Having had to sit on his hands and bite his tongue in his first six months back at Bramall Lane, Chris Wilder has been reinvigorated by working with a squad with the mentality he demands at Sheffield United.
In December 2023 Wilder returned for a second spell as manager to a club seemingly already doomed to relegation from the Premier League.
They went down miserably, conceding 104 goals, but will return on Saturday if they beat Sunderland in the Championship play-off final.
It is not just the personnel and attitudes which have changed, but their whole way of playing, Wilder breaking from the three at the back which served him so well in his first spell to field a 4-2-3-1 formation tweaked recently to 4-4-2.
The result has been a team who are favourites to win promotion at Wembley having claimed 92 points over the regular season and won their play-off semi-final by a record aggregate of 6-0 over Bristol City.
"I felt it was time for a change for the supporters, as well as myself and Al (Knill, his assistant) and the coaches," said Wilder.
"I used to go home (last season) and think, I can't wait.
"I was a little bit blessed that I had that ability to let a lot of players go and to move a lot of players on, and reset and rebuild.
FRESH APPROACH: Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)FRESH APPROACH: Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)
FRESH APPROACH: Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)
"I've really enjoyed it.
"We've not been going for two or three years or had four or five windows to refine it.
"But I've been delighted the way the players have taken to it.
"If they're not having you and don't want to listen we would be halfway down the league or maybe going out of the division."
RIGHT ATTITUDE: Tyrese Campbell impressed Chris Wilder when they met to discuss him joining Sheffield United (Image: Simon Bellis / Sportimage)RIGHT ATTITUDE: Tyrese Campbell impressed Chris Wilder when they met to discuss him joining Sheffield United (Image: Simon Bellis / Sportimage)
RIGHT ATTITUDE: Tyrese Campbell impressed Chris Wilder when they met to discuss him joining Sheffield United (Image: Simon Bellis / Sportimage)
He is a different manager to the one of 2016 to 2020, he says.
"The game moves on as it has done since I first started coaching," he added.
"Maybe the players of this generation might not feel it but I think if you speak to Al, I'm a little bit softer and a little bit more gentle.
"But still the non-negotiables are there and they will be there to the day I hang up my sheepskin coat.
NO SULKING: Callum O'Hare (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)NO SULKING: Callum O'Hare (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)
NO SULKING: Callum O'Hare (Image: Andrew Yates / Sportimage)
"The supporters are the biggest people that we have to make sure that we connect with and I'm certain there's been a connection there.
"It was about setting the tone with your messages in training, your attitude when you speak to the players, what you believe they are, what part they can play at this football club.
"It was speaking to all those players, whether they're loan signings or Callum O'Hares or Kieffer Moores, Michael Coopers and Harrison Burrows, about what they can achieve here and how I want them to go about it, what they've done at their previous clubs that attracted us.
"They had to come back with something as well.
"I always remember meeting Tyrese (Campbell) in an hotel in Manchester and coming away really positive in terms of the messages that he was talking about and his attitude towards resetting."
Another player who has epitomised the spirit Wilder wants is O'Hare, who started 35 of the season’s first 37 league games but has played more of a bit-part recently, especially after the switch to 4-4-2. Rather than sulk, he came off the bench to score in both legs against Bristol City.
"I'm just not surprised," Wilder said of O'Hare's response. "I'm not surprised in any of them because that's what is expected.
"Every opportunity is an opportunity to impress and he's certainly done that. His attitude has been first-class.
Saturday's will be the Blades’ first game this season with a video assistant referee (VAR). South Yorkshire official Craig Pawson has discussed the implications with them this week.
"Refereeing at Premier League level is different to Championship football,” explained Wilder.
"We have to play the game cleanly, we have to be disciplined but we have to be competitive. It's getting the balance right between nice and calm, and playing our game and wanting to win.
"Hopefully VAR doesn't come into action and if it does, everybody gets the correct decision because that's all we're after."