Why Sheffield United made unusual fixture request ahead of important Bramall Lane date

Sheffield United made a special request to the English Football League for their first game back in the Championship next season to be away from home, The Star understands. The Blades will kick off the new campaign away at Preston North End on August 9, with the Friday night clash chosen for live broadcast on Sky Sports.

United’s schedule for the new season was confirmed on Wednesday morning, with Blades fans discovering key dates including another home Boxing Day clash and the two Sheffield derbies against Wednesday - the first since March 2019.

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League rules permit clubs to request away games early in the calendar in cases of ground developments, and this newspaper has been told that United did so to allow time for the completion of work on the hotel adjoining their stadium. Now operated by Doubletree at Hilton, the hotel is now taking bookings from August 23 - with the cheapest room for that night, a king guest room, costing £88 and the costliest, a king one-bedroom suite, currently priced at £208.

United owner Prince Abdullah was ordered to buy the Blades’ property assets - including Bramall Lane, the Shirecliffe academy and the hotel - after winning a bitter High Court battle for control of the club with former business partner Kevin McCabe. The site lay dormant for some time before work began on refurbishing it, with the Blades confirming what they described as a “major infrastructure project” earlier this year.

Hilton have the vision to establish the Bramall Lane hotel as the best upscale hotel in Sheffield, with key United officials viewing its reopening as an important step. The hotel bar was a key income driver on matchdays, with players and officials who live further afield able to stay in its rooms before home matchdays.

The opening-night trip to Deepdale means that United’s first league game back at Bramall Lane is August 17’s clash with Queens Park Rangers - by which time much of the current refurbishment work will be completed and the hotel will be less than a week away from opening its doors again for the first time under its new Hilton branding.