Sheffield United are relegated making Sheffield a city on the move once again…

Sheffield United after yesterday's relegation

In the 1970s, Sheffield City Council commissioned a video called ‘City on the Move’, four decades on the footballing city is on the move once again.

This promotional video was intended to promote Sheffield as the steel city of tomorrow; vibrant, lively and full of promise. However yesterday, the scenes of Sheffield United’s relegation could not have been further from those of the 1970s.

The camera hovers over Bramall Lane whilst the team gains it’s promotion to the old first division in front of packed crowds after a season of playing impressive football. Yesterday’s scenes, however, showed Sheffield United being relegated after a 2-2 home draw with Barnsley in front of a crowd which has depleted by a 1/3 since their premiership departure in 2007.

Before yesterday, their fate had all but been decided for them anyway, relying merely on other teams results going in their favour. However after all they could muster was a draw at home, they were put out of their misery after a disappointing season.

Following the relegation of Sheffield Wednesday to league 1 last season, England’s sixth biggest city does not have a team in the top two tiers since 1980.

Despite pre-season hopes of a play-off place, United have been in a relegation battle for much of the season, and their relegation represents a major fall from grace for United who were playing in the Premier League four seasons ago and reached the play-off final at Wembley in 2009.

Unlike the usual cycle relegated teams go through because of promotion, overspend and then relegation- this was not the case for Sheffield United. Instead, a competitive division coupled with subsequent under-investment and a plague of injuries has caused stagnation in the team.

Micky Adams' future is uncertain

Off-field instability hasn’t helped either. Former manager Kevin Blackwell departed in August and his replacement, Gary Speed, lasted four months before transferring to the Wales job; then after John Carver acted as caretaker manager Micky Adams was hired from Port Vale.

“Up until last year, I’d had three managers in seven years,” says captain Nick Montgomery to The Telegraph, who has spent his entire career at Bramall Lane. “To have four in one season is just ridiculous.”

“Sheffield United’s been a selling club. Financially, the club’s not the power of eight years ago. Getting relegated from the Premier League was a massive blow.”

However it’s the speed of the decline that has shocked him. “I never for a second thought we’d be where we are now,” he says.

“I’m devastated we’re even close. But a lot of teams in the division have gambled on their futures by spending so much money. For the rest of us, it’s a real scrap.”

United have become a selling club in recent years with the departure of locally sourced players such as Phil Jagielka, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton and Michael Tongue and quite simply the players left over were not good enough.

In stark contrast Sheffield United’s youth academy team will play Manchester United in the final of the FA Youth Cup next month. It is this youth squad that United hope can pull them out of League 1 and restore the fan’s faith in the team.

However, higher league clubs could poach their promising youth payers and stronger squad members and plunge United in to a downward spiral.

A disappointed fan looks on

 Sheffield United fan, Chris Horner from York, says he is disappointed with his team. “At the start of the season, on paper, we had one of the strongest teams in the Championship. To see the team I have supported since being a child relegated is frustrating. The club has just been too unsettled this season and it’s shown through injury and lack of goals being scored.”

Chief executive Trevor Birch spoke to The Telegraph: "The club has to hold its hands up and acknowledge that we got it wrong,"

"We apologise to the fans that have so steadfastly stood by the club. They deserve success and we will work like hell to build a solid foundation on which we can base a team capable of not only promotion back to the Championship, but also the Premier League.

"Even though we have run with a higher average wage bill for players since relegation, we have made mistakes and ultimately the board has to accept responsibility."

So now the question remains- will Sheffield remain a city on the move, in footballing terms anyway, and in which direction will this be?