Blackwell, who signed a short-term contract when he replaced the former England captain in February, is understood to have started compiling dossiers on possible acquisitions immediately after returning from a North American summit meeting with the club's plc chairman Kevin McCabe.

Given that Blackwell prides himself on an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Football Leagues, United are likely to use the remainder of the season to monitor options in the foreign transfer market where the club have reportedly been linked with several young players in France.

Blackwell's willingness to start planning for next season is telling.

Earlier this month he told The Star than he would not "be making any decisions on peoples' futures. Either ones coming in or those who maybe going out" until his own situation was resolved.

But having hauled United away from the relegation zone to the brink of the play-off within two months Blackwell, barring any unforseen hitches, is now almost certain to see his efforts rewarded with a new deal.

United's preparations for Sunday's final game of the season at Southampton will begin in earnest tomorrow after coaching staff granted the first-team squad time off following last weekend's victory over Bristol City.

United travel to St Mary's in ninth position and know they must win to give themselves a chance of finishing among the top six.

A sellout crowd is expected for United's crunch game there. The Blades have snapped up their allocation and a total of 26,000 tickets have been bought for the 32,500 capacity St Mary's Stadium.

James Beattie, Ugo Ehiogu and Lee Martin are unlikely to travel because of injury.


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