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Doyle sets out promotion target

Image: Michael Doyle: Looking forward to a better campaign

Sheffield United skipper Michael Doyle said the club will be targeting automatic promotion next season.

The Blades, relegated to League One in 2011, endured a miserable start to the current campaign under David Weir, who had been installed as manager last June only to lose his job four months later after winning just one of his first 10 league games in charge. "Next season the aim is a top two finish or at the very least the play-offs," said midfielder Doyle. "We have been so near in the last two seasons prior to this one, so hopefully for everyone connected with the club it will be a case of fourth time lucky." The Blades slipped to second from bottom in the table following a 3-0 defeat at Crewe in early February, but have been transformed under Nigel Clough, who replaced Weir at the end of October. Clough steered his side to the FA Cup semi-finals after wins against Aston Villa, Fulham, Nottingham Forest and Charlton and victory at Oldham on Tuesday night will lift them level on points with seventh-placed Swindon. Doyle added: "The gaffer is demanding we finish strongly with next season in mind and the players are determined to enter the summer in high spirits. "We've had a remarkable second-half of the season, although now with the play-offs out of reach you can't help but think what might have been if we hadn't had started so badly. "But we have to focus on the positives, what we have achieved in both the league and the FA Cup will give us momentum ahead of returning for pre-season." United will play Coventry at home in their final game on Saturday.

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