Sheffield United look to begin Premier League redemption job as Chris Wilder blocks out 'noise and nonsense'

Sheffield United can begin to banish the memory of last season’s Premier League pain if they get back to the top-flight at the first time of asking this weekend. United were battered and bruised last term after Paul Heckingbottom, Wilder’s successor, and his players were hung out to dry by a woefully inadequate recruitment drive after promotion.

The result was a season that saw some United fans turned off completely to the idea of a Premier League return, even if many have been re-energised by an impressive turnaround job that could still see a campaign - which some expected to be one of more struggle - result in promotion. Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland stand in their way this weekend at Wembley.

“I don’t think that they need any extra motivation,” said Wilder of his players. “I’ve got to say. I certainly don’t. I’m struggling to express how much it means to all of us. I want to go and play in the Premier League and I can’t really express how much this will mean to us.

“But we’ve got to channel all that. We’ve got to harness all that, to make sure that we’re right and we’re nice and calm and we’re focused and we play as well as we can, both individually and as a team.

“But we’ve all got an ambition and an aim and a dream to get to the Premier League and to play there. Personally, my desire and ambition and commitment is as big as it’s ever been. And the fire in me is as bright as it’s ever been, as you can imagine with the connections I have.

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“If you’re from this part of the world and you do get poked a little bit, you want to come roaring back and swinging. So certainly I’ve got that in the locker and the club has as well, from last year. It was a disappointing year, even though we were incredibly undercooked at the start of the season in terms of recruitment and losing our best two players.

“It was a real difficult, difficult situation for Paul and the players, going into an unforgiving league. It was always going to be an incredible struggle, and you have to feel that pain. You have to own that and do what you do best, which is come fighting back. And we’ve certainly done that, right away through the season.”

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Wilder’s connections with United are well-known but will also mean that opportunities to switch off ahead of the weekend, should he wish to, are few and far between with a family and friend network also fully invested in the Blades’ fortunes.

Asked how his week had been ahead of the biggest game in United’s season, Wilder admitted: “It’s been all right. It doesn’t change. It doesn’t change. It’s just that the stakes get ramped up a little bit higher. But if we were playing a pre-season game, I’d still be getting the same noise and nonsense from people around me.

“That’s excluding family, of course! But that’s how it is. That’s what you live for, what you strive for, what you have to deal with. And I’ve had to deal with it for quite a long time. So it’s just another week. Just another week in the life of me managing my football club.”