Chris Wilder discusses his Sheffield United contract extension after committing his future to his boyhood club
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00:00Let's start by talking about the new contract. How pleasing is it to get that sign boxed off and filed away?
00:06Yeah, delighted. Pretty easy decision from my point of view to commit for the next three and a half years.
00:12Still think it goes under the radar how early we are into this rebuild as well.
00:18Six months in and the amount of work that we did in the summer.
00:21Delighted with the players, the attitude, the culture, the connection, back with the supporters.
00:27The results. Bumps in the road as seen last Friday.
00:31I'm still looking at that table that says 60 points.
00:36We've had a fabulous start. Well, a little bit more than a start.
00:42You see when people talk about managers need two or three windows to really settle a team down and get them connected.
00:52To do it in the short space of time that we've done it, or not completed it obviously, but to get ourselves in that position is a great effort.
01:03From the coaches, the people that I work with and the players.
01:08I think it gives stability to the football club, to the players as well.
01:14Knowing that we're here for the medium future.
01:24I think you always know the nature of the business. You've got to win games of football and we've done that.
01:31I think generally on the whole the supporters are delighted in terms of what they're watching and what they're seeing from Sheffield United players and most importantly the Sheffield United team.
01:39Do you think that rapid rate of change is a bit underappreciated sometimes?
01:44Yeah, I do. Managers talk about two or three windows and working with the team.
01:53I think everybody understands as well the championship, the amount of games that you play, the work that needs to go into a team.
02:02Players come in pretty late in pre-season as well and not really having the time to do the work that you really want to do on the training ground because of the Saturday, Tuesday, Friday at times nature of the division.
02:19All credit goes to the players, how they've taken on board the information and their enthusiasm to work and to learn and to be part of something that hopefully we can build on and move forward.
02:36As a planner then, what do the next three and a half years look like in your vision?
02:42Well, I don't think you can get ahead of yourself too much. You've got to go and win the next game of football and if you don't you've got to go and win the one after that.
02:48There's always short, medium and long term but I've said for quite a while the club's in a really good place.
02:58The ambition of the owners has been there for everybody to see over this window, the backing and support they've given themselves and the recruitment department and the work that we've done, collaborated with, talked about AI and data and stuff like that but where we're all working together to put us in a strong position to have a successful second part of the season.
03:21I've always said that come the end of the window that we'll be a lot stronger than what we were at the start of the window and a lot stronger than we were at the start of the season and that'll certainly be the case.
03:31The statement that the owners put out was to establish themselves as a Premier League football club which we can't hide away from.
03:38We can't hide away from the fact that everybody's trying to do that and there's loads of teams below, as I keep saying, that have not been in the Premier League for a long, long time.
03:45We've had a taste of it. We've had three seasons in there. Two obviously were disappointing. One was an incredible achievement and we'd like to get back there.
03:55We have to show that ambition. We can't hide from it. That's where we want to be. That's where players want to be. That's where I want to be and the supporters want to be.
04:06I know their experience at times has not been great and I think a few might say, well, we'll stay in the Championship. That's not being ambitious.
04:15Hopefully, the picture will change if we manage to achieve our goals, which is obviously being in the Premier League and then the armpit, obviously, is establishing yourselves and getting the foothold in there.
04:28But there's no reason not to have dreams and trying to achieve your goals and your dreams.
04:34I'm going to use the phrase cementing a legacy. Is that something you think about in extending your contract?
04:41No, not at all. It's not about me or an ego. It's servicing the football club. I came into the football club in 2016. I think we're in an incredible position to where we were then, to where we are now.
04:53Yes, there have been a couple of seasons of disappointment, but on the whole, the eight years have been pretty successful. I was at dinner on Monday and I was sat next to Steve Charles, who was part of the team, and Paul Garner was part of the team that went down into the fourth division in, what year was that, Dan?
05:171981.
05:181981, yes. I shouldn't know because I was there. The ground was falling to pieces and the Kop and the John Street stand was falling to pieces in this new stand that wasn't a new stand. It was pretty old.
05:30The Bramall Lane stand and the corners weren't filled in. I looked out onto the ground at night and what an incredible ground it is, an historic ground with a modern feel and full all the time. I made my debut and there were 7,000 supporters there.
05:46Through my lifetime supporting Sheffield United from that time, 79, 80, 81, there's been a few periods and not enough periods of success and we're going through this period, which is pretty good.
06:04Good crowds, really healthy crowds, away support superb, academy, top draw, ambitious to try and be a Cat 1 academy, new training ground purchased and hopefully work on that to develop that and top of the championship with a fair enough chance of trying to get into the Premier League.
06:31Good group of players, a lot of assets in there as well, a lot of young players coming through. Restored value to our assets as well, made some astute signings in the summer that are assets to the football club. This is a decent period for the football club.
06:47I know sometimes there are bumps in the road and there are nights like Friday night where we didn't get the result that we all want but I think generally we're in a pretty decent and healthy position.