Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah has confirmed the club have parted ways with Paul Heckingbottom and Chris Wilder is returning.
The Blades owner has been on TalkSPORT this morning with Simon Jordan and Jim White and has confirmed Wilder will become the new United boss.
It follows yesterday’s speculation that Wilder was coming back and he is expected to be in the dugout when United take on Liverpool tomorrow night.
Chris Wilder to Sheffield United confirmed
Speaking to TalkSPORT, Abdullah gave the following information.
Yes [I have made the decision].” the Prince confirmed to White and Jordan on talkSPORT.
“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.”
Adding more on moving on from Heckingbottom, the Prince admitted it had been a tough call to make the call to sack him.
“I have mixed emotions about letting Paul go.
“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.”
Wilder is set to be joined by old faithful coach Alan Knill, while Keith Andrews is also set to join the coaching set up.