hourihane, Bree & Winnall in January 2017. I thought we should’ve had a go at the play offs as we’d already made a fortune that season with the sale of Mawson & Stones sell on fee but who knows what goes on behind the scenes. I think Heckingbottom said there were 8 first team players that wanted transfers away that window.

 

Always said that.. we did well with one or two small fees or even frees and thought it would still keep coming Alfy Morson Connor and Marc Roberts spring to mind
For example Ollie Watkins went to Brentford from Exeter for just over a million and sold for 10 times that.
.. Thee old.. we were happy shopping at Aldi. Applys here. A healthy bank balance, was always the priority