Sheffield United’s new co-owner, Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has said that he wants to see the Blades back in the Premier League in five years’ time.
He admitted that the timeline was a bit ambitious, but stated that ‘I prefer to have ambitious goals and fail than have easy goals and succeed.’
Sheffield United’s new co-owner, Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has said that he wants to see the Blades back in the Premier League in five years’ time.
He admitted that the timeline was a bit ambitious, but stated that ‘I prefer to have ambitious goals and fail than have easy goals and succeed.’
The Saudi industrialist and football fan ran the rule over three other Championship clubs before settling on Sheffield United: Leeds United, Derby County and Charlton Athletic. One of his concerns was that ‘I didn’t want to go into a club with huge debt because that would be detrimental to achieving my goals.’
Charlton Athletic, although offering a London location, have significant debts that are likely to grow as the club is operating at a loss. The situation at Leeds is relatively opaque, but if they are to realise their Premiership potential, they need quite significant investment. Derby County does offer a club with its own defined catchment area in a relatively prosperous part of the Midlands.
The clincher was probably that Blades chairman Kevin McCabe offered a 50 per cent share in the club for just £1, simply asking the Prince, ‘just help us to get back where we belong.’ Many clubs, of course, think they belong in the top flight, but only 20 can be there at any one time. But Blades fans can certainly look forward to a more hopeful future.
Meanwhile, can we have new owners with shorter names that are easier for an English person to spell?