Wilder Dismisses Parachute Payment Claims as ‘Lazy Assumption’

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder, currently in his second tenure with the club, has dismissed claims attributing his team’s leading position in the Championship primarily to parachute payments. This week, Richard Keys, a former Sky Sports presenter, asserted in his blog, external, that these payments significantly contributed to the Blades, Burnley, and Leeds holding the top three spots in the division. Keys referenced worries expressed by English Football League (EFL) chief executive Rick Parry regarding a “widening gap” between clubs that receive such payments and those that do not. However, ahead of his team’s match against Millwall on Wednesday, Wilder maintained that his club’s astute financial dealings were responsible for their strong start to the season. “Absolute nonsense – it’s just a lazy, lazy assumption,” the 57-year-old stated to BBC Radio Sheffield when questioned about discussions concerning parachute payments. He added, “It’s always a cheap shot that people can use.” Wilder further commented, “I think you’ve seen the work that we did in the summer: frees, small fees and loans, and we brought some decent figures in as well.” The largest expenditure for Wilder during the summer transfer window was for Peterborough left-back Harrison Burrows, whose transfer fee was not disclosed, while goalkeeper Michael Cooper’s initial £2m transfer from Plymouth was recorded as their second-highest fee. Sheffield United generated a net profit exceeding £30m after their relegation from the Premier League, primarily due to the transfers of Cameron Archer to Aston Villa and 21-year-old William Osula to Newcastle United. “If you do your bit of digging, we’ve got some players on decent wages, we’ve got some good players and we’ve kept some good players,” Wilder stated. He also drew parallels with the West Bromwich Albion team, against whom the Blades played to a 2-2 draw on Sunday. “In that West Brom team, there’s some players that we couldn’t touch a few years ago that are still there – the [John] Swifts, the [Jed] Wallaces, Mikey Johnston that we went after and others,” Wilder commented.