George Baldock: Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder says former defender will not be forgotten

Sunday’s 1-0 win extended Wilder’s own unbeaten record as Blades boss against the Owls to six games and also moved them back up to second in the Championship.

After the match Wilder looked back at how much things had changed since he took over for his first spell in charge in May 2016.

United were a League One side and Wednesday had just missed out on promotion to the Premier League in the Championship play-off final when Wilder was appointed at Bramall Lane.

The Blades went up from the third tier to the top flight in his first spell and are now looking to win promotion to the Premier League for the third time in six years.

“It feels good. I talked to the players before how we were ridiculed for being in League One, a pub league and all that since I took over in 2016,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“I wanted to adjust the narrative that we weren’t a pub league side and all of a sudden it changes and now we’re a rival. It changes, we’re now 31 points above them [Wilder’s side are 29 points above the Owls but started the season on minus two for defaulting on payments to other clubs in 2022-23].”

He added: “To do the double over our rivals was always going to be a good day.

“We knew everything that was coming. We had the welcoming committee in the car park. It was the game that we thought it would be.”