Sheffield United’s owners have been accused of dragging Beerschot down to an amateur level as CEO Thorsten Theys resigned this week.
Gazet van Antwerpen cover the situation today as the Belgian club descends into chaos once again after finally seeming to get on course.
The newspaper reports that while manager Dirk Kuyt has finally found a way to win on the pitch, ‘another bombshell’ has exploded in the boardroom.
Theys has just decided to call it quits after seven months, officially submitting his resignation last Monday. He sent this to Oliver Seitz, the Brazilian COO of United World, the holding company of Saudi prince Abdullah bin Mosaad who owns 75% of the shares at the club.
Bin Mosaad also owns Sheffield United, after first buying a 50% stake in September 2013 before taking that to 100% in 2019, Al Hilal United and Kerala United.
That comes from the fact that the Saudi and Flemish influences in the boardroom are ‘diametrically opposed’. Former chairman Francis Vrancken Philippe Verellen wanted to sell the club after last season’s promotion, but the Saudi group did not.
Vrancken resigned as chairman but still wants to get rid of his shares but has a financial dispute with Prince Abdullah. Because of this, Beerschot find themselves at a standstill.
This has resulted in an almost amateur level of operation, with the Sheffield United owners seemingly uninterested in the daily operations. Only a handful of people are currently running the Belgian side.
This impacted Theys, who was constantly dealing with overdue payments, broken agreements and essentially had a job that was ‘mopping with the tap open’.
It’s a mess, which has seen the team training at the stadium for weeks as there’s no training pitches and the youth teams not playing at home once. There’s frustration at all levels with the sporting and administrative malaise not going unnoticed and Sheffield United’s owners in the firing line.
