Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: Taking a knee was powerful

Players and staff from both clubs and the match officials all took a knee when referee Michael Oliver blew his whistle to start the game.

The co-ordinated moment, broadcast around the world in the league’s first match back after suspension, followed discussions between Villa’s players and their Blades counterparts.

Villa defender Tyrone Mings attended a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Birmingham earlier this month.

Smith said: “I’ve spoken to Tyrone quite a lot. He went on the protest march and he had my full support. It is something he passionately believes in.

“We thought we needed to do something, in the first game, to make a statement.

“We threw a few things around and we just thought the start of the game would be a really powerful message to get over to everybody.

“There is a lot of solidarity in football. Once our players had talked to Sheffield United’s players and our staff they were all 100 per cent behind it.

“We are both big community clubs who play a big part in the communities of Birmingham and Sheffield and there is no room for racism in society at all.

“It is a movement we are behind and we thought it would make a massive statement. I hope it did.”

The match went on to finish 0-0 as Villa missed a chance to move out of the relegation.

Yet Smith took heart from the overall performance and reserved particular praise for striker Keinan Davis, who impressed on his full Premier League debut.

“It was a really good performance from Keinan,” he said. “He is a player me and JT speak about regularly and say we would not want to play against him.

“He has done really well in practice games in training. I just felt he would be a handful for Sheffield United’s defenders. Unfortunately the keeper has pulled off a magnificent save from him, while he was inches away from tapping in an Anwar El Ghazi cross.

“I was pleased with his performance but disappointed for him he did not get the goal.”