The Blades will utilise John Pemberton's impressive coaching pedigree from his time with Nottingham Forest as the blueprint for the development of young talent at Bramall Lane.
The new Academy manager appreciates that at the City Ground he was afforded the time he needed to mould several highly talented youngsters who went on to become big names in the game:
"The biggest thing for the club was a commitment for a long while and I had that. It is important for the Academy to be a support network for whatever the club needs if it is to produce players and I did that at Forest for thirteen years.
"Initially it was producing players to sell to keep the club afloat, for example in the case of Jermaine Jenas who went to Newcastle for £5 million. It brought pressure because I was developing players and trying to get them ready quickly for another reason.
"But the fundamentals are supporting the club in whatever capacity and to do that you need continuity because you can't change the Academy Manager every year or two. I was asked to commit long-term and I was happy to do so."
The ex United defender, who also played a huge part in the development of the likes of current Spurs defender Michael Dawson and Andy Reid, has already made a start on putting his stamp on things at Shirecliffe, particularly spotting new talent at an early age:
"I came in last week and had numerous meetings, going through everything with every department and individual, basically spelling out how I want to go forward.
"The recruitment area is massive and it is something I am going to be looking at because we are competing with a host of clubs like Wednesday, Leeds, Barnsley and Forest so we need to be aggressive in that.
"I want United's Academy to be known for producing youngsters - which it has done in the past because it has been very well-run by Ron Reid and Kevin Fogg and their coaches - and also for bringing young coaches and even referees through.
"We had one referee from Forest who recently officiated in the Champions League with Chelsea and we were proud he came through the system, taking games on a Sunday and progressing through. It was nice to see him achieve what he has.
"I want the Academy to be vibrant with good ideas, and to get some fresh ideas across myself. I have been all over the world looking at football, studying young players right across the globe looking at what everyone does and identifying how we can copy or adapt to what we require."
