With three defeats in three games, the former Premier League club have given themselves a major problem
Of the six teams most recently relegated from the Premier League, one is back in the top division and another has dropped into League One.
Of the others, Leicester City have picked up a couple of wins back in theChampionship, Southampton have one and Ipswich Town are still looking for their first but have drawn twice.
At the bottom of the Championship after three matches sitSheffield United, one of two teams without a point. They’re below Queens Park Rangers, who conceded seven goals on Saturday. They’re a point behind embattled rivals Sheffield Wednesday, a fact that means little in the grand scheme of things but serves to highlight the obstacles the Blades have given themselves.
High Protein Beef Paste
United have scored once in their three Championship games, in a 4-1 loss at home against Bristol City on opening day. They’ve since conceded five league goals unanswered, losing 1-0 to both Swansea City and Millwall.
None of these was an easy fixture. The Blades won’t stay winless for much longer and they will be out of the relegation zone in no time, but when it comes to their hopes of returning to thePremier League they’ve left themselves playing catch-up when they have a significant financial advantage.
Sheffield United are one of four Championship teams receiving parachute payments after relegation from the Premier League. Those four teams – United, Leicester, Southampton and Ipswich – accounted for almost three-quarters of the transfer fees brought in by second-tier clubs this summer before the Blades’ latest signing from Millwall.
If any of the other three fail to get promoted this season or next, parachute payments will boost them again in 2027/28. Sheffield United, relegated a year earlier, could face an increased number of opponents with parachute payments just as theirs come to a halt.
The financial gap between clubs in receipt of parachute payments and clubs without them is widening. Lots of clubs relegated from the Premier League have bounced back immediately or within the lifetime of their payments – in some quarters, the term ‘trampoline payments’ has been used.
Getting promoted to the Premier League isn’t an easy achievement for any club but there are some that have the advantage and United, at this incredibly early stage of their second season in the Championship, are theoretically nine points off automatic promotion.
Wilder revival misses the mark
It’s not so long ago that Sheffield United were under Saudi Arabian ownership. After investing initially in 2013, Prince Abdullah took sole ownership in 2019.
When the Blades were promoted to the Premier League in 2018/19 there was a sense among the rest of us that they were going up with good backing, albeit backing they didn’t really shout about.
Manager Chris Wilder won plaudits for finishing in the top half of the top tier with his underlapping centre-backs all the rage. They were relegated in their second season and that’s where the Blades’ journey towards today really got rolling.
United supporters would have settled quite happily for repetition since then. They missed out on promotion in the play-offs and then got promoted automatically in second with a massive sack of points hanging off a belt loop.
They were relegated in 2023/24 to try all over again. They missed out on promotion in the play-offs. This time, though, the subsequent surge hasn’t been upwards.
Paul Heckingbottom was sacked as manager in December of the Blades’ most recent Premier League campaign and any notion of stability went out of the window. Wilder was his replacement but couldn’t avoid the drop. He was sacked after failing to win promotion last term.
Now mercifully under new ownership but suddenly bouncing between managers, it’s difficult for outsiders to really know what Sheffield United want to be.
Sellés is already under pressure
Wilder’s second sacking didn’t meet with a great deal of disapproval but the appointment of Rubén Sellés in his place was a bold decision.
The Spanish boss has now had four clubs since 2023 and his fortunes from one to the next haven’t offered much clarity about his capabilities. His first managerial appointment at Southampton was a hiring of convenience and Sellés was at the helm when they were relegated in 2022/23.
There were positives to glean from a year and a half in charge of Reading, where Sellés achieved a degree of progress at one of recent history’s great basket case clubs, but getting the boot at Hull City after six months takes the shine off that somewhat.
Sheffield United expected a better start and the pressure is on. Because of the timing of his appointment in the parachute payments cycle, because of Wilder’s sacking after the play-offs, because of the dwindling chance to avoid getting bogged down in the Championship, Sellés needs to be at the other end of the table.
The Blades need to find their edge
Instead, things are turning sour. Some supporters are already calling for the 42-year-old to be sacked. Some are less convinced but hardly positive about him and the players are being assigned their share of the blame too. Rightly so.
The club’s recruitment has also come under fire. The Blades have now added free agent Danny Ings and defender Japhet Tanganga to their squad after a group of summer acquisitions that poses as many questions as it answers.
Nils Zätterström was signed from Malmö for a fee, Ben Godfrey and Tyler Bindon on season-long loans. Djibril Soumaré and Louie Barry are also on loan. Youngsters Mihail Polendakov and Ehije Ukaki both came in from the Bulgarian league.
Blades supporters will justifiably demand better in the remaining days of the transfer window. Tanganga should be a step in the right direction but he’s not going to walk them all the way out of dodge on his own.
The big question on the lips of those supporters is whether Sellés even has it in him to turn the team around. Their scepticism is understandable – Sellés hasn’t really shown enough in his previous roles to suggest that patience is the best response, nor have his players given much indication that they’re poised to figure out the puzzle.
Sheffield United won’t go down. One way or another, the club’s owners will eventually make the decisions that see them out of that kind of trouble.
But they don’t need to go down for this season to do them significant damage. Next season, promotion will be a tougher task as relegated clubs have the advantage that used to be United’s; the season after that, tougher still.
They also don’t need to actually get promoted this season to remedy the situation.
As they know all too well, if a team can produce a positive campaign the good habits engendered can be enough to overpower parachute payments to relegated clubs whose habits are less healthy.
It’s a matter of trajectory. Sheffield United are going to tell us a lot about their medium-term future not only this season, but in the coming weeks.
Please share this week’s newsletter using the button below.
I am available for writing commissions and freelance opportunities.Contact me directly and we’ll talk.
That’s your lot. Thanks for reading. Please subscribe if you enjoyed it and haven’t done so yet.
Have a week.