Sheffield United: Boss reveals why this is such an important weekend in the Championship
Paul Heckingbottom has explained why he believes this will be the weekend when the race for promotion from the Championship really begins to take shape.
After winning five and drawing two of their first eight matches this season, the Sheffield United manager and his team have prepared for Saturday’s game against Rotherham on top of the Championship table, although Norwich City could replace them if they beat Burnley tomorrow night,
Although the English transfer window closed last week, before United’s win over Hull City at the MKM Stadium, many of Heckingbottom’s counterparts kept their deadline day signings in reserve.
However, having now enjoyed time to bed into their respective clubs, the 44-year-old said: “I think it’s going to have a totally different feel about it now. You’ll have teams that will have different players, new players that have been brought in to improve them. Even ones who didn’t do much business or did it earlier on, there’s going to be a different atmosphere around them. That’s the way it always tends to work.”
After boosting the options at his disposal before the campaign began, recruiting former Malmo defender Anel Ahmedhodzic in a £3m deal and drafting in others, including Tommy Doyle, James McAtee and Reda Khadra on loan, Heckingbottom scored arguably his most significant victory of the summer during the closing stages of the window when it emerged Sander Berge would be staying at Bramall Lane at least until January. The Norway international, who was the subject of interest from Club Brugge and a tentative enquiry from Chelsea, was on target during the victory in East Yorkshire. Oli McBurnie had earlier opened the scoring.
