Sheffield United icon Chris Wilder takes cheeky swipe at Sheffield Wednesday and Paolo Di Canio - opposite to Neil Warnock

The 54-year-old Middlesbrough boss, who supported, played and managed the Blades, will take on Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland on Monday evening in what is billed as one of a handful of keenly contested North East derbies.

Saltburn-born Mowbray is a Boro fan and former manager of the club and asked whether Wilder could ever consider overlooking his childhood allegiances to take charge of the blue side of Sheffield, he responded in kind.

“Manage Sheffield Wednesday? Are you kidding me?” he said.

“I think it’s safe to say I wouldn’t fancy a little wander out at Hillsborough. I’m driving through there to get to the motorway – that’s all I’m doing!”

Wilder’s Boro have started slowly in the early doors Championship shake-up, winning only one of their first seven matches of a season they are expected to contend in.

The Stocksbridge-born boss will be hoping a win over Sunderland can inspire an upturn in form.

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He says he knows full well the life a derby win can inject into a season and reflecting on his previous derby battles touched on his memories of battles with a former Wednesday icon.

“One thing I will say is that I definitely know the importance of a local derby,” Wilder said. “Whether that was Oxford versus Swindon, where I put Paolo Di Canio away three times, or my time with Sheffield United when I memorably put the opposition away in Sheffield once in particular.

“We understand it, and the message to the players will be that while the opposition might not think it’s a local derby, for us, it’s close and it’s there.”

Wilder’s comments that he could never consider crossing the divide to manage at S6 comes at odds with those of another iconic modern era Blades chief.

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Neil Warnock has previously revealed that he was offered the chance to take the job under the chairmanship of Milan Mandaric and would have taken it but for the club to think twice about the appointment once Mandaric had discussed the idea with advisors.