We wrote this article shortly after the Blades recorded a 1-0 in at Reading on Good Friday (10 April); Brian netting the decisive goal, and with Blackpool winning 1-0 away at Preston North End a day later it meant that Sheffield United were guaranteed a play-off place.
However Kevin Blackwell's Blades were hunting down one of the two automatic spots which were then currently held by Wolverhampton Wanderers and Birmingham City whilst Reading are also on the hunt for those spots.
As the Blades may have finished in a play-off spot we thought that we would outline the play-offs in what can be a complicated system to some.
The Play-Off system is quite simple; the two teams whom finish 1st and 2nd are promoted to the FA Premier League automatically whilst the teams who finish; 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th in the table must contest in the play-offs - only ONE team can be promoted.
In round one (semi-finals) the team whom finishes 3rd will play away against the 6th positioned side with the fixture being played at the team who finished 6th first. A second leg will be played at the opponents ground where the team with the highest aggregate score over the two games will win a place in the final (away goals rule doesn't count).
Should the scores be equal then a extra-time of 30 minutes and possibly a penalty shoot out will be played. This system will also account for the teams who finished 4th and 5th, with the 5th team playing at their ground first.
The winners of each team will travel to Wembley Stadium to contest the final in a 90 minute game, again should the scores be level then extra-time and penalties could be played.
The final itself, played at Wembley Stadium (London) will take place on Monday 25th May 2009 with a kick-off time of 3:00PM.
| Previous Play-Off Final Winners... | |||
| 1987 | Charlton Athletic | 1999 | Watford |
| 1988 | Middlesbrough | 2000 | Ipswich Town |
| 1989 | Crystal Palace | 2001 | Bolton Wanderers |
| 1990 | Swindon Town * | 2002 | Birmingham City |
| 1991 | Notts County | 2003 | Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 1992 | Blackburn Rovers | 2004 | Crystal Palace |
| 1993 | Swindon Town | 2005 | West Ham United |
| 1994 | Leicester City | 2006 | Watford |
| 1995 | Bolton Wanderers | 2007 | Derby County |
| 1996 | Leicester City | 2008 | Hull City |
| 1997 | Crystal Palace | 2009 | ? |
| 1998 | Charlton Athletic | ||
* Following successful prosecutions against Swindon Town, the club were permitted against being promoted and there play-off final runners-up Sunderland were promoted instead.
Sheffield United have never been promoted via this system since its introduction in 1987 - however they have contested two play-off finals in 1996 and 2003 where they were beaten by Crystal Palace (0-1) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (0-3) respectively.
In 1998 they reached the semi-finals only to lose out to Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate after winning the first fixture at Bramall Lane 2-1; the Black Cats reached the final at Wembley but lost out to Charlton Athletic, losing dramatically 7-6 on penalties after a 4-4 draw after extra time - former Blades striker Clive Mendonca netted a hat-trick for the winning team.
In other finals Geoff Horsfield scored for Birmingham City in their 2002 final against Norwich City, the game ended 1-1 after extra-time but the Blues won 4-2 on penalties - Nathan Blake scored the second of three goals without reply against the Blades in 2003 and a year later Neil Shipperley tapped home Crystal Palace's winner against West Ham United.
Current Blades striker Darius Henderson scored from the penalty spot as Watford beat Leeds United 3-0 in the 2006 final (Sheffield United were promoted automatically that season); and last season Dean Windass was the hero as Hull City beat Bristol City 1-0 at Wembley.
Could 2009 be Sheffield United's year???