Sheffield United off-field sagas laid bare as former owner Kevin McCabe lifts lid on Bramall Lane ups and downs
Former Sheffield United owner Kevin McCabe’s new book Mucky Boots reviewed after release earlier this month
It’s in the first few words of Mucky Boots, the new book co-written by Kevin McCabe that charts his time in charge of boyhood club Sheffield United, that former Blades boss Dave “Harry” Bassett sums up what follows in the next 120,000 or so. “It’s not easy being the chairman of a football club.”
A cursory glance of the book’s contents rams home the point, with chapters detailing some of the many spectacular and seismic off-field sagas that have dominated United’s recent past and are instantly recognisable simply by their names. Carlos Tevez. Ched Evans. Prince Abdullah and the High Court. That’s even before you consider the on-field highs and lows during McCabe’s time at Bramall Lane; promotions, relegations, cup runs and six years in League One.
Penned with co-author Peter Beeby, a Blades fan and former chairman of Sheffield FC, Mucky Boots is not a traditional autobiography and instead recalls some of McCabe’s experiences at United in third person, with input from figures such as Bassett and McCabe’s two sons, Scott and Simon. The format is different but at times takes the emphasis away from McCabe’s memories and feelings, giving the impression of an interview over 300-plus pages or an academic transcript.
Legal episodes such as the Tevez scandal and the High Court battle which eventually signalled the end of McCabe’s association with United obviously require lengthy context, with McCabe describing the former as “probably the biggest injustice since the sport of football began.” When we get there, McCabe’s recollection of that time, and the cost to United, is interesting. He is scathing in his views on then-United chief executive Terry Robinson, and admits that many of his decisions in the following 12 years were “catching up with 12 years’ loss.”
Such a sense of injustice will inevitably have real personal consequences and likely lead to some real soul-searching but, whether because of pride or just personal choice, the surface barely seems to be scratched. McCabe also recalls that his first thought, after being informed of striker Evans’ charge of rape, was that he could get rid of the striker and save his £1.25m yearly wage in the process.
“I had to think things through carefully before seeing him,” McCabe said. “I decided: ‘He’s a footballer but he’s still an employee like anybody else who works for me. If they’d got this sort of problem, of course I’d be finding out the truth before sacking them.’ Whilst it would have been great to knock one and a quarter million quid off the payroll, I couldn’t sack him without finding out the truth. If I’d sacked him, it would have been tantamount to the club saying: ‘Get out. You’re a rapist!’”
Evans subsequently explained the events of that infamous night in Rhyl to McCabe - whose book describes his “repulsion” towards Evans’ behaviour - and the owner decided to stick by his man. He readily admits to “ a little tinge of cockiness” in deciding not to sign another striker in case Evans was found guilty and went to prison, which came back to bite United when he was. Hit badly by the loss of their star man, United surrendered the advantage in the promotion race to their rivals Wednesday before losing in the play-off final to Huddersfield at Wembley.
Evans served half his five-year sentence before being released and a plan to allow him back to United, to train, was met with huge opposition, forcing McCabe and his colleagues into a tough corner. In the end they reversed their acceptance to the request and Evans continued his football career elsewhere, before his original conviction was quashed and he was found not guilty at a retrial.
It was another remarkable situation that McCabe was forced to deal with during his time in charge and after so long at the helm, and tens of millions of family funds pumped in to keep United going, he began to plan for the future and entered into an alliance with Saudi royal Prince Abdullah. The book admits that the McCabes’ belief that the Prince was worth “half a billion” was a “fag-packet assumption.” But he wasn’t, and an initially happy partnership soon descended into an all-out civil war.
There are less-than-complimentary words for the Prince’s associates, including Jim Phipps and Yusuf Giansiracusa; for current United chief executive Stephen Bettis and, in fact, most of the individuals that McCabe had employed in chief executive-level roles, after making the decision to move himself Belgium for tax purposes. At which point, one wonders, should the finger of blame start to be pointed inward?
There were plenty of positives from McCabe’s United tenure. He transformed Bramall Lane into an impressive, modern stadium which still retains its unique charm and atmosphere. The success of the Shirecliffe academy, in which he was instrumental, speaks for itself. He was a United fan who lived the ownership dream which must at times have felt more like a nightmare.
The chapters on the collapse of his relationship with Prince Abdullah are at times heartfelt and poignant, as he touches on the effect that his High Court defeat had on himself and his family. He admits that he was “content” with the idea of selling United to American businessman Alan Pace had he won the court battle and notes that Pace later took control of Burnley - while omitting the fact that he loaded the club with debt in doing so, using a leveraged buyout method that was later outlawed in English football.
Overall, Mucky Boots is a worthwhile read for McCabe’s account of his time in charge at United, if you can look past the various scores he looks to settle for various perceived wrongs he has experienced. To the writers’ credit, not all the external accounts are as one-sided, with a contribution from a character named Ian Cameron perhaps the most telling.
“Kevin won’t listen at times,” he said. “He may hear you, but I don’t think he listens. I’ve seen so many people around football and Kevin was taken advantage of at times – almost naively – by potential owners and others with something to gain. I think he should have listened more.”
* Mucky Boots, by Kevin McCabe and Peter Beeby, is out now, RRP £25.