Sheffield United become United World

[ClaretTony]

Sheffield United, Beerschot (Belgium), Al-Hilal United (Dubai) and now Kerala United (India) - four clubs all now owned by Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and under the banner of United World.

I assume they are going to build up the number of clubs even further but Sheffield United will be the top of the list and one of the ideas is these feeder clubs will eventually provide them with their players so they won't need to use the transfer market very often. It's already got them Sander Berge from Beerschot.

Other clubs do it, other clubs have tried it (remember Cary Clarets?) but they've also taken it to an off field level too with sponsorship and commercial deals etc. through United World rather than the individual clubs.

[Belgianclaret]

CT: Sander Berge actually came from KRC Genk, not Beerschot

[KateR]

looks like a sound business plan, probably only making fans happy if you are on top of the pile, however of course I assume they will be able to use the "lessor" clubs for loans and a place to develop within a competitive structure with benefits all round.

[ClaretTony]

CT: Sander Berge actually came from KRC Genk, not Beerschot

Thanks, I've gone back and re-read the article now. What Sheffield United did was use Beerschot to do a lot of the spadework in getting the deal done. I suspect Beerschot advised on signing him.

[ClaretTony]

looks like a sound business plan, probably only making fans happy if you are on top of the pile, however of course I assume they will be able to use the "lessor" clubs for loans and a place to develop within a competitive structure with benefits all round.

Blades used to own Ferencvaros - that's how Matt Lowton came to play on loan in Hungary. It's happening at a number of clubs now with the Antwerp/Man U link probably the one that goes furthest back.

Leicester used their Belgian club to get the lad Hurst out of Sheffield Wednesday for next to nothing. Instead of paying the compensation required between two English clubs, Leicester got him to their Belgian club for a year and then signed him from there.

[TsarBomba]

Watford, Udinese, and Grenada spring to mind.

The year after limits on loan players came in, Watford and Udinese just transferred the players around for free instead to get around the rules.

And if one of the three is struggling financially then whoever is doing better will buy a player. Like Isaac Success who Watford bought for £12m off Grenada and he’s gone on to score just twice in over 50 appearances.

The danger here is Sheffield United get used in the same way. I wouldn’t want Burnley’s success to be taken advantage of.

[ClaretTony]

Watford, Udinese, and Grenada spring to mind.

The year after limits on loan players came in, Watford and Udinese just transferred the players around for free instead to get around the rules.

And if one of the three is struggling financially then whoever is doing better will buy a player. Like Isaac Success who Watford bought for £12m off Grenada and he’s gone on to score just twice in over 50 appearances.

The danger here is Sheffield United get used in the same way. I wouldn’t want Burnley’s success to be taken advantage of.

Down to just Udinese and Watford now I think, Granada sold to a Chinese consortium - but it was a farce when they were getting all those players on loan. I'm also told from reliable sources that Watford were using Udinese to avoid FFP problems. Officially now, dad Pozzo owns Udinese and son Pozzo owns Watford.

[Paul Waine]

Next step, sponsored by United Airlines....?

At what stage do other football clubs that use the "united" tag start a "passing off" action?

Or, any sporting entities with "world" in their title take the same steps?

[huw.Y.WattfromWare]

Following the EU restrictions that were announced yesterday this will put a small spike into this plan because of qualification criteria.

[Inchy]

Sheffield United, Beerschot (Belgium), Al-Hilal United (Dubai) and now Kerala United (India) - four clubs all now owned by Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and under the banner of United World.

I assume they are going to build up the number of clubs even further but Sheffield United will be the top of the list and one of the ideas is these feeder clubs will eventually provide them with their players so they won't need to use the transfer market very often. It's already got them Sander Berge from Beerschot.

Other clubs do it, other clubs have tried it (remember Cary Clarets?) but they've also taken it to an off field level too with sponsorship and commercial deals etc. through United World rather than the individual clubs.

I doubt the Indian and UAE clubs are going to provide much to Sheffield UTD. Probably not the best place to send loan players either

[ClaretTony]

I doubt the Indian and UAE clubs are going to provide much to Sheffield UTD. Probably not the best place to send loan players either

No, but if you continue to build up your portfolio of clubs you can end up with clubs at every level

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Blades used to own Ferencvaros - that's how Matt Lowton came to play on loan in Hungary. It's happening at a number of clubs now with the Antwerp/Man U link probably the one that goes furthest back.

Leicester used their Belgian club to get the lad Hurst out of Sheffield Wednesday for next to nothing. Instead of paying the compensation required between two English clubs, Leicester got him to their Belgian club for a year and then signed him from there.

In regards to Leicester using the Belgian club to get a player cheap, why don't some people believe the same was done for Vossen when he came here and left a short time later?

[ClaretTony]

In regards to Leicester using the Belgian club to get a player cheap, why don't some people believe the same was done for Vossen when he came here and left a short time later?

Because it wasn't - they were both transfer fees

[keith1879]

In regards to Leicester using the Belgian club to get a player cheap, why don't some people believe the same was done for Vossen when he came here and left a short time later?

Can't remember now....what was the theory here....ie Who benefited and how?

[aggi]

In regards to Leicester using the Belgian club to get a player cheap, why don't some people believe the same was done for Vossen when he came here and left a short time later?

Because he wasn't out of contract.

[Hedontplayforyou]

How can this be allowed? I really don’t understand how these types of things get sanctioned by whatever bodies govern or pretend to govern this type of activity .

[RogerBest]

Because it wasn't - they were both transfer fees

I have always wondered what happened with Vossen. Why was he with us for such a short time?

[ClaretTony]

I have always wondered what happened with Vossen. Why was he with us for such a short time?

I was told from a very good source that his wife couldn't settle. I think they'd just got married and she wanted to be back in Belgium. I know stuff has been said since about him not liking the football but I was told he wasn't too pleased when we signed Gray.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Can't remember now....what was the theory here....ie Who benefited and how?

The club we signed him from and the club he left us for refused to do transfers from one to the other, they didn't get on.

He wanted to play for the other club, so signed for us and then a very short while later his Missus declared she didn't want to live here and conveniently the buying club offered to pay the same fee we had coughed up for him.

[BurnleyFC]

I was told from a very good source that his wife couldn't settle. I think they'd just got married and she wanted to be back in Belgium. I know stuff has been said since about him not liking the football but I was told he wasn't too pleased when we signed Gray.

It’s just as well we did sign Gray because Vossen wouldn’t have been up to the job of firing us to promotion.

[ClaretTony]

It’s just as well we did sign Gray because Vossen wouldn’t have been up to the job of firing us to promotion.

Gray was terrific for us

[Mattster]

Following the EU restrictions that were announced yesterday this will put a small spike into this plan because of qualification criteria.

Setups like this will be used to circumvent those criteria. They can sign EU U18s to these clubs until they're old enough to transfer. Fees are one of the criteria, what would it matter to overpay to another "United World" club since the money can just get circulated back.

We'll see a lot more EPL clubs following this path over the next couple of years.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Setups like this will be used to circumvent those criteria. They can sign EU U18s to these clubs until they're old enough to transfer. Fees are one of the criteria, what would it matter to overpay to another "United World" club since the money can just get circulated back.

We'll see a lot more EPL clubs following this path over the next couple of years.

Similar to clubs signing South Americans and sending them to play in the EU for a bit?

[Foulthrow]

What did ever happen to Cary Clarets?

[Belgianclaret]

It’s just as well we did sign Gray because Vossen wouldn’t have been up to the job of firing us to promotion.

Although not a bad player at the time, seemed a very unDychelike signing to me

[claretburns]

Similar to clubs signing South Americans and sending them to play in the EU for a bit?

There was a team in the 90s in Belgium, can't remember the name, who brought in all the top youngsters from Africa as they didn't require work permits them sold them after a couple of years, it is how Arsenal originally got Kolo Toure.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

What did ever happen to Cary Clarets?

Screenshot_20201203_195818_com.android.chrome.jpg (335.18 KiB) Viewed 2030 times

[RogerBest]

I was told from a very good source that his wife couldn't settle. I think they'd just got married and she wanted to be back in Belgium. I know stuff has been said since about him not liking the football but I was told he wasn't too pleased when we signed Gray.

Thank you for the insight.

Gray was perfect to get us back up. Things worked out well in the end.

[bfcjg]

Like lockdown it will end in tiers.

[dougcollins]

Will they have a theme park?