Sheffield United v Derby County: Blades are re-united as Chris Wilder hits on hangover cure

Relegated Premier League clubs go through a lot of pain. Those relegated as badly as the Blades were last season, even more so.

The bank balance takes a severe hit, recriminations and redundancies are inevitable, squad rebuilding often unavoidable.

With key players and leaders leaving, speculation up until transfer deadline day about some who did not, yet more uncertainty over the ownership of the club and therefore transfers slow out of the blocks and not as widespread as the manager wanted, it would have been no surprise had the Blades started this season holding their heads and asking everyone to keep the noise down.

Luckily Chris Wilder has been through worse, and knows what a proper football club looks like.

Ahead of Saturday's visit from a Derby County side in the early stages of their own recovery under the charismatic Paul Warne the Blades look reunited.

An unbeaten start in the league tells only a fraction of the story.

Criticised and ridiculed for lacklustre performances last season, Vinicius Souza has had countless invites to the boozer recently as supporters warm to him.

They have rallied around Anel Ahmedhodzic after a difficult time recently which saw him cut ties with his father and his national team. Neither have taken it well, but the away fans sang his name – no mean feat – endlessly during the 2-0 win at Hull City.

That and the victory over Watford beforehand showed the players also have the spirit Wilder demands.

He spoke with pride on Friday about how the "good people at the football club" rallied around Sai Sachdev after the teenager's terrible injury playing for the under-21s.

When the league table becomes meaningful that will test how the team is performing, but for the club as a whole, the signs are good.

"You can get players fit, run them and do the stuff away from the lights," says Wilder. "if they want to improve their game individually, as units or a team, you can do that but the biggest thing is that mentality.

"They have to buy into what you're trying to achieve and where you're wanting to go. If not it all falls away.

"It's not about a tackle, a race or a header, it's the other stuff you want them to be part of – accepting when they're not playing, accepting a word or two when they're not expecting it or don't feel they deserve it."

He sees that now but knows how fragile it will be and how important supporters are in protecting it.

"Winning helps but we have to be consistent – everybody," he stresses.

"We'll need the supporters when we're going through a during a difficult period whether it's during a game or a couple of games.

"We have to go about things the right way as well and create that environment internally, which we're getting to. And (it's) understanding we might have to suffer and we get the backing that deserves.

"I didn't believe we'd have hangovers from last season because of the personalities we were bringing in and the amount of new players."

The key, says Wilder, is honesty. Perhaps the fact attendances have held up despite less the relegation, more the massive let-down of 2023-24 is due to supporters hearing and buying Wilder's constant messaging about what they could expect from his players once the bulldozers moved in on the squad.

"It's not like you're looking for favours or 'Please stay off us'," he stresses. "I understood the supporters' frustration and their actions right the way through that season.

"But you don't support a football club for a season, you support it because it's part of your life.

"Certain things that underpin all our work – togetherness, team, honesty, all words like that that I see at the top clubs and I believe you need whatever team sport you play at whatever level. You need that unity right the way through.

"I never see teams that are disjointed win anything or succeed.

"I've told them I'm going to be honest in my approach. I'm not a spin manager. If you're prepared to accept praise you've got to accept when it doesn't go well you'll get that criticism as well.

"If you want to play for your country you're going to have to deal with negativity from press, social media, your fans, opposing fans, whatever."

Big clubs get stuck in the mud can be hard to shift. The Blades were in League One six years before Wilder dragged them out. Last autumn with Derby's downward spiral outlasting their financial meltdown there were doubts over Warne but he has them up and running again.

"When I came back in 2016 players didn't like staff, staff didn't like players, academy didn't like the first team, first team didn't like the academy, supporters hated everybody, everything was disconnected and it was plain to see," recalls Wilder.

Warne might recognise that too but now things are different.

"We're expected to go well this season," acknowledges Wilder. "Maybe there's a little bit more expectation on three or four other clubs and rightly so but we're going along nicely and there's a good feel about it."

It is only part of the equation, but it is a big one.