Blades boss has a steely resolve to save the EFL

CHRIS WILDER is a manager who knows exactly where he came from.

That is one of the reasons he has been such a success and breath of fresh air in the Premier League, leading Sheffield United to their best-ever top-flight finish last year.

But Wilder (below) is also earning glowing mentions from other managers in the e EFL amid the backdrop rop of the ongoing discussions about a potential Premier League bailout for the Championship and League One and Two clubs.

There have been regular dialogue and meetings between bosses within the League Managers’ Association who are supporting clubs worried about their futures and how they will pay the bills, let alone wages.

One of the loudest voices has been Wilder, who has been so supportive of lower league managers, with one calling him “a proper bloke who never forgets where he came from”.

Wilder had a journeyman playing career in the lower divisions, worked his way up as a manager and, while Premier League clubs squabble over cash support for the EFL, he has been loud and proud about his career roots. Sheffield United have a squad full of former EFL players under a man who managed at Halifax Town, Oxford and N Northampton. There has neve never been talk within the Premier League of a £200million bailout, that was mooted by EFL chief Rick Parry, and what is on offer is a mere fraction of that.

But the conditions attached are so complex, with the Premier League also taking a stand against a government who have blocked fans returning.

The Premier League meet again next week to discuss it further, but this may run and run.