And by “It“, I am of course referring to the money that even a one year stay in the Premiership affords. Not forgetting the parachute payment received after one glorious season in the top flight before a speedy return to the Championship! What first attracted you to the cash cow that is Sheffield United?
I am more than old enough to remember the dark days when the Blades dropped into the fourth tier in 1982 – you know, when I still cared! An immediate promotion as Fourth Division champions in 1981–82 meant that the Sheffield United team is one of only five sides to have won all four professional divisions of English football, although I can’t help but conjecture that this “great achievement” is a very back handed compliment indeed!! It should be a very busy and interesting close season with five or so elder stalwarts of the club set to leave. I say busy and interesting, our business dealings at the beginning of this season, with possibly our two best players (Sandor Berge and Iliman Ndiaye)) sold days before our first league game don’t augur well. The best I can say about the closure of football’s 2023/24 season is that I can justifiably claim to live too far from Sheffield to attend any games – or at least use that as a pretext, because let’s face it, my season ticket days are long gone and I wouldn’t have been seen in the ground if I’d actually lived on Bramall Lane itself 😡😡. I understand many left quickly at the end of the Spurs game, uninterested in the customary “lap of appreciation” – for once I agree with them!!
So, let’s leave you with the bare bone statistics of grand season back in the premiership
- Sheffield United won just three games and achieved just 16 points in the Premier League this term (D7 L28)
- Only Derby County in 2007-08 winning fewer matches (1) and recording fewer points (11) in a single season in the competition’s history.
- Sheffield United have set a new record for the number of goals conceded in a Premier League season, allowing their 101st of the campaign during a 1-0 loss to Everton.
- Sheffield United conceded 57 Premier League goals at Bramall Lane this season, the most ever home goals conceded by a team in a single top-flight campaign.
- Meanwhile, their final goal difference of -69 is the joint-worst by a side in a Premier League campaign (level with Derby County in 2007-08).
- The Blades have conceded four or more goals in eight Premier League games this season, more than any other team in the division
I’m sure there are other statistical accomplishments but I’ve lost heart I think.
See you in 2024/25!