The new Championship season is almost here, but with Sheffield United still waiting for key signings and supporters asking familiar questions, attention is turning once again to the owners and the direction they want to take the football club.

Sheffield United begin their 2026/27 season at Mansfield on Sunday and the hope was that, by this point, they would be much better prepared for it. There was plenty of time, after all, as their last campaign petered out into a mid-table finish.

Plans were drawn up, targets long identified. Room in the squad, and on the balance sheet, was freed up by a big clearout that will hopefully continue before the transfer window shuts.

Yet, as Sunday’s EFL Cup opener at Mansfield Town creeps ever closer, United are still miles off. Two fresh faces, one rookie youngster and 34-year-old Matt Doherty to provide some much-needed experience.

The need is blatantly obvious. As things stand – and they aren’t expected to change any time soon - United will go into the season with Jamal Baptiste at centre-half, in effectively his second season in senior football. Last term he couldn’t help Rotherham United remain in League One.

That’s no slight on an impressive youngster who’s earned his chance through a solid pre-season campaign. But it’s a concerning situation when a player who should realistically be third or fourth choice, learning his trade from those around him, is in possession of the shirt three days before the big kick off.

Harry Souttar remains a big target but United haven’t managed to make the headway they had hoped to with Leicester City. There are other irons in the fire, including Argentine Nicolas Valentini, but that trail has gone cold as well.

What is happening? We’ll have to fire that question at manager Chris Wilder on Friday morning, because he’s the only one who fronts up to us, but it’s so blatantly out of his hands. Chief executive Stephen Bettis will attract frustration from fans as well, unfairly in my view. He can only work with the tools he is given from above.

So, once again, questions are being asked of Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy. Since they have never given us the opportunity, and likely never will, my query to them would be a simple one: What do you expect this season, if it kicked off today?

If it’s a promotion charge, then on what basis? Even with two more play-off spots up for grabs, United look miles off it currently. West Ham, Wolves and Burnley will inevitably be strong. As will beaten play-off sides Middlesbrough and Southampton, boosted by signing the likes of Will Lankshear and Lewis Dobbin.

Norwich City, Stoke City and Swansea City have all splashed the cash and will fancy themselves. West Brom are perennial underachievers but could be strong. Derby only missed out on the top six on the final day and will fancy another go this time around. Wrexham and Birmingham City aren’t dying wondering either.

So where does that leave United? A mid-table push at best, I’d say at the minute. A couple of fans I know have set their sights even more modestly; one has seen 40/1 odds for relegation and been tempted. That seems a tad too pessimistic, even for Unitedites, but any serious thoughts of the Premier League are at the other end of the optimism scale.

Is this United now? A club bought for more than £100m 18 months ago and came within 15 minutes of the Premier League, having spent a good few years there in recent times and soaked up its riches? Now destined to join the graveyard of former top-flight clubs that is the Championship?

All the vague platitudes about Premier League football, inserted into the statement-by-numbers churned out by the owners’ PR firm in lieu of proper communication, currently look pretty meaningless. This isn’t intended as a criticism for them not being rich enough – I wish I was a fiver behind either Rosen or Eltoukhy – but more a question on the overall direction of the club.

Wilder is a man who has performed miracles at this club before, dragging them from the depths of League One to the top table within the space of three seasons. To expect anything similar this time around, with the tools he has been given, would be naïve at best.

The day Rosen and Eltoukhy signed off the deal to buy United, they put an expensive millstone around their necks. Perhaps they gambled on promotion and have ended up losing their chips. They now preside over a club that has gone backwards in almost every metric since they arrived.

They are now at a crossroads in their ownership. Do they back it in the hope they can get up and recoup their investment? Do they cut their losses and move on the club? Do they do neither, but just gradually turn off the tap and accept United’s status as a middle-of-the-road Championship club?

Not for the first time in their ownership, Unitedites are looking above for guidance, leadership and answers. And not getting a great deal back.