Everyone at Sheffield United has something to prove - not least Chris Wilder
Alan Biggs spoke to Chris Wilder recently about his footballing life but what’s happening now is very much the priority
One of the biggest deceptions in football, life as well, is when successful people turn round to their critics and say: “I’ve got nothing to prove to anybody.”
In that case, they are turning their back on what made them successful in the first place.
I got to thinking about that after a wide-ranging sit down chat with the manager of Sheffield United for my YouTube channel.
A double promotion winner and rated by many as Bramall Lane’s best, if not of all time then certainly of recent history.
Yet there are still those Chris Wilder has a point to prove to, not least himself.
By his own admission - interestingly for a man occasionally accused of never pointing at himself - he made “poor decisions at Middlesbrough” and was “disappointed in myself” at Watford.
He also shares the latter view, if not to the same degree, about events at the Lane last season, despite all the compromising circumstances attached to his team’s mid-table showing.
So, yes, this is a bloke fully motivated to conjuring a promotion bid against the odds in financial terms - and unflinching of the expectation for him to do so.
“The challenge doesn’t frighten me,” Wilder says. “I’m determined to get it right.”
He talks of forever “chasing that winning feeling” and “having something to prove.”
There is, he insists, “more desire and fire in my belly than I’ve ever had.” And Sheffield United is “emotionally” a marriage forever.
It follows that failure, perceived or otherwise, would hurt more than anywhere else.
To that end, Wilder feels that next season, for all the disappointment of the last, is more about keeping together than breaking apart.
To some extent, that is due to cash restrictions but, taking stock of the playing assets itemised by this column last week: “There is no need for a whole load of additions.”
And that’s where, make no mistake, Wilder’s players also have something to prove.