Will Blades live long and prosper?

BBC News

5 hours ago

It's Sheffield United, Jim, but not as we know it.The red and white half of the Steel City is set for a fascinating 43 days between now and kick-off in the new Championship season.When the Blades face Bristol City at Bramall Lane on 9 August, a new chapter – heralded by the club's American owners – will begin in earnest.For now the dust is beginning to settle on a seismic change for which tremors will undoubtedly be felt for weeks, months and years to come.It's been a busy and dramatic six months since COH Sports acquired Sheffield United. Chris Wilder was quickly given a new three-and-a-half-year contract. United claimed a club record 92 points but missed out on automatic promotion in the final few games. They then lost the Championship play-off final having led with 15 minutes to go before Wilder eventually departed by mutual consent, being replaced by Spaniard Ruben Selles.That decision has split the Blades fanbase, with social media exposing extreme opinions on both sides of the argument for and against change.Boyhood fan and former player Wilder will always be a legendary figure at Bramall Lane. He achieved this status in his first spell when he took the club from League One obscurity to ninth in the Premier League, but he deserves more credit than he has received for his second spell, including last summer's rebuild in the wake of relegation from the top-flight, with a significant turnaround of players, and the protracted takeover which continued until late December.At Wembley in May he stood on the brink of achieving something no other manager in the club's history had achieved: three promotions. It will always sting that he came so close for Wilder, his players and the club's supporters.But a significant number of Blades fans took issue with performances last season and the club's style of play, while questioning the success of recruitment in January and the near £450,000 in fines paid over player and staff conduct.Whatever motivated the decision to act, the Blades board has acted, and in doing so, they have thrown their full weight behind former Hull City and Reading boss Selles.Their claim that he "can employ innovative recruitment and analytic strategies" is key - relating to the owners' eagerness to use data and artificial intelligence to "recruit the best and brightest talent", which is central to the intrigue about how the Blades squad will take shape under Selles, who says he will have the final say on transfers.How many existing players will be able to deliver the intensity that the Spaniard demands? Will some Wilder regulars find themselves sidelined? Will data-driven arrivals be in the majority or minority, as opposed to "seen it, done it" Championship players?United's new board is seeking "sustainable success" and says "the road ahead may require patience", but having come so close to a Premier League return last season, patience may be in short supply if the Blades aren't in the mix for automatic promotion from an early stage.It's a brave new enterprise at Bramall Lane, with Selles tasked to boldly go and establish the Blades as a regular top-flight club.