Chris Wilder will surely be happy with EFL decision ahead of Stoke City vs Sheffield United

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Chris Wilder would probably be the first to admit that he likes to have a moan about things quite often, but the Sheffield United boss will have no excuses against Stoke City tonight.

Sheffield United’s season fell apart at the seams in recent weeks, with defeats to Oxford United, Millwall, and Plymouth Argyle leaving them five points adrift of Burnley and Leeds at the top.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	LeedsLeeds	44	27	13	4	89	29	60	94
2	BurnleyBurnley	44	26	16	2	61	15	46	94
3	Sheff UtdSheffield Utd	44	27	7	10	60	35	25	86
4	SunderlandSunderland	44	21	13	10	58	41	17	76

After losing 2-1 to Burnley on Monday evening at Turf Moor, the Blades knew their pursuit of automatic promotion was over, and Chris Wilder now needs to get his team over the line via the Championship play-offs.

That’s easier said than done, but United will first need to get back some momentum, starting with the Friday night clash with Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.

• READ MORE: The astonishing amount Rhian Brewster has cost Sheffield United per goal as contract nears end

Chris Wilder can’t grumble about referee for Stoke City clash

One positive for Wilder, though, will be the fact that the referee for the Stoke game is a man he has had the rare pleasure of agreeing with in the past.

Wilder is renowned for being on the wrong side of match officials, but Jarred Gillett is one referee he’s not had any particular run-in with before.

In fact, last February, while United were in the Premier League, Gillett made a big decision that got the approval of Wilder after the game.

With Sheffield United down 1-0 to Wolves at Molineux, a shocking incident saw Blades stars Vinicius Souza and Jack Robinson go head-to-head in an intense falling out on the pitch. The pair appeared to butt heads, before a slap from Souza and a shove from Robinson in retaliation.

They were separated by Anel Ahmedhodzic at the time, before Gillett, on VAR duty for the day, took his time to deliberate over whether to show either, or both, of the Sheffield United men a red card. In the end, they both stayed on the pitch.

Speaking afterwards, Wilder played down the matter, saying: “That happens at every football club up and down the country three or four times a year.

“I can’t condone it; it has to stay at a level and, of course, we have a responsibility to the young kids out there playing but that happens behind closed doors at every football club, at every level – it’ll happen at Man City and at the bottom of League Two.

“You don’t want it to happen, you don’t want to see it, but it does [happen]. For me, move on pretty quickly as long as it doesn’t step over the line, which it didn’t. We spoke to the boys and they’re fine and cool about it.”

• READ MORE: Chris Wilder was livid with Coventry for betraying Mark Robins, now Sheffield United must punish his old friend

Chris Wilder and Sheffield United need more discipline

It’s obviously been a stressful season for Wilder, especially recently, and that has certainly spilled over onto the pitch for him and his Blades players.

On Monday, Wilder was critical of Burnley’s security after his team were bombarded by Clarets fans celebrating their promotion at the final whistle.

Still, Wilder was surprisingly humble about missing out on promotion, but if you saw him just a couple of weeks ago, he cut a far more angry figure.

Fighting with Plymouth players in the tunnel at Home Park was not necessarily on our Chris Wilder bingo card, but here we are. The fallout of that incident saw Sheffield United hit with a sixth charge of the season by the FA.

As for referees, Wilder had past form with the referee for the Burnley game, David Webb, who missed a foul on David McGoldrick back in 2019, just moments before United conceded an injury time equaliser to Millwall in a Championship clash.

Let’s hope Jarred Gillett stays in Wilder’s good books tonight, then.