Having spent just 89 days away from Sheffield United this summer, there were hopes heading into last weekend’s latest homecoming that Chris Wilder could pick up where he left off.
But when Isaac Olaofe scored in the 90th minute to give Charlton a 1-0 win at Bramall Lane, it felt like the beginning of a difficult third spell as United manager, rather than a continuation of what had gone before.
The boyhood Blade led his side to the Championship play-off final before he was sacked in June, as the club sought a new direction under Ruben Selles.
The Spaniard didn’t win a game, United’s board ate a significant slice of humble pie, took responsibility for the club’s disastrous start to the campaign, and turned once again to Wilder, saying they “remain fully committed to supporting the team and pursuing promotion”.
Hopes of a Premier League return sounded bold after five-straight league defeats. Now it’s six losses in a row, and avoiding relegation would be a notable feat.
Sheffield United are only the fourth team in the 20-year history of the Championship to lose their first six games of the league season.
Two of those teams went down, while only one survived – city rivals Sheffield Wednesday in 2007-08.
On average, it takes 78 points to achieve a place in the Championship play-offs. This means the Blades would now need to win 26 of their remaining 40 league games.
That’s quite an ask for any team, let alone one which is currently pointless, having scored the fewest number of goals (1) while conceding the most (13) at the bottom of the second tier.
If one man can do it though, you would suggest it’s Chris Wilder, who turned a struggling League One side into a top-10 Premier League team in his first spell, and then came within 15 minutes of an immediate return to the top flight in his second stint after overhauling a side that broke records in relegation.
Wilder admitted after the defeat to Charlton that maybe he “was too much on the optimistic side of we’ll be OK” in returning to Bramall Lane, with his players looking “fragile and damaged”.
It feels like anything remains possible for Sheffield United this season, albeit with unnecessary damage caused by the firing and re-hiring of Chris Wilder by the club’s American owners COH Sports.
Some of the players signed this summer, 14 in total, seem like Wilder-type signings. Some we know he courted in the past.
But ultimately they are not his signings, and while there is plenty of quality at his disposal, on paper, Wilder now has to gel a new-look Blades side capable of climbing the table, with players lacking confidence, rather than building on the strong foundations he laid last season.
