Wrexham v Sheffield United: Chris Wilder's respect will not water down Boxing Day spice

The Red Dragons host Sheffield United in front of the television cameras at 5.30pm.

Both teams' seasons have got going after slow starts – the Blades' much slower than Wrexham's. Both bring Championship glamour, Wrexham via high-profile owners and big spending, their guests with regular Premier League cameos.

The game should have edge too.

The 2022-23 FA Cup ties between the sides – a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Racecourse and the acrimonious replay which needed stoppage-time goals from Sander Berge and Billy Sharp to see off the then-League Two side 3-1 – were a great watch on and off the field.

Last season's League Cup meeting was lower-profile on account of Wilder fielding a virtual reserve team, but still featured six goals, four for the baby Blades.

If animosity was the defining feature of those FA Cup games, with then-manager Paul Heckingbottom and captain Sharp taking offence at some of Wrexham's behaviour, Wilder is full of admiration for former Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson and his assistant, ex-Barnsley boss Steve Parkin.

"When we played Bolton when Phil and Steve were there we had some great battles, them beating us on the first day of the (2016-17 League One) season, and a great game at Bramall Lane in early 2017,” he said.

"I know Phil personally being brought up in the same environment and I'm not surprised he's had the success that he's had. I know Steve even better – a fabulous character, a fabulous football guy, great man and a Blade as well.

"The success of Wrexham is talked about a lot off the pitch and people chuck cheap things at them – they've been able to do this, that and the other. You've still got to win games of football and we all know how hard that is, especially when you've got a target on your back."

So for characters like that not to approach Boxing Day in a full-blooded way would be disrespectful.

Wilder was lapping up those televised 2022-23 FA Cup ties.

"I watched with a smile on my face because I knew the Sheffield United group – that was basically my group apart from one or two – and I know their attitude towards it,” he said.

"I knew what Sharpy's attitude would be and Robbo's (Jack Robinson's) and Sander's, and I know what Phil, Steve and Wrexham's approach would be, so I was all over it.

"I thought the games in the Cup were fabulous, Wrexham's approach to the game at Bramall Lane, Sheffield United scoring in the last minute, all the bits and pieces.

"Do you want it to be a sterile, boring game or do you want something to be on it?

"Certainly those Cup games had everything and Sheffield United got through them and ended up in the semi-final against Man City.

"Wrexham will possibly think themselves a little bit unlucky that they didn't knock a top Championship team out the FA Cup.

"That's what you want football to be about. You want something on it and both sets of players and both clubs were all in and fully committed."

It would be a major surprise if that was not the case again.

The Blades pick from the same squad, with any injured players more likely to return in the new year than the last knockings off 2025.

By then the focus will be on transfers, with Wilder having given himself a lot to do.

“The three or four players that we need in, ideally we'd love to get them in for January 4," said Wilder. "But I also understand that we won't get all four in (by then).

“We'd like to do a couple early on, which we feel confident we can. But I think AFCON is involved as well, because of the quality of players we're looking at. Premier League teams will be a market we'll be looking at."