Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder makes an admission about the captaincy following intriguing decision

Confirming Billy Sharp will continue to wear the armband whenever he is on the pitch, Wilder had previously tasked Oliver Norwood with the role until last weekend’s visit to Chelsea, when both he and Egan featured in the starting eleven.

Although Wilder has a number of issues to address during the international break after watching United’s winless start to the new season continue following a 4-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, the captaincy is not among them.

“Bill is the club skipper but John is captaining the side at the moment,” Wilder explained. “It’s not set in stone. He’s an influential player, they are both big voices, and I make that decision. It’s not the reason we are losing games of football. People can look too much into things like this.”

United handed new contracts to Sharp, Egan and Norwood after finishing ninth last term. But with a combination of injuries and poor form forcing Wilder to make changes to the side which launched an unlikely challenge for Europe earlier this year, only Egan is being regularly called upon at present.

Two of Norwood’s five appearances in the competition since September have come from the bench while Sharp has started only once. By contrast, Egan has completed six of United’s eight outings in the competition so far, missing the Yorkshire derby against Leeds following his controversial sending-off at Aston Villa six days earlier.

“We’ve got Oli, who played for his country (Northern Ireland), David McGoldrick who played for his country (Republic of Ireland) and others,” Wilder said. “You can’t just rely on one captain to get through this division.

"You need eleven captains out there. They all have to be captains in their own way. We need everyone to be a leader, using their different personalities.”

"I know what these lads are like and that’s what they’ll do,” Wilder added. “They’re fighters, they’ll stuck together and we’ll get through this.”

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