Chris Wilder only missing big-game experience from his cv, says old Sheffield United team-mate

Wilder’s was not one of the great playing careers, though it was good enough for him to play First Division football for his boyhood club. Traditionally, the best managers do not come from the ranks of the most successful players.

But what centre-forward Deane could see in the former right-back was a “studious” knowledge of the game which has served him well in management, working his way up through the divisions after starting with Alfreton Town in the North Counties East League, then joining Halifax Town, Oxford United and Northampton Town before returning to Bramall Lane in 2016. The Blades were a League One side then, but he has taken them back to the Premier League, picking up last season’s League Manager’s Association’s manager-of- the-year award along the way.

“Chris was always someone who understood the game,” commented Deane, who played alongside Wilder from 1988 to 1992.

“From his position as a full-back you see the game from that perspective. He was always quite studious, where I was more instinctive.

“As a full-back, Chris would always be looking for certain types of movement which were triggers.

“When Chris finished his career he went straight into management and he’s been at it a very long time.

“He’s taken a lot from the people he’s played under and he’s managed nearly 1,000 games.

“He’s bright, and he’s the same age as Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool’s 52-year-old manager). He’s not got the same big-game experience as Klopp but he does have a lot of experience in the game.

“You don’t always learn a lot when you’re very successful and winning a lot, as a manager or as a player. Sometimes you learn a lot more from losing and having to adapt.

“The experiences he’s had are probably why Chris is such a good manager now.”

Apart from Wilder’s nous, Deane thinks another thing which has been crucial for the Blades this season is that he has not tried to reinvent the wheel after winning promotion into the top division last summer.

Imagining the footballing gulf to be as big as the financial one, some clubs totally overhaul their squads when they jump from the Championship to the Premier League and it does not always work well for them. As Deane points out, Wilder has evolved his team since taking it over in League One.

Chris Basham, Jack O’Connell, John Fleck and Billy Sharp remain key figures at the club having been part of the team which won promotion from the third tier in 2017. Plenty of players have been added in the last 12 months and the club’s transfer record has been broken five times, but it has been all about adding depth and quality to the existing framework.

Wilder has spoken in the past about scouting players with a view to how they fit into his unusual 3-5-2 formation, which places great physical and technical demands on its overlapping central defenders, and midfielders who are meant to help out their wing-backs, get beyond the strikers and help out defensively.

The football they play is very different, but there is a similar spirit between the 2019-20 Blades and the side Deane and Wilder played in under Dave Bassett, which also went from the third to the top division, as well as reaching the 1993 FA Cup semi-final.

“There’s different financials in place so it’s hard to compare the club now to when I played for it, but Chris has done a great job,” commented Deane, who also had spells with Doncaster Rovers, Middlesbrough and two with his hometown club, Leeds United, on top of winning an England cap.

“The sums are totally different now but it just shows if you’ve got the right person in place and you’ve got a plan, you can compete (in the Premier League).

“This Sheffield United team didn’t come into the Premier League without a plan, it’s been three years in the making. They haven’t done what Fulham did (in the summer of 2018) and spent £100m on a totally different team. They might have spent some money but they’ve used it to bring in people who would fit into what was already there.”

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