Highly-rated young prospect Harry Maguire.
by Kieran Mather
With last season concluding with disappointment under the Wembley arch Sheffield United fans could be forgiven for being a tad pessimistic as the 2012/13 season approaches. Last season’s highs included a team playing excellent football, a striker netting over 30 goals, an extensive unbeaten run and 90 points. These were matched with lows such as losing our top scorer to her majesties pleasure, being beaten to 2nd spot in the league to rivals Sheffield Wednesday and losing a play off final (again) on penalties.
So what is expected of Danny Wilson’s men this time around, promotion, play offs or mid table mediocrity? Well I’m sure chairman Kevin McCabe has informed the manager promotion is the objective and Danny Wilson will have passed this message on to the players.
Since the all Yorkshire play off final the Blades have released Ched Evans, James Beattie, Steve Simonsen and a few other players who didn’t feature in the first team all to often last season.
Two main players from last season Kevin MacDonald and Lee Williamson have both signed new contracts at the club putting to bed rumours of moves to Wednesday (if you believed everything you read they had been sold to four different clubs but trained every day with the blue and white half of the city.) These two were the key players who needed to be retained along with Harry Maguire. One player we’d have liked to retain was Matthew Lowton, but the lure of Premier League clubs and what they’ll pay for our youth players is too much; we are after all a selling club and this is business after all. The fee was undisclosed but believed to be around £3million. This has kept in line United’s habit of providing young talent to the Premier League and eventually the England set up (Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Kyle Walker & Kyle Naughton to name a few.)
So where does this leave us for the upcoming campaign? Well the squad is relatively similar, bar goalkeeper Simonsen, midfielder Lowton and the Welsh striker the starting line up of last season is still there. We’ve added Tony MacMahon who was Middlesborough’s player of the season last year, from Crewe we’ve captured forward Shaun Miller, from Wallsall defender Darryl Westlake and Manchester United forward John Cofie has joined on a season long loan. Matt Hill, who spent last season with the Blades on loan from Blackpool, has also been signed.
We’ve made some interesting additions if not the obvious or preferred fans choices such as Luke Freeman from Borough. But crucially the core is still there from last season who have had a season in the third tier to get to know it, learn what it’s about and what kind of football is played, and can now plan a route out of it. It’s common knowledge how many seasons it takes to get out of this division; ask Leeds, Wednesday, Forrest and Charlton fans. So now it feels with that experience we are better equipped to gain promotion. Having nearly done it last season the first time of asking the hunger will be there and we’ve proved we’re a force in the division. Of course we’re not the only team within the division with these ambitions granted but this is an open league. Coventry are making the bigger name signings, most notably Whittaker from Rangers. Doncaster have added Burnley veteran Robbie Blake amongst others in their reshaped team (similar to Charlton’s reshuffle last season) and if the signing of Billy Paynter goes through they could be a real front runner for promotion back to the Championship. Portsmouth on the other hand have experienced a mass exodus and face a tougher battle off the pitch than on it this season, it would be difficult for anybody to predict their fortunes this season.
Off the pitch at Bramall Lane, there have been redundancies made despite offloading a player to the Premier League and ridding the club of the reported £20,000 p/w wages of that Welshman. Fact is financially we are consolidating and recouping from the relegation 2 years ago which came almost out of the blue. Intent has been shown though in the fact we have had the chance to reduce wage bills further by not offering certain players new lucrative contracts and could have sold one or two more easily. Maybe it isn’t so much from an ambition to be in the Championship or a financial need to be there making whether or not United can progress as a club over the next few years hinges on promotion this time out.
If we don’t achieve it we wont, I think, be able to follow in the footsteps of Norwich, Southampton, Leeds or Wednesday and progress in the Championship but instead could follow the likes of Rotherham, Swindon or Oldham and never look like returning to the top two tiers in the foreseeable future.
It won’t be easy – I think the play off spots alone could be fought for by eight or more teams this season – and it certainly won’t be the high points tally of 90 that we achieved last year. Cofie doesn’t hold the same prowess as what we had upfront for the bulk of last season but from the friendly games I’ve been to he can spot where the net is at least.
I’m not expecting a season to grip me, to grip the whole city like it did last season but I am hoping for a promotion push with more passing, flowing football. Harry Maguire meanwhile will be watched by scouts eager to see how he matures as a footballer in his second full season.
My own prediction for the season is a top 3 finish. I might even stick my neck out and say should it be the play offs we might even surprise ourselves.
When did Williamson sign mate? Think you need to check that – or was that you honestly lying? 😉
There are a few fundamental errors in this piece that, if you are indeed a SUFC fan, you should know better about. 1. Lowton is a defender, not a midfielder. 2. Again on a Lowton note, the fee was around £1.25 Million, as reported by the press at the time, not the over inflated figure of £3million as you have quoted. 3. Both Cahill and Jagielka were not youth players with SUFC, but at Aston Villa and Manchester United respectivley, so although you have contributed to their experience by giving them game time, to say you have “provided them to the premier league” is false.
To ask a person who gets these facts so fundementally wrong to produce a pre-season prediction piece, is poor from what I have gathered is a well put together and wholly enjoyable website.
I am mithered at several Mather mishaps in this missive.
Willo has not signed a new contract and is unlikely to do so (did you mena Porter?)
Lowton played at Right Back all season so cannot be considered a midfielder
Gary Cahill was a Villa player not a product of the Blades academy – he only spent a brief time on loan before the Ginger Whinger paid £5m to Villa to take him to Bolton
Other than that I concur that we should be pushing for autos but probably end up in a play off spot (and the inevitable woe at Wembley)
MKD is my tip for the top spot
I don’t think Lee Williamson has signed a new contract, in fact he’s been removed from the list of players published on United’s web site yesterday.
Would help if you did your research….
– We can’t really claim any part in the rise of Gary Cahill given that he only spent 4 months on loan at the Lane in the 07-08 season, playing 18 games.
– Kyle Naughton has never been in the England set-up; despite being a good player he’s behind Walker, Richards, Jones, Smalling and now Kelly in the pecking order.
– Lee Williamson hasn’t re-signed and is unlikely to do so
– Tony McMahon wasn’t Middlesbrough’s player of the season last season
– Coventry signed former United target John Fleck from Rangers, not Steven Whittaker. They have been under a transfer embargo for months. Outside bet for the play-offs
– Doncaster were in absolute turmoil last season. See Preston for how they’ll do this time around.
– MK Dons and Notts County have been making some shrewd additions but you’ve not mentioned them at all
– What about the younger Blades players poised to make the breakthrough? Elliott Whitehose, Callum McFadzean, Terry Kennedy, Jordan Chappell and Joe Ironside will all be looking to make an impression this season.
Firstly thank you all for reading,
I’d like to take the opportunity to address some issues that have arose.
Firstly. The naming of Lowton as a midfielder is my mistake and very sloppy. I apologise for that oversight. It isn’t a reflection on the site just on my own shortcoming in not proof reading.
My non inclusion of young players such Kennedy and Ironside is because I don’t think they’ll feature as much they should do in the upcoming season. I believe we have experienced players who can play their roles before the kids are needed to, should Cresswell get banned, Porter jailed and Cofie get a hernia then I think young forwards would fill the voids. Until then I don’t think they will all
I never claimed Cahill and Jagielka were home grown players but Sheffield United have to take the credit for the coaching they received and the progression they showed in their time at the club. It isn’t just experience they gained with us but medical and professional care. To say we provided them to the Premier League is exactly what happened, admittedly he was from another teams youth set up but spent many seasons with United.
The Lowton fee can be reported to be worth £3million and the citation read “an undisclosed fee reported to be….”
There wasn’t a mention of every club in the division simply because it was a Sheffield United preview rather than a League 1 preview. I personally
The Williamson contract situation, I have read in various places that he has put pen to paper and Tony MacMahon was Middlesborough’s player of the season.