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Sheffield United beat Stoke City on Friday night as Chris Wilder set his team records to break ahead of their final league games before the Championship play-offs.
Sheffield United beat Stoke City 2-0 on Friday night on the back of their 2-1 win defeat at Burnley which ended automatic promotion hopes.
Chris Wilder’s side had lost four of their last five heading into the Stoke clash. Still, the Blades ran out comfortable victors over Mark Robins’ Potters, who admitted were very much in the Championship relegation battle ahead of kick-off.
Goals from Sam McCallum and substitute Andre Brooks were enough for the Blades, who climbed to 89 points in the Championship table following the win, with one game to go against Blackburn Rovers before the play-offs.
After the game, Wilder threw the gauntlet down to his side for the final-day fixture.
Chris Wilder wants Sheffield United players to break records
Some pundits had backed Stoke to win, but Wilder’s side dominated the affair and limited the Potters to very few clear-cut chances, with the game playing out in very “feisty” fashion.
Their latest victory puts them Sheffield United on the cusp of an unwanted record, and are on track to be the Championship side with the highest points tally across the 46 games, who didn’t go on to achieve promotion.
Currently, that record is held by Leeds United from last season, who finished the regular campaign on 90 points with a monumental +38 goal difference but were beaten by Southampton in the Championship play-off final.
If the Blades draw their last game against Rovers, and take their current goal difference from +27 to +39 they will leapfrog Leeds’ record. More realistically, if they beat Blackburn, they will smash the record and end on 92 points despite automatic promotion out of sight.
Wilder himself, has admitted he is desperate to break that record, as an ode to his players’ performance levels this season which were not enough to secure a top-two finish.
The Blades boss told Sky Sports football: “I’ve talked at length about getting into the 90s from a points total, from a club record, in terms of getting Championship points, I want to break that,
“And I want to break an EFL record for (highest points tally) not going up because I think the players deserve to go deep into the 90s because of what they’ve done so far this season.”
Wilder talked up the importance of a winning culture after the win and will be hoping that it can carry over into the play-offs despite their worrying record in the promotion-fighting campaign.
Sheffield United’s highest ever league points tallies in EFL
If Wilder’s Blades beat Blackburn next weekend, their 92 points tally finish would be their best historical rankings in the second tier, beating Paul Heckingbottom’s Championship runners-up from the 2022/23 season who finished on 91 points.
Sheffield United’s current club record stands at 100 points, when under Wilder they scorched to 100 points as League One title winners, beating Wycombe Wanderers by a margin of 14 points to the third tier title.
Automatic promotion may be out of reach, but a Sheffield United record points tally in the Championship is on the cards for Wilder’s side as the regular season curtails;
- 100 points – 2016/17 League One season – finished 1st under Wilder
- 91 points – 2022/23 Championship season – finished 2nd under Heckingbottom
- 90 points – 2005/06 Championship season – finished 2nd under Neil Warnock
- 89 points – 2024/25 Championship season – will finish 3rd under Wilder (*one game to go)
- 89 points – 2018/19 Championship season – finished 2nd under Wilder