John Egan delivers blunt assessment of relegated Sheffield United’s season

Sheffield United captain John Egan has delivered a blunt assessment of the Blades’ awful season after they were finally relegated.

A 1-0 defeat at Wolves on Saturday saw them tumble out of the Premier League.

Willian Jose’s second-half winner condemned the rock-bottom Blades to a return to the Sky Bet Championship after two seasons.

With six games remaining, United have suffered the joint-earliest relegation in Premier League history, alongside Ipswich, Derby and Huddersfield.

Egan told SUTV: “There are a lot of reasons, it’s 30-odd games played now and you are where you are for a reason and the reality is, we haven’t been good enough.

“There are no excuses or bickering ‘this is why, that is why’. It’s about performances on the pitch, they relate to points and we haven’t got enough this season.

“I feel like I’m saying the same things a lot of times this season. We’re very disappointed. The writing has been on the wall for a while and we’re all gutted.

“It can be tough but the lads inside there are not a big time, arrogant, group, We’re a humble group who work hard no matter what the situation.

“If you watch the game you cannot see anyone chucking it in. We give our all for the club.”

Wolves broke the 40-point barrier after an indifferent season which has been marred by serious injuries.

Raul Jimenez is still recovering from his fractured skull, while Jonny damaged his ACL for a second time in less than a year earlier this month.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are 12th but Adama Traore, who set up Jose’s winner, dismissed any significance.

“No, definitely not. We are always focused on the next game, and it doesn’t matter how many points we have, the mentality is about winning every game,” he told the club’s official site.

“It doesn’t matter which situation we have through the game, we will fight until the end like we have been doing through this year.

“The target is to win every game. It does not matter which team is in front of us, we’ll work hard to keep improving. This is our mentality.

“It has been a tough year for the team with the injuries. But this win is for them and also for the fans because they can’t be here.

“This is for all of them and we will try to keep working towards the end of the season.”