Sheffield United is my life - Wilder on return for third spell in charge

Returning Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder has said he would probably not have come back to a different club in the same situation.

Wilder was reappointed Blades boss on Monday, just three months after he was sacked and replaced by Ruben Selles.

Selles lost all six of his games in charge of the Championship club and was himself sacked on Sunday with the team bottom of the league after a dismal 5-0 loss at Ipswich.

When asked by BBC Radio Sheffield if he would have said no if it had been "any other football club" he said: "Possibly yeah. This is a special and unique club for me."

He added: "I wasn't looking for an apology [from the owners].

"I'm not looking to come in here and be smug about the situation. It's my football club and we're bottom of the division. We've played six, lost six, that is not a good place.

"There's a lack of respect to the football club which has to be owned at the moment. I have to help the players and change that around.

"I'm not smug about the situation. I'm not sitting back and saying 'oh, it's great they lost' I think some managers might be but I'm not. It's my life, it's my family's life and it's my pals' life. We want the club to succeed."

Wilder is now in his third spell as manager of his hometown team, having led them from League One to the Premier League in his first stint between 2016 and 2021.

There was speculation that part of the reason for his June departure was American owners COH Sports wanting to lean more heavily on AI for recruitment, but Wilder said he was enthused by the talks he had with the club's ownership group.

"They could have gone in another direction and they didn't, so huge respect to them on that," he said.

"I enjoyed my conversations with the owners when there was the possibility of coming back and collaborating with them.

"There's a lot of talk about AI and whatever but I always think it's a collaboration of everything.

"I love working with people. The attitude of the owners to initially approach me and have that chat sort of gives a good feel and vibe about the place."

Despite starting last season with a two-point deduction, Wilder led the team to third place with 90 points before they were beaten by Sunderland in the play-off final.

He now returns to a team who have lost all five of their league games and have not scored a goal since the opening weekend of the season.

The manager said that the players can not put the blame for their predicament solely on Selles.

"The players have to accept some responsibility for that," Wilder added.

"Bottom of the league for duels, bottom three or four in running stats... The game doesn't change. The fight in the players has to be shown and that shows they're not fighting and they're not running around.

"People can talk about the reasons they're not doing that but first and foremost I don't compromise on those aspects of the game and the top guys don't compromise.

"If people think in the Premier League people don't run around and tackle and compete then they're totally off what football is about."

Wilder did say that he also thinks it is key to "put players in their natural positions".

Last season's Championship player of the season Gus Hamer started Friday's drubbing at Ipswich on the bench and Wilder suggested that he would be recalling the playmaker and captain to the starting line-up.

"Gus is a player that I love and we need him at the top of the pitch. We don't need him in a different position," he said.

"Whether he plays as a 10 or off the side. Combinations, slide balls, crosses, assists, goals, big moments... He's arguably the best player in the division."

The first game of Wilder's third spell will be at home to Charlton on Saturday and the 57-year-old says he is expecting an "electric" atmosphere.

The Blades are four points adrift of safety after their nightmare start and already nine points off the top six.

No team in EFL history has ever recovered from losing their first five games to go up.

When asked if they can get back into the promotion race Wilder said: "It's not impossible. Statistically it has been shown that teams in our position can win games and go on a run.

"We're not in a great position at the moment so it's small steps. First and foremost we need to make sure we get every day right and that includes yesterday and today and to be fair they have been outstanding."

He added: "Sheffield United is not a team that is bottom of the division for duels or running distances.

"We all know what a good Sheffield United team looks like and getting back to the basic principles. It isn't old school, it's right school."