Trevor Birch arrives with a remit to return Sheffield United to the top flight

By FBFR

Two very important days in the recent history of Sheffield United came to a pleasing three-point conclusion with a home victory over Peterborough United and the appointment of Trevor Birch as new chief executive.

On Friday, the media and TheBladesOnline were invited to Bramall Lane to meet Birch, who formally takes up his appointment on 1 December.

He sat in the stand the following day alongside chairman Kevin McCabe who, while relinquishing some of the day to day duties, will still hold the leading role at the club.

Birch, an ex-Liverpool trainee and more recently accounting whizz, has been responsible for creating Chelski (introducing Roman Abramovich), saving Leeds and stabilising both Everton and Derby. His quiet but authoritative and confident approach has won many admirers in the game.

The appointment will doubtless fuel rumours of new investment at United and, while the chairman was quick to rule out any immediate possibility of such events, he did say that he hoped a lucrative partnership with wealthy investors could happen in the future.

Kevin Blackwell knew Birch briefly at Leeds, although our manager was assistant at Elland Road during the chief executive’s time in West Yorkshire. Birch, a father of five, has his family living in West London but is enjoying the prospect of what could be his longest stay at a football club, and said that moving to South Yorkshire would be fine, as his Liverpool roots mean he still regards himself as a northern boy at heart.

Watching his first home game of the season, he would have been very impressed by half time with what he saw. Henri Camera's goal eased the pressure on manager Blackwell, as United beat the Posh 1-0 to earn their first Championship win in nine matches.

The second half was harder viewing, with the visitors’ new skipper George Boyd managing to miss a sitter with his head while unmarked on the penalty spot. Worse was to follow when a dubious penalty awarded against Davies saw Boyd this time thwarted by keeper Mark Bunn.

We probably just shaded it, with Camara and Williamson catching the eye on their first home starts for the Blades.

Mr Blackwell now has selection worries of a good sort, as he can choose a team from more than 11 players! A crowd of over 25,000 will reassure Mr Birch as to the size of the outfit he has joined, and the performance will have shown the size of the task that lies ahead for him.

He has an honest manager with an honest team working as hard as they can. We just a little bit extra, be that Russian, Middle Eastern or American; we just need a few million to inspire us back to the top flight.

Ratings

Bunn 9 - His best game

Walker 8 - Very good

Morgan 7 - Steady

Davies 7 - Steady

Killa 6 - Flighty

Wardy 8 - Inspiring

Williamson 8 – Promising, very promising

Harper 7 - Hard working, very hard working

Quinny 7 - Hard working, very hard working

Camara 9 - Top class

Evans 7 - Getting there slowly but he is only very young

Comments

[Charles Vincent]

Interesting last paragraph you wrote there mate. It turns out that it's not a Russian, Middle-eastern nor an American who is coming out with the few million quid, it's a Malaysian tycoon. Read online news tomorrow.

[RamonGustav]

I think you are not quite right and you should still studying the matter.

[Antivirus_man]

The new year is already knocking at the door, let it will bring only happiness and joy.

[Retro Jordan]

*People enjoy the characters are not happy.

[coach outlet canada]

Reformulate the usual consensus thus:

"a vice presidential choice has little effect on election outcome *unless* it casts serious doubt on the judgment of the presidential candidate"

and you will find it is consistent with 2008 as well as past experience.