Chris Wilder took inspiration from Bournemouth fairytale to lift Sheffield United back to the big time
Chris Wilder, the manager who has led Sheffield United to two promotions in three years, comes with the no-nonsense grit you might expect from someone born among the South Yorkshire steelworks of Stocksbridge, yet the story he used to inspire his team to believe was made by Eddie Howe in the somewhat more genteel environs of Bournemouth.
After Leeds United’s solitary point against Aston Villa, the Blades’ 2-0 victory over Ipswich Town in front of 30,000 fans at Bramall Lane on Saturday means that Wilder has emulated Howe in taking a team from League One to the Premier League in the space of just three seasons, and wingback George Baldock says it is more than coincidence.
Baldock, also from a lower league background at Milton Keynes Dons, was one of Wilder’s first signings after winning the League One title in 2017. As United celebrated on Saturday, feeling safe to do so in the knowledge that their superior goal difference made promotion effectively theirs regardless of other results, he recalled his new boss citing Bournemouth as the model they should aspire to.
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“I remember in my first full season here the manager talked a lot about Bournemouth and how a lot of their players started with them in League Two and worked their way up,” Baldock said.
“He would say to us ‘listen, why can’t we do a similar thing? “And If you look at the starting eleven today, there are a lot of players who have grown with the club. A lot of the lads are still here from the League One campaign. It has been everyone growing together and jumping on that ship and working together.”
Jack O’Connell, who set up Saturday’s first goal for on-loan Aston Villa forward Scott Hogan and then headed the second himself, was one of six players involved against Ipswich who had been members of the 2016-17 promotion-winning League One team.
The others include defender Chris Basham, midfielders John Fleck and Mark Duffy, and captain Billy Sharp, United’s record-breaking centre forward, who came off the bench to lead celebrations at the end.
Sharp, like Wilder, is from Sheffield, which Baldock believes is another important element of the team’s success.
“Their presence has been invaluable. To have two people leading us who know so much what this club means to people in the city and understand the pressure that comes with playing here,” he said.
“They have told us that it has not always been good here with play-off heartaches and so forth, that the fans have been let down a few times, so to give them something to smile about, with those two at the front of it all, has been great.”
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