COH Sports made one 'really bad decision' at Sheffield United' | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield United fan pundit delivers his verdict on the current COH sport ownership at Bramall Lane

It's been a real whirlwind 18 months at Sheffield United under the COH Sports ownership.

The US-based consortium has been in post at Bramall Lane since December 2024. At the time, the Blades were five clear at the top of the Championship after 22 games, accumulating 50 points, and that's even with a two-point deduction to begin the campaign.

Sheffield United would drop out of the top two by the end of the season, due in part to both Leeds United and Burnley accumulating 100 points. Indeed, the 92 points that the Blades picked up before the deduction would have secured automatic promotion in all but two of the previous 10 campaigns.

However, that wasn't enough to secure a place in the Premier League, and the heartbreaking play-off failure was enough for the new owners to move away from the legendary Blades boss and pursue a new direction and philosophy.

An AI-recruitment policy was reportedly a big reason as to why Wilder was axed in favour of Ruben Selles, but a disastrous start to the recent campaign under the Spaniard, in which the Blades lost six straight in all competitions to open the season, led to COH Sports doing a U-turn and bringing Wilder back.

Sheffield United fan pundit outlines pros and cons of COH Sports ownership

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Sheffield United's 2025/26 campaign was essentially a write-off after a few months, as the club re-adjusted to life back under Wilder after trying to go in a different direction following their promotion near-miss.

Understandably, the decision to get rid of the lifelong Blades fan and cult hero amongst many at Bramall Lane broke the trust of a large section of the fanbase. Some are open to that being rebuilt, but others feel that the COH Sports group have overseen too much regression already at the club.

Jimmy, the host of the Blades Ramble and FLW's Sheffield United fan pundit, was rather rational when discussing his view of the ownership and whether he feels that they're good enough to take the club forward as they look to get back into the top flight.

"The easiest way to do that would be to do the pros and cons of our ownership so far, because I can only tell you from my experience what they've done for us as a football club," he explained.

"They sacked Chris Wilder after he got 92 points and appointed Ruben Selles, which was a very confusing decision at the time. You can try to make sense of it and piece things together as to why they wanted to go in a different direction, but ultimately, whatever they had planned did not work, and it was an absolute disaster.

"Those two decisions, sacking Wilder and bringing in Selles, were really bad decisions for the club."

However, Jimmy does afford a little bit of credit towards the ownership group for rectifying their clear mistake once they realised that their decisions weren't working, rather than doubling down on them, which could have proven disastrous.

Other than that, there hasn't been much time for COH Sports to lose trust with the Blades fanbase, as they've only had one full year at the helm.

There are grumbles surrounding communication with Sheffield United fans, but Jimmy admits that he's fine with those being the main current issues, rather than anything that puts the future of the club in jeopardy.

"They re-hired Wilder to rectify essentially what they admitted was a mistake, and they backed him, as they backed Selles, in the transfer market," the fan pundit continued.

"Other than that glaring mistake, which they have admitted to by their own actions, I don't think there can be much criticism levelled at the ownership at the moment.

"From what I gather, the fans' main gripe is that there is a lack of communication with them, but I'd rather that be the main issue, rather than them not backing the manager or being uncertain about the manager's future."

All eyes will be on Sheffield United next season

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With such a calamitous error early on in the campaign, a lot of COH Sports' first full year at Sheffield United was spent either rectifying things or planning for next season — their first in the Championship without Premier League parachute payments since 2018/19.

All eyes will be on how the Blades tackle that in the offseason, who will have to leave the club to free up space in the budget and, more importantly, who they will target to replace those outgoings.

If they continue to back Chris Wilder, they'll have the support of a good percentage of the fanbase, given how loved the manager is at Bramall Lane. But if performances on the field don't indicate at least a play-off push, there'll be some worries among the fanbase.

It's a well-known fear that the longer a team remains in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League, the harder it is to return, and if the Blades end up heading into a fourth successive second-tier campaign in 2027, there'll be some losing faith in the club's ability to recapture their recent glory.

All eyes will be on what Sheffield United can do next season. If it brings about more mediocrity, more fingers will be pointed at those at the top at Bramall Lane.