Sheffield United owners shouldn't forget what has already been achieved whatever happens in play-offs

Tell me a stranger backdrop to the climax of a Bramall Lane season - with fans clamouring for their team to succeed but dubious, at best, about the “rewards” that come with it.

Last time Sheffield United were promoted to the Premier League there was a sense of desperation around the place.

As manager of the time Paul Heckingbottom said: “It was vital for the health of the club.”

Just two years on, that’s one very big thing that can’t be said of the Blades’ latest attempt, even in the dreaded play-offs.

Two obvious reasons for that. Manager Chris Wilder’s brilliant, instant turnaround of the team on the field after the most demoralising of relegations. And the arrival of new owners securing the club.

What this signals is huge consolation prizes should United again miss out in the play-offs at the tenth time of asking.

For supporters, that is, and let’s be clear they are the biggest single component at any club. For them, there are mixed feelings amounting to confusion.

The dearest wish of many would be to claim the promotion trophy, parade it, stick it in the boardroom cabinet and stay in the Championship to win it again.

That’s not lack of ambition, it’s an indictment of what the Premier League commonly represents. As last season’s promoted trio would attest, it usually brings abject misery.

Not only the humiliation of defeats but anti-social kick-off times and that evil of a supposed entertainment industry, VAR.

So I guess there won’t be any prolonged crying into beer if the Blades fall short of this particular “prize.” But there are extra dimensions, of course.

First, manager Wilder’s unquenchable driving desire to see his boyhood club established in the top flight.

And then, perhaps even more significantly, the ambition of COH Sports who didn’t buy the club to see it toddle along in the second tier.

That’s why there’s pressure on this, certainly within, whether the fans feel it or not. A lot of revenue is at stake.

There’s also the reality that you can’t turn down a chance to tilt at the ultimate goal. You have to take it if you can and worry about the demands later.

My wish from here is that, regardless of the outcome, this assortment of American investors don’t lose sight of what has been achieved already.

Their club is running well and in the best of hands. It is on course to succeed whether it be this year, next or the one after. That, from this column’s viewpoint, is the real prize and the one most worth having.