Thirty-seven years after going to his first Sheffield derby, the lifelong Blade is relishing locking horns with the enemy for the first time from the dugoutChris Wilder’s first Sheffield derby was in April 1980. He was at Bramall Lane as a 12-year-old to see his United draw 1-1 with Wednesday, Terry Curran curling a brilliant shot into the corner of the net after John MacPhail gave the Blades the lead. He didn’t go to the game earlier in the season at Hillsborough, which was probably just as well as Wednesday won that one 4-0.On Sunday, 37 years on and the day after his 50th birthday, Wilder takes charge of his boyhood club in a derby for the first time. A...
Manager has told his players before facing Sheffield Wednesday it is time the club found new legends after 45 years out of the top flight of English footballLocal knowledge is overrated. Two years ago Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner were virtually unknown in England but now they are jousting for the right to lead one of the country’s former champions to Wembley and perhaps on to the Premier League. Huddersfield host Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final and it has been a long time since fans of either club have been so excited.Both managers have excelled to guide their clubs this far. For Carvalhal it is the second impressive exploit in a row,...
The county’s fortunes have waned but Garry Monk, Carlos Carvalhal and David Wagner are overseeing promotion challenges with three sleeping giantsIt did not take Garry Monk long to start second-guessing the inevitable question. Why on earth did the former Swansea City manager want to risk his career at Leeds United, a chaotically run, fallen giant emblematic of Yorkshire’s footballing rust belt?As if working for Massimo Cellino, Leeds’ eccentric owner, was not bad enough, had Monk not read Gary Neville’s analysis of the national game’s changing topography? “The north is being cut adrift in English football and I fear the damage may be permanent,” wrote the former Manchester United captain turned pundit last year. Continue reading...