"Will fancy themselves" - Sky Sports pundit issues bold Chris Wilder, Sheffield United promotion claim | OneFootball

Kris Boyd has given his verdict on whether Sheffield United can challenge for promotion this season following the return of Chris Wilder.

Sky Sports pundit Kris Boyd believes Sheffield United could still challenge for promotion in the Championship this season following the return of manager Chris Wilder, despite their poor start to the campaign under Ruben Selles.

After losing to Sunderland in last season's play-off final, Sheffield United made the controversial decision to part company with Wilder back in June, with disagreements over the club's new data-driven recruitment model believed to have been one of the main factors behind his exit.

Despite only narrowly keeping Hull City in the Championship last season during his brief spell at the MKM Stadium, Selles was named as Wilder's replacement, but his tenure at Bramall Lane quickly turned into a nightmare.

Amid increasing calls from supporters for him to be sacked, Selles was dismissed by the Blades last Sunday following the 5-0 defeat at Ipswich Town, and he departed after losing all of his six games in charge in all competitions, with his side scoring just two goals and conceding 14 during that time.

The search for Selles' successor proved to be a brief one, and just 89 days after leaving the club in the summer, Wilder was appointed United manager for a third time on Monday, with the 57-year-old putting pen to paper on a contract until the summer of 2027.

After his shock return was confirmed, Wilder admitted that he probably would have rejected the job had it been "any other football club", but he stressed that he "wasn't looking for an apology" from the owners, and despite their disastrous start, he claimed it was "not impossible" for the Blades to win promotion this season.

Kris Boyd drops Sheffield United promotion claim after Chris Wilder return

While Boyd admitted that Sheffield United have a lot of work to do if they are to close the gap to the top six, the former Rangers striker insisted the Blades can still be among the promotion contenders in the Championship this season under Wilder.

"Yeah, 100%," Boyd said on Sky Sports whilst on punditry duty ahead of Middlesbrough's win over West Brom on Friday evening.

"I think when you look at the Championship this year, everybody thought that Ipswich would have been the outstanding favourites for it.

"Other than that, there are probably seven or eight teams, maybe more, who will fancy themselves with a chance of going up.

"When you look at Sheffield United, they started on -2 last year, they still have a bit to go to catch up with the teams who are at the top of the table right now.

"But with Chris Wilder, it's not as though he's going to take time to settle in, and with the fixtures coming up as well, he's got an opportunity to go and get some points on the board."

Chris Wilder must make history if Sheffield United are to win promotion this season

Given that the managerial change has been made after just five games, Sheffield United have given Wilder plenty of time to turn their fortunes around, and in what is a wide open Championship this season, they could quickly climb the table by putting a run of wins together.

However, no team in EFL history has ever won promotion after losing their first five league games, which shows the size of the challenge Wilder is facing if he is to lead the Blades to the Premier League this campaign.

That task was only made increasingly more difficult this weekend too, as Wilder's return to Bramall Lane was marked with a 1-0 defeat to Charlton Athletic thanks to a stoppage time winner from Tanto Olaofe.

With many of the team that accumulated 90 points and reached the play-off final last season still at the club, it should not take Wilder long to settle back in to life at Bramall Lane despite suffering defeat to the Addicks, although his squad will be much lower on confidence than when he last worked with them.

Wilder will be confident he can guide United comfortably away from the relegation zone in the coming weeks, particularly with a favourable fixture list ahead, but it remains to be seen whether a promotion challenge will be a step too far after the damage done in the early stages of the season under Selles.