“Every three weeks I need my hair cutting.” There’s a video, much beloved of Sheffield United supporters, of Chris Wilder speaking to local radio during the club’s city-centre celebration of their promotion from League One in 2017. He has, shall we say, been enjoying the day.
“I park in Cole Brothers. I walk past the city hall. Hot Pants, I used to go in. Every Saturday night. Best night ever. I walk down there – I’ve dived into the old fountain at the top of Fargate – walk past Josephine’s, how many times have I been in there, how many times were we refused entry when we were players.”
It’s rambling, it’s deeply passionate and it says much about Wilder’s connection to his city and his club. His point – because he does have one – is that every three weeks on his way to the barbers, on a stroll through streets and past landmarks that he has known and loved for decades, he would look up at the city hall and think “what might happen in May, what’ll it be like if we produce”. He has another celebration – an even bigger one – to look forward to now.
That passion, that connection, is undoubtedly a crucial element to Wilder’s success at the club since he strode through the doors and tore down the motivational posters around the dressing room in the summer of 2016. His arrival came on the back of the club’s lowest finish – 11th in the third tier – in 33 years. What has followed since – two promotions in three seasons, a return to the Premier League for the first time in over a decade – has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Wilder’s badge-thumping, heart-on-sleeve approach should not mean his team get painted as simply rugged triers. The last two United sides promoted to the top flight – Dave Bassett’s team of 1989-90 and Neil Warnock’s 2005-06 version – had talent but got by more on perspiration than inspiration. Wilder was part of that Bassett squad, hence those nights out and fountain plunges, but his team are anything but direct. It was fitting that for their first goal in the promotion-clinching win over Ipswich on Saturday the assist came from Jack O’Connell, overlapping on the left. From centre-back.
Much of the credit for the team’s style of play should also go to Wilder’s assistant, Alan Knill. While Wilder was talking through his haircut routine, you can picture Knill quietly peering out at the celebrating throng from the shadows and making mental notes about how crowd patterns might be applied to set-piece routines. After the win against Ipswich Wilder, not for the first time, had to shove Knill physically towards the Bramall Lane Kop who were singing his name. Their combination of fire and ice seems to work perfectly.
But while the Saturday scenes were jubilant, the summer mood had hardly been one of rampant optimism. Last season United had been in promotion contention in the autumn but fell away badly. Two wins in the last nine were hardly reason to expect a promotion tilt and the season had ended with Wilder threatening to walk away if the ownership wrangle between the two 50% shareholders – Kevin McCabe and the Saudi prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud – was not resolved. A ceasefire was called but boardroom intrigue is likely to raise its ugly head again in the high court this summer.
The sale of David Brooks to Bournemouth for around £11m provided room for manoeuvre in the transfer market but they spent fees on only John Egan, the Republic of Ireland centre-half who became the club’s record signing at £5m from Brentford, and Oliver Norwood from Brighton. David McGoldrick, Martin Crainie and Conor Washington arrived on free transfers while the goalkeeper Dean Henderson joined on loan from Manchester United. Five of the first-choice XI this season were also regulars for the side in League One.
And the sense of unease was compounded when they lost their opening two games of the season to Swansea and Middlesbrough. A recovery followed but on Christmas Day United sat sixth, seven points behind Leeds in second, nine off top-of-the-table Norwich. Since then, though, the Blades have been exceptional – 15 wins and five draws in 22 games, a better record than anyone else in the division and at a points-per-game rate that would take them clear of 100 for the season.
Squad depth has made a crucial difference. The moment last season’s campaign was derailed can be pinpointed to the broken leg suffered by the key midfielder Paul Coutts at Burton in November, but this season the Blades have coped admirably with the bumps in the road – not least in the two wins over Easter, achieved without their injured captain and top scorer Billy Sharp, who returned for a third spell at the club in 2015 and, 89 goals in 175 games later, has firmly established his place in United folklore.
Whether this squad can add another chapter by surviving next season can wait. For now they can look forward to a summer of anticipation, a Premier League campaign and, in the next week or two, perhaps another sparkling oration from Wilder on the city hall steps.
The Guardian Sport
