How one Sheffield United fan is attempting to show Chris Wilder and his players the supporters are still right behind them

Rather, as he watched his beloved Sheffield United suffer inside an empty Stamford Bridge, the expressions of pain and disappointment etched across the visiting players’ faces were responsible for convincing Nathan Ashforth the time had come to pick up his smartphone and remind them, when they face West Ham at Bramall Lane on Sunday, they will not be doing so alone.

“I’d been thinking for a while about what could be done to try and restore the bond between the team and the fans,” he explains from his home in Jordanthorpe, “Even though we can’t actually go to the grounds or be there with the lads.

“That relationship is so strong, so important, even Chris (Wilder) has mentioned it during his interviews on numerous occasions. We’ve not had the best of starts to the season, everyone knows that, but for me the game against Chelsea was the first time there looked to be a real difference between us and one of the top clubs. So it was after that match, when I’d thought about it a bit more, that I came up with an idea about how we can keep it alive.”

Like thousands of others who usually spend their weekends following United up and down the country, Ashforth now spends match days either staring at a television screen, listening to the radio or scrolling through newspaper blogs in order to get his football fix. Social distancing measures, introduced at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, mean folk are still prohibited from attending fixtures in the flesh - a state of affairs which, as Ashforth notes, Wilder believes has directly impacted upon his squad’s performances and results.

But after hearing the manager acknowledge how a run of seven defeats and one hard-fought draw has seen some members of his side face a barrage of criticism on social media, Ashforth took to Twitter to try and prove it can also be a force for good.

“There’s a reason why we all fell in love with United, why we follow United, not another club,” he says. “So I started a thread on there and asked other people to post a picture showing the moment that made them most proud to be a fan. Rather than messages, I thought photos would be best because they’d show how far we’ve come in such a short space of time and hopefully put things into perspective.

“There’s still a huge positive feeling for Chris and the players out there. I know everyone is a bit down at the moment because we’re only human and that’s normal. But these lads have done amazing things, they’ve given us so much to be proud of over the last five seasons or so, and I know a lot of them are on social media so I wanted them to see something positive. Even if it only helps one person, then I think it’s been worthwhile.”

By his own admission, the call to arms has provoked a bigger response than Ashforth “ever dreamed of” - with images of the celebrations which followed United’s promotion from League One in 2017 and their climb out of the Championship two seasons later inevitably featuring prominently among the posts, alongside images from games as Wilder’s men challenged for a place in Europe last term.

“For me personally, getting out of League One during Chris’ first season in charge was the one I chose,” Ashforth remembers. “I’ve been a United fan all my life but wasn’t able to go to games because of financial reasons when I was younger, so that was my first promotion if you like. And seeing us get into the Premier League, well, that was something else. The same as the derby win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough when we’d just come out of the third tier - friendly banter aside, we’d taken a lot of stick as Unitedites up until that point but that was when it stopped and I think it was a pivotal moment for both clubs.

“At all of those, we were there with the players and we shared those experiences. Now it’s difficult to recreate that because of everything that’s going on in the world but hopefully it reminds them that we’re still there with them, if only in spirit at the minute, and shows how proud we are of them.”

Although a heavy 4-1 loss was not the ideal way for United to enter the international break, Wilder is convinced their displays en route to west London, against Liverpool and Manchester City, suggest a first win since July is not far away. Acknowledging confidence has taken a knock - “we look a little bit anxious at times, but that’s only to be expected” - he has also spent the past fortnight exploring ways of replenishing United’s self-belief ahead of the meeting with Chelsea’s neighbours.

It is something Ashforth has been contemplating too, as he prepares to spend another afternoon fidgeting nervously on the sofa.

“Maybe we could collect messages of support and put them up around the training ground,” he says, “Just to show the lads we’re still right behind them. I don’t know if that’s possible but what I do is that this team cares. You can tell it hurts them as much as us when things don’t go well. I heard a quote once that said ‘If you play for the badge on the front of the shirt, then people will remember the name on the back’ and that’s what they do.

“People have a right to criticise. But we know it’s going to be hard this season, because of how far we’ve come so quickly, and hopefully we can help the players as much as they’ve helped us in the past by putting a smile on all of our faces and bringing back the pride.”

An important message: To help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to from the football team at The Star, please consider taking out a subscription to our new discounted sports-only package. You'll find all the details at https://www.thestar.co.uk/subscriptions/sports. Your support is much appreciated.