The plight of the Sharks

After the Rocks game on Friday we were sat in the bar area and my other half asked the question; what will we do at Christmas? They use this room for Christmas parties; we won’t be able to use it. This question was then put to Yuri.
Yuri replied saying that we had again fallen foul of SIV. He went on to explain that SIV wanted our (Sharks) business [bear with me with this one] but once again were at their beck and call, similar to the EIS and the use of their court and yes, the room would be used for Christmas parties; Yuri pointed out that we don’t have any home games in December. I have checked, we have one on the 29th.
Yuri went on, ‘they’ (presumably Sheffield City Council (SCC) didn’t want us to have our own arena, putting obstacles in the way, much preferring us to use SIV venues. The Sharks were very much aware that they looked a very poor relation in the league at the moment and they were looking at buying their own court and a video screen to make Ponds Forge look a little better.
I have held on to these comments, knowing that with a much highly thought of poster, held with high regards making comments such as; “Yeah, and do you know who's responsible for producing those make believe numbers? Put it this way, I wouldn't believe John Timms, Yuri Matischen, Joel Mills or Sarah Backovic if they told me the ****ing sky was blue.”

That I wouldn’t stand much of a chance repeating something that Yuri said?

That is until yesterday (Tuesday 15th) when SIV announced that they were struggling and required £3M to keep afloat (I did think about adding things like keeping Ponds Forge; International Swimming venue above water etc., but I also thought that would also be like water off a ducks back to some of you). Remember when I said; bear with me – SIV wanting Sharks’ business. I’m putting 2 and 2 together here and I may be wrong, it’s certainly a big leap for some. Maybe Yuri was right in what he was saying. SIV requiring £3M, obstacles in the way meaning that Sharks have to rely on SIV despite having to move out when SIV have other ways of making income.

I ask the simple question; why would SCC invest (time and money) in a brand new build for the Sharks when their own SIV’s are losing money?

As you all know, whereas I admit Atiba does have his faults, I don’t think he deserves all the criticism that he gets. I honestly believe some of the criticism is personal and not really because of what he is doing at the Sharks. Comments such as, Sharks were always in the top 3 between the mid 90’s and the mid 00’s don’t help along with, ‘You will NEVER convince me that Atiba is the right man to lead the Sharks’ and ‘But....they need to let Atiba go ASAP. His lack of success would not be accepted in football or most other sports.’

Well I have looked into this and I can say that during that time the Sharks finished 4th on 2 occasions – not good enough for Atiba’s coaching. Also, although not winning silver ware every single season; Abita’s record isn’t too shabby either, certainly in my opinion, not deserving of all of the criticism that he receives. I wish SWFC were as successful.

I’ve taken the following table from the internet.