The part of Sheffield United’s victory over Luton Town on Saturday that manager Chris Wilder found most satisfying was not how it affected the team’s Premier League standing or slim chances of survival, but rather how it improved ties with the club’s supporters. The 3-1 victory at Kenilworth Road produced moments that some of United’s new players had not experienced since moving to Bramall Lane and that the team had been waiting for all season.
Midfielder Vini Souza was front and centre as manager Wilder urged him towards the ecstatic away fans to bask in their praise. As he left the field, his name was sung into the Luton darkness. Tapping the Blades emblem on his left chest brought back memories of some of the best moments he experienced during his previous tenure as manager, but this is a new United, a different era, and much more work needs to be done before they can even consider surviving this season.
But in the manager’s eyes, this was an important step – taken just a week after a 5-0 home hammering by Aston Villa left Blades fans questioning, at best, their own players’ heart and desire. “It was a big moment, to win a game of football together,” Wilder admitted. “They haven’t done it because of the break up of the team and the amount of players who left.
“It’s basically a new team who are learning on the job in the Premier League, and it’s ruthless. It’s not like you’re learning in the Championship, when you can get a result but come in and say we can get better and this and still work on that. Here, in the Premier League, as we know, you can’t do that, and you can get punished.
The players’ self-esteem will increase somewhat, but for me, the most important thing is that the fans will once again feel connected to the team. What was required was that. I’m not attempting to curry favour with the supporters because I know where they are and they know where I am. To give themselves a chance to close that gap, the players and the supporters need to feel a connection, as they do now that they are here at Luton.
“Perhaps that will help a little. The scenes at the conclusion perfectly captured the fantastic attitudes of both the fans and ourselves towards the game. In the Premier League, it’s hard to win a football match; it’s more harder to win one away. They therefore merited that occasion.”
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