After missing out on the League One play-off final in the 2014/15 campaign, Sheffield United were looking to go one better the following year in hoping to secure a move back to the Championship.

To do that, new manager Nigel Adkins had to source what he needed to have a side capable of challenging after the disappointment of a semi-final defeat the year prior.

That all came to a head when on July 25, 2015, Adkins added offensive reinforcements with the season-long loan signing of Conor Sammon from Derby County.

The then 28-year-old moved to Bramall Lane after a four-goal campaign in the Championship, with the club hoping that dropping down a level, he would be able to become a regular scorer.

The signing garnered a negative response from many of the Blades’ fans, with them wondering why the club would sanction such a loan deal.

It took Sammon three league appearances before he scored his first goals for the club, a brace in the 3-1 win over Peterborough after drawing blanks in his first two games in the third tier.

After those goals, he would not score for a further five games in the league.

Sammon would only manage five league goals that year having had to make do with bit parts here and there due to the emphatic form of a certain Billy Sharp, who managed seven times the number of goals, with 21 - all in the league.

Sammon played 33 times for the Blades having been in and out of the team that had to fit in Sharp, Che Adams and Jose Baxter, too.

Sheffield United had an eclectic mix of strikers on their hands with Adkins keen to give them all a go, and that was to the detriment of the Derby loanee.

Having played so many games, it was a lack of consistent minutes that made his loan spell less prolific than perhaps it should have been.

With his contract at Derby running out, his best chance of a deal would be at his then loan club.

But a permanent contract was not forthcoming, and with the expiration of the loan he left the club and was freed from Pride Park, too.

The Blades cut their losses, and with the initial reaction of lethargy towards the signing, his situation and position at the club did little to cull the fans’ thoughts on what a bad signing it was.

He was outshone by Sharp and struggled to keep up with his offensive teammates in a loan move that never really got going despite a hefty amount of appearances.