In the race to recruit let's not forget what Sheffield United already have
Sheffield United are expected to bring in a raft of new faces this summer but there remains quality within the squad
All the recent emphasis has been on what Sheffield United need - rather than what they already have. Understandably so after falling short last season.
But I believe Chris Wilder will feel he has a strong bedrock of players on whom he can build. The challenge will be bringing them back up to past standards.
This is complicated, of course, by the certainty of some turnover with United’s tight budgeting depending in part on interest in some of their own.
So it’s likely that not every single player mentioned below will end up staying.
That said, I’m sure Wilder does not anticipate a massive recruitment drive. Maybe five or six rather than nine or ten.
Going through the current roster, you can reel off a list in double figures of players who’d stand a fair chance of getting into any other Championship team.
It spans from Michael Cooper in goal to Patrick Bamford up front, where Tyrese Campbell and Tom Cannon must regain past standards here and elsewhere.
Japhet Tanganga is a good centre back and leader, flanked by the likes of Femi Seriki, Harrison Burrows and Sam McCallum.
Further forward, which club wouldn’t fancy Gus Hamer, Andre Brooks, Sydie Peck, Oli Arblaster? Or Callum O’Hare, a pocket dynamo in the number ten position.
So, whereas major surgery was billed amid the worst of last season’s under-achievement, a more balanced view is holding sway.
Let’s just hope nothing daft filters in from above.
Whoever dictated it, the departure of justly popular coach Alan Knill is a strange one, besides being a total shock, not least to him.
Backroom reshuffles are nothing new; this is not to say it can’t or won’t work. But Knill has shared such a powerful alliance with Wilder across periods of great success that you wonder why on earth it has been severed.
Those who suspect Wilder secretly wanted that outcome don’t know the man. He was more likely used as the instrument of conveying the bad news.
There’s a parallel belief that the owners weren’t responsible but they sit at the top - and it’s not the first weird call made (by whoever) during the tenure of COH Sports, who have demonstrated they should leave football business to those who understand it. Let it be the last.