"It's a ruthless business" - Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has little sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday
Chris Wilder sends out his Sheffield United team to face Sheffield Wednesday at Bramall Lane on Sunday with their city rivals facing imminent relegation to League One
Sheffield United will show Wednesday no mercy on Sunday as they look to secure a historic double-double, which could condemn their city rivals to the earliest relegation in English football history.
A miserable season for the Owls could yet have the most miserable twist at Bramall Lane if results go against them elsewhere.
Only a specific set of results involving their relegation rivals will see Wednesday officially relegated to League One on Saturday, while they may walk out at Bramall Lane knowing that only a win will stave off the inevitable for another few days.
The prospect of hammering the final nail in their rivals' coffin is inevitably one Unitedites are relishing, even if boss Chris Wilder insisted it was not in his thinking as he prepares his side for a game they are widely expected to win.
If they do so, they will register a derby double over their neighbours for a second season in a row - a feat they have not achieved since 1953. It remains to be seen when the two Steel City rivals will face each other again.
Wednesday's torrid season has seen them deducted 18 points by the EFL for various instances of financial mismanagement, which saw players and staff go unpaid for lengthy periods. They have won just once all season, none at Hillsborough, and travel across the city 41 points from safety.
Chris Wilder fully focused on Sheffield United
In a purely football sense, though, there will be little sympathy from anyone of a Blades persuasion; as would be the case if the shoe was on the other foot. "I think from the players' point of view and maybe people that haven't been paid, of course there has to be [sympathy] off the back of that," admitted Wilder.
"From a football point of view I don't think anybody's ever been sympathetic towards me or our football club. We have to look after our own football club, so I've got enough on looking after our own football club to start talking about sympathy and stuff like that.
"It's a ruthless business. When you don't get it right, you get criticised; when you don't get it right, you lose your job. When you don't get it right you lose big games of football. There are a lot of clubs in this country and we're all looking after our own club.
"That's really where I'm at and what I'm solely interested in and focused on is improving our league position. Heading towards 50 points. You might laugh and joke at that, but I don't think anybody should because of the position we were in [after a terrible start to the season, which saw seven straight losses before Ruben Selles was sacked].
"We were in a relegation dogfight. So to rescue that situation has been tough, to put us in a position where we're looking upwards. That's the trajectory that I want us to go, forward and upwards. If we win a game of football on Sunday afternoon, it sticks another three points onto our total and hopefully we climb the table.
"It's one that I've used all the time to the players. When we're 24th I want to be 23rd, when we're 12th I want to be 11th. And if we're top, I want to be top by 10."
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