Sheffield United v Fulham: Chris Wilder 'enthusiastic as I've ever been' over hands-on role in Blades rebuild

The Blades have lost 20 of 28 Premier League games this term and go into Saturday's at home to Fulham eight points adrift of safety with only 10 games to make up the gap.

However you want to spruce it up, it has been a pretty miserable season for those who love Sheffield United.

As a boyhood fan, former player and now two-time manager, Wilder certainly falls into that category, yet he claims to be "as enthusiastic as I've ever been.”

The reason? He has come in at the start of a period of major change and is not just along for the ride. He is driving it.

A new training ground is in the works, with plans to upgraded the existing one to a "category one" academy so a system churning out youth internationals – Oliver Arblaster scored for England Under-20s this week, Will Osula played for Denmark Under-21s, Sam Curtis for Ireland Under-21s and Ryan One for Scotland Under-19s – to compete on a more level footing with the elite. The recruitment team is being revamped and the medical department looked at afresh.

Such resets happen from time to time at football clubs but increasingly they are not led by the man who picks the team on a Saturday.

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But as Wilder likes to stress, the Blades are not like other clubs, they have their own character and culture. As someone who could have a PhD in it, protecting it is his job.

So whilst other head coaches watch a director of football plot the course, at Sheffield United those responsibilities are combined in the manager. Some might moan it is too much for one person but most of Wilder's counterparts would love such influence. Only a few have it.

"Ever since I came back, if you speak to people around me I've been as enthusiastic and more determined than I've ever been," he says.

"I still think why can't I be better than I've been in the past? When you're not successful, why can't you learn from it?

"I've got the best coaching staff I've ever managed. The (playing) group needs a bit of work, they need to be healthy and fit and we possibly need to change a few things in the summer but I'm as enthused determined as I've ever been to get this right and happy to take that responsibility on my shoulders."

Three weeks without a game allowed Wilder to fly to Saudi Arabia and speak to owner Prince Abdullah bin Mosaad Al Saud about where the club should be going.

"The club have always allowed me to manage," he says, proudly.

"There's different ways different clubs are run but I still look at the top ones – Pep (Guardiola, of Manchester City), (Arsenal's Mikel) Arteta, he manages the club, (Liverpool's Jurgen) Klopp. Their infrastructure might be a bit different, they might have some more bodies around them, they might be more established and the set-up might be a little bit stronger but these are established, successful football clubs that not only succeed at domestic level but European and world level.

"You can't micromanage – I get that – but you have to oversee and understand what's going off. We had an academy meeting last week where we were talking about players at under-15 and under-16 level.

"You might lose your job if you don't get results at first-team level but I've still got to do my job, which is ensuring the future of the football club is going in the right direction."

Clubs with disengaged owners rarely do well – just look at Bradford City – and with the club up for sale pretty much since Wilder's first spell as manager ended, that is the worry. For the prince to summon Wilder to Riyadh was promising.

"He's committed but things can change and clubs move in different directions," says Wilder.

"Our relationship was on the road to recovery not long after I left the football club (in 2021) and him offering me the job was the biggest compliment I could have had after I left.

"I want to repay him and the supporters and everybody trying to get the club back on the front foot and winning games of football.

"He'll be totally disappointed but he's in sport and has been for a number of years. He was at Al-Hilal before and his background was football so when he came in, he understood the challenges.

"When it goes well he enjoys it and when it doesn't there's that disappointment for everybody connected to the football club.

"In the ticket office young girls will be starting their career in sales having to deal with people coming in having a moan and a groan.

"Everything's wrong when you lose, everything's great when you win. We're trying to get into a situation where we're winning again."

Doing that on Saturday at a ground where his side have lost their last four matches by an aggregate 21-2 is Wilder's first task but the fact his responsibilities stretch so far beyond that is important.