History inspires Chris Wilder's new mission at Sheffield United - but why his Bramall Lane return is nothing to do with sentiment

With five points from their opening 14 league matches, the Blades’ situation in 2023-24 is undeniably dire. It is not yet a lost cause.

A player with his boyhood club back in 1990-91, Wilder - who has returned to the club for a second spell in charge - was part of a squad also rock-bottom of the table in early winter.

After 16 games, the Blades had no wins and just four points and were 11 points adrift of safety. And then it happened.

December 22, 1990 proved the catalyst for United, who beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 to set off a scarcely believable chain of events which culminated in a 13th-place finish in the old Division One. Right now, the present-day Blades would take 17th.

It serves as a timely reminder that United still have a lot to play for.

That feted time in the late Eighties and early Nineties under Dave Bassett, a mentor to Wilder, was an era when the Blades’ affinity with their crowd was as strong and uplifting as it gets. It felt like ‘one club’ and the power they harnessed off their supporters ultimately proved irresistible.

For much of his first spell in charge at S2, Wilder took his club back to the Bassett era. So he must do so again, if his second spell is to be memorable.

Wilder said: "I was part of that and the first game, at home to Forest and the scenes there.

"The supporters were with the team at the time - and in a lot worse position than we are in now - because of the attitude and approach of the players. So that’s what we need to get back to.

"With the way it’s moved on, the Premier League is an incredibly tough competition, that’s how it is. You have to get on with it.

"It’s going to be hard for promoted sides (to stay up). We bucked the trend a few years ago, but it’s always difficult and a struggle. It’s a struggle (this year), but not an impossible task."

The battle is something that has always inspired the street-fighter in Wilder.

While plenty has been made of the ‘us against the world’ narrative of Everton’s scrap against relegation after the Premier League men in suits decided to dock them ten points last month, it’s a mantra that Wilder’s club have long grown used to.

Defiance has always been part of United’s DNA. During the Bassett years, Warnock years and the Wilder story - part one. Being written off usually suits them historically and this is one of the fights of their lives.

Wilder is ready and he will find out which players are soon enough.

He continued: "I think there’s been very few times where we have been in a position to dominate or ‘lord it’ in any division.

"I don’t mind that and it’s one that suits me and fits the football club and we have to take advantage of that. We can talk about it, but we have to produce the goods and show the underdog has got a fight in it.

"We’ve got to pull together. You look at what happened at Burnley and a little bit the week before against Bournemouth and a little bit of trust has been lost and faith in the group.

"The only way you can improve that is putting in some positive performances and everything out there. You will always get backed at Bramall Lane if you show those qualities.

"But it’s easy for me to talk about - the talk is the talk. They (players) have to motivate themselves as well. I will motivate and lift them as much as possible, but it has to come from within.

"You shouldn’t have to motivate a player to play against Liverpool in front of 30,000-odd thousand."

It was a former Blades manager rather more well known for his association with the blue half of Merseyside in Howard Kendall who once famously spoke about being locked in a ‘marriage’ with Everton to explain why he became their manager for a second time in November 1990 - and leaving a ‘love affair’ at Manchester City.

Wilder may not have departed one club to return to his first love for a second time, yet he can appreciate the quote all the same.

He is equally quick to stress that his reunion is not down to sentiment. He knows his Sheffield United history, for sure - 1990 for instance - but does not strike you as the sentimental sort.

Wilder would interject and say, with justification, he has been handed a return because he's the best placed candidate to rescue things. He picked United off the floor when he arrived in May 2016, after all.

He continued: "I’d like to think I have been given the job because I am the best one out there. and not because I used to go and watch them in the Eighties with my pals and family who are all Sheffield United fans.

"If I didn’t believe we could stay up, there’s no good me taking this job. I believe we can stay up."