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It’s been an incredibly busy few days for Chris Wilder and Sheffield United, as the 57-year-old prepares for his return to the Bramall Lane dugout this weekend.
Ruben Selles’ dreadful Blades tenure came to an end on Sunday, less than three months after taking charge of the club and supporters will be hoping to see improvements quickly, with their team bottom of the Championship.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 21 |  WrexhamWrexham | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 10 | -2 | 4 |
| 22 |  Oxford UnitedOxford United | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -3 | 2 |
| 23 |  Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 12 | -9 | 1 |
| 24 |  Sheffield UtdSheffield Utd | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 12 | -11 | 0 |
There will be fears about the South Yorkshire outfit’s issues with being clinical in the final third as Charlton Athletic make the trip up north, but the club now has a manager who gets the best out of those in S2.
Wilder has already spoken about Selles, but the focus is purely on him now and EFL Analysis can provide an update on how those inside Sheffield United feel about his re-hire.
- READ MORE – How Birmingham City’s Tom Brady and co. feel about Chris Davies after Championship start
Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United return seen as a ‘reset’
Benjamin Bloom has called Wilder the Championship’s second-best manager, but he will need to prove his worth quickly if the Blades are to turn their situation around.
It’s still very early days in the 2025/26 season, and therefore this was the right time to make the change. Now, EFL Analysis has exclusive information from our Chief Football Correspondent, Graeme Bailey, about how the club feels about the re-appointment of the iconic Sheffield United boss.
He said: “I think the whole club sees it as a reset. I think the club and the players could feel it coming anyway. They thought it needed to happen. There wasn’t any real push back from within the club which is why the owners did it.
“Everyone’s on the same page now. They’ve held their hands up. They know they made a mistake and they were quick to put that right.
“I’m sure Chris Wilder would have liked to have got back in there before some of those players left, especially someone like Anel Ahmedhodzic. But no, the club appears to be in a much better place now and from what I’m hearing the squad are pretty happy that they’ve made the change.”
- READ MORE – Championship score predictions for gameweek 6 as Norwich City run riot and Chris Wilder fixes Blades
Will Chris Wilder favour his own players over new signings?
There’s plenty of excitement surrounding this weekend for Sheffield United fans and a victory will take off a huge amount of pressure off those donning the red-and-white stripes.
However, there will also be questions over whether Wilder will be more loyal to his own players rather than Selles’ signings. Bailey told us: “We won’t know until we see the first team selection, really, and the players won’t know either until they see what comes with the next few games.
“But I don’t imagine things will be too different necessarily. The shape under Selles wasn’t massively different from what Wilder used to prefer. I think the new players will be fine, subject to Wilder rating them, of course.”
Meanwhile, it’s been a difficult time for Gustavo Hamer so far this season, and Selles struggled to get the best out of him – leaving him out of the starting XI for the Blades’ 5-0 defeat to Ipswich Town last Friday.
However, the returning Wilder knows exactly what makes the 2024/25 Championship Player of the Season tick and Graeme Bailey explained how he will be feeling about the situation: “Obviously Chris Wilder managed to get the best out of Gus Hamer. For Selles, it was very much a case of as soon as he dropped him, there was no coming back from that really, was there?
“Wilder knows how to get the best out of him. That was one thing I’m sure that came into the owner’s thoughts. You’ve got the best player in the Championship arguably there, and you’re not using him and it looked like Selles really didn’t know how to use him; that would have played a part in him going. I’m sure it did.”