Fireworks to come for Blades - or a damp squib?

Bonfire Night is an apt time to be writing about Sheffield United with the Blades needing more than a rocket to ignite their failing season.

I'm sure manager Chris Wilder would happily consign this campaign to the pyre if he could.

Unfortunately he can't, as he picks through the charred remains of the play-off team he re-built in an increasingly testing task to simply keep his club in the Championship.

Last season wasn't quite 'New Year on the banks of the Thames' – that was more Leeds and Burnley.

But it felt like Wilder had fountains, Roman Candles and Catherine Wheels at his disposal - this year he barely has a sparkler, with the Bramall Lane fireworks remaining unlit.

The scale of the damage caused by United's American owners and Spaniard Ruben Selles during 89 days this summer is still coming to light.

It could be argued that none of the 14 new recruits in the off-season have improved the squad from last season's promotion charge, as COH Sports sought to go in a new direction under a relatively inexperienced boss.

Wilder-type signings arrived late in the window, but even they look a shadow of the kind of players who could have been bought or borrowed if the boyhood Blade had not been dismissed in the wake of their play-off final defeat.

Japhet Tanganga is the one player who has added quality to the Blades squad, but United spent good money on the former Millwall and Spurs man, and he's been playing out of position due to limited options at right-back.

Djibril Soumare has shown enough to suggest he's a player worth continuing to develop, but he's only on loan.

Ben Mee adds experience at the back, but he's not the player he once was. Tahith Chong seems a solid signing, but he managed only three substitute appearances before getting injured.

Former Crystal Palace midfielder Jairo Riedewald has arrived under Wilder on a short-term deal and looks like he's added positively to options in the middle of the park, but he's still no Vini Souza, who departed in the summer.

And that's where the positives appear to end with supporters wishing they still had the likes of Kieffer Moore, Anel Ahmedhodzic, Jack Robinson, Souza, Ben Brereton-Diaz, Rhian Brewster, Hamza Choudhury, Alfie Gilchrist, Harry Clarke, Rob Holding, Harry Souttar and Jesurun Rak-Sakyi.

In May, Sheffield United and Coventry City both lost to Sunderland in the Championship play-offs.

Right now, after the Blades' 3-1 defeat at the CBS Arena on Tuesday night, the Sky Blues are five points clear of third at the top of the table, while United have become the first second-tier team to lose 11 of their first 14 league games since Wimbledon in 2003-04, sitting three points adrift in the relegation zone.

Most people still believe the Blades have enough quality to get clear of the drop zone. Recent wins against Blackburn and Watford showed progress, with performances at Preston and Coventry offering enough to have taken points on another day.

But the longer United stay in the bottom three, concede soft goals, fail to take chances and make individual errors, the more it will feel like the club is in a battle for survival, if it isn't already.

Wilder is preparing to put a rocket under his squad in January, with battle plans drawn and already with the board for multiple ins and outs, but the Blades can't wait for the transfer window to open for results to improve.

Now is the time to light the fire. There are as many games to play between now and the end of January (16) as there are between the close of the window and the end of the season.

November and December will define United's season, and to a large extent, who they could recruit in the New Year.

At the start of the summer, Blades fans were hoping there would be fireworks next May to herald a return to the Premier League.

As things stand, the same supporters would probably settle for securing their place in the second tier with not so much as a fizzle.