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Sheffield United have decided to sack Chris Wilder after missing out on promotion to the Premier League, talk SPORT understands. The Blades were beaten by Sunderland in the Championship play-off final at Wembley Stadium last month. His side had finished third in the table after their automatic promotion charge faltered in the closing weeks of the season. United were then denied by a 95th minute winner against the Black Cats in the play-offs. Despite the nature of their defeat, Wilder was hailed for his class act in the wake of the final. He spoke to talk SPORT the following morning, admitting he was still 'suffering' from the loss as he looked ahead to the summer. Wilder leaves Bramall Lane after returning for a second spell as manager in December 2023. His contract had been due to run through until the summer of 2028, with three years remaining. However, the 57-year-old has been relieved of his duties after failing to secure an immediate Premier League return. Wilder twice won promotion with the Blades in his first spell in charge, having won League One in 2017 before securing top-flight football two years later. The first time he was sacked was in March 2021 with the club bottom of the Premier League. talk SPORT understands that Gary O'Neil and Ruben Selles are among the candidates to replace him. O'Neil is available after leaving Wolves in December following 16 months in charge. Meanwhile, Selles was sacked by Hull following the end of the season. The Spaniard had secured the Tigers' Championship safety on the final day with a draw at Portsmouth. After leaving United four years ago, Wilder went on to manage Middlesbrough and Watford in the Championship. However, he returned to his former club, where he also spent time as a player, midway through the 2023/24 season. Having replaced Paul Heckingbottom, he was unable to avoid relegation from the top-flight. The Blades ended the campaign bottom of the table and 16 points from safety. Across his two stints in the the dugout, Wilder won 140 of his 305 matches with the club. Here's what talk SPORT's chief football correspondent Alex Crook has to say on the news. We reported at the end of last week that his position was in doubt. There were a series of meetings to decide the plan for the summer, including whether to go in a different direction in terms of a new manager. It's our understanding that Sheffield United's recently appointed American owners have decided that Chris Wilder's tenure is to come to an end.   It will be the second time that he's parted company with his boyhood club and I think on the face of it, a lot of people will find this decision harsh.   They got 92 points in the regular season, obviously Burnley and Leeds pipped them to automatic promotion. They were right in there until they had a bit of a wobble around about the Easter period and maybe were losing to teams that probably they shouldn't. I remember a defeat to Plymouth that was particularly costly. Plymouth obviously relegated not long after to League One.   Then they get in the playoffs, they've dusted themselves down. They were brilliant against Bristol City over two legs. Bristol City never laid a glove on them. They get to the final at Wembley, they were the better team for 75 minutes, leading 1-0 but missed a big chance to make it 2-0, which would have sealed promotion to the Premier League. Then they ended up losing 2-1 after a late Sunderland rally. I've just had a message from someone very close to Chris Wilder suggesting there hasn't been a fallout.   Maybe there is a clash of ideals because we know that the new owners want to use AI as a scouting tool, Chris Wilder, more old school, but there hasn't been a bust up, so maybe he's a little bit surprised.   In terms of potential replacements, Gary O'Neil was the name that I was being told by a lot of different sources last week.   That's been dampened down to me a bit this morning, so I don't know if O'Neil maybe has gone cold on the idea.   Ruben Selles, sacked by Hull, having kept them up at the end of the season, is a contender, I'm told, so we'll keep an eye on that. © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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