Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United story sounds made up - But it’s 100% real | OneFootball

The Blades boss had two spells as a player at Bramall Lane as has had three as their manager, but his connection to the club doesn't end there.

He's been their manager three times and had two spells with them as a player, but even these weren't the only positions that Chris Wilder has held at Sheffield United.

The decision on the part of the owners of Sheffield United to sack Chris Wilder after his team was beaten in the Championship play-off final at the end of the 2024-25 season proved to be an expensive one for the owners of the club.

Wilder was replaced by Ruben Selles and the squad was overhauled, but after a disastrous start to the season, Selles was sacked and the owners of the club were put into the humiliating position of having to go back to the man who they let go and ask him to return to the club who let him go at the end of last season for a third spell as their manager.

Wilder's return has at least stabilised the Blades, who pulled clear of the relegation places and are now looking considerably more comfortable in mid-table. And the fact that Wilder returned for a third spell with them wasn't a surprise to anybody, because this is a man who clearly loves Sheffield United.

Since turning professional as a player forty years ago, Wilder has had two spells as a Sheffield United player and three as their manager, but even these aren't the only positions that he's held within the club.

Chris Wilder spent time as a ball boy for Sheffield United

Chris Wilder's journey into the professional game started forty years ago this year, when he returned to South Yorkshire following a spell at Southampton during which he was unable to break into the first team.

But one of the more surprising elements of Wilder's early years as a Blade is that he spent time as a ball boy at Bramall Lane. As the Blades fan site The Pinch points out, he isn't the only Sheffield United player to have done so, either, with other former Blades legends such as Billy Sharp and Kyle Walker having also performed this role for the club.

Using youth players for this purpose isn't uncommon in the game, with other famous former ball boys who ended up playing for their clubs including Phil Foden of Manchester City and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Chris Wilder just can't help but keep returning to the club that he loves

The defining feature of Chris Wilder's entire career is that he's always ended up back at Bramall Lane. It'll be 40 years this year since he made it into their first-team squad, making his debut for them in a 1-0 defeat at Shrewsbury Town in January 1987.

Wilder's first spell with the club as a player would last until 1992, although this was interrupted by loan spells with Walsall, Charlton and Leyton Orient, before he moved on to Rotherham United. He ran up well over 100 appearances for the Millers over the next four years, before spending a season at Notts County and a season at Bradford City, returning to Bramall Lane for a second spell as a player in the 1998-99 season.

But it's been as a manager that Wilder has become most closely associated with the club. His current spell in the Bramall Lane hot seat is his third, having also managed them between 2016 and 2021, and his previous two years before getting the sack at the end of last season.

His first departure as manager came about with the club rock-bottom in the Premier League. That wasn't surprising in the results-driven modern game. But his second sacking was a shock because his team had only narrowly been pipped to a place in the top flight through the play-offs after missing out on automatic promotion to two teams who ran up 100 points each, which is quite clearly an absurdly high bar for any manager to have to hit.

The club owners' decision to sack Willder at the end of last season caused consternation amongst Sheffield United fans because it betrayed a fundamental lack of understanding of the connection that Chris Wilder has with this club. Whether as a ball boy, a player or a manager, Wilder has always given his all for the club that he loves.

At least the owners acknowledged the error of their ways by re-hiring him in September. But undoing the damage caused by that calamitous start to the season has been tough, and a play-off place will most likely be beyond them this season. But Wilder is building something at Bramall Lane, and it's based on a love affair with this club that is now over four decades old, and which has been felt as a manager, a player, and indeed a ball boy.