Sheffield United v Crystal Palace: Master of crisis management Paul Heckingbottom fighting the negativity

Even with the expected imminent arrival of £15m playmaker Gustavo Hamer from Coventry City, Sheffield United are going to be seriously up against it in this season's Premier League, heavily reliant on a good manager to make up for squad shortcomings.

Heckingbottom might be inexperienced taking charge of Premier League teams – 11 matches as caretaker of a damned Sheffield United in late 2020-21 – but he is over-qualified for dealing with handicaps.

The Blades were the second-best team in last season's Championship, togetherness and nous getting them to English football's promised land. Theirs was an experienced squad well-suited to the task but in need of refreshing for this season, loaded as it was with the core of the squad which finished bottom of the Premier League two years ago.

The problem is, in top-flight terms, they are potless, or were until cashing in their two best players, Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge recently.

Like an annoying taxi, a takeover feels like it has been just around the corner as long as Heckingbottom has been manager (nearly two years), and the squad has stagnated.

With older players such as Billy Sharp and Enda Stevens dropping off to their manager's undisguised frustration, the group has gone from one extreme to the other. Recruits Benie Traore, Anis Slimane, Yasser Larouci, Vinicius Souza and Auston Trusty – signed from Arsenal's reserves, not their first team – do not have a minute's Premier League football between them and few many miles on the clock full stop.

But Heckingbottom is used to this – far more than he would like to be.

"I've had harder than this," he chuckles. "A lot harder!"

This was a manager who left hometown team Barnsley – which never has been and probably never will be a gravy-train club – because he did not feel "valued", to join Leeds United, their door still revolving after Massimo Cellino recently selling. He got 16 games before making way for Marcelo Bielsa.

Next job was Hibernian, with pretentions perhaps rooted more in history than the present. He was sacked 11 games after leading them to fifth in the Scottish Premier League.

Financial problems have been a constant of his Sheffield United tenure. In January his promotion-chasers went under a transfer embargo when he wanted reinforcements. He is used to fending off negativity.

"You've got to become accustomed to, hardened to it, rather than pretend it's not happening," he says.

"We don't want to focus on anything negative, it's about us, how we want to play, what your role is in the team, go and perform it.

"Some players just have that focus on the pitch, no problem. It's about how we act after the event that's more important, making sure we have those conversations and focus on the right things.

"One thing I want to make clear to our boys is we give our best regardless. We keep ourselves accountable and if we think we can perform better we push ourselves that way.

"If we get things right that'll be one of our strengths again, our mentality. It's certainly something for the new players and the young players (promoted from the academy) to get what we mean by that. They can only do that by experiencing it."

The Blades must play to their strengths and absorb new players into a men's dressing room where a "no excuses" culture rules. Making Chris Basham, now a bit-part player in the autumn of his career, John Egan's vice-captain was shrewd.

As they did when finishing ninth under Chris Wilder when widely predicted to go down in 2019-20, they must trade on a well-established way of playing and a clarity in what Heckingbottom demands.

Players must play above themselves as Basham, Jon Lundstram, Jack O'Connell, John Fleck, George Baldock and co did. Some from the relegated squad have reputations to restore, others careers to build. "What an opportunity for lads stepping up from the academy and the young lads," argues Heckingbottom.

The fans, locked out as the Blades followed that remarkable 2019-20 with relegation, must play their part too, starting at home to Crystal Palace on Saturday. Their challenge will be shutting out the anxiety of seeing the club they care so much for under-equipped for the fight.

"Everyone enjoyed the promotion and the celebration, everyone knew how hard we worked – fans, board, management team, everyone – to get here, now we've got to enjoy it,” is Heckingbottom’s take.

"The fans realise how important they are to us and we know what the fans want to see. We're going to need that special atmosphere at Bramall Lane throughout the season."

It is about shutting out the noise.

"When we had a target on our back that's a slightly different mentality but you still can't lose focus of the next game," he points out.

"We've got a lot of lads now who don't know what a Sheffield United performance is yet.

"If we're favourites we want to win 4-0, if we're underdogs we want to win 1-0."

The odds are against Heckingbottom and co. They have been before.