When David Hopkin cruelly ended Sheffield United's promotion hopes in the final minute of last season's Wembley play-off final, Chris Wilder was as gutted as any Blades fan.

The Bradford City defender had travelled down with a group of friends in the hope that his boyhood club could beat Crystal Palace and return to the Premiership.

Wilder comes from a Blades-mad family and spent six happy years with United as a player, during which he shared in two promotion campaigns.

Today he made his first return to Bramall Lane for a first team game since his move to Rotherham United in the summer of 1992 and he has nothing but fond memories of his time with the Blades.

He said: "All my family are Sheffield United fans so it was a very proud feeling to play for them. I have some very good memories as I achieved two promotions.

"It is a very big city for football. I played in Nottingham, but it just wasn't the same. The Northern cities are very serious about their football and living in Sheffield added extra pressure to me as it meant a lot of people wanted to know what was going on.

"The good times when you are winning are very good in that respect, but when you are losing it can lead to hassle. Everyone doesn't mean to be nasty but that is the down side.

"The only regret I had was that I never played in one derby game. I left Sheffield United the year they faced Wednesday at Wembley.

"I still go to see them and I was at Wembley last year for the play-off game. It was shocking when that goal went in. Absolutely awful."

Wilder played 93 league games for United, scoring one goal, and says the major highlights came with the promotion successes in 1989 and 1990.

The latter saw Harry Bassett's side clinch promotion behind Leeds United to the old First Division with a 5-2 victory at Leicester City on the final day of the season.

"That was an unbelievable experience. We were 4-1 up at half-time and with Wednesday going down it was a superb day for all Blades fans.

"People often say they want their rivals to stay up as it gives the fans derby games to enjoy. But I think a lot would like to see their rivals slip as far down the league as possible. I know Bradford fans wouldn't be too unhappy to see Leeds in the Third Division."

That memorable day was captured in the documentary 'United' which charted the Blades' fortunes in the closing weeks of the 1989-90 season. It was a programme similar to the current BBC1 programme 'Premier Passions' which follows the progress of Sunderland.

Wilder said he enjoyed the 'United' programme being made and feels they give fans a useful insight into the workings of a football club.

"People still come in and say 'Do you train during the week?' They don't even think it is a full time job. They seem to think we just turn up at 2.15pn on a Saturday. Mind, maybe it looks as if we do sometimes!

"I saw a bit of the Sunderland programme this week and that is what a football club is like, with all the industrial language and the result being the be all and end all of the whole week. "

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