Chris Wilder answers Sheffield United promotion question amid telling January transfer admission
Chris Wilder answers Sheffield United promotion question amid telling January transfer admission
Chris Wilder insists he remains “excited” by what his Sheffield United side can still achieve this season - but is refusing to publicly fixate too much on the potential of what would be a fairytale promotion tilt. The Blades remain in the bottom three ahead of their midweek home clash with Portsmouth.
But Sunday’s derby win over rivals Wednesday has breathed fresh belief into a fanbase who are still scarred by an early-season run of six straight league defeats under Ruben Selles which left a side tipped as pre-season promotion contenders floundering at the wrong end of the table.
Wilder has turned things around slower than he would have expected but there are enough signs that United are approaching calmer waters now, even before they went to Hillsborough and hammered their dearest rivals 3-0 on Sunday.
The challenge now is to use the momentum of that victory in the coming weeks and months, with a busy winter period bringing enough games for United to climb the table if they can secure the results they require.
Asked ahead of the Pompey clash whether promotion this season is still a possibility, Wilder admitted: “I think that you can't look ahead of yourself too much in this profession and especially this league. So, the most important game is the next one.
Chris Wilder answers Sheffield United promotion question amid telling January transfer admission
“Listen, if we string a run of results together, it gets you up the league. If you string another run of results together, it gets you even higher up the league. So, we just want to keep improving.
“I believe we are working our way through the performance levels, there are things that we need to get better at and to keep doing well. If we don't get that win, recovering and going again and seeing where it takes you.
“I think there will always be people who will want to speculate and see how you go. If you lose, usually you're going down. If you win, everything's great and you're going up. So, a little bit of calmness about it, I suppose, is the best way of going about it. Just getting on with it, and dealing with that next opponent.”
If United can string a few results together between now and the turn of the year, there is also the tantalising prospect of a few key incomings to rebalance the squad to Wilder’s liking. But a bigger task may be moving players on, with none of the summer loan signings so far convincing in a United shirt.
“I'm excited about what we can achieve,” Wilder added. “I still know there's an unbelievable amount of work to be done. I’m still talking about January; I still think that we need to move players on and we need to make some difficult decisions.
“But if we can get to January and pick some points up, I'm really excited about what we can achieve in the new year. Players will definitely want to come to us in January. We're working hard from that point of view.
“There are exciting times ahead but some work to be done as well, as I keep saying. And this week, we just don't want it to be a one performance, one game week. We want to build on what happened on Sunday, move it on to Wednesday and hopefully go into Saturday, and round off a really good week.”