Robinson and Eriksson links dismissed with Blades ‘comfortable’ over plans

The MK Dons manager – who was at Sixfields Stadium on Sunday as United lost to Coventry City – had been linked with the job after talks to bring Nigel Clough to Bramall Lane stalled.

The Yorkshire Post understands Clough will not commit to the Blades until a severance package with his former club Derby County is thrashed out.

That has left the Blades board to consider other targets, but Robinson’s agent last night denied any approach had been made for his client – second favourite with SkyBet at 4-1 behind 2-7 frontrunner Clough – and sources close to former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson distanced him from the job.

Former Blades player Dean Saunders – who impressed as Doncaster Rovers manager before an ill-fated spell at Wolverhampton – and Crawley Town boss Richie Barker have also been touted as contenders to replace David Weir, who was sacked a week ago today.

The Blades had hoped for a swift announcement, but coach Chris Morgan seems set to stay in charge of the side when United welcome Port Vale to Bramall Lane tomorrow.

United director Jim Phipps revealed the club were working on two different scenarios.

“Plan A focuses on one individual, Plan B is an array (everyone else),” said Phipps, principal adviser to Blades’ joint owner Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad.

“Each will need work; we work on them step by step. Everything that can be done in parallel is done parallel; what can’t be done parallel is done serial.

“We are in contact with all the right people and comfortable we are in the right spot, and the best spot we can be in to make the right choice.

“It’s not frustrating, it is just what it is. This particular business has time pressures associated with it that are not familiar to other businesses.

“It’s obviously a time-sensitive matter. We are in the middle of a season and need to get a campaign launched.

“We are working on it with a great deal of abandon, pretty hard, management is working it,” he said.

“We will just let the process play out, let the candidates continue to know that we are not going to make what we are doing public, until we are ready for it to be public.”

Rob Segal, agent for Robinson – whose Dons team beat the Blades 1-0 at Bramall Lane in August – dismissed speculation linking his client to United.

“There have been no talks with Sheffield United and I am not entirely sure where that story has come from,” Segal said.

“Karl has a club, he has a job which he is focused on. He has a project at Milton Keynes Dons and he is committed to that, like he has publicly said many times.”