Sheffield United: Gary Madine will be 'fired up' for Blackpool against the club he wanted to join

The 32-year-old made 16 appearances during a spell on loan with United four seasons ago, helping them win promotion from the Championship to the Premier League.

Madine, whose hopes of earning a permanent contract failed to materialise, nevertheless continues to speak fondly of his second spell in South Yorkshire after also representing Sheffield Wednesday earlier in his career.

But Paul Heckingbottom, the United manager, expects Madine’s respect for United to translate into a barnstorming performance when they face Michael Appleton’s side.

“Whenever I’ve been in charge, it’s always been obvious to me that Gary has always wanted to play and play well against us,” he told The Star. “This will be a big game for him, a really big one in fact. He’ll be determined to cause us problems and really perform as he’s shown he can.”

Although he did not write his name onto the scoresheet, Madine excelled when Blackpool drew 3-3 with United earlier this term. He enters the return fixture in Lancashire having netted twice in his last four outings, with one of those efforts coming against Cardiff City - the club Heckingbottom’s predecessor Chris Wilder acquired him from during the second-half of the 2018/19 campaign.

United cross the Pennines ranked second in the table and eight points ahead of third-placed Blackburn Rovers. Blackpool are in the relegation zone but, reflecting upon October’s match at Bramall Lane, Heckingbottom has reminded his men are not “entitled” to expect a win. After taking the lead through James McAtee and Iliman Ndiaye, who are both expected to feature again, United were indebted to Oliver Norwood for salvaging them a share of the spoils following a Jerry Yates brace and Kenny Dougall effort. Blackpool were awarded two red cards during what proved to be a feisty contest while Shayne Lavery and United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham were also dismissed after the final whistle.

“They’ll look to hit Gary again,” Heckingbottom said. “They’ll want to play off him and we have to cope with that and deal with it.”