Chris Basham sends message to Sheffield United supporters during pre-season

Sheffield United will be enjoying their first pre-season under Paul Heckingbottom, in preparing to build on their fifth placed finish in the Championship last term.

The Blades were well off the pace when Slavisa Jokanovic departed the club towards the back end of 2021, and Heckingbottom produced an emphatic to turnaround, seeing the team push themselves briefly into the automatic promotion conversation.

The former Barnsley manager switched to a more familiar three at the back formation at Bramall Lane, bringing players like Chris Basham into the starting XI again on a regular basis.

Basham, who signed a new two-year contract at the business end of the season, took to Instagram to send a message to supporters during pre-season.

He wrote: “22/23 start the clock.

“Great to be back with the full squad ready to load another season.”

A post shared by Chris Basham (@chrisbasham6)

With Filip Uremovic, Charlie Goode and Ben Davies all leaving the club this summer, Basham will remain a key part of Heckingbottom’s plans, and may be looked at as an important figure to help integrate younger players into the first team in the coming years.

The Blades showed a lot of faith in the 33-year-old to offer him a two-year deal, and it will be interesting to see how much playing time he receives this term.

The Verdict

With the newly relegated sides not expected to be as strong as they were last season, there is an opportunity for clubs who finished 2021/22 promisingly, like Sheffield United, to throw themselves into the automatic promotion mix in the opening months of the campaign.

The Blades were only a penalty shoot-out away from a trip to Wembley in the play-offs last term, and if they can replicate the performance levels of their second