It’s been a difficult past few months for Sheffield United fans but winning the Steel City derby was something to enjoy. A big win in their bitter rivals’ backyard.
Supporters had about 48 hours to properly soak it in.
Then a controversial report emerged. United’s owners, COH, had supposedly contacted Sheffield Wednesday’s administrators to make an enquiry.
It’s an explosive story, leaving everyone to wonder if COH were checking in on a potential merger plan. Some form of comment was necessary from a group who have not done a single press conference since taking over.
A club address emerged a day later.
The co-owners Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy spoke about the disappointing start to the season. They declared they still aimed to one day get back in the Premier League.
There was a clichéd platitude – “this journey is a marathon, not a sprint” – and a call to “focus all of our energy on supporting Chris (Wilder) and the team”.
There was, of course, one glaring omission. There was no denial of the story. Nothing to say the report on contacting Wednesday’s administrators was untrue.
I’ve done a bit of digging and my understanding is there’s truth to the original report of contact being made, although it’s unclear precisely what the motivations were.
It begs the question, what on earth were they thinking?
What possible logical reason would there be to make contact? Did they think a merger was possible? Anyone in this city will tell you that if you think a merger is an option, you have absolutely no grasp of Sheffield football.
Let’s reflect on the last few months of COH’s first year of ownership.
They moved Wilder out of the club, appointed Ruben Selles and watched a promotion favourite drop into the Championship’s bottom three.
Red faced, they hastily brought Wilder back to rescue things and, now, this story.
COH inherited a healthy club that has enjoyed plenty of success in recent years. They had/have a serial winner in charge of the football side of things in Wilder. There are highly competent people working behind the scenes.
All they needed to do was offer support and leadership. They’ve done the opposite and created a situation where fans are rightly wondering if they ‘get’ their club or English football in general.
If there was no enquiry and the reports and chatter are incorrect – say so. If not, and it’s all true, it needs to be explained.
And after that explanation, any thought of a merger – if that was the reason for the enquiry – should be consigned to the rubbish bin of bad ideas forever.
