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Kevin Blackwell's men who will embark to the north-east for the season curtain raiser, will have to face Gareth Southgate's relegated outfit a day earlier (Friday 7th August 2009) as Sky Sports have chosen the encounter for live coverage. This will equate to the game being the first tie of the domestic season, in the whole of the UK.
The Blades have featured in the opening game of the season in their respective league, four out of the last five times:
04/05 - Leicester (H) - Sky Sports (kicked-off the Coca-Cola Championship campaign)
05/06 - Liverpool (H) - Sky Sports (kicked-off the Premiership campaign)
08/09 - Birmingham (A) - Sky Sports (kicked-off the Coca-Cola Championship campaign)
09/10 - Middlesbrough (A) - Sky Sports (will kick-off the Coca-Cola Championship campaign)
The Sheffield United official website is reporting that the game will commence at 7:45pm, but Boro's official website have published that the match will start at 8:00pm. The strange decision by Sky Sports to pull the game forward one day and to put it as an evening game has got down inauspiciously in South Yorkshire with travelling issues a concern.