Performance guru Tom Little's winning formula and what Sheffield United players can expect

Sheffield United's new head of performance has only been in the role a matter of weeks but the club has already made an immediate impression on him. He is no stranger to United's current management team having worked with both Paul Heckingbottom and Jack Lester before.

Heckingbottom was a player at Oakwell when the Reds won promotion to the Championship under Andy Ritchie, while Lester was at Nottingham Forest at the same time as Little. The fact that the pair were both keen for him to come on board speaks volumes about the regard in which he is held.

He is one of English football's most experienced performers in his field and has left an impression at every club he has been at. As well as helping Barnsley to promotion, he was fitness coach at Man City when they secured successive promotions to the Premier League, helped Sheffield Wednesday achieve the best 'wage to point' ratio for three seasons running and had the lowest injury record in the Premier League when at Burnley.

He was lead fitness coach to the first team when Huddersfield gained promotion to the Championship at United's expense in 2012 and has spent the past nine years at Preston.

It's this wealth of experience that Heckingbottom is looking to tap into. Little says he wants to take United's performance levels to the 'highest possible'.

"I am overseeing the department but Hecky [Paul Heckingbottom] was clear the first time he met with me that he wanted me on the training pitch every day, going to matches," Little told Yorkshire Live.

"He wanted that presence and that clarity in the execution all the way through. I must say I am super impressed with everything that is going on.

"The team that is here is the team that was there when Sheffield United got