Sheffield United: Second season wage cuts means boss knows his budget says CEO

Paul Heckingbottom is aware of how much money has been placed at his disposal for squad rebuilding this summer, a senior figure at Sheffield United insisted last night, despite hearing the manager recently suggest he has yet to receive a budget.
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Sheffield United: Chief makes a statement about player sales

Steve Bettis, the United chief executive, also claimed any money raised from player sales following the club’s failure to regain Premier League status last season, will be handed back to the 44-year-old for use in the transfer market.

Paul Heckingbottom with Sheffield United's chief executive Steve Bettis: Darren Staples/SportimagePaul Heckingbottom with Sheffield United's chief executive Steve Bettis: Darren Staples/Sportimage
Paul Heckingbottom with Sheffield United's chief executive Steve Bettis: Darren Staples/Sportimage

Explaining why Bramall Lane’s board of directors have refused to provide Heckingbottom with an exact total, handing him a ballpark figure instead, Bettis said: "We sit down within reason and say the budget's ‘X’ but you never know what's going to happen and if we will get an offer for a player which is too good to turn down and that changes things because you've got to buy a new player for that position and maybe there's some extra money then for other positions.

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"It's always a moving target and something you just have to react to as things go forward but at the moment Paul's clear on where we're at in terms of a budget and the positions he's highlighted and what we're doing with them.”

The wage drop risk

Morgan Gibbs-White has now left Sheffield United: Simon Bellis / SportimageMorgan Gibbs-White has now left Sheffield United: Simon Bellis / Sportimage
Morgan Gibbs-White has now left Sheffield United: Simon Bellis / Sportimage

As The Star reported earlier this week, the salaries of United’s team have been reduced again following their defeat by Nottingham Forest in the Championship play-off semi-finals, having already been cut when they were demoted from the top-flight last year.

Some will view this as a risky policy, given that it provides better-minted rivals with an advantage should they attempt to lure some of Heckingbottom’s higher profile names away before the window closes.

But Bettis argued, coupled with the departure of loanees such as Morgan Gibbs-White and Ben Davies, it opens up opportunities for Heckingbottom to explore which might otherwise be beyond United’s financial reach.

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Sander Berge, the Norway midfielder, is expected to attract interest from elsewhere. Iliman Ndiaye’s profile will rise if he impresses on international duty with Senegal after being drafted into Aliou Cisse’s plans. Like Berge, John Egan is also known to boast admirers elsewhere.

"There's two parts to the playing squad - the wage bill and the capital investment,” Bettis said. “From a wage bill perspective, the majority of players in our squad get a second reduction in their wages for being in the Championship for a second season. So if we'd just kept all our players, the wage bill drops because of that.

“Then Morgan Gibbs-White and Ben Davies were expensive loan players who have gone along with out-of-contract players like (Lys) Mousset who were expensive as well. All of that money is for Paul to use again on wages.”

Although United salary costs fell by around £20m before they dropped out of the top-flight, Bettis added: "We're not trying to cut the wage bill, it's there for him to use. Where the problem comes is buying players because that's a chunk of cash that has to come from somewhere.”