Sheffield United CEO Stephen Bettis on relegation contingencies and hope for a 'really competitive' future

The number of players whose deals expire in the summer comfortably stretches into the double-figure territory and there are likely to be one or two key departures if the club goes down, which looks inevitable.

The above does not paint a rosy picture at face value.

Within the corridors of power at Bramall Lane, there is optimism that if - most likely when - United return to the Championship later this spring, the club will not encounter major financial turbulence and the first team will be ‘really competitive’ at the right end of the second-tier in 2024-25.

While an instant Premier League return would be the ideal scenario, neither is it a non-negotiable, according to chief executive officer Stephen Bettis.

A host of senior players such as John Egan, Oli McBurnie, George Baldock, Wes Fotheringham see their deals expire.

Alongside parachute payments, relegation clauses inserted into the contracts of players who stay put would soften the blow of relegation from a monetary perspective, while some other contractual stipulations will also protect the club.

Bettis said: "I’ve got cashflows for spending the next couple of seasons in the Championship or spending next season and going back up.

"Without going into detail, we did a few good deals with players, good business deals which protect the club if we go down as well. Every player has a relegation clause in their contract.

"I think there’s a realism as well. There will probably be a couple of players that don’t want to play in the Championship. That’s just about us (then) doing the right business at that point. I can see one or two leaving.

"If we’re in the Championship, I think we will be really competitive. We’ve got to finish in the six and personally, I’d be hoping we do go straight back up. I feel like next season will probably be like the league we got promoted from (in 2022-23).”

Neither is Bettis fazed by the sheer number of players coming off contract. Like his manager Chris Wilder, he views it as a good thing in the circumstances.

"We are open to conversations, but we are not losing sleep about the position we are in and the things we have let run,” he continued.

"Chris came in with his eyes wide open and he knew all the positions of the players. None of this was a surprise and I think he sees it more as a positive than a negative.

"I think we are in a good place and we’ve tied down the youngsters, Brooksy (Andre Brooks), (Oliver) Arblaster and (Will) Osula to long-term deals."

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Bettis confirmed the club are also in 'positive discussions' with Daniel Jebbison regarding a new deal - while revealing that the striker was out of action with a blood clot earlier this season.

He is yet to feature in 2023-24 due to a mixture of injury and illness.

Behind the scenes, interested parties remain keen on purchasing the Blades, who have enlisted consultancy firm Lazard to help find a buyer.

United owner Prince Abdullah has seen two much-publicised deals to sell the club break down with Henry Mauriss and Dozy Mmobuosi seeing takeovers collapse. Other parties remain interested.

Bettis continued: “My understanding is they (Lazard) have a big database of people they think might be interested in acquiring a football club, so they may take ours and make a pretty brochure and send it out to all interested parties and start talking.

"That's where we are at the moment. There are interested parties, but ultimately the devil's in the detail, getting a deal done.”

The recent announcement that the club had secured a site for a new state-of-the-art training centre at the HSBC Sports and Social Club in Dore has the potential to make the brochure that bit more alluring.

It will greatly aid the club's quest to attain Category One academy status in time, with the academy to remain at United's current Shirecliffe site, while the first-team relocate to the south of the city.

Bettis says that, all being well, the first-team's new facility at Dore will open up in time for the 2026-27 season.He added: "We’ve not been able to go Category One until now as we don’t have the facilities and literally don’t have the space at Shirecliffe to accommodate the number of pitches we need. But with the acquisition of the HSBC site, that enables us to move the first team off and give them that space and that enables us to meet the criteria from a facilities perspective.

"We’ve exchanged and paid a deposit and the contract is signed. We don’t complete until the end of August and HSBC want that time to deal with their transition out. So we don’t get the keys until then."Moving on from that, we’ve obviously got to get planning permission for what we want to do there, but it’s not huge. Realistically, it’s two more (full) seasons."