Sheffield United fans will still have nightmares about January 24th - for a very different reason now | OneFootball

This particular Championship encounter has had a serious knock-on effect at Bramall Lane

The saying is that football can be a 'funny old game', and that phrase will have certainly been on the minds of Sheffield United supporters in recent weeks and months, with hardly anyone at Bramall Lane or on the outside foreseeing what has been a chaotic 10-month period since the turn of the year for a variety of reasons.

The Blades and their loyal fanbase entered the new year with renewed hope that the club could make a swift return to the Premier League after suffering an immediate relegation back to the Championship in the spring of 2024.

However, even being in the position the club found itself in on the evening of Friday, January 24th, seems a long way off at present, and those associated with the red half of the Steel City won't exactly be thankful to Yorkshire rivals, Hull City, for their part in the most bizzare of domino effect trends the second tier has seen in many years.

Hull City's surprise Bramall Lane success in January 2025 started bizarre Sheffield United domino effect

In front of a national audience, both United and the Tigers came into a Friday night showdown in S2 needing three points for contrasting reasons.

The Blades had the opportunity to return to the second tier summit ahead of a clash between promotion rivals Burnley and Leeds United at Turf Moor three days later, whilst Ruben Selles could lift Hull out of the relegation zone after a mixed bag of results following his move to the MKM Stadium from Reading in December 2024.

With United, unsurprisingly, hot favourites for a victory, it was a major shock when January signing Matt Crooks unleashed a curling effort past Michael Cooper after just six minutes to round off a smart counter-attack from the visitors.

Whilst the hosts were on the receiving end of a controversial offside call which saw Tyrese Campbell denied a leveller with his first touch, Hull's controlled performance across 90 minutes in the freezing cold continued. They got their just rewards as Matty Jacob turned home a teasing Cody Drameh cross 27 minutes from time before a Harrison Burrows own-goal rounded off the scoring with two minutes to go.

Selles described his team's performance against a side which had only lost once on home turf up until this point as a "statement", whilst also drawing praise from Chris Wilder post-match.

Sheffield United supporters will hope to wipe out Ruben Selles exploits from memory

Of course, both United and Hull were involved in further drama as the season reached its climax.

Selles was able to preserve City's second tier status by goal difference through a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth on May 4th, before being handed his P45 by Acun Ilicali just 11 days later, much to the surprise of many at the time.

Nine days on, United well and truly threw away their grasp on a Premier League place, with Tommy Watson completing a dramatic comeback for Sunderland at Wembley Stadium, before new ownership group, COH Sports, decided to part company with Wilder and swiftly announce the appointment of Selles at Bramall Lane, which also raised plenty of eyebrows.

With the United board citing Hull's impressive victory over their side within the statement that followed the penning of a three-year agreement, they also kickstarted the most disastrous of reigns in recent Championship history.

After adopting an AI-based transfer model, Selles would eventually add several experienced bodies in the latter stages of his first, and only, transfer window in charge of the Blades, before being dismissed after losing all six of his competitive games in the most unconvincing of fashions.

It was later revealed that the Spaniard was offered the job without going through an interview process, much to the bemusement of Unitedites and outsiders, before Wilder was reappointed for a third time last month.

The 58-year-old is yet to have the desired impact either, losing three of his opening four encounters, which included a 1-0 defeat against Hull last time out, with those in the home quarters of the MKM also taunting those who travelled up the M1, M18 and M62 with chants of "Ruben Selles, Ole Ole", given his contrasting fortunes at both clubs.