The Championship
Wednesday 26 April 2023
SUFC 2022/23 Game #66
"Surely, surely this is neither the time nor the place for your fucking bile, Phil. The Blades are promoted. Enjoy the moment."
Of course. Of course. But I didn't choose promotion day as the day to announce that the potential sale of the club to a new owner, Dozy Mmobuosi, has been aborted due to shallow pockets. That aborted sale negotiated by current owner Prince Abdullah.
The timing of this bile is on Abdullah. Although the bile is not specifically directed at him.
By the Carrier Bag Firm Charter, I am required to state;
"All football club owners can get to fuck."
These are our football clubs. We are football fans. We. Are. Not. Chattel.
"But, he's been a good owner Phil. We've had some right bad owners."
"Fuck off. If you're adjectiveing owners, you've missed the point. There aren't good and bad owners. There's just fucking owners. Get them gone. Get the next shitshower in. And then get them gone an' all."
Don't rate 'em. If you must, just tolerate them.
I'll say again. I have nothing against Prince Abdullah. Sure he's a lovely bloke. Polite, born in a palace and that. I do, as I've explained before, have a problem with the ultimate source of his money. I have nothing against Dozy Mmobuosi. Sure he's a lovely bloke. Drinks Guinness and that. We'll never fucking know the ultimate source of his money.
But. Simply. They're owners. Real or imagined. Fuck 'em off.
The current situation with Sheffield United is illustrative. I'm calling it as Stability By Mistake. I crave stability. Progression. Build on what you've got. We've had a recent period of on field stability under Prince Abdullah. He sacked a pro celebrity foreign manager. And promoted from within. Was that because he couldn't afford another pro celebrity manager? Was it stability by mistake? Then he couldn't keep up payments on players we'd already "bought". So the EFL placed us in transfer embargo. So, in the window, we couldn't spend money we hadn't got, on players we don't need. Was it stability by mistake?
FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley. Promoted to the Premier League with three games to go. Summat in this stability by mistake lark maybe.
"What does promotion mean to me? Do I even want us to be promoted? Essentially, I approach it simply. Supporting a football club means you want to play games & win things. But, there ain't enough to go around. We can't all support the team which wins the FIFA World Club Championship. As fans, in the moment, we're looking to be successful at our level. Sure, we can look backward & slag off pub leagues. Sure, we can look forward to the promised land (FFS). But, that's in the past. That's for the future. All we've really got is validation in the moment. Are there medals? I don't fucking know. But, success in The Championship, the Medals, is the Title, the second Automatic place, the play off winners, and the play offs. And, survival, if that shit is going down for you. You're validating. We've secured Automatic Promotion. We're validated."
It's worth explaining that quote is from my Blog when we effectively won promotion in 2019. I ain't changed my mind.
What are we going to do now?
Premier League money is sucked into players' wages. That's it. That's the instability by mistake model. Fans talk about the financial and infrastructure difficulties facing the club. And the absolute requirement of Premier League money to address those. But many of the same fans will want a new left wing back as well.
I don't know how much things cost. But. We could use the PL money to sort out the people we owe money to, to get the club debt free, to sort the Shoreham End out, to sort the hotel out, to sort Shirecliffe out, to sort a Cat 1 Academy, on a new site if we have to. We could choose Stability. We could break the mold. I doubt we will.
But, tonight, I'm celebrating a fantastic achievement by my Club.
Vocation & Co.
113-117 Devonshire St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S3 7SB
The New Old House. Only recently renovated & reopened. I loved it. Five on Cask, their own and collaborations. Thirteen of their own on Keg (including attempts at Normal Lager). Three guest Kegs from big hitters Verdant, DEYA and Vault City.
Vocation Brewery (Hebden Bridge), Collab with To Øl (Denmark), Mosaic Pale on Cask at 4.5%
I went back to that one a few times. It was exceptional. A real showcase for those hops.
Vocation Brewery, Collab with Vault City (Edinburgh), Banana Cookie Dough Cheesecake Stout on Cask at 6%
On a great night, that was truly a Nigerian Guinness buster!!!
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