Chris Wilder has referenced Newcastle United’s recent cup triumph ahead of Sheffield United’s clash with Sunderland.
Sheffield United are gearing up for their clash with Sunderland in the Championship play-off final.
Chris Wilder’s side went through convincingly after a 6-0 win on aggregate, whilst Sunderland’s was done in a much more dramatic fashion, with Dan Ballard bagging a last-minute winner against Coventry City.
With there being eight days until the Championship play-off final, which will see two of the second-tier heavyweights battle it out for promotion to the Premier League, the pre-match talk has already started from each corner, with Wilder referencing Sunderland’s bitter rivals Newcastle United as a means for optimism ahead of the contest.
Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images
Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder makes Newcastle United comparison as Blades look to break play-off hoodoo
The Blades go into the Wembley final having never been promoted via the play-offs, a record that Wilder is wanting to bury in this campaign.
Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland side still stand in Sheffield United’s way, but Wilder still remains confident that his side will be able to eventually break their play-off curse.
“I don’t feel there’s a negativity because of our previous campaigns,” Wilder said via The Star. “There feels like a freshness about it, a real belief that we can make history and put to bed all the other things that have gone on previously.
“I’ve witnessed the majority of it! We’ve been on a journey since 2016. Six years in League One, and don’t think anyone thought we’d get out of League One in our first season.”
Wilder then went on to reference Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup win this season as a sign that these records are here to be broken, something that Sunderland fans certainly wouldn’t want to have been reminded of.
“We’ve had to suffer other things. I reference Newcastle all the time regarding it. The Geordies turned up at Wembley and got the job done. There are great examples of that, just as many as the negative parts of it.”
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Chris Wilder will remind his side of record that must be broken
It is not a new revelation that Sheffield United have a pretty poor record in the play-offs, and no one will be more aware of that than Wilder and the current Blades side.
Wilder has no doubt used this as a motivational tactic for his side to help ramp up their efforts. If promotion to the Premier League wasn’t enough to motivate his side, writing their names into the history books of the club certainly would be, and there isn’t a better person to deliver that message than boyhood Blades fan Wilder.
As the likely favourite in the contest, the pressure will be on Wilder’s side against a Sunderland side that got through the semi-finals by the skin of their teeth; but there aren’t many better managers at this level who will weather the storm of that pressure and use it to his advantage.