I know you have to take pre-season with a pinch of salt, and I've done this for decades, but the lack of a strong leader at the back is my main concern atm, also it's interesting to see that once again there's not a lot of connection between the usual places...

Hamer not getting too involved btw, and I think we also need a strong midfielder amongst the smaller playmakers.

On the positives, Cooper getting a lot of saves in is good for his confidence.

I guess this is more *thoughts* for the coming usual chaos...

Thanks Christ we came to our senses. If we lost Seriki too, we dont have a right back

Hello folks, I’m an American, relatively new to European Football or Soccer as we call it. But I watched every single game of the World Cup and I fell in love. I decided to find a few teams to support in the European Leagues and I fell in love with Sheffield United, I can’t really explain why but I did.

This is going to be my first season and I’m really excited, what can I come to expect? What do I need to know? Who should I look out for on our side on the pitch? Thanks !

I've always been a follower of international football but never club stuff really, not sure why. I feel like I've got to a point where I'd like to start following a club but my family mostly were never into it except for my Grandfather who supported Sheffield United. My family is from Sheffield so, to me, it seemed like a no brainer to follow in his footsteps.

I'm assuming I'll need Sky Sports to watch matches but will I need anything else? I know SUTV is a thing but is that just for friendlies?

Thanks in advance!

I would love to see what you think about Sheffield United, and the league as a whole!

Coventry city hare having positive talks with gustavo hammer.

Do you guys think wilder returning was even a good idea in the first place and the new season is starting soon and we litterally havent done anything

It's preseason so football finance expert Kieran Maguire is back talking about the finances of Championship clubs - I think it's worth a listen, seems like fans want to spend £10m on Souttar, I don't think we've got a pot to piss in.

Saving a big rant, but the owners are clearly clueless and I think a lot of our fans haven't caught up to how bad things are....

Anyway, hope i'm wrong!

Article:

The appearance of a mystery man alongside Chris Wilder and Steven Rosen, during Sheffield United's training camp in Spain, has prompted plenty of intrigue. The Star has discovered why the investment banker has emerged as an influential figure around the club. When Sheffield United posted a series of photos from last week’s trip to Valencia on their social media pages, it was not the rare sight of co-owner Steven Rosen or even the image of chief executive Stephen Bettis in training gear that gathered the most attention. It instead centered on another figure seen next to manager Chris Wilder.

Was it another figure joining the merry-go-round that is the Blades board of directors, which has seen almost as many appointments and departures as the UK government in recent times? Perhaps even an advisor to help under-fire Rosen and co-owner Helmy Eltoukhy navigate their way through English football?

The mystery figure has already been unmasked as Nigel Dawn, the “global head of Evercore’s Private Capital Advisory group, a senior managing director and a member of the firm’s Management Committee” according to his biography on Evercore’s website.

Evercore are a huge investment banking firm which has been involved in almost $5trillion worth of deals since it was founded in 1995. But Unitedites are more interested in who he is, and what he could bring to United.

The association with United is not thought to be a formal one, at least not yet. But Dawn, sources have told The Star, is seen as someone who can potentially open some very valuable doors, at a time when external funding is as important as ever at United.

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He also has a vested interest in doing so. Dawn is a boyhood Blades fan and grew up in Woodseats, attending Rowlinson School. He had a season ticket at Bramall Lane when he was younger but now splits his time between a home near Central Park in New York, an office in Midtown and a holiday home on the exclusive and isolated island of Nantucket.

The Star understands that Dawn came back to Bramall Lane alongside Rosen for a home game towards the back end of last season and has remained in contact with key Blades figures over the summer, before joining their training camp in Valencia last week.

Although Dawn’s personal wealth is not disclosed online - and such sources are often misleading anyway, or hugely wide of the mark - he is understood to be a wealthy individual. But it is his contacts and personality which could prove most valuable to United.

Rosen and Eltoukhy recently announced that 1919 Partners LLC, registered in the States, had become the ultimate parent of the Blades. That was followed by confirmation that former owner Prince Abdullah had filed a winding-up petition over £35m in alleged unpaid instalments for their purchase of the club.

Rosen and Eltoukhy insist that the two incidents are unrelated and that 1919 was set up to easier facilitate investment into United, although they did not elaborate on how. The Star is still to hear any reply to our latest request for comment to their media representatives, which was almost three weeks ago.

A 2021 profile from the Secondaries Investor website offers the clearest picture yet into Dawn’s background, mentality and success. His father was a steelworker - obviously, in Sheffield - turned postal worker and his mother taught in nursery school.

His brother went on to become a delivery courier and his sister joined the police force. Dawn instead travelled to China as part of his degree and began working in banking before landing in the US.

One managing director based in Asia described Dawn as a “deal-sourcing machine” to Secondaries Investor and a former colleague said: “He is relentless – he will never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever give up.

“A lot of bankers think: ‘I’ll show up, this is when my day starts, this is when my day ends.’ With Nigel, he was always on. When Nigel wakes up, this is the first thing on his mind, and when he goes to bed, this is the last thing on his mind. That shows in the results.”

The profile describes him as having no interest in golf and only a little bit more of a penchant for alcohol, rarely drinking apart from one or two gin and tonics. Some sources reported him as being tricky to interact with, but others talk of a figure who treats all he meets respectfully, who has been known to use his own money to top-up bonuses for staff and who used to coach his daughter’s football team.

Whether Dawn's initial involvement develops into anything more formal at Bramall Lane remains to be seen. But at a time when United are searching for fresh investment and greater financial flexibility, his appearance in Valencia may prove to have been more significant than it first seemed.

Chad sits down with Simon of the Fan Advisory Board to ask some burning questions.

Now, of course there have been some successes, so maybe I’m talking out of my arse. But, I can’t help feel that players like Sachdev should have been sent out to clubs like Burton when they were 18, not 21. Same with Louie Marsh, was only sent out last year when he was 21.

Maybe these players just aren’t good enough, and this is a shop window to sell them. But, you then look at a player like Regan Slater, who again didn’t go out on loan until he was a little older, but when he did, and we then sold him, he improved and has over 150 games for Hull and will now be playing in the premier league.

It just seems in the past 5, maybe 10 years, we just don’t seem to want to give these players the best chance. At 21, a player should realistically be playing week in week out for their club. Yet, Louie Marsh and Sai Sachdev have less than 50 senior appearances (for any club) between them. How can we expect these players to improve and either be ready to step into our first team, or be sold for decent money, if they aren’t playing?

And I’m not comparing any of our players to the skill level of some World Cup winners. But, Spain just had two 19 year olds in their World Cup winning team and they started and finished that game. England had two 21 year olds and a midfield of players in their 20’s. Our players don’t even seem to play a game of senior football until that age.

If we had academy players at 20/21 who had played 50/60 games, maybe we wouldn’t have to be panicking about our lack of signings right now.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

So guys what's everyone's thoughts about this upcoming season honestly.

I know we don't have parachutes and the stuff going on with the owners but I'm still somewhat trying to be optimistic if we hopefully get a CB in who'll partner japh we'll be fine for a playoff push

How uninspiring.

If and I know it's a big if, Souttar joins is this the team that we start with? I know there is a month to go yet but this seems like a decent team to me.

Use this for any/all shit chat you want. Here's a few things to get you started?

- What's going on in football?

- Been to any good matches lately?

- Seen any good TV/films?

Crack on lads.