From non-league to Premier League... all sealed with a Chris

JUST 15 years ago, Chris Wilder was leading Halifax Town to a 2-1 home win against Stevenage in the National League at the Shay, with a crowd of 1,497.

When Sheffield United run out today in front of a full house at Bramall Lane, they know a win will put a Champions League qualifying place within touching distance.

The Blades’ rise from League One to the upper echelon of the Premier League is simply remarkable. But, arguably, their manager’s soaring fortunes have been even more extraordinary.

The 52-year-old is in a select band of gaffers to have worked their way up from non-league to the Premier League – joining the likes of Neil Warnock, Martin O’neill, David Pleat and Ron Atkinson. So what’s Wilder’s secret? Kelvin Thomas handed Wilder the manager’s job at Oxford United in 2008 after he had honed his trade at Alfreton and then Halifax.

The U’s were in the National League at the time, but it didn’t take long for Thomas – who also brought Wilder to Northampton Town in 2014 – to realise that the former full-back was destined for a higher stage.

Town chairman Thomas (above) said: “Chris has always been a very driven fella, very competitive, even in five-a-side games. He would scream at me for not holding the ball up. He has the stubborn streak that makes people successful. “When you take on a manager, it’s a risk. I did the interview [at Oxford] with the late Jim Smith, and the reason we selected Chris above anyone else was that he had managed a lot of games for his age and had a level of success. “His success came with Halifax in a difficult situation financially. We weren’t overly secure, so it was an advantage that he had dealt with that kind of thing. Chris was very detailed, very forward thinking.”

He took Oxford back into the Football League, then saved Northampton from relegation before taking them up from League Two in 2016.

“His man-management is exceptional – what he gets out of his players is second to none,” added Thomas. “His promotions, barring maybe coming out of League One with Sheffield United, would have been done without the biggest budget in the league.

“What would he have said if I’d told him that, 12 years after getting the Oxford job, he would take a club into Europe?

“I’m not sure you’d print that in your paper. Jim Smith might have had a few choice words too! But it could happen.”