Joe Root takes Sheffield Wednesday swipe and makes positive Sheffield United prediction | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United have both started the 2025/26 Championship campaign in nightmare fashion

The 2025/26 Championship campaign has begun dreadfully for the two Steel City sides.

Perhaps predictably, following their dreadful summer of financial mismanagement, transfer embargoes and stadium troubles, Sheffield Wednesday have kicked off their season on the back foot.

At the first international break stage, the Owls have picked up just a single point out of a possible twelve but were unlucky to lose out on further rewards during slender defeats against Leicester City and Swansea City, which sees them sit 23rd in the Championship.

The cup competitions have proven to be some respite for Wednesday, dispatching of Bolton Wanderers and Leeds United on penalty kicks to progress through the opening rounds of the EFL Cup.

On the whole, this start of the season has been understandable for Henrik Pedersen’s side due to their external circumstances. However, the same can’t be said for their city rivals.

Sheffield United are rooted to the bottom of the second-tier at this moment in time, losing their first four games of the season for the first time outside the top-flight since the 1995/96 campaign.

The Blades took Burnley and Leeds United all the way last term in the hunt for promotion and were ultimately bested against the odds by Sunderland in the play-off final.

After Chris Wilder’s sacking at Bramall Lane, Ruben Selles was given the keys to lead United’s rebuild this season.

The Spaniard has struggled immensely thus far and is under real pressure to start performing; otherwise he may find himself searching for a fifth job in the last two and a half years.

Joe Root and Michael Vaughan discuss Steel City sides’ survival hopes

This battle at the bottom of the Championship will leave both Wednesday and United supporters fearing the daunting prospect of a relegation battle with their arch-rivals.

Joe Root, England cricketer and the nation’s record run scorer, has gone on record to back his beloved Sheffield United via the Stick to Cricket podcast whilst in discussion with Wednesday fan Michael Vaughan, amid their torrid starts to the season.

"Will Sheffield Wednesday finish higher than Sheffield United this year?" stated Vaughan.

"Will Sheffield Wednesday finish this year is more the question?" Root responded. "That’s the honest truth."

"We’ve (Wednesday) got one more point than them (United)," explained Vaughan. "One ahead of them."

"For now," joked Root. "You might be getting docked for something at some point.

"We’ll (United) be alright. It’s been an interesting time, we got 92 points and to the play-off final. Any other season, we go up automatically and (now) we find ourselves with a new manager at the start of this year.

"We will see how things pan out. We’ve made a couple of good signings, so hopefully things turn around, but it has to happen quite quickly, I guess."

Sheffield United have the better springboard to turn things around

Time is of the essence for both Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday as the Championship season progresses and contenders for both promotion and relegation begin to establish themselves.

There is still plenty of football left to play, but the longer both sides fail to score significant points, the more relegation becomes a serious threat.

The Blades will still feel confident that they can get on top of their troubles. They have a squad full of talented operators and at some point, it should click for Selles and Co. at Bramall Lane.

Whereas Wednesday don’t have such positivity to cling onto.

They have a diminished squad and with the threat of potential points penalties in the future, it seems like Pedersen’s side have much less chance of surviving the drop when compared to their city rivals.