Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder apologises after comments about players celebrating prompted backlash

United earned their long-awaited first victory of the season on Tuesday evening against Newcastle United, when Billy Sharp scored the winner from the penalty spot and was mobbed by his teammates.

Asked about the celebrations afterwards, Wilder said it was "unnatural" not to celebrate, adding: "How can they not? They are team-mates and I don't see any way they can just walk back to the halfway line and show no emotion after what they've been through for a long period."

But his comments prompted a furious backlash from broadcaster Adrian Durham on his Talksport show. Durham raged on air about not hugging his daughter for a year, describing Wilder's comments as "a disgrace".

Footballers are tested twice-weekly for Covid-19, and train together all week inside strict guidelines.

And today, at his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash with Spurs, Wilder said: "You're caught up in the game and I'm a busy man at the minute, so I apologise personally if my comments were found to be insensitive.

"We've had some instructions over the last week from the Premier League regarding the situation and I don't think I was on my own as a manager, the majority have said the same thing.

"We understand we have to adapt and do better and we will try to do that. The longer this goes on the players will adapt more but the message for us is right. We've all been affected by it, we all know people that have been affected by the virus and people who are working at the NHS. And we know people who have suffered with it at our club.

"We've had five cases out of 1,300 tests, which shows how serious we're taking the protocols. But I apologise, you do get caught up talking about the question of emotion.

"We'll all do our bit to keep football going and adhere to protocols. I apologise if it was insensitive but I was answering the question, like other Premier League managers."

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