Chris Wilder has challenged his Sheffield United players to hit a minor milestone in the Championship finale to finish a lost season on a positive note.

For a team that hit 90 points last season and came within 20 minutes of winning a place in the Premier League at Wembley, the 2025/26 campaign has been a backward step.

Wilder’s dismissal a month after the play-off final defeat turned preparations on their head and by the time the club called him back in September, they were pointless and rudderless after the wretched Ruben Selles reign. Wilder got them out of relegation trouble but couldn’t sustain a late run to the play-offs.

Today’s opponents Derby County can still snatch that final play-off spot if they win and both Wrexham and Hull fail to, but Wilder has set his squad an internal goal.

Andre Brooks of Sheffield United has had an "outstanding season" believes Chris Wilder. (Picture: Simon Bellis/SportImage)

placeholder image — Andre Brooks of Sheffield United has had an "outstanding season" believes Chris Wilder. (Picture: Simon Bellis/SportImage)

“We're definitely going to try to get to 60 points,” said Wilder, whose team sit 15th on 57 points. “There was a challenge last year to get to 90 points when the title and promotion had gone and we got there.

“I do believe it will be a respectable total. There were three challenges: to get off the bottom, to get into mid-table and then to try and progress into the top ten, into the top six. That's where we've stalled.

“We have to accept that. It would have been a big ask but it's something that we were capable of and we've not achieved, which is disappointing and frustrating.

“But to get to 60 points will be respectable and that will be the challenge to the players on Saturday afternoon.”

There will be no Andre Brooks to help them, the homegrown midfielder missed the home defeats by Blackburn and Preston with a knee injury picked up in training.

But he will be back for pre-season and is part of a group of young players like Oli Arblaster and Sydie Peck that Wilder wants to rebuild around.

“He's had an outstanding season,” said Wilder. “What's the challenge for him now? To move on to that next level. That’s the same for all the young players, a few of them have stalled this season.

“We have a really good group of young players coming through. I don't see that at any of the other top clubs in the division. And I still believe we are a top club in the division. One average season doesn't knock us back from our ambition and our belief in terms of what we can achieve with the players we've got and what we'll do in recruitment.

“But I’m expecting a big pre-season for them and for them to hit the ground running and be a major group in our squad to kick on for next year.”