Sheffield United’s own mentality monsters must embrace promotion pressure after Frank Lampard challenge — Sheffield Star 28/2/25

By Danny Hall

Sheffield United’s own mentality monsters must embrace promotion battle after Frank Lampard point

Chris Wilder is backing his own Sheffield United mentality monsters to not let Monday night’s defeat to title rivals Leeds United derail their push to join them in the Premier League next season. Daniel Farke’s side took another major step towards promotion with a late 3-1 victory at Bramall Lane, and it would take an almighty slip up for them to falter now.

That would appear to leave one automatic promotion place to go for, currently occupied by the Blades but eyed by their closest rivals Burnley and Sunderland, who may have slipped to outsiders after back-to-back defeats left them eight points adrift of United in second.

United can pile some of the pressure that has built since Monday back onto Burnley with a positive result at QPR this weekend, with Scott Parker’s side in FA Cup action against Paul Heckingbottom’s Preston North End. It would also calm some nerves amongst the fanbase - but Wilder has no doubt about the mentality of his players.

"It is a strength by any team that wants to compete at the top of the division,” the Blades boss said. “If players and groups want to win they've all had to show those qualities, however you go about it. And I’m absolutely delighted with my group.

“The enthusiasm these boys show, the personality, the character - which are words I've said right the way through the season - have impressed me and should be impressing the majority of our fanbase. They're prepared to dig deep, they're prepared to enjoy it when we do well and they're prepared to fight for the badge and fight for the shirt.

"I've had two or three sets of players - some have been on the journey right the way through, the likes of Chris Basham and the skipper [Billy Sharp] and other players. These boys are showing the same qualities. They're a delight to work with.

"We've had a lot of challenges this season. I would say more challenges than I've ever had as a manager, more than I've ever had at this football club and possibly going hand in hand with some really difficult financial challenges I've had at previous clubs as well. But you come into work, there's a smile on everybody's face. There's disappointment when it doesn't go as we want it to go, but there's a genuine togetherness.

"You see it inwardly. You see it in training sessions, in games, how they're acting together downstairs, in the changing room before or after games, on the bus or having a bite to eat. I listen to players who have been here a long time and how they talk positively about the group.

“I listen to players who have only been here five minutes, like when Harry Souttar came into the group and went: ‘Wow, this is a really good group to work with.' It takes a lot of hard work and a skill to put together but ultimately winning games of football helps that along the way.”

That mental strength will be severely tested in the final 12 games of United’s regular Championship campaign, which will decide whether they will secure another automatic promotion to the Premier League or enter the dreaded lottery of the play-offs - talk of which provokes inevitable, and understandable, negative reactions from Unitedites.

"They're a great group to work with,” Wilder added, “but they understand there's still a lot of work to do and some big challenges ahead of us. But these ones we should really embrace and enjoy in this position, working together.

"This football club, it doesn't have a team full of John Terrys, Frank Lampards, Kevin de Bruynes, Steven Gerrards, that win things year on year and play for their country. You've got to enjoy this.

"Out of a career that spans 10, 15 years, if you get three or four promotions, then that's good going. We're in line for success at the moment if we continue the way we're going about it so they have to embrace it, enjoy it and really grab it.

"I'm enjoying watching them overcome disappointments, overcome different challenges. The message is to embrace and enjoy these situations because for a period of your career, you're right up against it. You have mid-table obscurity, you have relegation issues flirting around the bottom part of the division.

“There have been times when we've been bottom, and they're really tough. But when you're in this sort of period and you've got an opportunity of achieving something you have to embrace and enjoy it and get the most out of it. I'm seeing a group of players together, getting the most out of what they're doing together and enjoying that challenge."