Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder makes big claim about status of Leeds United

Chris Wilder has described Leeds United as a ‘Top Six’ club... not in the Championship, but in the whole of English football.

While West Yorkshire’s United haven’t lived up to that billing in recent years - or maybe decades - the Sheffield United boss is in no doubt as to the status of the rivals up the road, as he prepares to send out his team for another White Rose battle.

The Blades head to Elland Road on Friday night ahead of Leeds in the table after an unbeaten start to the campaign. Wilder’s side are only second on goal difference, while a couple of hitches here and there means Leeds are fifth with nine games gone.

It’s set up for what could be one of the biggest encounters of the campaign so far and while Wilder admits it’s not as ‘hostile’ as a Sheffield derby, there’s a fair amount of tension in the stands and more often than not, ‘an edge’ to proceedings.

Where that comes from, it’s hard to say. South Yorkshire folk and those from Sheffield in particular have always felt that Leeds is unjustly seen as the centre of the county - “they get everything up there” - but as far as the team is concerned, Wilder can barely speak higher of where they stand in football terms.

“I think in the world of football, people who know football and understand and have that love of it will recognise that Leeds United are a Top Six club, without a shadow of a doubt,” he admitted ahead of Friday’s match.

“They are an Aston Villa, they are up there for me, because of the history, the support, what they have achieved, what they have won, the players who have played for them, everything. We are not a Top Six club in English football and I'm not being disrespectful to Sheffield United, we are not.

“Our history, if you go right the way through our history from 1889 and where we have finished in league positions and taking into account what we have won and the players who have played for us and what we've done and where we've been, we are not a Top Six club. We'd like to be a Top 20 club and we'd like to take it as high as we can, of course, but we are at that early stage of that with the team we are putting together and how we are going about it.”

On the fixture itself, with a Sheffield derby not too far off, there’s a game with a lot more at stake to come, but this one is also a match that fans look to when the sides are in the same division and the fixtures lists come out. Indeed Wilder himself has never been shy about winding up the Whites.

“When you come from Sheffield... it's not hostile, it's not Sheffield United v Sheffield Wednesday, it's not Leeds v Man U, it's not Man U v Liverpool... it's not that. But there is that edge. We have always felt that we are maybe in their shadow a little bit and football wise, what they have achieved as a football club, maybe it would be a bit different if there was one team in this city but there isn't, there's two big teams and there's a huge team in the city of Leeds.

“We have always felt that, maybe as natives of Sheffield we are in the shadow a little bit. We lost a few players up the road, historically. From Mick Jones, to TC [Tony Currie], to Sabella, to Keith Edwards, to Brian Deane. The list is endless. It's a huge football club. Over the last four or five years, we have maybe gone down the same path, promotion into the Premier League; a bit yo-yoish. Leeds had two or three seasons in the Premier League and come out of it and are desperate to go back up.

“I know there's a bit of pantomime in terms of what I said over the period [when Sheffield United won promotion ahead of Leeds]. Maybe not the wisest words when you have just got promotion and you are about three or four hours in, in terms of the celebrations. They will hold that against me personally, but it's not an issue for me. I respect and know what a huge club that is and what a massive challenge we have got on our hands on Friday night.”