- Boss and former player is first and foremost a fan that has done his time in the stands among his friends
- Steel City club has soared up the divisions despite acrimony in the boardroom and one of the smallest budgets in top flight
A minute before kick-off between Sheffield United and Arsenal and all but the 3,000 travelling fans begin to holler in unison with the pride and passion of a tenor in La Scala, to the tune of John Denver's 'Annie's Song':
"You fill up my senses,
Like a gallon of Magnet,
Like a packet of Woodbines,
Like a good pinch of snuff,
Like a night out in Sheffield,
Like a greasy chip butty,
Sheffield United,
Come thrill me again!"
Before kick off at Bramall Lane and here's one of the best songs in football. Hoped to judge Liverpool yesterday, but they were on a 3,000 strong sponsored silence which they completed with distinction. pic.twitter.com/uYUTDVzTs9
" Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) October 21, 2019
The anthem is lilting, calming and beautiful before a deafening roar replaces it and the charge of the light brigade begins. Sheffield United, promoted to the English Premier League for the first time since 2007, is the only Yorkshire representative from a county which homes Leeds United, Hull City, Bradford City, Middlesbrough, Huddersfield Town and their neighbours Sheffield Wednesday.
Only Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have picked up more points than the Blades' boss Chris Wilder since he took the job in 2016 when they were mid-table in England's third tier. Better still, Wilder, 51, is a lifelong fan and local boy who used to travel home and away with the team before becoming a professional footballer and then manager with Alfreton, Halifax, Oxford, Northampton and then Sheffield United. His best friends still travel home and away and speak to him every day.
What a night. What a moment. pic.twitter.com/9EQsL3TuUV
" Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) October 22, 2019
"He came to an away match at Southend with us in the back of the van when he sat on a mattress," explains Ian "Wit" Whitehorne in a bar by Bramall Lane before Monday's game. "He was a first teamer but he wanted to go to the games with the lads. We stayed for the weekend. He's a working-class Sheffield lad, a Blade born and bred. He's a dry-witted, friendly and generous man."
Wit and Wilder ran a Sunday football team in Sheffield together. They also shared a flat.
"I lived with Chris and (former Blades legend) Tony Agana," says Whitehorne. "We used to phone the Praise or Grumble programme on local radio and pretend to be fans. Chris would ring in, put a strong accent on and say 'Chris Wilder had a great game today'."
Wilder's teams have an indomitable team spirit which they're going to need to survive in the Premier League. He's not changed the way they played before promotion, with his three at the back, his overlapping central defenders who switch positions during the match to make the back three a back four. He won two promotions despite working under two owners who don't get on and went to the High Court in acrimony. Co-chairman Kevin McCabe, born close to the stadium, lost his six year legal fight to Prince Abdullah Bin Moasaad Bin Abuldaziz al Saud. McCabe was popular and now plans to watch games as the fan he is.
The team from England's sixth biggest city, a city with its roots in the steel industry haven't done badly either. Nine games into the season, without any household names in his team and one of the smallest budgets, they boast the joint best defence with Liverpool and sit in the top half of the table after Monday's win against Arsenal.
Unai Emery's side can't win away, can't stop conceding goals from set pieces and can't find a space in the squad for Mesut Ozil, their best paid player. Nicolas Pepe, their record GBP72 million signing, missed an easy chance. Arsenal can complain about VAR, but their players did not have the same determination to win as their opponents.
The Blades, who've sold out every away game, have won at Everton, come from behind to draw at Chelsea and narrowly lost to Liverpool. Sheffield lad Billy Sharp scored their first league goal of the season in front of the travelling fans at Bournemouth. Lys Mousset, the goalscorer against Arsenal, cost GBP10 million from Bournemouth, yet the team is full of predominately British players signed on free transfers from clubs including Blackpool, Ipswich Town and Portsmouth.
Goalkeeper Dean Henderson is on loan from Manchester United. Non-British and Irish players have only comprised 2 per cent of their league starts this season. Wilder rejuvenates players too. John Lundstram, a Scouser rather than a Swede, played a bit part role last season but now starts every game. It remains to be seen what Wilder can do with Ravel Morrison, once a prodigiously talented Manchester United youngster who lost his way, but who signed for the Blades in the summer.
"We're not buying established internationals but we've got young, good players like him who are making their way," he says.
Wilder is a perfect fit at the club he loves.
"It is not a glory-hunting club," Wilder told this writer in the summer correctly describing a club who've won nothing since the FA Cup in 1925, "I have always said that. We do not win Premier League titles year after year, or compete in the European Cup. We have been down to the old Fourth Division, come back up and then gone down again. And back. We're down to earth and I think that counts."
His friends are having the time of their life and on Monday were able to savour a big scalp after three straight home league defeats.
"We're still in dreamland and everyone is walking around grinning," said Wit, "we were everybody's favourites to be relegated but we've not disgraced ourselves in any game. We've been unlucky in every game we've lost. We're good enough to stay up. If we get to Christmas and we're somewhere near the middle then I'm confident we can stay up."
Wit was set to catch up with Wilder and their mates after the game.
A message arrives the following day.
"We stayed out until 3am," Wit writes. As the song says 'Like a night out in Sheffield' " and well deserved too.
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