BLADES BOSS REVEALS HIS REDS CONNECTION
ALTHOUGH Chris Wilder will always be a Blade at heart, he has some Scouse blood in his veins.
Wilder’s dad is from Norris Green on Merseyside and his uncle took him on the Kop a couple of times in the 1970s as a kid during trips to see his relatives.
Wilder saw Liverpool greats Kevin Keegan and Emlyn Hughes in their pomp and remembers being carried down the Kop in an avalanche of people when the Reds scored.
“I was on the Kop with my uncle Colin, he’ll like this plug!” said the Sheffield United boss ahead of his side’s clash with Liverpool today. “He took me a couple of times.
“I’d have been eight or nine when we used to go for Christmas holidays and we’d have the odd trip toAnfield.As people at the time will know and relate to, you started halfway up the Kop, then when Liverpool scored you ended up anywhere, possibly down the bottom, and my uncle would take the next 20 minutes trying to find me.
“It was great to experience in my formative, young years. I am, and always will be, a Sheffield United supporter, but that part of me has always been there from my dad’s side and my uncle and my auntie.” Wilder still sees his Scouse relatives and dropped in to see his aunt before his side’s win over Everton at Goodison last Saturday.
“I visited my auntie,” he said. “I popped in for a cup of tea and nothing really changes in those households.
“They didn’t mention me being in the Premier League with Sheffield United once, so I was a bit gutted! I had a cup of tea and the kids jumped over me for 20 or 25 minutes. Then I said my goodbyes and went on my way.”
Wilder’s history with Liverpool ahead of their first meeting since 2007 at Bramall Lane this lunchtime includes losing at Anfield with his beloved Blades in 1990.
Wilder, 52, was rightback in Dave Bassett’s side who had won promotion to the
I went to the old Kop with my Scouse uncle... it took him 20 minutes to find me after Liverpool scored!
top flight that year and remembers being “tortured” by John Barnes.
He was also at Bramall Lane as a fan the last time United beat Liverpool – in the 2003 League Cup semi-final first leg under Neil Warnock, although Gerard Houllier’s men won the return to reach Wembley.
“I played for Dave Bassett’s side the season we went back into the old First Division and I got tortured by John Barnes one afternoon during Christmas,” he recalled with a smile. “I’ve also watched Sheffield United go toe to toe with them in a League Cup semi-final, back in the day.” Facing Liverpool in the Premier League is another milestone in United’s remarkable renaissance underWilder.They were getting thumped at home by Southend in League One when he took charge three years ago.
“I’ve had some dark days and a few years ago it would have seemed a million years away, us playing Liverpool,” he said.“The journey’s been quick. Now we have to do ourselves justice.”
SHEFF UTD (probable): Henderson; Basham, Egan, O’Connell; Baldock, Fleck, Lundstram, Norwood, Stevens; Robinson, McBurnie.
LIVERPOOL (probable): Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane.