Sheffield United star provides an insight into the team's mentality right now
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The defender has just reached 200 appearances for Sheffield United, the club he joined from Brentford five years ago. But after being invited to survey the landscape in front of him, predict whether he will finish his career with the team and in the city he now calls “home”, the Republic of Ireland international refuses to peer even tentatively over the horizon. The only thing he wants to think about is this weekend’s pitstop on a journey which, for a whole host of different reasons, everyone associated with the club hopes ends in promotion.
Egan is all smiles as he enters the media suite at United’s training complex, exchanges jokes and handshakes with the assembled journalists. But after easing himself behind the desk which dominates one end of this cavernous but spartanly decorated room - a relic of the two seasons his employers spent in the Premier League before being relegated two seasons ago - the centre-half’s mood undergoes a startling and dramatic change. Gone are the gags. So is the sunny demeanour. Turning the tables on his inquisitors - “Right, let’s do this” - Egan makes it clear that, when it comes to the business of trying to regain top-flight status, he’s ready to do whatever is necessary in order to achieve that ambition.
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Hide Ad“We’ve got a next game mindset,” Egan tells The Star, returning to what it quickly becomes apparent is going to be a regular theme. “That’s all you bother about. That’s all you focus on. That’s what we have to put everything into and focus on completely. Nothing more. Nothing beyond that. It’s all about the next game. That’s the only thing, if you want to be completely honest, that I’m bothered about right now.”
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Intense, sharp and straight to the point, Egan’s reminder about the importance of “staying in the moment” is timely given the stakes United are playing for. The only trouble is, after suffering back to back defeats ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Watford, Paul Heckingbottom’s team need to get out of one. Ten points clear of third placed Middlesbrough only a week ago, losses to Michael Carrick’s side and most recently Millwall have quickly seen that gap shaved to only four Championship points. United still possess a game in hand over the rivals from the North-East. But their run in, on paper at least, looks much tougher with assignments against fellow contenders West Bromwich Albion, Luton Town, Blackburn Rovers and leaders Burnley all still on the agenda.
Like many of his colleagues, Egan’s performance during a frustrating afternoon at The Den fell below his usual high-standards. After surviving a woeful first-half, James McAtee’s superb piece of improvisation, which followed a well-taken free-kick by fellow Manchester City loanee Tommy Doyle, appeared to have put United in a strong position to go on and win the game until the third of three costly lapses in concentration allowed Tom Bradshaw to complete his hat-trick. Still, when the disappointment of that result subsides, Heckingbottom’s men can at least console themselves with the fact that form is temporary, class is permanent and, despite contributing towards their own downfall against tenacious and talented opponents, they at least showed durability to stay in a game which could have been out of sight by the time Doyle pounced just before the break.
“We’re fighters,” Egan says. “Don’t you worry about that. We’ve shown it before and we’ll show it again.”
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Hide AdPreviously of Sunderland, Gillingham as well as Brentford, Egan’s determination is fuelled by a sense of responsibility towards a community as well as his colleagues and a badge. Indeed, it is only when he is invited to talk about what United means to him, that the 30-year-old reverts back to being the genial individual who emerged as a key member of the squad Heckingbottom’s predecessor Chris Wilder took up and then led into European contention before gravity - and finance - bit.
“It’s hard to put into words, it means a huge amount. I’ve found a home here without a doubt. Obviously, the longer you spend somewhere the more your love for it grows and, genuinely, it means everything to represent United and the fans. I knew I was coming to a special place but I didn't realise how special. My little girl is growing up here and the people, well, the best compliment I can pay them is that they remind me so much of where I’m from in Ireland. They’re hard-working and down to earth.”
Egan, from Cork, has forged bonds and lifelong friendships in the dressing room too. Captain of his country and having attracted interest from West Ham following United’s return to the second tier, he could be a man in demand again if Dozy Mmobuosi’s protracted and increasingly controversial takeover, together with the transfer embargo recently imposed by the English Football League, complicate their push to regain elite level status. But revealing the camaraderie which exists among a group of like-minded individuals - “All of the lads care about each other, genuinely” - Egan isn’t willing to engage with talk about anything other than the latest date on United’s fixture calendar.
“Everything else, things like that, it’s all out of your control so there’s no point in wasting any time or thoughts on them. We’re close knit here and that’s down to the due diligence the manager and his staff do when they bring people in. It’s an unbelievable group. Friends not footballers. Still, if you ask any single one of us, the only thing we’re focused on is the next game and the next training session.”