What happens if we don't win promotion?

A column by Tom Blow

This is a paid-subscriber only edition of The Pinch, with a free preview for free subscribers.

This week’s Friday article is a column by Tom Blow. He looks forward and back, in answering the question of what might happen to our club if we don’t win promotion soon.

The Blades play QPR this evening. It’s no overstatement to say that the game is huge. The play-offs beckon. It’s all in our hands. But what do you think will happen if we fail to get promoted back to the Premier League at the first attempt?

---

What happens if we don’t win promotion?

Words: Tom Blow

When clubs suffer relegation from the Premier League, it’s hard to predict what comes next.

An immediate return is always the aim and parachute payments make that possible – if not probable – despite the competitiveness of the Championship. Yet there are no guarantees. If promotion isn’t achieved in the first season, the second tier becomes a real struggle.

And for a club like Sheffield United, another term in the Championship could be devastating. As much as we sing the names of “Hecky and Stuart McCall”, our flourishing team was developed by Chris Wilder and Alan Knill. It will start to fall apart in the summer if we don’t go up.