Sheffield United restores “respect” following a difficult season, but Chris Wilder looks to the past to finish the job.
After last season’s brutal Premier League experience, Chris Wilder thinks Sheffield United has already re-established itself as a “respected” football club. Nevertheless, he is committed to seeing the job through to the end and guiding them back there through the playoffs.
The Blades return to Bramall Lane for the final time this season tomorrow for their second-leg clash with Bristol City, carrying a sizeable 3-0 advantage into the game after a brilliant first leg down south last Thursday.
Wilder is insistent that the job is not yet done, with City travelling north with nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain if they can upset the odds and turn around the tie. But he also did not try to hide the fact that his side have put themselves in a great position to reach the final at Wembley later this month, where either Sunderland or Coventry City lay in wait.
“The narrative, as always, is that the team that’s gone so close is the one massively under pressure,” Wilder said. “I’ve got to say, I never saw that on Thursday night and I’ve not seen that in the players. There are certain ways you lose football matches and I 100 per cent don’t believe it is because of that.
“The narrative externally will be that, that it’s all on Sheffield United. ‘They need to go up, financially they need to go up.’ That isn’t the case. Obviously, the effect [promotion] has on clubs is absolutely enormous and huge and can last for quite a while. So, of course, we’ll accept that if we manage to get to a Wembley final and manage to go up and get promoted like all the other clubs. So, you can’t get away from that.
“We’ve had massive challenges this season and we’ve got another one and hopefully another one after that. All focus, as I said, on Monday night. The players have been outstanding and I’m really proud to lead this group. It’s been a tough year for everybody, but we’ve come through it.
“We’ve got over some difficult situations and circumstances and we’re here on the cusp of hopefully another successful night for us, representing everything that we do well at the club, respecting the opposition that I’ve done consistently through my talk to you guys and talk to the players.
“Nothing is won, but we’ve had an outstanding season and we have another opportunity which is rightly given to us to gain promotion. And we’re incredibly determined to go and take that opportunity.”
Wilder’s legacy at Bramall Lane is long since secure courtesy of his remarkable first spell in charge. But promotion this season after the challenges of last term, and the summer’s recruitment push, which would also end the club’s supposed play-off “curse” and deliver a first Wembley win in exactly 100 years, would arguably eclipse everything that’s gone before.
Asked how badly he wants that to happen, Wilder admitted: “More than anything that I’ve ever wanted in my life professionally. The determination and the desire from everybody in this football club is to go to Wembley and give ourselves that opportunity.
“Of course, the first thing that we wanted to do was to gain [automatic] promotion and unfortunately we fell a little bit short on that. But the opportunity now is to go to Wembley and make our own history, put ourselves in those annals of famous Sheffield United teams as well.
The journey has been an amazing one, and I’ve talked about it for a long time. “There’s still a lot of work to be done, but when you come into a season, you want to achieve something and you want to be part of our great history.” “I think we’re there now. But we want to go and make that next step, and we’re incredibly determined to go and do that.” “The club has given me some incredible moments and I like to think that we’ve done our part, myself and the staff, in trying to help the club get back to where it wants to be. An established, respected, proper football club.”
