138-game former Sheffield United promotion-winner set to join Championship rivals in recruitment role
Leigh Bromby got his only taste of Premier League football with Sheffield United.
Former Sheffield United defender Leigh Bromby looks set to lead the recruitment plans for Championship strugglers Derby County this summer, according to reports.
Bromby remains a much-loved figure at United, having played a pivotal role in their 2005/06 Championship promotion under Neil Warnock, who recently won the EFL’s Contribution to League Football award. The defender ruffled more than a few feathers in joining the Blades from Sheffield Wednesday in 2004 and also played 17 Premier League games in his initial stint at Bramall Lane, sticking with them following relegation back to the second-tier.
A return to United arrived on loan from Watford in 2008 but was less successful, with the defender going on to sign a two-year deal at Bramall Lane the following summer before joining another of the Blades’ Yorkshire rivals, Leeds United, just a couple of months later. He helped the Whites win promotion from League One and even reunited with Warnock at Elland Road before a knee injury ended his career in 2013.
Bromby has been rising through the coaching ranks since his retirement from playing over a decade ago, with academy coaching roles at Leeds and Huddersfield Town developing into a stint as sporting director with the latter. The 44-year-old left that role in the summer of 2023 and has been out of the spotlight for almost two years.
Ex-Sheffield United defender Leigh Bromby set for Derby County recruitment role
The Telegraph’s John Percy reports Bromby is on the way to Pride Park, with Derby ‘set to appoint’ the former Blades, Wednesday and Leeds defender as interim recruitment lead. He will oversee what is expected to be a busy summer in Derbyshire, regardless of which division the Rams end up in.
Percy wrote on X: “Derby County are set to appoint former Huddersfield sporting director Leigh Bromby as interim Recruitment Lead. Bromby will oversee transfer business in the summer alongside Ed Smith, Mo Bobat & Mark Thomas.”
Derby are still fighting for their lives at the bottom of the Championship but have survival in their own hands going into the final day. John Eustace’s side can guarantee their place in the second-tier for 2025/26 with victory at home to Stoke City, but they are only a point ahead of Hull City in 22nd with the Rams, Preston and Luton Town all level on 49 points.
While Derby are fighting to stay in the Championship, Bromby’s former club United are desperate to get out of it, as he did under Warnock back in 2006. Four defeats in five ended the Blades’ chances of automatic promotion hopes but they are guaranteed a third-place finish and play-off action.
Consecutive wins over Cardiff and Stoke City have brought renewed optimism in South Yorkshire and a third straight victory when they host Blackburn Rovers on Saturday will keep momentum building. United and Sunderland are guaranteed a play-off spot while two of Bristol City, Coventry City, Millwall, Blackburn and Middlesbrough can finish in fifth or sixth.
Your next Sheffield United read: Possible play-off final opponents have one key weakness - even their own manager knows it