Bettis 'left to face Sheff Utd music again'

Not for the first time, Sheffield United chief executive Stephen Bettis was left to face the music and answer questions on behalf of the club's owners on Tuesday.

This has been a regular occurrence - under both Prince Abdullah and now the current ownership.

Let's get one thing straight - he shouldn't have to be the only one who ever has to do this. Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltouky have been given ample opportunity to address fans after 18 months of errors, bizarre decision-making, trusting the wrong people and now owing the former owner a suggested £35 million.

It's high time they answered some questions. Proper questions that the fans want answering from the people at the top.

Bettis deserves credit for coming out on their behalf. Some fans might not want to hear that - but ultimately a lot of the issues he's often asked to address are nothing to do with him, yet he's always very willing to speak to the media, be asked questions the fans send to us and he communicates well. The answers might not always be precisely what fans want to hear, but that's never going to be the case.

It was interesting at one point when Bettis became quite passionate discussing a list of achievements he was proud of during a decade at Bramall Lane. I put to him that I thought he was more animated during that part of the interview because he's often faced with being the man tasked with addressing the faults of others, whilst some of the good work he's done goes unnoticed. I think that is a point worth highlighting here.

We got into the saga over owed money in some detail and it's clear there's still a 'wait and see' approach to a possible points deduction, as the EFL and independent football regulator (IFR) go through the process of reviewing the liquidation of former club holding company COH Sports.

It also didn't sound like the money raised from player sales this summer will be available for any kind of spending spree in January. Bettis also provided updates on the plan to reach Category 1 status for the academy and the new training facility in Dore.