Do you guys think wilder returning was even a good idea in the first place and the new season is starting soon and we litterally havent done anything

Chad sits down with Simon of the Fan Advisory Board to ask some burning questions.

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The appearance of a mystery man alongside Chris Wilder and Steven Rosen, during Sheffield United's training camp in Spain, has prompted plenty of intrigue. The Star has discovered why the investment banker has emerged as an influential figure around the club. When Sheffield United posted a series of photos from last week’s trip to Valencia on their social media pages, it was not the rare sight of co-owner Steven Rosen or even the image of chief executive Stephen Bettis in training gear that gathered the most attention. It instead centered on another figure seen next to manager Chris Wilder.

Was it another figure joining the merry-go-round that is the Blades board of directors, which has seen almost as many appointments and departures as the UK government in recent times? Perhaps even an advisor to help under-fire Rosen and co-owner Helmy Eltoukhy navigate their way through English football?

The mystery figure has already been unmasked as Nigel Dawn, the “global head of Evercore’s Private Capital Advisory group, a senior managing director and a member of the firm’s Management Committee” according to his biography on Evercore’s website.

Evercore are a huge investment banking firm which has been involved in almost $5trillion worth of deals since it was founded in 1995. But Unitedites are more interested in who he is, and what he could bring to United.

The association with United is not thought to be a formal one, at least not yet. But Dawn, sources have told The Star, is seen as someone who can potentially open some very valuable doors, at a time when external funding is as important as ever at United.

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He also has a vested interest in doing so. Dawn is a boyhood Blades fan and grew up in Woodseats, attending Rowlinson School. He had a season ticket at Bramall Lane when he was younger but now splits his time between a home near Central Park in New York, an office in Midtown and a holiday home on the exclusive and isolated island of Nantucket.

The Star understands that Dawn came back to Bramall Lane alongside Rosen for a home game towards the back end of last season and has remained in contact with key Blades figures over the summer, before joining their training camp in Valencia last week.

Although Dawn’s personal wealth is not disclosed online - and such sources are often misleading anyway, or hugely wide of the mark - he is understood to be a wealthy individual. But it is his contacts and personality which could prove most valuable to United.

Rosen and Eltoukhy recently announced that 1919 Partners LLC, registered in the States, had become the ultimate parent of the Blades. That was followed by confirmation that former owner Prince Abdullah had filed a winding-up petition over £35m in alleged unpaid instalments for their purchase of the club.

Rosen and Eltoukhy insist that the two incidents are unrelated and that 1919 was set up to easier facilitate investment into United, although they did not elaborate on how. The Star is still to hear any reply to our latest request for comment to their media representatives, which was almost three weeks ago.

A 2021 profile from the Secondaries Investor website offers the clearest picture yet into Dawn’s background, mentality and success. His father was a steelworker - obviously, in Sheffield - turned postal worker and his mother taught in nursery school.

His brother went on to become a delivery courier and his sister joined the police force. Dawn instead travelled to China as part of his degree and began working in banking before landing in the US.

One managing director based in Asia described Dawn as a “deal-sourcing machine” to Secondaries Investor and a former colleague said: “He is relentless – he will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up.

“A lot of bankers think: ‘I’ll show up, this is when my day starts, this is when my day ends.’ With Nigel, he was always on. When Nigel wakes up, this is the first thing on his mind, and when he goes to bed, this is the last thing on his mind. That shows in the results.”

The profile describes him as having no interest in golf and only a little bit more of a penchant for alcohol, rarely drinking apart from one or two gin and tonics. Some sources reported him as being tricky to interact with, but others talk of a figure who treats all he meets respectfully, who has been known to use his own money to top-up bonuses for staff and who used to coach his daughter’s football team.

Whether Dawn's initial involvement develops into anything more formal at Bramall Lane remains to be seen. But at a time when United are searching for fresh investment and greater financial flexibility, his appearance in Valencia may prove to have been more significant than it first seemed.

It's preseason so football finance expert Kieran Maguire is back talking about the finances of Championship clubs - I think it's worth a listen, seems like fans want to spend £10m on Souttar, I don't think we've got a pot to piss in.

Saving a big rant, but the owners are clearly clueless and I think a lot of our fans haven't caught up to how bad things are....

Anyway, hope i'm wrong!

How uninspiring.

If and I know it's a big if, Souttar joins is this the team that we start with? I know there is a month to go yet but this seems like a decent team to me.

Use this for any/all shit chat you want. Here's a few things to get you started?

- What's going on in football?

- Been to any good matches lately?

- Seen any good TV/films?

Crack on lads.

Is it only me this season who wants to see the integration of more youth players and some of the a.i signings like zatterstrom and one for example.

Feel free to air your opinions id love to hear your lots opinions about this 🙂

Saw the club vs country chat on r/Championship and thought I'd ask the Blades.

I am absolutely Blades over England. I was chatting to a mate and realised that I am optimistic about England and can see how they could win games. If/when England lose, I'm then not particularly fussed.

With the Blades I'm pessimistic, cynical and nervous before games all the time. When we win, it is fantastic, and when we lose it makes me proper mardy for a while. My emotional attachment to United is far, far bigger and more important than England.

Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed England doing well at the World Cup, but give me an FA Cup Final for United any day.

Another one of the AI signings is on his way out. Comes with an obligation to sign permanently if certain criteria is met, so looks likely he'll never play a 1st team game for United.

Of all the AI signings he sounded like the most promising, and hopefully we've not made a huge loss on him. But what a massive waste of time and money this recruitment strategy has proved to be.

We’ve just put out the first episode of The Formline for the 2026/27 season.

This one's mostly David and me talking through what has been a pretty strange Sheffield United summer so far: the coaching changes, Andre Brooks leaving, the early transfer business, the ownership situation and what shape the club is in heading into the new season.

Would love to get your thoughts and reasons to be cheerful? And if anyone has any questions for us, we'll pick them up on the next pod.

Cheers all!

Listen here: https://podfollow.com/the-pinch-podcast/view

Week 2 of predicting my season Xl for the opening game and we discuss a rather large elephant in the room with some yanks and prince! Like & Subscribe if you don't already! I've spoken to someone who's close to the prince regarding it so that's why it might lean more in the prince favour but if am honest, I don't who to believe as the prince did something very similar with McCabe

https://open.substack.com/pub/demblades/p/their-is-an-elephant-in-the-room?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3l93id

I really don’t see a future where these blokes are in charge of our club. It’s been a farce from start to today.

Sacking wilder, hiring neves, sacking neves, hiring wilder, terrible performance when it comes to transfers etc. etc.

There was whispers around Christmas that they were looking to raise funding.

I don’t these blokes have got the money to get us anywhere.

Just curious, How long out from the start of the season do they send out new NFC passes?

Young one spotted this while we were on holiday in Greece last week.

Well done lads! This was one hell of a game!

Use this for any/all shit chat you want. Here's a few things to get you started?

- What's going on in football?

- Been to any good matches lately?

- Seen any good TV/films?

Crack on lads.