Four players with a combined age of 125 are helping to galvanise Sheffield United
Sheffield United’s old(er) guard have got them on the right track
Sheffield United's manager said he wanted more experience and he wasn't kidding.
Four players with a combined age of 125 are helping to galvanise the Blades for a meaningful push up the Championship.
They also have the cumulative knowledge of having been at 31 clubs between them.
I refer, in no particular order, to Kalvin Phillips, Patrick Bamford, Ben Brereton Diaz and Jordan Ayew. Aged 30, 33, 27 and 35 respectively.
You can argue, of course, that it's not a particularly healthy sign; that younger players should be fronting the club's hopes.
In an ideal world, maybe. But this ain't.
There are no signs from above the dressing room of a long-term plan being in place apart from the owners' inheritance of a new training ground project. So a degree of short-termism has to rule for now.
Besides, Chris Wilder has a number of younger players in the mix, among others Sydie Peck, Ollie Arblaster, Femi Seriki and Harrison Burrows.
Talking of "younger" and "others", there should be a particular spur now to Tom Cannon, 23, and Tyrese Campbell (26).
You can argue they should be at a point where they are at the forefront of Wilder's attack rather than trying to dislodge strikers approaching the veteran stage.
Hopefully they will respond to the example being set - and this is written before Tuesday's trip to Preston where Wilder may shuffle his options.
But the point is made that Wilder has seasoned types showing the way; a sprinkling of strong characters as an antidote to last season's naivety.
Some of the younger ones have that too, Peck and Arblaster springing to mind.
It's about the right mix in the end and, for all the variation in United's results, they are invariably competitive in performance as a base for edging up the table.