Sheffield United keen to re-establish promotion foundations as Chris Wilder sounds Oli McBurnie Hull City warning
Sheffield United keen to re-establish promotion foundations as Chris Wilder sounds Oli McBurnie Hull City warning
Chris Wilder has warned Hull City’s quartet of former Sheffield United players that their past association will be put to one side as the Blades look to sign off for the international break with a positive result on the road this afternoon. Four United men are expected to line up against their former club at the MKM Stadium.
Oli McBurnie is in red-hot form in front of goal after returning to England in the summer following a year in Spain, joining former teammates John Lundstram and John Egan in East Yorkshire. A fourth former Blade, Regan Slater, was already at the club.
Three of those four were part of the United group that won promotion to the Premier League back in 2019 and went on to challenge for Europe the following campaign, eventually finishing ninth after their run-in was derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Wilder has immense respect for them all, and spoke particularly effusively about McBurnie in his pre-match press conference this week. The striker was an attainable target for United in the summer, even offering to effectively come in on trial, but then-boss Ruben Selles was not keen and Hull instead swooped.
Sheffield United keen to re-establish promotion foundations as Chris Wilder sounds Oli McBurnie Hull City warning
A record of six goals and three assists in eight Championship games so far suggest it was a good decision for both parties, with United instead left wondering what may have been as Wilder prepares for the clash with Sergej Jakirović without a focal point No.9 striker.
“There’s a lot of respect there but come kick-off time, we’ll be into them just as much as they'll want to win,” Wilder said of the former Blades quartet. “As I’ve said, we don't like losing. And for that period, of course, they're the opposition, and they're standing in our way of us trying to gain a big three points.”
Now in his third managerial spell at Bramall Lane, Wilder is focusing on the future but also mindful of the lessons of the past. The United group of 2018/19 was a special one, bonded together by a remarkable success, and those connections remain to this day.
So many of that group returned to South Yorkshire for Chris Basham’s testimonial game while the bond was further strengthened by the tragic passing of George Baldock, who was a key part of that fairytale period in United history.
“I've got to say, I love them boys to bits,” Wilder added of the former Blades quartet. “And you saw with Bash's testimonial, everybody turning up and the close connection that we're trying to build again.
“We built last year and we have to rebuild that now into this new group of players. So that wasn't overnight. That wasn't just clicking a finger and all of a sudden pressing a button and it all drops in.
“It took a little bit of time. But you've seen what happened in the time that it took and where they are at now, in terms of their relationship as a group and their memories that they've got.
“That's what we tried to create last year and we were well on the way with it. We’re going to have to try and create that and I'm positive that we can create that off the pitch. But most importantly, as everybody wants to see, is the success on it as well.”
United travel east bottom of the Championship table after their wretched start, with Wilder targeting the upcoming international break as a potentially big period after a breathless first three weeks back at his boyhood club.
“Yes, we're working on the job,” he admitted. “We're working tirelessly, in at seven and gone at five. I think the old Liverpool manager's just done an article about how consuming it is and how it doesn't leave you when you're in and you're all in.
“So I think the break just gives us time to work on stuff. And it gives us time to individually get into players individually, and to speak to all of the group and tell them what we expect. And they're learning. They're learning about me. They're learning about what I want Bramall Lane to feel like, which I talked to them about on Tuesday before the game.
“It was pretty difficult in terms of getting all those messages over before the Charlton game, because there was so much to go at physically and tactically. But the mentality of how we want it to look and how we want the team to look, that’s how they want it to look as well. And Bramall Lane is a massive part of that.”