Sheffield United co-owner sees glaring issues up close as defining summer responsibility shifts upstairs

Tens of thousands of Sheffield United fans sat frustrated through Saturday’s defeat at Preston North End which brought the curtain down on a frustrating home season at Bramall Lane. Nestled amongst them was one of the few men who can influence what happens next.

Co-chairman Steve Rosen made a rare visit to South Yorkshire for the Preston clash, speaking briefly with boss Chris Wilder after the game and before his post-match media commitments. He saw with his own eyes where United are painfully lacking, and where they must improve to avoid a repeat next season.

That’s not to say it would have been a surprise for Rosen, to see United fall to their ninth league defeat of the season on home soil. He is understood to watch games from his base in the States but anyone who has watched United even briefly this term will have recognised the familiar signs.

Sheffield United co-owner sees glaring issues up close as defining summer responsibility shifts upstairs

Wide open defensively, with only a mixture of profligacy and a superb Adam Davies save preventing Lewis Dobbin walking away with the matchball. Wasteful in attack, with sub Ki-Jana Hoever missing twice in injury-time from a combined distance of about a yard.

Even before then United should have got back into it through either Tahith Chong or Patrick Bamford, while the irrepressible Gus Hamer always looked a threat aside from his goal from the penalty spot.

The bit in the middle was better, with Sydie Peck and Oliver Arblaster injecting some youthful enthusiasm into the centre of the park, but even with his limited football experience Rosen will know it is what happens at either end that defines games, seasons and eras.

Rosen and co-chairman Helmy Eltoukhy admirably swallowed their pride to bring back Chris Wilder in September, although it’s tempting to wonder how appealing the job would have been to anyone else given United were bottom of the Championship having lost all of their six games to that point.

He has done his part, turning United around and keeping them in the division when, it’s easy to forget, that was far from guaranteed for a long time. The fact that the season has been written off in some quarters as a failure because United didn’t make the play-offs says a lot about how expectations have risen around these parts.

Now it’s over to those above to do their bit. To be fair, they put their hands in their pockets last summer, sanctioning the spend of just over £19m on permanent signings. Unfortunately for all concerned, they lumped on the wrong horses.

That is expected to have a knock-on effect this time around, especially with the loss of parachute payments and general belt-tightening all across the game. Unless there’s a dramatic change of heart, there won’t be anywhere near the same outlay this time around.

That isn’t a criticism of the owners, either. It’s the easiest thing in the world to spend someone else’s money and no-one wants to see their club going through the sort of mire we’ve seen United’s city neighbours deal with this season.

But at the same time United must remain competitive next season, or else history has shown what happens. The Championship is a graveyard of former Premier League clubs who haven’t been able to get back to the promised land, before being bogged down and eventually devoured by the quicksand of life in the second tier.

Even purely in terms of their multi-million-pound investment, Rosen and Eltoukhy can’t let that happen. The power is in their hands to make sure that this season is the exception rather than becoming the rule.