Sheffield United take first major step of summer as new head of performance announces arrival

Tom Little has announced that he left his role as fitness coach at Preston North End to become the head of performance at Sheffield United. The Blades have been without someone in this role since the departure of Rafa Cristobal alongside Slavisa Jokanovic and comes with a wealth of Championship experience under his belt.

Little had been at Preston for nine years, first taking the role as head of performance in 2013 before becoming the club’s fitness coach a year later. He has previously held head of sports science of performance roles at Birmingham City, Huddersfield Town, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday and Barnsley prior to his arrival at Deepdale.

Little becomes the first significant step forward of the summer as the Blades look to get over the disappointment of the play-off semi-final penalty shootout defeat to Nottingham Forest. He is very highly rated within the industry.

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Millwall's Performance Coach, Dave Carolan, posted on Twitter on Friday morning: "Delighted that my old sparring partner @drlittletom has secured a brilliant move to @SheffieldUnited from @pnefc. Has given so much to our industry, driving practice & people, to be the best they can be! A legend in Performance & keeps rolling on…

'Over 20yrs @drlittletom has given back so much to our industry with his commitment to research, developing people, influencing practice & enhancing provision of support through @heropro_sport etc. He is truly a great sports scientist!”

Little then wrote on his personal LinkedIn account: “End of a journey. Loved my nine years at Preston North End. Grateful to all the managers for the privilege; colleagues for their support and