New owners make significant Sheffield United commitment as Chris Wilder highlights importance of progress

Sheffield United’s new owners remain committed to the project of achieving category one status for the famed Shirecliffe academy, Chris Wilder has insisted, even if the immediate priority for all concerned is the January transfer window. Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy, the new custodians of United, acquired the HSBC site in Dore as part of their purchase of the club last month.

The site had been purchased last year with a view to building a new first-team training facility and subsequently allocating the entire Shirecliffe site to the academy, allowing it to upgrade to top-tier status. But work on the Dore site stalled somewhat as negotiations went on over the future ownership of the club, with the talks eventually leading to a breakthrough just before Christmas.

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Although they have pledged their commitment to “enhancing the current organisation with the highest of quality in areas of need, to further improve the club both on and off the pitch,” Rosen and Eltoukhy have not yet expanded on their plans for United, both on and off the pitch. But they remain committed to the training ground plans drawn up by their predecessors in the Bramall Lane boardroom.

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“The time I met the new owners with Stephen Bettis, we took them up to the HSBC site at Dore and they were hugely impressed,” Wilder said. “They understand how good the academy has been and where we need to push it on to, to keep it going and keep it moving forwards. I'm sure we haven't just bought a plot of land just to mothball it.

“We've bought it to turn into a top-end training facility that allows us, at Shirecliffe, to move into category one status. But there's certain priorities that need to happen, you can't just go and do everything overnight. So that will be a process that we all have to go through. But the academy's been outstanding for a number of years and it's something we're incredibly proud of. But we have to keep producing and working hard at it.”