What Prince Abdullah said about Chris Wilder's transfer strategy at Sheffield United as Blades sack looms | OneFootball

Rumours are circulating over the future of Chris Wilder at Sheffield United; this may be a reopening of a wound

Media reports are suggesting that Chris Wilder could be set to be sacked as the manager of Sheffield United, following their failure to get back into the Premier League at the first attempt.

The Blades were beaten at the last-gasp by Sunderland in the Championship at Wembley in May after having finished third in the table, ten points behind Leeds United and Burnley, and it now seems likely that this could prove to be the end of the road for their manager.

But while much of this reporting has focused on the club needing "a change of direction" following the disappointment of losing out this time around, previous comments by the club's owner, Prince Abdullah, suggest a longer-term disagreement between the club's hierarchy and Wilder.

Abdullah was 'astonished' by Wilder resignation demands

Speaking to Sky Sports shortly after Wilder's previous departure from the club in 2021, Prince Abdullah talked openly of the disagreements that he'd previously had with the Sheffield United manager.

In the interview, Abdullah explained that Wilder had twice offered to resign as manager of the club, but that the club had refused to meet the severance package that he wanted in order to leave. "The emails started between his representatives and our financial guy", Abdullah said, "and we were astonished to find he had asked for £4m to resign."

Wilder returned to the club in December 2023.

Transfer policy was at the heart of Prince Abdullah's issues with Wilder

The owner made it clear that there had been fairly major disagreements over the club's transfer policy at that time, telling Sky that, "I felt it was my mistake because we recruited how Chris wanted, we spent over £120m."

To an extent, it was somewhat surprising that Wilder lasted until the middle of March at Bramall Lane that season.

By the time of his departure, Sheffield United were well adrift at the bottom of the Premier League, with just four wins and 16 goals from 28 games.

It is clear from the 2021 interview that Abdullah was struck by the irony of the Blades' paucity in front of goal that season: "Liverpool and Tottenham have two forwards, we have six. The new coach may not want six forwards and we spent around £60m on them." It's certainly reasonable to say that Sheffield United didn't get much value, for all the money spent that season.

Goalscoring didn't improve much over the remainder of the season under Wilder's interim successor, Paul Heckingbottom. By the time of his appointment, it was too late to save their season; they were already 12 points adrift of safety. But the Blades scored just four more goals over their final ten games of the season, although he did increase their number of wins from four to seven.

Heckingbottom was overlooked for the permanent job that summer but was overlooked in favour of Slavisa Jovanovic, only to be appointed to the position himself that November, when Jokanovic himself was also sacked.

With such comments having been made at the time of his last departure from the club, it's not difficult to see how differences of opinion could have reopened in the fallout which followed their play-off final defeat. And it all leaves Sheffield United in an extremely uncertain position, with the summer break having already started.