Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
It’s been a mystifying start to the season for Sheffield United, and what should have been a campaign focused on the promotion battle has started with the club staring up from 24th.
After Ruben Selles was sacked earlier in September, Chris Wilder made his return to Sheffield United but his first game back in charge ended in a late defeat to Charlton Athletic.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 21 |  WatfordWatford | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 5 |
| 22 |  DerbyDerby | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 12 | -4 | 5 |
| 23 |  Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | -7 | 4 |
| 24 |  Sheffield UtdSheffield Utd | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 13 | -12 | 0 |
Now, with a visit to his former club Oxford United on the horizon, the Blades’ manager has to find a way to ensure that his team do not start the season with seven straight defeats in the Championship.
Given the quality of the squad at Wilder’s disposal, it is expected that they will turn their fortunes around. However, the surprise threat of relegation may have started to feel a little bit real to supporters, and EFL Analysis has exclusive information on what would happen if Sheffield United do drop into League One.
- READ MORE – Derby County will have significant Josh Windass fear vs Wrexham after Sheffield Wednesday wondergoal
How financially strong Sheffield United are if the Blades are relegated to League One
Luton Town’s relegation from the Championship last season is proof that those who have played Premier League football in recent seasons are not safe from the competitiveness of the second tier.
With Sheffield United’s current predicament, finance expert Adam Williams has provided EFL Analysis with exclusive information about the financial situation that the Blades are in. He said: “This is Sheffield United’s last season of parachute payments because they were only in the Premier League for one year when they went down.
“If they had stayed up for three years, they would be entitled to an extra season’s worth of parachute payments, which is worth an additional 20 per cent on top of the £110m or so that relegated clubs get over two years.
“So unlike Luton this season, it would be sort of immaterial in terms of parachute payments on the off chance that they are relegated. If you go down from the Championship to League One, you don’t get another parachute payment because the cliff edge is nowhere near as steep.
“Hopefully, Sheffield United would have provisions in players’ contracts that would lead to wage cuts if they did go down. The drop-off in revenue is about £6-7m in terms of TV income, then you probably have reduced commercial and matchday income on top of that.”
Adam continued: “To go from over £140m in revenue to probably less than £20m in the space of a few seasons would clearly not be ideal, especially when you have quite high external debt and interest repayments due. There was some suggestion that the owners had paid off some of the bank loans, but we don’t have confirmation of that, as far as I’m aware.
“That said, you would expect them to be in a pretty good cash position given that they had a relatively modest wage bill for a Premier League side in 2023-24 and will have trimmed it significantly in 2024-25, as well as this summer.
“They’ve got two years of player sale profits too. So relegation wouldn’t be an existential threat or anything remotely like that. They should comfortably get out of the position they are in anyway, but it hasn’t been a great start for the new owners, has it?”
Sheffield United’s most recent League One campaign was a huge success
It’s been eight years since Sheffield United were last in League One, and it was Wilder who helped take them back to the Championship.
The Blades won 30 of their 46 league games, drawing 10 and losing only six times. They picked up 100 points, winning the division by 14 points to Bolton Wanderers, while Scunthorpe United finished third on 82 points.
Ironically, Sheffield United started that campaign poorly as well, losing three of their opening four matches, and drawing once.
Despite the challenges they have faced at the start of this season, it seems unlikely that the Blades will be relegated to League One. However, if they do find themselves in the third tier for 2026/27, the club will be secure financially.