Chris Wilder makes Sheffield United January transfer point after owner conversations over much-needed refresh
“I know...” - Chris Wilder makes Sheffield United January transfer point after owner conversations over much-needed refresh
Sheffield United have already begun planning for a vital January transfer window as Chris Wilder plots a much-needed refresh to his Blades squad in a bid to salvage something from their season. In the short term the priority is addressing their horror run of form, with an eighth league defeat in nine games at Hull City yesterday keeping them rooted to the bottom of the Championship table.
But Wilder is also keen to put his own stamp on the group he reinherited from Ruben Selles last month, when the Blades’ owners called time on their disastrous experiment of appointing the Spaniard as Wilder’s successor.
Speaking after defeat at the MKM Stadium Wilder was keen to stress he is not trying to divide himself from his players but there is a clear need for the Blades’ key men to step up and be counted on the pitch, starting when the season resumes against Watford in just under a fortnight after the current international break.
United’s fragility is clear to see and was never more evident than when Harrison Burrows, a leading light last season who has dimmed considerably since, fluffed a late penalty and gave City goalkeeper Ivor Pandur the opportunity to make a comfortable save with four minutes left.
Chris Wilder makes Sheffield United January transfer point after owner conversations over much-needed refresh
And work has already begun on freshening things up in January, with owners COH Sports set to receive Wilder’s thoughts on what needs to change when the post-Christmas sales begin. On current form, it can’t come soon enough.
“I was already looking towards January when I was potentially coming in,” Wilder admitted. “That work's already been done. So, yes, there's a document going to [the owners] already. I know who takes us forward and who doesn't. And there'll be an honest conversation with that. And hopefully people, I'd like to think, will respect my contribution to that and my thought process on that.
“That's what gets us out of this situation and what moves us forward. So, yes, there are going to be conversations with the owners. But I've had nothing but support from them. I think they've seen that we've turned it around in a small space of time in terms of quite a few things.
“But what I haven't delivered and what we haven't delivered for them as a collective, in their patience for me and their support for me and giving me the opportunity, are the results. So, I'm quite down about that.
“But we should have done. And we have an opportunity to work now. We'll continually work through that to give them the ideas, from my experience in the Championship. And what I believe will make us better and stronger going forward.”