With just three wins from 35 matches this season, it's hardly a surprise that Sheffield United will be a Championship side once again next season. In cruel but fitting fashion, their relegation was confirmed with a crushing loss in Newcastle.
Chris Wilder's team have suffered one of the worst Premier League campaigns ever in 2023/24 and, truthfully, never looked like staying up. Scoring just 34 goals to date with 97 conceded (already the second-most conceded in a Premier League season), they are yet to reach 20 points.
Promoted automatically under the leadership of Paul Heckingbottom, United began the current season by letting go of last season's top scorer Iliman Ndiaye (sold to Marseille) and previously key midfielder Sander Berge (sold to Burnley).
The loss of those pivotal players, coupled with a lack of serious investment, set the side up for a tough campaign and they crawled to December with just one win under their belt before Heckingbottom was relieved of his duties and replaced by previous manager Wilder.
Wilder has added two wins to their tally but that is far from enough as the club sit 10 points adrift of safety with three games to go.
"We have not been good enough," Wilder told the BBC after the loss to Newcastle.
"The league has been too powerful for us right the way through the season.
"There's plenty of games where we have been put to bed early but today we should have been 3-0 up at half-time. I'm scratching my head that it was 1-1.
"Newcastle up their game and get a head of steam. Then our old mistakes start to fall in and goals go from two to three to four to five pretty quickly.
"There's a reason why that happens. It's an incredibly young side and there is a complete lack of leadership out there. I thought at times I was going to have a heart attack in terms of trying to get the messages on."
On Friday, Leicester City secured automatic promotion back up to the Premier League after one season in the Championship. It's a case of one up and one down from last season's promoted and relegated sides and more could follow.
As it stands in the Premier League, Burnley and Luton (the other two promoted sides) could follow Sheffield United back down while, in the Championship, last season's other relegated Premier League sides (Leeds and Southampton) could both make swift returns to the top tier.
