Perhaps it is fitting that Sheffield United will restart the Premier League season. With the obvious exception of Liverpool, they have represented the story of it.
Victory at Villa Park on Wednesday will take them fifth and the club with the lowest budget could be in the top four on Sunday. “I can’t hide the fact we are in a brilliant position,” said manager Chris Wilder.
Wilder is a straight talker and United’s approach during a break has been uncomplicated.
“Our attitude has always been that the season was paused and we had great belief it would restart,” said their manager.
“Did I want the season to pause? No, because we did have momentum and we were on a great run.” They had taken 10 points from four games. Now they face an Aston Villa team who were injury-hit and now have the catalytic John McGinn fit again.
Form is less of an advantage. “You are going from a standing start,” Wilder said.
While the table has not changed, United have acquitted themselves well in other respects. Despite having a wage bill that is dwarfed by others' salaries, the players followed the coaching team in agreeing to pay deferrals so there were no redundancies.
“We have done things the right way off the pitch in terms of how we have dealt with our staff,” said Wilder. “I don’t think we could have done any more. Perception is big for us, having a good reputation.”
Standings have been burnished by United’s rise but players had to wait for rewards. Wilder did not believe it was “morally right” to be talking about new contracts when a pandemic was taking its greatest toll. But in the last week, Billy Sharp and David McGoldrick signed new deals until 2022 and Oliver Norwood until 2023.
“As a manager you have to be ruthless at times and form relationships with players that sometimes have to be ended,” said Wilder.
“We have got that within us but the sentiment attached to these players happens and they have deserved the uplift in the financial point of view and adding years to the contract.”
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SHEFFIELD UNITED BEST: 5) 2010/11 away: When they keep away from blinding neon for their away strips (see worst kits), the Blades have also produced some nice efforts. This black top with thin red pinstripes, trim and shorts is a good-looking kit from a miserable year when the club were relegated to the third tier for the first time in 23 years. Getty -
4) 1993/95 away: Not beloved by all Blades supporters, apparently, but those people are clearly not the full starting XI. Granted, the fact they were relegated from the top-flight in the first season it was brought out is a reason for fans to want to blank it out. But from a purely aesthetic viewpoint, the pleasing mix of blues and turquoise with sash across the front make this a worthy effort. NO, YOU’RE WRONG. Getty -
3) 1996/97 home: Hapless Avec redeem themselves after the previous campaign’s atrocity (see worst kits). Clean as a whistle red and white stripes, without even the black pinstriped favoured on many of their other home kits. Allsport -
2) 2019/20 away: a belting kit to mark their return to the top-flight under manager Chris Wilder. An all-white top with silverish dotted effect running across, with red Adidas three stripes running down the side. A fitting outfit for a team sitting proudly seventh in the table and in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Getty -
1) 1993/94 home: A good campaign home and away for the Blades and Umbro. Back to regular thicker red and white stripes after a few rogue years and I’m also a big fan of lace-up collars that the likes of Manchester United would also adopt around the same time. Did not deserve to go down wearing those strips. Getty -
WORST: 5) 1989-91 away: The club’s regular dalliances with flourescent away kits have been a damaging, long-term affair. So let’s start at the beginning to when the sordid relationship began with this beacon of shame. Umbro have allegedly claimed this as the first ever neon football shirt. I can’t stand this up but am happy to point the finger of blame. Courtesy of Football Kit Archive -
4) 1998-2000: Jump forward a decade and they’re still at it. Another retina-scorching neon yellow with matching shorts and socks. Infamously worn when Arsenal ignored unwritten sportsmanship rules to score the winner against the Blades in the FA Cup fifth round at Highbury in 1999. The match was declared void and a replay played. Arsenal won again. Getty -
3) 2018-20 away: Still no lessons learnt all these years later. Top-to-toe neon yellow with only the black Adidas three stripe on the shoulder providing any resistance. Acceptable only if trying to avoid being run over by a lorry on a building site. Getty -
2) 2015-16 home: Just because the colours were worn for a couple of years in the 1890s does not make it acceptable to abandon years of proper red and white stripes in this reckless manner 130 years later. Adidas would also have a - yes, you’ve guessed it - neon yellow away kit the same season. Poor. Getty -
1) 1995/96 home: A top-class blunderstorm which manages to keep years of fluorescent nonsense off the top spot. Avec dispenses with tradition and taste with equal determination. Awful pattern, dire design, Magnificently bad. Getty
John Egan and Chris Basham could be next in line for deals that reflect their transformation from Championship stalwarts to Premier League revelations but Wilder’s steeliness was apparent in a warning. He has gravitated from divisions in financial trouble.
“Speaking to managers in the Championship, a lot of clubs have to be careful they don’t fall off a cliff,” he said. “I have a responsibility to make sure the deals are right for the club. We have had offers out there. There is a limit we will go up to.”
Further negotiations involve Dean Henderson. Manchester United are set to let the goalkeeper extend his loan for the rest of the season. “Their manager was very pro Dean staying,” said Wilder.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has tipped Henderson as a future regular for both England and the Old Trafford United, though David de Gea represents a roadblock in Manchester. Wilder confirmed talks have taken place about keeping him at Bramall Lane next season.
“Of course we would be open to Dean coming back but I have got huge respect for Manchester United and they will make the decision what is best for them, in conjunction with Dean.”
Sheffield United have lost out to bigger clubs in another respect. “We voted against [five] substitutions,” Wilder said. “We believe it benefits the powerful clubs.”
But a manager who began in the ninth tier is getting ready to adjust to another new normal.
“We are going into an unprecedented period of professional football in my lifetime,” he added. “But I have great experience of adapting because of my career.”
