In the fourth of a series of pre-season reports, HarryFromBath assesses the mood around the Championship clubs by delving into their forums, looking here at how things have progressed for the Blades this summer. Reports on Sheffield Wednesday and Rotherham United will follow later today with the rest of the teams in the division covered by the start of the season.

“Sheffield United entered last season on the crest of a wave after one of the best seasons I have ever seen in this city. We have now established ourselves at this level and have a much better idea about their opponents than 12 months ago. Can we go into this new season with that same spirit?”

“It cuts two ways. Momentum and morale are very important and their absence can be devastating as was seen over the road at Hillsborough”, “The last couple of play-off spaces are up for grabs but it will be a much tougher league this year. Realistically I’d say we will finish between sixth and 10th.”

“A top 10 finish is achievable following the investment and with a couple more signings.” Blades are viewing the coming season with quiet optimism. They are happy with the work manager Chris Wilder has done in reshaping the squad this summer and many see a top-six finish as a very achievable goal.

“It feels as though there's a real intent this season. We were so close last season and it seems like against the odds the board have opened their wallets. We have already got two good top end Championship players in and there's a chance of another couple arriving before the season starts.”

Chris Wilder

“Our owners’ investment may seem pitiful by the standards of some clubs but we have a maestro as manager. He has already bolstered our defence which was needed, and he’s looking to get strikers with better credentials to add to Billy Sharp and Leon Clarke who were both excellent last season.”

The manager has moved to stiffen the team’s backline with the signing of centre-back John Egan from Brentford and he has refreshed their attacking options with the signing yesterday of former Blue David McGoldrick after a trial period along with the pursuit of Town striker Martyn Waghorn.

Fans welcomed his criticism of the team’s recent “lackadaisical” display in a scoreless pre-season stalemate at Mansfield. “He said we were second best everywhere on the pitch. He thought they underestimated the opposition and won’t accept a drop in standards, even in pre-season friendlies.”

Departures and Arrivals

“John Egan will definitely make us stronger at the back.” The 25-year-old previously played on loan at Bramall Lane in 2012 when a Sunderland player. Goalkeeper Dean Henderson, 21, has also signed on a season-long loan from Manchester United having been on loan last season at Shrewsbury under Blues boss Paul Hurst.

Many Blades believe that their midfield trio is their strongest area and the return of Paul Coutts is seen as a new signing. “Our midfield is sound, but it will be even better should Coutts make a full recovery from the horrific injury which effectively prevented us from being in the play-offs last year.”

The most notable departure has been 20-year-old midfielder and Wales international David Brooks, who is now at Bournemouth. Strikers Clayton Donaldson (to Bolton), James Hanson (to Wimbledon) and Ched Evans (to Fleetwood on a season-long loan) have also left Bramall Lane this summer.

Goalkeeper George Long has left for Hull on a three-year contract, while midfielder Samir Carruthers is now at Oxford on loan for the coming season. Two other players moving away from the club this summer are midfielder Louis Reed (to Peterborough) and defender Chris Hussey (to Cheltenham).

David McGoldrick

“It’s very surprising that David McGoldrick is on trial anywhere and nobody has snapped him up”, “A high calibre player and a good free transfer, clubs in this league should be all over him”, “It’s a no-brainer. There’s no transfer fee and just his wages to negotiate. He’s a proven player at this level.”

David McGoldrick

“He’s a different player to anything we have.” The 30-year-old former Town man signed a one-year contract following an impressive trial period and he capped this off by scoring in last night’s pre-season friendly against Italian giants Inter Milan.

“I really like his passing ability and his eye for his team-mates. He has lovely feet and vision to match, his touches are quality and he’ll fit directly into our system”, “He’s the kind of clever player who may be able to unlock a defence and provide some spark coming off the bench with 20 minutes to go.”

“McGoldrick could end up being the best signing we have made this summer”, “A handy player to have around, He lacks the pace of Donaldson but as an all-round player he offers so much more”, “If we can get a decent level of fitness from him and he stays injury free, he will be a useful addition.”

“We have to manage our expectations. Hope for 20-30 appearances, mostly from the bench and never playing twice within the week. Somewhere amongst that batch of games we can probably consider the signing a successful one if he has a couple of purple patches that provide some points.”

Pre-Season Work-in-Progress

United opened their pre-season with a 5-1 win over Stocksbridge Park Steels before beating local side Maritimo 1-0 at a training camp in Portugal. This was followed by a 3-2 win over Bradford City and Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Mansfield, before last night’s 1-1 draw at home to Inter Milan.

The starting line-up for last night’s game against the Bianconeri had Wilder’s preferred 3-5-2 shape, with Richard Stearman making way for John Egan in the heart of the backline. Fans felt that they were gave good match to a strong Inter line-up, for whom Mauro Icardi equalised McGoldrick’s goal.

“Guess who scored on his debut”, “Looking at our goal again, McGoldrick did exceptionally well to twist and still get his shot in given that Fleck's through ball deflected behind him. Great stuff”, “On the whole we looked calm, confident and capable. I will take that”, “All in all, proud and impressed.”

The Blades’ Pursuit of Martyn Waghorn

“Going on the Ipswich forum, they seem unanimous that they don’t want to lose Waghorn. They think McGoldrick is a good player but slow and injury prone”, “Ipswich fans seem desperate not to lose Waghorn, which shows the quality of the player”, “It’s understandable that they don’t like it.”

Blades have been keenly following their manager’s interest in our 28-year-old striker, who now seems set to join Derby.

Many have sympathy with Town fans’ angry response to the recent story than an offer had been made and that they were awaiting a response from us with the only Blades bid understood to have been lodged three weeks ago when it was quickly dismissed.

“To be fair I get Ipswich fans’ point. It’s a clear unsettling tactic and the objective is to encourage the player to submit a transfer request. It’s unusual behaviour from Wilder but the transfer world is dirty and occasionally these tactics have to be deployed”, “We react in the same way if it happens to us.”

“The fact we are in a position to take a rival team’s best player is astonishing when you consider the state we were in two years ago”, “Mauricio Taricco’s antics alone dooms that club to a lifetime of contempt and this is a magnificent restoration of business as usual.”

Cautious Optimism

“We have some good players who could really step it up a gear now with a season of Championship experience under their belts. We will be smarter too. The difference between our 10th place finish last season and a fourth-place finish in points was down to soft or last-minute goals we conceded.”

Blades believe that the team will be stronger and more streetwise defensively. “Our defence has been bolstered and we might sacrifice some style occasionally to get those results. I expect that's mainly what we've been working on in summer because our chance creation was great last year.”

“I’m cautiously optimistic but wary as always because certain portions of our support will be on Chris Wilder's back if we're not top in October like last season. I'd rather look at Cardiff, not always pretty, not always in the automatic places last season. They were there in the end and that's what counts.”

Websites

The busiest Blades’ message-board is the friendly and knowledgeable S24su.com.

@HarryFromBath

Photo: Action Images

Mullet added 12:58 - Jul 25 I really missed going to the Blades when they were in League 1 for years. Shame that this year will be the last visit now they're so massive and going to walk it.
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Oldsmoker added 13:09 - Jul 25 “Mauricio Taricco's antics alone dooms that club to a lifetime of contempt and this is a magnificent restoration of business as usual.” What did Mauricio Taricco do to doom us to a lifetime of contempt? Someone please tell me.
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naa added 14:21 - Jul 25 He got one of their players sent off in a league game once. Apparently Burley told him off for it after as he wasn't happy. So I can understand them being annoyed by it. Not sure it was worth a lifetime of contempt though.
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naa added 14:22 - Jul 25 Also, would have though that beating us in the play-offs in a season we were the massive favourites over them (having beaten them 6-2 on aggregate in the league season) would have been enough for them to not hold us in contempt but ho hum.
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SamWhiteUK added 14:44 - Jul 25 “If we can get a decent level of fitness from him and he stays injury free, he will be a useful addition.” Correct. However.....
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Oldsmoker added 15:24 - Jul 25 Thanks naa. Seems a minor thing and I agree with you, not worth "a lifetime of contempt" Brentford and Alan Judge have a much better case although I still hold that Luke Hyam did not intend to injure him.
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