Chris Wilder set for 18-month deal as Sheffield United's Paul Heckingbottom replacement - with surprise backroom appointment tipped

The former manager, player and boyhood fan had been touted as a short-term replacement for Heckingbottom, who is expected to be sacked today (Monday).

But it seems he has negotiated a deal which will take in next season as well.

Heckingbottom had been due to address the media on Monday afternoon ahead of Wednesday's Premier League game against Liverpool but that was cancelled in the morning and events appear to be moving quickly in the direction of Wilder taking charge of the team that night instead.

Wilder faces an extremely difficult task keeping the Blades in the Premier League with a four-point gap to safety but eight to 16th-placed Bournemouth, and Everton in a false position thanks to a 10-point deduction they are appealing.

But the 56-year-old is a legend at Bramall Lane after taking the club from League One to ninth in the Premier League, and at the very least his arrival is certain to energise fans and players alike.

Coming in now means he will start with two home games, against Liverpool and Brentford. His most pressing upcoming engagement will be the Boxing Day visit of Luton Town, also at Bramall Lane.

The Liverpool game is being shown on Amazon Prime with Wilder’s former captain, Billy Sharp, due to be a pundit.

A lack of fight in the final two matches, against relegation rivals Bournemouth and Burnley, was what did for Heckingbottom, who had just passed his second anniversary in the job.

Wilder is set to bring erstwhile lieutenants Alan Knill and Matt Prestridge with him, but has also been tipped to add former Republic of Ireland midfielder-turned-Football League pundit Keith Andrews.

Andrews was part of Stephen Kelly's Republic of Ireland coaching staff until the latter's dismissal last month.

Wilder returns in spite of the breakdown of his relationship with owner Abdullah Bin Mosaad Al Saud when he was sacked in March 2021.

That season the Blades tried to build on their ninth-placed Premier League finish but instead suffered a relegation which was already close to inevitable when Wilder was sacked and temporarily replaced by under-23 manager Heckingbottom.

From there he managed Middlesbrough in a spell which started spectacularly well but tailed off after he was linked with the vacant manager's job at Premier League Burnley, and two months with Watford, notorious for their churn of even successful coaches.

WIlder left in May, and has been heavily linked with a return to Bramall Lane since September. He is believed to have been sounded out then about the job, and indicated he would be interested in it as and when it became available.

After five points from 14 Premier League matches, that time now seems to have come.