(Jimmy Muir's thoughts)
The Blades faithful had a long tough season, ending it in misery at Wembley Stadium (again) in their play-off final defeat to Burnley. Under Kevin Blackwell the club dispatched Preston North End in the play-off semi-final (1-1 & 1-0) but a very disappointing performance at Wembley was a bitter pill to swallow.
It was a jagged season which ended in two defeats to Sheffield Wednesday, a very low point to the campaign; never the less a win on Good Friday at Reading lifted spirits and when Brian Howard coolly slammed the ball home at the Madejski Stadium the fans really believed that promotion was on the cards.
And, on the final day of the season they could have snatched it, but a draw at Crystal Palace wasn't enough. Of course its all ifs and buts but maybe had the sale of James Beattie (to Stoke City) not gone through then its likely he would have added to his already 12 goal tally and United could have been in the Premier League by now!
Speculation is always part and parcel in the game of football and whilst a number of players names had been swimming around the message boards only; Kyel Reid (West Ham United), Lee Williamson (Watford), Ched Evans (Manchester City), Ryan France (Hull City), Keith Treacy (Blackburn Rovers, loan) and Andy Taylor (Tranmere Rovers) have put pen to paper; meanwhile Glenn Little and Julian Gray (later released) joined on trial.
Having said that only four low key players have left the club; Sun Jiahi (released), Nicky Law (Rotherham United), Jamie Annerson (Rotherham United) and Ben Starostra (Darlington) have moved onto pastures new. However the summers big transfer away from Bramall Lane came in the form of Kyle Naughton and Kyle Walker (both Tottenham Hotspur) whom left for unreported joint £10,000,000.
This summer the Red and White Wizards embarked on a mini-tour of Malta and an eventually cancelled trip to Hungary whilst playing just four fixtures on home soil; Sheffield FC (won 4-3), Chesterfield (won 2-0), Bury (won 3-0) and Lincoln City (won 2-0).
Following the departure of Beattie to the Premiership the Blades failed to find an out and out goal scorer who could find the back of the net; the last time a striker scored was in early April when on loan forward Arturo Lupoli netted against Barnsley in a 2-1 win!
Its clear that the Blades are lacking upfront and need to find a suitable replacement for Beattie who is capable of scoring 20 goals a season; without that man United will struggle and no doubt finish outside the top six.
Blades-Mad Predicted Finish: 8th
| Betting Odds: | |
| Promotion: | Relegation: |
| 18/5 | 33/1 |
2008-09 Players Statistics
| Player name | Position | DoB | # | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Law, Nicky | Midfield | 29 Mar 1988 | tbc | 0 | 0 |
Kenny, Paddy | Goal | 17 May 1978 | 1 | 50 | 0 |
Halford, Greg | Defence | 08 Dec 1984 | 2 | 39 (+10) | 8 |
Naysmith, Gary | Defence | 16 Nov 1978 | 3 | 41 (+2) | 0 |
Cotterill, David | Forward | 04 Dec 1987 | 4 | 25 (+7) | 4 |
Morgan, Chris | Defence | 13 Feb 1978 | 5 | 49 (+1) | 2 |
Kilgallon, Matthew | Defence | 08 Jan 1984 | 6 | 48 (+1) | 1 |
Henderson, Darius | Forward | 07 Sep 1981 | 7 | 30 (+7) | 7 |
Lupoli, Arturo | Forward | 24 Jun 1987 | 9 | 2 (+9) | 2 |
Webber, Danny | Forward | 28 Dec 1981 | 10 | 24 (+17) | 6 |
Hendrie, Lee | Midfield | 18 May 1977 | 11 | 3 (+9) | 2 |
Jihai, Sun | Defence | 30 Sep 1977 | 12 | 15 (+2) | 0 |
Bennett, Ian | Goal | 10 Oct 1971 | 13 | 6 | 0 |
Carney, David | Midfield | 30 Nov 1983 | 14 | 1 | 0 |
Speed, Gary | Midfield | 08 Sep 1969 | 15 | 18 | 3 |
Montgomery, Nick | Midfield | 28 Oct 1981 | 17 | 33 (+2) | 0 |
Ward, Jamie | Forward | 12 May 1986 | 18 | 8 (+10) | 2 |
Beattie, Craig | Forward | 16 Jan 1984 | 19 | 3 (+13) | 1 |
Howard, Brian | Midfield | 23 Jan 1983 | 20 | 26 (+6) | 3 |
O'Toole, John-Joe | Midfield | 30 Sep 1988 | 21 | 5 (+4) | 1 |
Haber, Justin | Goal | 09 Jun 1981 | 22 | 0 | 0 |
Sharp, Billy | Forward | 05 Feb 1986 | 24 | 21 (+6) | 6 |
Tahar, Aymen | Midfield | 02 Oct 1989 | 25 | 0 (+1) | 0 |
Geary, Derek | Defence | 19 Jun 1980 | 26 | 2 (+1) | 0 |
Quinn, Keith | Midfield | 22 Sep 1988 | 27 | 0 | 0 |
Quinn, Stephen | Midfield | 04 Apr 1986 | 28 | 50 | 8 |
Robertson, Jordan | Forward | 12 Feb 1988 | 29 | 0 (+1) | 0 |
Naughton, Kyle | Defence | 11 Nov 1988 | 30 | 45 (+5) | 3 |
Starosta, Ben | Midfield | 07 Jan 1987 | 31 | 0 | 0 |
Bromby, Leigh | Defence | 02 Jun 1980 | 32 | 6 (+7) | 1 |
Ehiogu, Ugo | Defence | 03 Nov 1972 | 33 | 12 (+5) | 1 |
Walker, Kyle | Defence | 28 May 1990 | 34 | 7 | 0 |
* Statistics up to and including 26 May 2009