Alan Biggs: The crunching gear change facing Chris Wilder and Sheffield United

Now, approaching his 20th anniversary of doing the job, Wilder is being forced to contemplate a new experience - his first relegation.

And with that, in all likelihood, will come an equally abrupt and unwelcome shift in how he views the immediate future.

Because keeping what he holds at Sheffield United, rather than building on it, will be the cornerstone of what would be, next season, his fifth promotion as a manager.

It’s not standing still exactly because sometimes holding on to, and developing, what you have can mean progress.

But it will be a crunching change of gear from Wilder’s previous summers at Bramall Lane when his drive has been to keep recruiting to maintain momentum.

His public and private exhortations were all geared to that aim.

Now he has chosen to highlight the importance of keeping players rather than signing them and I believe that is of some significance.

My column last week had sounded a similar note, in fact, having highlighted that United have any number of players who could attract offers.

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What’s interesting is that the Blades boss felt moved to make clear his resolve to retain all his best players.

Was it a thinly veiled declaration of his terms for continuing in the job? Certainly, I feel a fundamental consideration.

Talk of tension behind the scenes has never been quelled. Indeed, both manager and owner went public over a difference of opinion on the handling of the January transfer window.

In fairness to both parties, it wasn’t a clear-cut argument either way. A significant number of fans who normally rally behind Wilder on every issue upheld the prudence of avoiding an expensive outlay on a potentially lost cause.

However, if the logic of that argument is to be carried forward, it has to mean the board has insured against being stampeded into parting with on-field assets in the likely event of relegation back to the Championship.

Meantime, there’s the visit of last season’s champions to look forward to this Sunday and in bizarre circumstances.

Liverpool’s losing run in the Premier League (four games) is actually worse than United’s (three).