How Blades and Forest came from nowhere to put top flight in sight

The Championship campaign has been quite the white-knuckle ride for Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest, whose stressed-out fans must now contend with the anguish of being put through the playoff wringer. The idea of promotion to the top flight was extremely fanciful for both clubs in the early months of the season, with bad starts prompting concerns that they were more likely to go down than up. But after their playoff semi-final that starts on Saturday at Bramall Lane, one of these storied clubs will be a Wembley showpiece away from football’s fabled “dreamland”.

It has been some journey, given the nightmarish way their campaigns opened. United were relegated from the Premier League with Paul Heckingbottom in interim charge after the dismissal of Chris Wilder last March and their owners opted against giving him the manager’s job full-time. Instead, they brought in the more experienced Slavisa Jokanovic. It would quickly prove a costly mistake.

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With promotions from the Championship with Watford and Fulham on his CV, the Serb had seemed a wise choice, but a change in formation led to a more pedestrian style, poor results and extreme dissatisfaction in the Bramall Lane stands. Jokanovic was dismissed six months and 22 games into his three-year deal, with United 16th. Heckingbottom, in charge of the Under-23s, was again handed the reins, only this time permanently in an move some considered to be the cheap option. His appointment was not greeted with unanimous approval by United’s fans.

Below them, Forest were in the process of dragging themselves up the table after a disastrous opening few weeks that left them bottom with one point. It