Sheff Utd owner confirms appointment of ‘best’ option Chris Wilder; makes January transfer hint

Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah has announced Chris Wilder will be returning to the club as manager to replace the sacked Paul Heckingbottom, while also discussing his plans for the January transfer window.

On Monday it emerged that Sheff Utd had decided to axe Heckingbottom, with the board fearing that the players were no longer playing for their manager. Sheff Utd enjoyed some much-needed success in early November, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 before picking up a 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion.

However, Sheff Utd were brutally sent back down to earth when they lost 3-1 at home to Bournemouth in their next outing. And the dire 5-0 thrashing to Burnley on Saturday has proven to be the final straw for Heckingbottom, with his departure having been confirmed in a club statement.

The 46-year-old did a brilliant job to guide Sheff Utd to promotion last season, despite operating on a tight budget and having to deal with plenty of issues off the pitch. But the Blades hierarchy have decided a change is needed to give them the best chance of staying in the top flight, and this has seen Wilder return to Bramall Lane.

During an appearance on talkSPORT, Prince Abdullah was asked if he had made a decision on the new manager. He replied: “Yes. Chris is practically an honour of the club, he’s part of Sheffield United history. One thing I always like to do, not just in football but all of my businesses, is to keep a good relationship with my ex-employees no matter how it ended, I think you should get over it.

“At the end of the day we’re all passionate about what we do and we believe Chris is the right man for the job.

“Chris has done great things for the club and in my opinion he’s the best guy on planet earth to take over the club right now in these circumstances.”

Wilder is a Sheff Utd legend, having dragged them from League One to the Premier League between 2016 and 2019. Wilder and Sheff Utd also took the Prem by storm in the 2019-20 campaign, finishing ninth after mounting a strong challenge for European qualification. The boyhood Blades fan ultimately left in March 2021 when Sheff Utd failed to build on that stunning season and were relegated on just 23 points – Wilder had also fallen out with Prince Abdullah over transfers.

Chris Wilder gunning to ‘save season’ for Sheffield United

“Chris is very optimistic he can save the season, he doesn’t think it’s easy, but he thinks it’s still possible,” Prince Abdullah added.

“When you look at the table it’s a very special year, a very weird year when it comes to the standings, so it’s still early, the season is still long and we have every chance to achieve our goals.”

Prince Abdullah is also confident he will not fall out with Wilder over the club’s transfer strategy this time around. Plenty of January signings will be needed if Sheff Utd are to mount an effective relegation fight, though if remains to be seen if they have the money for such dealings.

“We will look at where we are in the table and what we can do,” the chief said.

“It’s very early to talk about that but I can assure you one thing: me and Chris are on the same page when it comes to January and after January.

“We know what we have to do, we’ve looked at all scenarios and we know we’ve made mistakes in the past but if we need to do anything at any time we will do it.”

Attention then turned to Heckingbottom, who may feel like he was fighting against relegation with his hands tied after the departures of Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge over the summer.

Paul Heckingbottom exit leaves owner with ‘mixed emotions’

“I have mixed emotions about letting Paul go,” Prince Abdullah continued.

“I really have a lot of respect for Paul and everything he did for the club, he’s a very classy guy.

“I’ve been at the club for five years and we changed one manager and that was Slav [Slavisa Jokanovic], so we believe in sticking with the manager and supporting him.

“But I felt like after the last few games it was a necessary decision and the replacement has done great things for the clubs and knows the club, so I feel good about the decision in one way but I really have a tremendous respect for Paul.”

On the sales of Ndiaye and Berge, Prince Abdullah said: “If I was an owner looking only at my interests I would have not sold the two players.

Prince Abdullah explains departures of crucial duo

“We were negotiating with more than one party to sell the club, the club is worth much more in the Premier League than relegated.

“We all knew that if we kept Iliman and Berge we would have had a better chance of staying in the Premier League and getting a better price, but I looked at the long-term interests of the club, not only me, and that’s why I’m very proud of the club.

“We came to the decision that with one year left on their contracts we looked at the long term interests of the club, we didn’t look at only this year and think ‘who cares about next year we won’t be here?’ we couldn’t keep those players and lose the club a lot of money.

“Everything we do is for the benefit of the club. We have not taken money out of the club.”