"I'm sorry" - Chris Wilder dismisses Sheffield Wednesday Premier League theory ahead of Sheffield United clash

To paraphrase the great Mike Bassett of England manager fame, Sheffield invented football and gave it to the world. On Sunday, when its two city teams go head-to-head in their first meeting for five years, they have the chance to bring it back. Not in a literal sense, of course - the game has long outgrown its humble origins at the world’s first football club, Sheffield FC - but this is a great opportunity for the city of steel to put itself back on the map.

The Sheffield derby is every bit as fierce and passionate as those found in Liverpool and Manchester and Birmingham but for whatever reason is often criminally underappreciated by the wider football fan. Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday, Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder insisted he isn’t all too bothered about how outsiders view it - but agrees with the notion that Sheffielders don’t shout about their football heritage as much as they should.

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It’s a fair point. Sheffield and football should be as synonymous as Manchester and music, or Dublin and Guinness. But to the average English football fan, the city’s football heritage doesn’t really stretch beyond its football teams and worldwide there is an ever greater level of disrespect in calling either of the two clubs simply Sheffield. Wilder, as a son of the Steel City, is well versed in its football culture and said: “Historically, we have strong roots in the game. I know, because I go up there ... round the corner from me is the oldest ground in the world [Hallam’s Sandygate] and the world’s oldest football club [Sheffield FC] are just up the road.

“But I don’t think that the city, maybe because of the character of the city, shouts about it enough. I’m sure if it was Liverpool, Manchester or London it would be shouted about a little bit louder. But we don’t, for whatever reason. The history of the game is important, of course, and it's two big clubs.”

One popular theory this week is that the game should be played on English football’s grandest stage of the top flight, after a 30-year absence. It is not, it turns out, a theory to which Wilder subscribes. “I’m not on the side of the ‘it’d be great to have a Premier League derby.’ I’m sorry,” he admitted. “I’ll be totally honest, I know there’s some stuff out there about that but I’ve got to say Ive never cheered a Sheffield Wednesday win and for them to get into the Premier League, they’d have to win some games.

“We’’ve got to win some games of course and I’m sure that’s the same attitude, vice-versa. That’s me being totally honest about the situation. We have to concentrate on ourselves, and making sure we progress as we are at the minute. We’re both on equal level footings as clubs because we didn’t manage to stay in the Premier League and under the fabulous work of Danny [Rohl, Owls boss], Sheffield Wednesday stayed in the Championship. We have to look after our own clubs and we’re delighted with the way it’s going.”