Sheffield United got May 2021 decision badly wrong but it sent them on a memorable journey | OneFootball

Sheffield United were in danger of drifting quite badly in the 2021/22 campaign but a key decision rectified a key mistake to propel them forward.

Sheffield United endured a miserable 2020/21 Premier League campaign whereby they collected just two points from their opening 17 matches and were relegated from the top-flight by mid-April.

The Blades parted company with long-term manager Chris Wilder in mid-March and appointed former Leeds United and Hibernian boss Paul Heckingbottom on an interim basis until the end of the season.

Despite some improvement, with Heckingbottom winning three of United’s final six games of the campaign as they sat cut adrift at the bottom-of-the-table, the club decided to appoint former Fulham and Watford boss Slavisa Jokanovic.

Given his previous success in the Championship, gaining promotion with both the Hornets and then the Cottagers, it appeared to be an impressive appointment on paper, but it didn’t turn out that way, and they soon returned to admit defeat and return to perhaps who they should have gone to in the first place.

Disastrous Jokanovic era

The Blades began the season with the nucleus of the squad that had got them their promotion back in 2019, but with a few additions from the Premier League era, such as Sander Berge and Rhian Brewster, as well as Iliman Ndiaye, who had made his debut at the very end of the previous season and Morgan Gibbs-White, who joined on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It was a poor start from the off for United, with three defeats in their opening four matches and just one victory in their opening seven games as they struggled to get to grips with Jokanovic’s methods.

The former Yugoslavia international is known for playing a 4-3-3 system with an emphasis on fast, possession-based attacks with a high energy that can often lead to high-scoring thrillers.

United had previously earned their success under Wilder, still playing a fast, attacking game, but they were a fair bit more controlled defensively, albeit with the famed ‘overlapping centre-backs’ from their 3-5-2 or 3-4-1-2 shape.

Attempting to play a 4-2-3-1 system, United did have their moments in gelling into the Jokanovic style with a 6-2 defeat of Peterborough United at Bramall Lane and a 3-2 win at Oakwell against Barnsley, for example. However, this was a wing-back-shaped squad being asked to do something that was alien to them.

There was no real rhyme or reason to their results or performances and that lack of consistency eventually saw him leave just a couple of days after a 1-0 victory against Reading that still left them sitting 16th in the Championship.

The ride under Heckingbottom

Perhaps the biggest issue for Jokanovic, other than trying to shake things that had previously worked up too much too quickly, was the fact that he couldn’t get the best out of Gibbs-White.

The Stafford-born now Nottingham Forest midfielder went on to win United’s Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards that season, but he found himself shuffled out to the right-flank under Jokanovic before Heckingbottom decided to play him centrally, either as a number ten or a second striker – or occasionally even simply just up-front.

Moving him back into that position and United reverting to their back three shape saw them become a lot more consistent and just a generally stronger side as they collected 52 points in their final 27 games of the campaign and got themselves into the play-off places.

They lost on penalties in the semi-finals to Nottingham Forest in those play-offs with Gibbs-White, ironically, missing the key spot kick before his summer move to the City Ground from Wolves on a permanent basis.

However, 12 months later, Sheffield United were back in the Premier League, having finished as runners’ up to Vincent Kompany’s rampant Burnley as the Blades finished on an impressive 91 points and also reached the semi-final of the FA Cup, where they lost to Manchester City at Wembley Stadium. Gibbs-White had gone, but Ndiaye emerged as the Championship's star of the season, thriving in the second-striker role with his incredible dribbling; he was Heckingbottom's man and the pair's relationship had been key to unlocking the best of him.

Jokanovic had clearly not been the man to take United forward and their decision could have proved costly, but the re-appointment of Heckingbottom to the dugout at Bramall Lane saw them rectify their wrongs eventually after a rollercoaster ride for a season-and-a-half.

Propelling themselves from 16th to the top six and then losing in the play-offs wouldn’t have been a part of the plan, but it certainly would have made their comfortable automatic promotion taste even sweeter just 12 months later.