Sheffield United owners will still have Chris Wilder concern | OneFootball

The Blades made a bold move over the summer, now it's time to see whether it pays off

The previous season's play-off final losers are always under the microscope to begin the following Championship season, but there seems to be a little more pressure on Sheffield United than most.

There are a multitude of reasons why. Firstly, the club became only the second team to pick up 90 points over a 46-game league season and not go up. And technically, their performances on the pitch saw them take 92 points, before taking into account their points deduction.

The only other side? Leeds United, the season prior, who won the league the following year, so questions are arising whether history can repeat itself.

Additionally, the Blades entered the final month of the campaign with a four-point lead atop the division, but just five points picked up in their final seven games of the season saw them finish ten points behind the top two. Their form picked up slightly for the play-offs, but will we see some play-off hangover to begin this season?

However, most importantly, the one question on everyone's lips will be how Sheffield United perform with Ruben Selles in the dugout.

The board at Bramall Lane made a bold decision to mutually remove Wilder from the managerial position, and it's time to see whether that decision will pay off in the 2025/26 season.

Chris Wilder's Blades now become Ruben Selles'

The 92 points that Chris Wilder's Sheffield United earned on the pitch, before their two-point deduction, would have been enough to secure a place in the top two in eight of the previous 10 seasons, and would have won the league in two of them.

The Blades swept away Bristol City in the play-off semi-final, recording the biggest aggregate win in Championship play-off history along the way, and you could say they were marginally the better team in their play-off final defeat against Sunderland.

It's arguable that, if Harrison Burrows' strike hadn't been ruled out by VAR and the Blades went 2-0 up after 34 minutes, the rest of the game would have petered out and Chris Wilder would have taken his side up again.

However, not securing promotion at the first time of asking, and the manner in which they failed to do so, was seen as too much of an unforgivable thing for Wilder to keep his job.

Following the sacking of easily the most successful manager in recent Blades' history, Sheffield United brought in Ruben Selles, who himself was deemed not good enough to remain in charge of Hull City, who ended last season surviving on goal difference.

Now, that's just the face value of things. Selles was also the victim of what many believe was an unfair sacking this summer, and it marks the second season in a row that Hull have relieved a manager of their duties just for him to go on to better things, as Liam Rosenior landed the Strasbourg job this time last year.

However, given the success Wilder has brought to Bramall Lane as of late, plus the fact that he was adored by the fans at the club, too, whoever replaced him would be immediately put under pressure to better, if not replicate, what the squad was able to do last season.

It's a tough task for Selles, and if he gets off to a bad start, plenty of questions will be circling as to why Wilder departed in the first place.

Sheffield United are battling in a tougher Championship this season

Not only do Sheffield United have a fresh set of newly relegated Premier League sides to contend with this season in their quest for promotion, but they also have the likes of Coventry City, who go into their first full season under Frank Lampard, the likes of Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion eager to improve under new bosses, and Birmingham City's ambition to complete back-to-back promotions, to contend with as well.

This season is going to be incredibly difficult to predict, unlike last year, where the top-end quality was clearly spread across four, and then towards the back end of the season, three sides.

Whoever lost the play-off final last season knew they'd be going into the 2025/26 Championship campaign as one of five or six sides looking to grab automatic promotion, but you got the feeling that, whether it was Regis Le Bris or Chris Wilder, both sets of fans would have been confident that the man in the dugout at Wembley would take them forward.

In Selles, Sheffield United have a relative unknown. Someone who has performed admirably at Reading and Hull, but his one stint in the Premier League with Southampton ended terribly.

The Spaniard does have the qualities to manage a top-end Championship side, there's no doubt about it. However, if things don't get off to a flying start in what will be a competitive division, concerns will begin to arise around Bramall Lane.