SHEFFIELD UNITED

LAST SEASON

CHAMPIONSHIP 5th FA CUP First Round LEAGUE CUP Third Round TOP SCORER Billy Sharp ( 15)

FAN FILE

Last season was an unexpected race for play- off glory, followed by muchanticipated play- off failure. Exciting times, nonetheless. The big talking point is a potential takeover by Henry Mauriss, the elusive American businessman, who has only two pictures of himself on the internet and is most famous for not taking over from Mike Ashley at Newcastle. This season will be different because we’ll likely have to sell players to secure signings. Who goes is another question.

Our key player will be Sander Berge, if we can keep him. John Egan, if we can keep him. Jayden Bogle, if we can keep him. If not, there’s always Billy Sharp.

Look out for Daniel Jebbison [ above] and Will Osula up front. Some are sceptical, but that scepticism existed for a young Dominic Calvert- Lewin and I reckon the doubters are wrong again. I’m least looking forward to playing

Millwall… if we lose. But they are the team I most look forward to beating.

Fans think our ground is lacking in pre- poured half- time pints – but still the oldest stadium in football and, obviously, the best. The one change I’d make would be our loyalty points system, so that younger fans have a decent enough chance of attending games. The opposition player I’d love here is

Millwall’s Jake Cooper, a central defender with one of the best scoring records against us in modern times. The opposition player who grinds my

gears is Wednesday’s Barry Bannan. It’s hard for me to accept that they’ve been promot… oh wait, they haven’t.

Our most underrated player is Oliver Norwood, who is rated and underrated. He’s the first to receive criticism when things go wrong, but if the team has an off day it highlights his shortcomings. For me, he’s first on the team- sheet.

The fans’ opinion of the gaffer is that Paul Heckingbottom [ below] has a lot of credit in the bank. He took us from nowhere to within a penalty shootout of Wembley, all with a ton of injuries. I’m confident he’ll keep putting square pegs in square holes to foster success.

I won’t be happy unless we at last have our day at Wembley ( and win).

We’ll finish 4th.

FFT VERDICT 3RD

The Blades hope their sharp incline under Heckingbottom continues, despite losing Morgan Gibbs- White. Short- term quality is needed in the former loanee’s absence, but the board are eyeing the bigger picture and will judge ‘ Hecky’ on youth development as well as results.