Every emotional word Chris Wilder said about the loss of Sheffield United legend George Baldock

Sheffield United remains a club in mourning following the tragic death of former players George Baldock, who was found dead at his Athens home on Wednesday.

An outpouring of grief has enveloped around Bramall Lane and at the club’s training grounds at Shirecliffe and the agony is felt none more so than by boss Chris Wilder.

Wilder brought Baldock to Sheffield United and he would go on to become one of his most important signings and a player who earned legendary status for his performances in a seven year spell in the red and white shirt of the Blades.

Speaking for the first time since the news broke of George’s passing, Wilder described how much he meant to him, to his team mates and to United fans.

“Just stunned, really. Speaking to my wife, and I think it's quite matter of fact, I think we're getting to that age where we're going to more and more funerals. And obviously through your life, you lose people you love and you respect. But this just feels completely different to everybody, and everybody I've spoke to.

“Obviously pals of mine are massive Sheffield United fans, people that I'm working with, players, current players, ex-players that I've been in contact with, and they've been in contact with me, managers, managers out the Premier League, old managers that he played for, just everybody's just absolutely stunned and numb, really. 

“I think that's the feeling that we've all got about it and less than 48 hours still feeling the same. You look at it really selfishly as well, I think. I managed George for a number of years. But really, I shouldn't look at it from a selfish point of view. I should look at it from the devastation that it's caused to his family, his young family, to Annabelle, to the Dignums, to Sam and his brother, to the Baldock family. What they are feeling right now. So if I'm feeling this, and players, ex players, staff and supporters are feeling this. What are they feeling at this particular moment? So it's just just tragic.”

Why was George so popular amongst everyone?

“Loads of things have been talked about and absolutely spot on by everybody, what they've said and how they they talked about him as a footballer, but most importantly, as a person, as a human being, so everything is spot on. What he was like as a player through that magical period that we had, and he wasn't one to grab the headlines. [Billy Sharp] was scoring goals, and the other players were playing their part. But George was a huge personality in that, huge driver, a huge culture carrier, in everything that we did and how I wanted it to look, how the staff wanted it to look, how Sheffield United supporters wanted their team to look and how they wanted their players to act and represent them and the way they they wanted their players to go about their business.

“George just epitomised everything on the pitch and off the pitch. He was a humble person off of it. Listen, we had rows, we had bust ups, we had words. I think you would expect that between the two personalities that we're talking about, but we're all driving it forward and after the same outcome and after the same goal in everything that we did Monday to Friday. I'm a massive one in terms of standards, and how even training should look and he was ultra competitive, and as were the group. And he drove that. He drove that with the other boys. Just even thinking about it now, a family's lost a son. Players have lost a brother. Those boys that went to battle with George, and he stood up to every challenge. Just over the last, sort of, say, 24 hours, remember the battles that he had on the pitch. 

“When he first come to the football club, the promotion season, the end of season festivities, celebrations, he was front and centre of it all on the stage downstairs, the Ole, Ole, Ole song that him and John Egan, a few the other boys sort of designed and how that caught fire and then his performances in the Premier League, you know, week in, week out. It used to make me smile because one day it was Wilf Zaha, next it was Sterling. The next game it was Grealish, all these absolute top drawer players, and he just saw him off game by game, and they respected him. But when the whistle blew, he was after them, and he set the tone for everything along with the others, and he was an absolute pleasure to manage. As I said, we had times where we fell out, we had words, but you know, we all knew that you've got to put it to bed pretty quickly. And the main ambition, and the main focus was being successful in his football club, and certainly was a massive success.”

How Wilder got to know George

“The culture, we tried to set in 2016 with the first year in League One, and then George came. I'd watched him. I'd known about him. He couldn't get in MK Dons team, but they were very good at the time. Karl Robinson had an excellent side there. And he went on loan to Northampton, and then he went on loan to Oxford. And I watched him. I remember him was speaking to ‘Robbo’ and saying, you've got to recall George, because he's absolutely ripping it up at Oxford. Him and Kemar Roofe came in, and I watched him and looked at him and thought, he'll do for me. He's absolutely perfect in what we're trying to achieve; athletic, physical attitude, and could play as well.

“You don't get to the stage of your career, what he did playing in the Premier League and then playing internationally, which was a fantastic achievement, by not having ability as well. Wanting to learn, wanting to work hard, wanting to compete, wanting to play, and wanting to win most importantly. So it seems a small chunk of change that we paid for George in that period. 

“There always be your TCs [Tony Currie] and your [Len] Badgers and your Brian Deanes and your other players through the periods; Sabellas, and even before my time, Grandad talks about Jimmy Hagan and players like that, Alan Hodgkinson, but George pound-for-pound was right up there. In everything he gave his maximum, in everything that he did. And as I said, that's what every Sheffield United fan wants, and that's what I want as well.”