Sheffield United: This is what will happen if promotion isn't secured next season
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Despite knowing that spending a third season in the Championship would see their Premier League parachute payment drop from £35m to around £15m before disappearing altogether, Bramall Lane’s owners believe some of the cost control measures they have introduced means the situation would be “manageable”.
Asked if United would be forced to organise a fire sale if Heckingbottom fails to lead them back into the top-flight, chief executive Steve Bettis said: "No, because the club is making profits which day to day is covering the wages, it's only investment in the players that would cause us financial difficulties.
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Hide Ad"The situation is far from ideal but it's manageable. It was just about the hangover of paying players from the Premier League (era), not the day-to-day operations.”
Bettis, who has insisted HRH Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is ready to support Heckingbottom’s moves in the transfer market, revealed earlier this week that existing members of United’s squad all face another wage reduction next term after also seeing their salaries cut after being relegated last year. It is a potentially risky strategy but not one, the board believes, which will convince some of the lower earners at Heckingbottom’s disposal to seek out opportunities elsewhere. United are also confident they can keep the core of their squad intact, despite anticipating offers for Sander Berge. The midfielder is currently on international duty with Norway and has been linked with Arsenal, Napoli and Newcastle in the past although all three are now thought to be pursuing alternative targets.
Reflecting on events since United surrendered their PL status and were then beaten in last season’s play-off semi-finals, Bettis said: "As a club we've got the highest attendance, most season ticket holders, our sponsorship deals are outperforming most in the league and we've leveraged off our time in the Premier League, which gave us the exposure and all of that has value we can utilise in our sponsorship deals so from that perspective we're in a really good place."