Sheffield United has taken the first steps to sign a football development agreement with Australian A-League Premiers Central Coast Mariners.

The affiliation is a substantial boost to the Blades as they continue to develop worldwide links to strengthen playing squads at all levels.

Plc Chairman Kevin McCabe, who announced a provisional (heads of terms) co-operation agreement today (26th Feb) during a business trip Down Under, said: "What we have agreed in principle with the Mariners could be of great benefit to Sheffield United.

"It will mean the Blades having first choice over their best players to either play for us as appropriate, join our 'sister' clubs or to be placed in Europe with an opportunity to share the transfer proceeds," added Mr McCabe, who helped bring Australian international David Carney to Bramall Lane when he was last in Australia.

Mr McCabe added: "The Mariners will benefit from loan players with some of our young players from the Academy or players from our sister clubs going out to gain further experience."

United have made great strides in recent years developing and expanding its player development system. Sister clubs at Ferencvaros (Hungary), Chengdu (China) and Royal White Star (Belgium) have been established. A co-operation agreement with Brazilian giants Sao Paulo is expected to be concluded next month.

New United boss Kevin Blackwell recently spent some time at Sao Paulo monitoring the development of young players and is a keen advocate of developing playing links across the globe.

He said: "This is a progressive move by the Blades to develop and nurture players from one of Australia's leading who could become members of the first team squad."

The Mariners, who feature a number of Australian internationals, were Premiers of this year's Hyundai A-League in Australia. They missed out by a single goal to Newcastle Jets in the end of season Grand Final this weekend, a game covered by Sky Sports. They have qualified for the Asia Cup, the equivalent of Europe's Champion's League.

Known as the Yellows (because of the colour of the club shirt), the Mariners were formed in 2004 as one of eight clubs to part in the A-League which was launched in 2005. Based at Gosford, on the central New South Wales coast, has a 20,000 capacity ground by the name of the Blue Tongue Central Coast Stadium.

Other aspects of the Co-operation Agreement include:
- To develop a primary academy on the Central Coast and 'copycat' academies in other areas of Australia
- The Blades and the Mariners to mastermind the redevelopment of land within the confines of the stadium and beyond in order to develop new revenue streams through leisure and retail facilities.

It is expected a formal co-operation agreement between the two clubs will be exchanged in the Summer.