Sheffield United have today confirmed the departure of popular former assistant manager Alan Knill.
A statement from the club read: “United can confirm that Alan Knill has left the club, by mutual consent. Assistant manager since 2016, the paperwork has been completed in the last 24 hours to enable him to leave Bramall Lane with immediate effect. The board would like to thank Alan for his hard work and wish him well for the future.”
Number two to Chris Wilder, he was an integral part of the club’s rise from League One to the Premier League. Preferring to take a back seat away from the limelight, Wilder would often highlight Knill’s role in their relationship. Taking charge of a lot of the day-to-day training, it was Knill who was the inspiration for the famous overlapping centre half tactic, which confused many teams along the way. Struggling to break teams down in the early stages of the season in League One as opponents would often come to Bramall Lane and park the bus, Knill felt one way round that was to send a central defender forward to create an overlap for United to exploit.
