Why Don Hutchison thinks Jurgen Klopp would pip Chris Wilder to 2020 managerial award

Former Blades midfielder Hutchison has been very impressed by the positivity of his old side as well as the quality of their football in a campaign which has defied expectations.

When English football was put on hold for the coronavirus pandemic, the Blades were seventh in the Premier League with a game in hand which could take them up to fifth, and at home to Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Promoted from the Championship last summer, they are on course to qualify for Europe for the first time.

All of which would seem a good argument for Wilder to retain the League Managers’ Association manager of the year award he won last year, but having also played for Liverpool during their 30-year title drought, Hutchison thinks Jurgen Klopp edges it.

“You’d have to say that if Liverpool win their first title for 30 years Jurgen Klopp deserves to be manager of the season but Chrissy Wilder would be a close second,” said Hutchison, who played at Bramall Lane between 1996 and 1998.

“Liverpool have been the best team this season but I’d put Sheffield United second in terms of what they’ve done because Chelsea, Spurs, Manchester City and Manchester United have world-class squads.”

The fearlessness of a team which has changed little from last season’s Championship impresses Hutchison.

“The way Chrissy Wilder’s had them playing has been fantastic, and you can see his team’s got loads of confidence,” he said.

“A lot of teams come up and fear the big clubs, they maybe change their systems, but not Sheffield United. I was commentating at Tottenham when they played there and Sheffield United should have been 2-0 up inside 10 minutes, and 4-0 within about half an hour. They battered Tottenham.

“It was only a dodgy VAR decision that stopped them winning but they were brilliant that day, as they have been in every single game.

“They’ve always been in games and it’s only Newcastle, Manchester City and Liverpool who have beaten them by more than one goal.

“I’ve seen teams like Brighton and Burnley playing for 0-0s over the years but Sheffield United never do that, they just go for it,” he said.

“The team I should have won promotion with in 1996-97 was full of Premier League players and I’m confident if we’d gone up we would have been fine the next season, but nowhere near the top seven and Chrissy Wilder’s doing it mainly with players who have come up through the leagues with him.

“They’ve hardly spent anything and yet they’re competing with Wolves who have spent about £100m, Manchester United, Spurs and Arsenal, sitting there right in the race for the Champions League.”

In Bramall Lane terms, Wilder has spent big since winning promotion – breaking the club’s transfer record five times – but in comparison to the established Premier League teams around them, their outlay is pretty modest.

A top-seven finish should guarantee Europa League qualification assuming a Manchester City appeal against their ban for breaching financial fair play is not allowed to muddy the water – top eight if the FA Cup winners qualify for Europe via the league. A top-five finish would secure Champions League football with the same caveat about Manchester City.

It is not yet clear when or if the Blades will get chance to play their 10 remaining league fixtures, six of which are against teams with European pretensions themselves.

“This break might derail them slightly, in terms of their flow, but that could apply to anyone, we just don’t know what’s going to happen,” argued Hutchison.

“Certainly up until this all happened they’ve been brilliant.”