Robson leaves Blades - Reports - Sport in brief

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Former Blades coach Kevin Blackwell is among the favourites to take charge.

The 51-year-old had met with the club's plc chairman Kevin McCabe in Brussels yesterday to discuss his future as manager at Bramall Lane.

The former Middlesbrough, Bradford and West Brom manager had been under increasing pressure since replacing Neil Warnock in the summer after the club's expected promotion challenge has failed to materialise.

The Blades lie 16th in the Coca-Cola Championship and have won just nine of their 32 matches under Robson this season.

Robson, 51, made several high-profile signings during the summer, with striker James Beattie arriving from Everton for a club record fee of £4million.

But a growing number of Blades fans have become increasingly disillusioned since the turn of the year and demonstrated in the club car park after the home defeat to Crystal Palace at the end of December and again after last week's goalless draw with Scunthorpe.

McCabe, who is seeking compensation for the club's controversial relegation from the Barclays Premier League last season, insisted Robson was the right man to lead the Blades back to the top flight after the defeat to Palace and pleaded with supporters to get behind the former England skipper.

But Robson's under-achievers won just one league match in seven attempts since the return of Palace manager Warnock to Bramall Lane and McCabe has decided to act.

Should United appoint Blackwell it would be a popular move among many fans who credited him as pivotal in the Blades' 2002-03 season where they reached the semi-finals of both the FA Cup and League Cup to be beaten by Arsenal and Liverpool respectively as well as the play-off final against Wolves.