Brian Deane tells Sheffield United players 'put each other under pressure' ahead of Championship play-offs

Deane's old club face Bristol City in the two-legged semi-finals.

The first game is at Ashton Gate on Thursday, with the return at Bramall Lane the following Monday. The winners will face Sunderland or Coventry City at Wembley in the May 24 final (kick-off time still to be decided).

Having been involved in a three-way fight for the title, and with the benefit of a parachute payment after last season's relegation from the Premier League, the expectations on the Blades will be considerable.

They finished 22 points ahead of the Robins in the regular season – 24 if you add the two deducted for financial misdemeanours under a previous regime.

Deane only played in one play-off campaign during an illustrious career, making his last West Ham United appearance as a substitute in the 2004 final, which Crystal Palace won 1-0.

But the experience he draws on most closely was his time at previous club Leicester City, relegated from the Premiership in 2001-02.

"They’ll be under a lot of pressure, of course," he says of the Blades. "But there's only so much the manager can do.

"This is where your big players have got to show up. It's sometimes not so much looking to management for inspiration, but rather the players creating that inspiration among themselves.

"When I was at Leicester, the club nearly went into liquidation.

"We, the players, got together and said, 'We have to get promoted, otherwise, the club won't be there. It's down to us, it's not the manager, it's not anybody else. We have enough within this squad to get promoted.'

"That's how Sheffield United has to approach it. They're not kids.

"You need a few leaders in there who are saying, 'We have enough to do this.'

"If everybody does their jobs, then we'll be fine.

"Put each other under pressure. Give themselves the responsibility to complete the job.

"They've been better than any of the other teams underneath them. They need to really bring that to the table now, and it's all part of growing up."

Deane, who also played for Leeds United, Middlesbrough and Doncaster Rovers amongst others, had three spells at Sheffield United during which time he won his three England caps, scored the first goal in the newly-formed Premier League and was a team-mate of current Blades manager Chris Wilder.

A player who scored over 100 goals for the Bramall Lane club needs no reminding of their awful record in the play-offs.

This will be their ninth post-season campaign, their sixth in the second tier, and they are looking for their first promotion that way. They lost the 1997 First Division final to Crystal Palace, the 2003 final to Wolverhampton Wanderers, the 2009 Championship showpiece to Burnley, and the 2012 League One final to Huddersfield Town on penalties.

Last month marked the 100th anniversary of their last Wembley win, in the 1925 FA Cup final – their first game at what was then the Twin Towers.

As Wilder has pointed out, such dismal records are there to be broken and Jack Robinson is the only member of the current squad to have played play-off football for them, losing on penalties to Nottingham Forest in the 2022 semi-finals.

"The fans will be nervous because of the past, but fortunately, the players have no record of what's happened in the past," argued Deane. "It's going to be down to pure preparation, both physically and mentally."

Dean was speaking on behalf of BetSelect.