Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder says he wants to follow Derby County example and hails John Eustace
Chris Wilder reflects on Sheffield United’s 2-1 away win over Derby County
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder was full of praise for his opposite number John Eustace after the Blades defeated Derby County 2-1.
There was nothing but pride to play for the Blades, although the Rams went into the regular season finale with their play-off hopes still alive.
Sammie Szmodics’ opener was cancelled out by Tom Cannon before Sydie Peck grabbed three points for Sheffield United, but Hull City’s win over Norwich City meant the Rams would have missed out anyway.
Sheffield United finished the season in 13th and Wilder wants his side to emulate Derby’s resurgence as a force in the second tier.
Chris Wilder wants to follow Derby County’s path
He said: “I’ve given them credit all season for what John has done here. From last year, being in the position that they were to having a shot at the play-offs is testament to the work that himself and his coaching staff have done.
“That’s what we’re trying to get to. You have to give them an enormous amount of credit, they’ve set it up and we haven’t done enough and done it consistently. This league is about experience, personality and characters and that’s the reason they’ve got the amount of points they’ve got.
“I think it’s a reasonable amount of points we’ve got from the challenges we’ve had, and I’ll go again on record as saying that this has been by far and away the biggest challenge that I’ve ever had and I’ve had some huge challenges.
“I’m really disappointed we haven’t given the supporters something to play for at the end of the season but we haven’t been good enough on certain aspects of the game. But the good thing about it, for me, is that I know what we haven’t been good at and we know what we need to do.”
John Eustace reflects
Eustace, meanwhile, said: “I’m sitting here with immense pride at what we’ve done this year. The players have been outstanding, irrespective of the result today. The effort of the group and the progression we’ve made this season has been excellent.
“Hopefully, it’s really exciting times to be part of the football club moving forward. I think this was the highest league attendance in the EFL today, so it just shows the size of the club and the fanbase.
“Where we want to go is obviously to get into the Premier League with the backing over the next two or three seasons. That’s why I came and that’s what we want to do.
“It’s been a group effort to get to where we are now but there’s still a hell of a lot of hard work ahead, for sure, and it’s really important that we don’t go backwards now.”