Sheffield United continue to excel on the pitch despite unsettling backdrop off it

Last week George Baldock enjoyed watching Manchester City obliterate Bayern Munich courtesy of complimentary tickets from Erling Haaland, but he and his Sheffield United team-mates travel to Wembley for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final fully aware they cannot afford to hand the striker any freebies.

Baldock went to the Etihad Stadium with the Blades midfielder Sander Berge, who is close with his Norway team-mate and stayed with Haaland after the match. So it is good to have friends in high places? “Exactly, it’s who you know,” Baldock says, smiling. “He’s a monster, isn’t he? He is a goalscoring machine. Everything he touches at the minute seems to turn to gold.”

Baldock and his team-mates stand in the way of City’s quest for the treble. Sheffield United’s manager, Paul Heckingbottom, presented a video analysis of Pep Guardiola’s side on Thursday and Friday, and his squad are under no illusions about the severity of the task.

Baldock has studied clips of City’s wingers and forwards to prepare. “You owe it to yourself to give yourself the best possible opportunity to nullify them in the game,” he says. “With the quality of players like [Kevin] De Bruyne, sometimes they can put it in an area where it is impossible to defend. Some of the goals they score, it’s not because of bad defending but formidable attacking play. We’re not just going there to make up the numbers. We’ll go there to attack the game and try to have a go.”

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On the pitch United have excelled this season. The top goalscorer Iliman Ndiaye, who signed from Boreham Wood in 2019 and played for Senegal at the World Cup in Qatar, has lit up matches, and the Manchester City loanees James McAtee and Tommy Doyle, both of whom are ineligible to face their parent club, have also shone.

Billy Sharp, a former ballboy at Bramall Lane, the Championship’s record goalscorer and now Blades captain, has more than played his part. The 37-year-old striker was a substitute when the teams last met in the FA Cup in 2008. “I run out of superlatives to describe him,” says Baldock. “Billy always sets the standard. In training he’ll celebrate goals, he doesn’t miss a rep in the gym, he doesn’t cut corners, he lives right.”

Off the field, there has been a destabilising backdrop to contend with and the kind of distress more synonymous with relegations, not promotions. On Thursday a transfer embargo imposed in January for defaulting on transfer payments was lifted and last month the chief executive, Stephen Bettis, moved to reassure supporters the club was not at risk of administration.

Bettis did, however, concede the club had failed to pay several suppliers on time this season because “we are stretching every pound we have got”. He rejected suggestions the club had cut back on undersoil heating, grass fertiliser, paint and scouting software to save money. The English Football League is awaiting further information from the Nigerian businessman Dozy Mmobuosi, who has said he wants to buy the club.

Heckingbottom, the former Leeds and Barnsley manager who joined United as under-23s lead coach in 2020, has blocked out the noise, and Baldock acknowledges there have been “speed bumps” in their journey to Wembley and the brink of a top-flight return.

“We’ve had a lot to deal with, a lot thrown at us, some of which we’ll keep in-house. It goes back to the attitude of the manager. He has said: ‘Don’t worry about things you cannot control and are not in your hands’. All credit to him and the staff for keeping everyone level-headed and not buying into excuses.”

Heckingbottom has steered the club through choppy waters. He took caretaker charge in March 2021 after the departure of Chris Wilder with the club bottom of the Premier League and eight months later was given the job on a permanent basis following a sluggish start in the Championship under Slavisa Jokanovic. Heckingbottom led the club to the playoff semi-finals last season and they have successfully built on those foundations. “He is criminally underrated,” Baldock says. “He took over when we were in a real slump.”

Baldock will have the support of his family at Wembley, including his brothers James, the club doctor at Oxford United, and Sam, who plays for Oxford, where George spent time on loan from MK Dons. Baldock has bought tickets for some of his friends – and biggest supporters. “I’ve got a few mates who travel round the country – no game has been too far for them,” he says. “I thought they deserve tickets for a big game like this.”

The semi-final is the start of what Baldock hopes will be a productive few days. Sheffield United could seal promotion as early as Wednesday. For Baldock, the summer also promises to be exciting. Last year the 30-year-old, who was born in the market town of Buckingham, made his debut for Greece, for whom he qualifies through his paternal grandmother, Athanasia. He is having Greek lessons on Zoom. “I’m keen to learn the language. I’m in the camp of the national team so I want to have the ability to communicate in Greek out of respect for the nation.”

Greece face the Republic of Ireland – in which he could face “good pals” and fellow Blades defenders John Egan and Enda Stevens – and France in Euro 2024 qualifiers in June. Next year will mark 20 years since Greece’s extraordinary Euro 2004 success. “I actually watched the documentary King Otto on the flight to Athens to join up with the team before my first camp because it was available on the plane,” Baldock says. “It is incredibly inspiring – what a story.” – Guardian