Promoted clubs have to plan for possible relegation - Wilder
- Published
Former Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder believes it is sensible to plan for a potential relegation upon winning promotion to the Premier League.
Wilder was appearing on a BBC Radio 5 Live special assessing the different approaches taken by clubs promoted to the top flight and which have been most successful.
The Blades finished ninth in 2019-20 under Wilder after being promoted the previous season, but serious struggles on the field followed in 2020-21, leading to Wilder's departure and relegation.
He said: "We were given a budget and I was happy to work with that, and there was a plan. You have to put in that plan that relegation, for a Championship club going up to the Premier League, is very much on the cards.
"This has been one of the only years where the teams that have got promoted have managed to stay up. Usually one or two out of three will go back into the Championship."
Wilder, who managed Middlesbrough and Watford in the second tier last season, continued: "The transfer record was broken a few times but that was because of the 12-year gap [since United's previous Premier League spell] and how much the Premier League had improved.
"For Sheffield United to spend £3.5m on John Egan in the Championship was a big deal. And then to go and spend £20m on Oli McBurnie out of the Championship, as a young player who had done exceptionally well at Swansea, was a massive deal."
