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Chris Wilder and his Sheffield United team now have to perform at the peak of their powers Alan Biggs on what has been a disappointing summer ahead of the new season for Sheffield United It feels a bit like this time two years ago. Then, Chris Wilder rushed through a late assembly of practically a new team. Expectations were low, achievements were high as Sheffield United made the play-offs after a late dip on automatic promotion. This time the Blades have come through the summer with more of his building blocks intact and in a slightly better place. But the mood is similar in that it would be a stretch to predict a return to the Premier League amid more brinkmanship in the transfer window. Frankly, there has yet to be sufficient recruitment to inspire confidence. And currently the owners certainly don't inspire any on that or any other front. He will also want to shift the narrative from the fraught political backdrop off the field to where it really should be. It's time Bramall Lane's movers and shakers woke up to the club's reason for being - as a well supported football team. The game has become increasingly corporate and through that is getting ever more distanced from its core activity. Nowhere more so than at S2 where supporters have been shamefully ignored, in communication terms, by those at the top. Really I shouldn't be writing in that vein just ahead of a new league season. It should all be about excitement and anticipation. For that to take over, as it should, Wilder and co will again have to perform at the peak of their powers. Wilder, mind you, won’t lower his sights. You get the feeling he couldn’t afford to if he wanted to, and is hiding any frustration behind a premeditated and philosophical show of diplomacy. He’s already been a victim of the American owners’ impatience and naivety. Although Wilder was dramatically summoned back early last season, you suspect he has to go close at the very least this time to keep the much tested relationship intact - even with an extended deal (which, remember, he had last time also). As so often with the Blades boss, it’ll be about squad togetherness; making the unit stronger than the sum of its parts, especially without a major game-turner in the departed Gus Hamer.