Why and where Chris Wilder will continue to drive improvements to Sheffield United

The United manager made the admission ahead of Sunday's Premier League finale away at Southampton, which could see his side secure an eighth-place finish in their first season back in the top flight.

Their hopes of securing a first European campaign in the club's history were dashed by a 1-0 defeat at home to Everton on Monday evening, yet they are guaranteed to finish inside the top 10 whatever happens at Southampton - a remarkable achievement, considering they were widely tipped for an instant return to the Championship before the season kicked off almost 12 months ago.

Yet Wilder is not content to sit back and admire what he and his players have done. He will launch a condensed recruitment drive when the Premier League transfer window opens on Monday morning, with an emphasis on "better players and more competition", while he is also driving plans for upgrades to United's training ground.

“The football team's ahead of the football club in a lot of ways," he said, "and it's important the football club try to catch up.”

Wilder, by his own admission, has his fingerprints on everything at Bramall Lane, in conjunction with chief executive Stephen Bettis and the rest of the Bramall Lane board.

"Hopefully, we can keep moving forward as a football club," he said, before the Everton clash. "That's the big thing for me; that we improve on the pitch and grow off it, in terms of facilities and infrastructure.

"We're behind on a lot of aspects. It won't happen overnight but as long as we show an attitude and work ethic to improve, that for me is key. And hopefully, that will happen."

“It's been a huge challenge this season and it's not going to go away. Nobody is going to put £200m into our bank account and take £250m out of the top teams'. We're going to have to recruit sensibly with what we've got. We need better players and more competition."

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