Sheffield United project that could leave a lasting legacy beyond the pitch as Blades look to future
Stephen Bettis has spent more than a decade at Sheffield United - and believes a new training ground and category one academy status could be among the most important things the Blades can achieve
When Stephen Bettis first walked through the door at Sheffield United, he had no inkling that he would still be in situ as chief executive over a decade later. And in that time, there isn’t too much he hasn’t experienced.
Takeovers, both completed and failed. Managerial changes, jubilant promotions and harrowing relegations. The fallout from Maddy Cusack’s tragic passing. More court cases than anyone would have liked.
Living those experiences has meant that very little fazes him nowadays but has not dampened his love for the job. When the day comes that he does walk away, though, his hope is that he has something of a tangible legacy to show for his service - potentially in the shape of the Blades’ new training facility.
“Personally, that is the most important thing this club could be doing,” Bettis said of the upgraded training ground at Dore, which the Blades’ owners have spent more than £500,000 on in professional fees alone without any significant building work yet taking place.
“The most important thing. I’m all about making sure this club has good foundations, and ultimately I’m trying to push it forward and make it better.
“You can get promoted to the Premier League, which is great and then the money comes with it. But there’s no guarantee you stay there, and we’ve seen that with this club in the last five or six years.
“So many clubs are going up and coming back down. Whereas if we can get a training ground built and then get our academy up to category one status as a knock-on... I think it's the most important thing that we can do at this football club at this point in time.
“The owners know that, and they fully understand what it means to get it there.”
Bettis was speaking to local media in a sit-down interview at Bramall Lane in which he discussed a range of topics, including a revised timescale for Dore. A new base for the players United currently have is seen as a priority, but it is what that will enable them to build for the players of tomorrow that’s seen as potentially game-changing.
United are currently a category two academy set-up and are limited in the quality of teams their youngsters come up against. There is a sense that the current opposition is not providing enough of a challenge, while second-tier set ups are also at risk of their best talent being picked off by those higher up the food chain.
United are in the same catchment area as category-one clubs including both Manchester sides, Liverpool, Everton and Leeds United and in recent memory have lost star youngsters Will Lankshear and Kylan Midwood, to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City respectively, for a fraction of the value they would have received if United had category one status.
Category one status will also further help them attract talent from across the local region and help them build on their academy’s superb recent record, which has seen them produce hundreds of millions of pounds worth of talent in recent times.
Asked if the new academy set-up could be seen as his legacy, Bettis admitted: “One hundred per cent, it is for me personally. I never expected to be here for 10 or 11 years, if I’m honest, and I absolutely love working here.
“But when that day does finally come that I leave, I want to be able to say I left it in a better place than it was when I arrived.
“And I think the new training ground will be a big part of that. Because I think it really is so big for this football club and so important for the academy as well.”