Blades burning to regain Premier League status

As if the lucrative prize of a place in the Premier League wasn’t enough to motivate Sheffield United when they face Burnley in Monday’s Championship play-off final at Wembley, the Blades will also be fired by the memory of their controversial relegation from the top-flight.

United were relegated on the final day of the 2006-07 season when they lost against Wigan, while, at the same time, Carlos Tevez scored West Ham’s winner at Manchester United.

Tevez’s role in saving West Ham at United’s expense sparked a long-running row over claims that the Argentine wasn’t properly registered to play for the Hammers.

United sued West Ham for lost revenue from their drop into the Championship and the case was only put to bed in March when the Blades accepted an out of court settlement worth around 20 million pounds.

Now United can make amends for the footballing injustice as well with a victory over Owen Coyle’s Clarets in a fixture widely regarded to be the richest single match in the world.

An estimated 60 million pounds will pour into the winners’ bank account in the form of increased television revenue and the assorted spin-offs that come as a result of securing Premier League status.

With so much at stake, perhaps it is no surprise that United boss Kevin Blackwell, who has already lost one Championship play-off final as manager of Leeds, admits victory at Wembley would be the best experience of his career.

“We’re talking about the cathedral of English football. It’s the pinnacle. The best place you can ply your trade. Wembley is absolutely fabulous,” he said.

“I can’t say how exciting it is to go there. They’ve done a fantastic job and it’s great to see Sheffield United playing the biggest game in world football. I’m proud and delighted. I can’t really describe what it would mean to me.

“I’ve changed 60-70 percent of the playing squad and helped cut the wage bill and brought money in, all those things have got to be done as a manager and hopefully you can be successful along the way.

“So I’m really pleased with the outcome at the moment. Can we stay up? Let’s talk about that when we’ve got there.”

While United have their own incentives to win, Burnley have no intention of ending their marathon season on a losing note.

Sunday’s match will be the 61st game of Burnley’s campaign, which included an epic run to the League Cup semi-finals.

After 33 years outside the top-flight, Burnley are finally back on the brink of the big-time and boss Owen Coyle believes that prize will help his players ignore their aching limbs.

Coyle, whose cut-price side have beaten Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal and West Brom in cup competitions this season, said: “I always believed you could build a team without having to spend huge amounts of money.

“We’re in the bottom four clubs in the Championship in terms of average attendance, turnover and revenue.

“We’ve used the fewest amount of players but they have showed a real hunger and a real desire to win games. As a manager I cannot ask anymore than that.”

Burnley defender Clarke Carlisle added: “The squad is not strong in numbers but it’s definitely strong in quality.

“In the cup runs, we have matched some of the best Premier League teams.

“The gaffer’s so positive and very encouraging. He makes the players believe that they can produce more and if someone is feeding you positives all the time you will take it on board.”