THE RISE OF SHEFF UTD
Chris Wilder’s Blades revolution
IT IS sensational to think that just three years ago, John Fleck bundled United at Northampton Town. It was a goal worth around £1.4m, and one that went down in Blades folklore as it secured promotion to the Championship, putting an end to an agonising six-year wait in League One.
A sea of United supporters invaded the pitch, erasing several years of heartache and misery in each buoyant stride.
Draped in the famous red and white colours, they smothered their heroes with the appreciation football club’s reincarnation had been achieved.
The team went on to be crowned champions with 100 points on the board, leaving rivals in the dust. Optimism was restored, Chris Wilder was at the helm and, once again, the Blades were on the rise.
Over the course of a gruelling 46game season, multiple ingredients are needed to produce the perfect recipe for promotion.
predominantly made up of goals, goals, goals. A phenomenal 92 league goals were scored that year, averaging an impressive two goals per game.
Billy Sharp scored 30 of them, seeing him walk away with the League One top goalscorer award and a key to the red side of the city.
However, the real mastermind came United player and lifelong fan who grew up just two miles from Bramall Lane. His management career has seen him progress from the lows of the Northern Counties East Premier Division with Alfreton Town, right the way up to his English football.
Promotions with Alfreton, Oxford United and Northampton Town were the stand-out moments in Wilder’s ever-growing career, until that glorious
On the topic of promotion, another man who knows all about that is former Blade, Michael Tonge.
The academy graduate went on to establish himself as a real fans’ favourite during his 302 appearances for the club, the highlight being a promotion to the Premier League under Neil Warnock’s stewardship in 2006.
“What has made it so special is what he’s achieved in such a short period of time,” said Tonge.
“Going from League One to the Premier League, the gulf in standard is massive. So for him to do it with a number of those players is incredible.
“He has never really gone out and signed a superstar as such. He’s had a criteria of certain players, ones that are hungry and have good quality, but, system.
“He deserves a lot of credit for doing it with the team that he has.”
JOE DAVIS TALKS TO FORMER BLADE MICHAEL TONGE ABOUT THE YORKSHIRE CLUB’S REMARKABLE RESURGENCE
gerial journey is just one of the reasons he’s caught the eye in recent years.
Another is, of course, the expeditious rise to the Premier League and, more that he has implemented during his United reign that is held in such high regard within the football world.
Pundits and managers have repeatedly sang their praises, with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola being a recent admirer.
“I’m impressed and I admire how they play with the same manager and players coming into the Premier League and I like it. As a manager you see things we can improve, they’re the ones to watch,” Guardiola told MCFC.com.
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher also waxed lyrical.
“The truth is Wilder is so far ahead with what he is doing, he is actually the most forward-thinking manager we have in the Premier League,” he said. ‘’He is doing something completely different, something we have not seen before.’’ formation that Wilder introduced back in that unforgettable League One campaign was something that had rarely, if ever, been seen before.
It brought an equal amount of suc
Central defenders that overlap fullbacks and advance into wide attacking areas sounds like a bad dream for some.
But this was reality and it was revolutionary. The football was slick, entertaining and, most of all, effective.
It was a playing style that would be well suited within any of Europe’s top divisions, but to apply it to England’s third tier was something else.
The approach was bold and inventive, plined. It not only produced, and continues to produce, results but has drawn an enormous level of intrigue, too.
If you had even whispered the idea of overlapping centre-backs during the Warnock era, you’d have been laughed out of the door.
So maybe that provides a marker on the enormity of the football club’s transformation over the past decade.
brand of football every time they take their seat.
The sight of Chris Basham and Jack O’Connell marauding down either wing is now the norm. In previous years, the likes of Chris Morgan, for example, would be under strict orders to stay in his central slot and do what he is paid to do - defend. And, in even simpler terms, “head it and kick it”.
Without doubt, those basic principles will remain a huge part of Wilder’s defensive structure, but the expectation to contribute in an attacking sense has been increased tremendously.
Defenders must be technically gifted, athletic and comfortable both attacking and defending in wide areas. As you can imagine, these types of players are extremely hard to come by, particularly outside of the Premier League. Howev formula with the players he had, a highly successful one at that.
It’s something that has remained - tity from League One to the Premier League.
Tonge explained the importance of having a certain calibre of player to blueprint.
“The key with the formation that he’s introduced is having players that suit the system,” he said. “The two outside centre-backs and wing-backs play a massive part. Those are the areas that he has to get right, because if not the team gets exposed. I think that’s something that has worked extremely well.
“It only works if the defensive players are comfortable being higher up the pitch, getting on the ball and going wide into the full-back positions. Basham and O’Connell have all those attributes, which has been key to their success.
“Comparing it to my time at the club, more often than not we went with a back four but there were occasions that we did play with a back three.
“The centre-back roles were much different, though. They used to predominantly stay in the central positions and that was usually when we had issues. If the defenders aren’t comfortable going out in wide areas, it can leave the wingbacks isolated and doesn’t really work.”
And Tonge said he wouldn’t be surprised to see other English teams follow suit.
“It’s impossible for teams below to turn a blind eye,” he said. “It has showed everyone that you can still be an at defenders.
managers of other teams will explore, and see whether it is a formation that they can play.”
settled into the Premier League with
- ship, perhaps it would have been easy for Wilder to alter the tactics when going toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country, but the performances thus far have continued to ooze the same positivity and belief that the team possessed in the Football League.
In Tonge’s eyes, he believes it would have been impossible for Wilder to change his approach, especially after it’s proven to be so successful in the past.
He said: “I think the manager will have a sudden change our entire philosophy just because we’ve got promoted to the Premier League’. It’s instinctive to the current group of players. They are so used to playing on the front foot and overloading those wide areas.”
While the Blades have stuttered a little since the Premier League’s resumption in June, they can be mighty proud of their breathtaking three-year journey - ed Football Club.
It’s been a magical and unique story of a club that has not only risen, but reinvented itself in the process.
Joe Davis is on Twitter - @JoeDavis6