Sheffield United v Stoke City: Chris Wilder opens up as Bramall Lane remembers 'Starman' George Baldock

Bramall Lane will stage its first fixture since the passing of George Baldock earlier this month as the red and white half of Sheffield unite to remember the much-loved defender at the place he called home for seven years.

Tributes to Baldock will be staged before and during the game against Stoke City.

It’s been an emotional time for everyone connected with the club, with manager Chris Wilder admitting that an ‘incredibly tough’ past few weeks have been the most difficult of his managerial career.

The grieving process associated with losing a team-mate, player and friend has affected players and staff alike.

Wilder said: "All I will say is if we’d won the last two games 5-0 and 5-0 (United lost to Leeds United and Middlesbrough), we’d still be in the same position and me and the players would have the same feeling.

"It will take a little bit of time to get over. I am not going to apologise for how we all feel about it.

"This is part of life and you have to get on with it. When somebody loses somebody really close to them, they aren’t just going to get over it because a football team wins a game of football or two games of football.

"They (the players) have lost a ‘brother’ and a family have (lost) a partner/dad/son/brother. The club have lost an incredible guy, personality and player. We have all lost that relationship.

"I’ve never experienced this before at all (in football) and it’s been an incredibly tough two weeks for us all and if you ask the players, (it’s been) possibly the toughest two weeks of their careers. I think we all feel the same."

The sense of loss is accentuated by the fact that Baldock died at the age of just 31. It has affected all Unitedites, young and old, with the pain particularly acute for those younger supporters.

Wilder continued: "I am dropping a ‘name’, but I spoke to Paul Heaton and his girls have grown up. I got a lovely message from Paul and his girls and all his family have all grown up with George Baldock running down the right and they are emotional about it.

"All our supporters are connected with this; our younger supporters are. Not a lot of our younger supporters know about Eddie Colquhoun or Len Badger or the Graham Shaws or Alan Hodgkinsons, who have played for us.

"We do because we are in that ‘era’ and still connected to that. It’s someone who was 31 years of age and the players are connected to it..

"It’s tough and that’s not even going down the family route, which is on a completely different level.."

In another time, focus regarding Saturday’s game would have centred on the first Lane return of former defender Enda Stevens, who moved to the Potteries in the summer of 2023 after six years at the club.

Instead, those in red and white will be thinking about his team-mate and fellow wing-back who operated on the opposite side of the pitch in one of the most revered backlines in United’s history.

Wilder said: "It was Enda, Jack (O’Connell), John Egan, Bash (Chris Basham), Georgie..Dean (Henderson) in goal. That (back) five or six were incredible in the journey.

"It would have been a big day for him (Stevens) coming back as well, his first return to Bramall Lane. It would have been a big day…."