Sheffield United v Bristol City: Ruben Selles on the only sort of pressure which counts for him

Experience has taught the Spaniard that pressure is all relative and with good reason. Like this time two years ago when he was managing Reading amid a financial maelstrom at the Berkshire club.

The Royals received a one-point deduction in August 2023 for breaching EFL regulations, followed by a three-point penalty the following month. A further two-point sanction arrived the following February.

Selles walks out at Bramall Lane for the first time as Blades chief against Bristol City on Saturday team-time (5.30pm), having stepped into the considerable shoes vacated by Chris Wilder.

Wilder’s side were leading after 75 minutes against Sunderland in the 2024-25 Championship play-off final at Wembley. By the end of added-on time, their top-flight hopes were shattered and the Blades must now cast aside their pain as Leeds United did last term.

With United in the final year of parachute payments, it has heightened the need to do so. As it stands, their squad is also not as strong as it was, certainly earlier this year, with work to do between now and September 1.

Don't expect Selles to panic, given his previous experiences in his first few seasons in management.

The former Hull City chief, 42, who secured his brief of safety on the final day of last season - and was promptly rewarded with the sack less than six months into a two-and-a-half year deal in East Yorkshire - said: "I don't feel like it's a pressure to be in one environment or another.

"Usually, people put on the pressure from the expectations outside. For me, the pressure is internal and how much we want to do it and how much we can do it.

"Nobody is more critical than myself and no-one is more hard on me and my team. It doesn’t matter from outside and I am quite used to that. "Starting the season from the very beginning, I don't know if we can compare it, at any level, with the Reading challenge. For different reasons, it was a very difficult challenge.

"At Hull and Southampton, it was more of an emergency. With the target we have and group of players, the city, stadium, club and things around, it's made me excited for the season and thinking about that.

"It's not putting on some pressure, it's more enjoying where we are and pushing to be even better.

"For me, it's more about playing a football match and trying to perform. That's the best part of it and the part where it doesn't matter about the transfer market, training, but just about the grass, 11 versus 11 and going for it."

Despite the exits of Vini Souza, Anel Ahmedhodzic and Kieffer Moore, United still possess a core of players who remain top operators at this level; a group fortified by a desire to harness the pain of May 24 and go one better.

A group which will hopefully be reinforced by the end of the summer window.

Selles added: "I think they (players) will have that kind of memory (from Wembley) and that will need to be used in a proper way if we need to see it during the season. Right now, everyone is focusing on the next game.

"The promotion targets are always at the end and you get it at the end. You do not get it now. We need to make sure we start in the proper way."