The Blades will be under new management this season
Name: Sheffield United Football ClubFounded: 1889
Stadium: Bramall Lane
Capacity: 32, 702
Manager: Chris Wilder
Last season: 11th in League One
Having spent the previous five-years in League One, Sheffield United will be hoping for better fortunes next season under the stewardship of recently appointed manager, Chris Wilder.
The Blades parted company with Nigel Adkins at the end of a campaign where they finished 11th within the standings of the division.
United’s aim for the forthcoming season will be to banish the memories of previous terms in the third-tier, and challenge for promotion back to the Championship, having missed out in the Play-Offs over the course of the last few years.
A native of the Stocksbridge area of Sheffield, 48-year-old Wilder took over the managerial position at the Steel City club in May, ahead of their opening day visit to the Macron Stadium to play recently-relegated Bolton Wanderers on Saturday 6th August.
Wilder, a defender in his playing career, started off at Southampton before signing for the team he now is in charge of in August 1986
He spent six-years at Sheffield United, where he made 93 appearances in the red and white stripes.
After departing in 1992, Wilder would go onto spend time at Walsall, Charlton Athletic, a prolonged stay at Rotherham United, Notts County, Bradford City, Northampton Town, Lincoln City, and Brighton and Hove Albion, before ending his career with 51 appearances at Halifax Town in 2001.
Following retirement at the Shay, Wilder became the manager of non-league side Alfreton Town, and in the brief time he was at the Derbyshire club, he won four trophies in the 2001-2002 season.
His success at Alfreton led to a return to Halifax a year later. Wilder would spent the next six-years at his former side, prior to moving to Oxford United in December 2008, after a few months acting as the assistant manager at Bury.
Wilder was at the Kassam Stadium for six-years, taking Oxford to promotion from the Conference in 2010.
He resigned from his post in January 2014 to take the job at Northampton Town, and after initially saving the Cobblers from relegation, he guided the Sixfields’ outfit to promotion as champions last season.
Fleetwood Town host Sheffield United on 1st October at Highbury, they then make the trip to South Yorkshire for the return game on 7th January 2017.