Sheffield United have been relegated from the Premier League with three games remaining following their 5-1 defeat to Newcastle at St. James' Park on Saturday.

Chris Wilder's side have already broken the record for most goals conceded in a 38-game Premier League season with 97, and remain on track to surpass Swindon Town's mark of 100 goals conceded in the 1994-95 season, when the division contained 22 teams.

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Sheffield United have already passed the ignominy of the lowest points tally in Premier League history -- that record remains with Derby County's 11 points in 2007-08 -- but should they lose their remaining three fixtures, they will have accumulated the third-fewest points in a 38-game season.

Their season has been punctuated by heavy defeats both at Bramall Lane and on the road, notably the 8-0 home loss to Newcastle in September, the 5-0 reverse away at Burnley and the 6-0 defeat at home to Arsenal in March, where they had conceded five goals in the opening 40 minutes.

"We have not been good enough. The league has been too powerful for us right the way through the season," Wilder said after the defeat to Newcastle.

"There's plenty of games where we have been put to bed early, but today we should have been 3-0 up at halftime. I'm scratching my head that it was 1-1.

"Newcastle up their game and get a head of steam. Then our old mistakes start to fall in and goals go from two to three to four to five pretty quickly.

"There's a reason why that happens. It's an incredibly young side and there is a complete lack of leadership out there."

Wilder was brought in for a second stint with the club in December after their owners fired Paul Heckingbottom, who had earned the club promotion from the Championship the season prior. When Wilder took charge, Sheffield United had lost 11 of their opening 14 fixtures and were already bottom of the league.

"It stings and it hurts. We have to own it," Wilder told the BBC. "We have got so much work to do on the training ground. We have got to have a proper preseason.

"Sheffield United is a really good football club. I think everyone understands that, but it's been a really poor season."

Wilder said he had no intention of resigning and wanted to be part of the rebuild at Bramall Lane.

"I've still got another year left of my contract. I'd like to think that the supporters can trust me," he said. "I'm enthusiastic and committed along with my coaching staff to get it right.

"We know exactly what direction we need to go, what the culture is going to look like, what preseason is going to look like."

Sheffield United will see out the campaign with home games against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur, either side of a trip to Everton's Goodison Park.

The task for Sheffield United next season is already off to a rough start. They will begin the Championship season on minus-2 points after they were sanctioned by the English Football League for defaulting on payments to other clubs.

A new, robust striker to replace Callum Wilson, an upgrade at RW and a defensively minded midfielder, or a “number 6” to to use the parlance of our time are all rightly mentioned as immediate priorities to improve the first team and push on. Given this season’s defensive woes, and the fact that both Jamaal Lascelles and Sven Botman will likely be missing for the rest of the calendar year, strengthening the defence is going to be as crucial as any other department, and not just in the short term.

Since the takeover, the average age of the squad has been dramatically reduced, and the clear blueprint of signing potential to develop is bearing fruit. Numerous links to potential defensive targets have began to surface recently, which is a positive, as the club are clearly aware that replacing the vast majority of the current pool of defenders over the next two to three windows is a high priority.

Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Jamaal Lascelles, and Paul Dummett are all over 30, while Emil Krafth joins that exclusive club this summer.

Whilst Dummett’s contract expires this summer, Krafth and Lascelles will be retained next season. Unfortunately, most of the club captain’s new one year deal will be spent recovering from his aforementioned ACL injury. It’s safe and sad to assume the club are planning on life without him. Burn and Schar still have plenty to offer, and will play plenty of games next season, especially with some form of European football now appearing very likely. Trippier will be an interesting one to watch after his Bayern Munich links in January. While the club decided at the time he was too important to let go, a similar offer this summer could be tempting, and the club may feel that short term pain for long term gain is the way to go, in the murky and boring world of PSR spreadsheets.

Both full back positions appear to have been well thought through, with an outlay that could exceed £70m on Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall. Despite concerns and criticism of Howe at times about their lack of game time in the short term, both of them seem to be outstanding talents. Both signings were rightly heralded at the time, and the club praised for its succession planning and joined up thinking. They started together for the first time vs Sheffield United much to our delight, and showed an exciting glimpse into the future. Their ball carrying ability and pace in comparison to Burn and Trippier, will give the team a new dynamic.

There’s also young RB Harrison Ashby, signed for next to nothing after he rejected a new deal at West Ham, and who is currently on loan at Swansea City. He’s impressed at times, but has also suffered injuries and has only made 13 starts. There were even whispers that he was signed purely to be sold and boost our PSR bottom line.

A younger, right sided central defender is certainly a priority this summer, ideally someone who can step in and replace Schar as Botman’s long term partner seemlessly. If recent reports are to be believed, then Sporting Lisbon’s 20 year old Ivorian, Ousmane Diomande could be the man who fits that bill, and Juventus’ 19 year old Dutch starlet Dean Huijsen is another one strongly linked. He’s currently on a season long loan at AS Roma, where he’s made 13 appearances.

Rumours of less glamorous moves for Bournemouth’s Lloyd Kelly, and Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo are currently doing the rounds, with both players out of contract this summer. Both would be sensible signings if they happen, as they are PL ready, and would be essentially younger, more athletic, more technically sound squad replacements for Lascelles and Dummett, although there are very valid concerns over Kelly’s injury record.

There also appears to be some talent coming through the ranks, although with more of an eye on the long term. Irish youngster Alex Murphy had a decent pre-season, and despite being a CB by trade came on at LB vs Sheffield Utd, where a divine invention from VAR spared him conceding a penalty. A loan move next season to either the Championship or League One could be ideal for the 21 year old’s development. Then there’s his countryman Cathal Heffernan, 19, who arrived last year from AC Milan. He was seen as a major coup for the academy, and certainly caught the eye for the development squad during the Champions League games.

So exciting and interesting times lie ahead. One thing that is still taking some getting used to as a Newcastle United fan, is knowing that there is a process and will to improve. Despite last summer not being quite right in the short term, the recruitment for the most part has been exceptional, and we’re in good hands.

Kieran Trippier has been missing from the Newcastle squad for two months now despite his injury being described as ‘minor’ by Eddie Howe when he limped off against Wolves.

The defender had started the game against Gary O’Neil’s side at the beginning of last month but was forced off in the second half and is yet to make his return to the team over eight weeks later.

The England international spoke about his injury in the match programme on Saturday, where he explains how they’re taking extra precautions with him to avoid risk of re-injuring himself.

Trippier said: “With the amount of games I’ve played, we need to take extra precautions. It’s important there are no setbacks – I don’t want to come back and then re-injure myself so I’m just ticking every box. But the main thing is that the team has been winning games, and I’ll be back soon to help them try and secure European qualification.”

Luckily for Newcastle we have a top replacement at right-back in Tino Livramento, but it’ll be good to see the experienced defender back out on the pitch and hopefully he still has a part to play in these final games of the season.

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In the wake of a "dramatic" spike in injuries from traffic accidents, activists have demanded that Gosforth High Street be redesigned. Controversial rows of bollards put in 2020 have caused significant disagreements about the high street's layout in recent years.

After being called unattractive and confusing by some, the much-discussed bollards were removed a little over a year ago. However, Newcastle City Council is now being pressured to reconfigure the route. Readers have expressed their concerns about the proposed changes to the busy road in our comments section.

The advocacy group SPACE for Gosforth has pushed council officials to reinstate a single lane of traffic on the high street in both directions. The group has pointed out that, according to data from the North East Road User Casualties Dashboard, there were nine people injured on the high street from April 2023 to February 2024 – compared to a yearly average of 3.4 from 2014 to 2023. They go on to say that “since the trial bus lane was installed, the number of people injured in traffic collisions has increased dramatically.”

MRTIMPSON agrees with SPACE: “Total joke, Gossy high street is a permanent traffic jam because of the lane restrictions - get rid of the cycle lane, get it back to 2 lanes, and let the traffic flow.” Mick83 says: “Get it back to the way it was 2 lanes and get the bridge back open as well.”

Dunstonian wants to see the road returned to its original state: "Should just go back to what it was in the past 2 lanes in each direction; it was actually safer then because people took more care of their surroundings when travelling or walking. Buses could still stop in the nearside lane to let people on and off."

Theenglishtaxidriver doesn’t agree: ”How does making it one lane in each direction reduce pollution? It will cause more congestion and more pollution while vehicles stand idle during peak times. You will never stop people using their cars!”

PayYourRoadTax writes: “Maybe if motorists stuck to the 20mph speed limit and obeyed the rules of the road such as red lights and no right turn then we’d have less incidents. But, as always, drivers are more important than any other human beings.”

PierreLike says: “The road markings are 'too busy'. Vehicles staying in lanes are moved right then left then right again. What might work better could be more coordinated traffic lights, to keep the traffic flowing for longer periods.” whitleybeyonce thinks the Council should: “Make it taxis, buses, emergency services and bicycles only.”

The council confirmed that the bus lane trial would continue while managers "develop plans for engaging with local people on the future of this high street" and responded that it was "committed to improving road safety, creating better public transport links and encouraging active travel around the Gosforth High Street area."

How do you think the safety of the High Street should be maintained? Have your say in our comments section below.

Hand's up who remembers the old Grey's Club? While the iconic city nightspot opened back in the 1960s, it has stood the test of time and constantly evolved over the years so there will be a range of locals with memories of the club as it was during the 1970s-1990s and then into the new millennium when it entered a new era with more makeovers to come.

Grey's - tucked away, almost hidden, in Grey's Court, an alley off Newcastle's central Grey Street - has since been given a new lease of life, taken over by Rise club nights and updated with a modern vibe, wall art, bright colour scheme and drinks deals to attract students. Still billed as 'Newcastle’s original disco', it has been all things to all men, and women, over the years.

Anyone who hasn't been there no doubt will still have heard about it, being one of the few original city clubs to stay the course. It once thrived upon its reputation for an older clientele, with its over-25 entry policy, smart dress code and swanky casino tables.

The policy was said to have been introduced in the seventies when the club was owned by a Newcastle-born pop singer called David McBeth who had toured with the likes of The Beatles and Roy Orbison. One of his strict rules of the time dictated women could not be served pints, only halves - which apparently did not go down half as badly with the then-customers as you might expect.

A manager around that time was Tommy Wright who, back in 2016, shared pictures of the venue's 2012 facelift and memories of visits to the club by famous names. These included football greats including local favourites Gazza, Jack Charlton and Super Mac, as well as Chris Waddle and Vinnie Jones, plus celebrities ranging from the late Norman Wisdom to local actor Tim Healy. Tommy recalled at the time: “They all just mixed with the regulars, it was that type of club."

Grey's was sold to the Ladhar family in 1996. In 2017 it was announced that Rise Newcastle would be taking over the venue, with the events and clubbing brand now keeping the late-night party spirit going. See its Facebook page here and share with us any of your own memories of Grey's Club from across the decades.