Sheffield United hopes to exorcise play-off hoodoo
Chris Wilder says Sheffield United will not be weighed down by its historic play-off record ahead of the EFL Championship play-off final on Sunday (AEST).
United will face Sunderland for the chance to be promoted to the Premier League, with the Blades looking to make the jump back to the top-flight at their first attempt.
However, this will be their fifth EFL play-off final and first since losing 7-6 on penalties to Huddersfield Town in League One in May 2012.
Overall, Sheffield United has failed to earn promotion in any of its four previous finals. No side has appeared in more without ever earning promotion, with Leeds United and Reading also having failed four times.
"If I listen to all the narrative, we might as well not turn up and might as well give myself a holiday," Wilder said.
"I've been to the majority of the [play-off defeats] and I was probably saying the same thing as what the majority of the punters are saying as well.
"We're trying to write our own little bit in the chapter of this famous football club. There's everything to gain from this group. You know, we've not been weighed down by any negativity at all."
United has not won any of its past seven matches at Wembley Stadium, losing six. Its most recent win was 100 years ago against Cardiff City in the 1925 FA Cup final.
But it goes into the EFL Championship play-off final having won its semi-final against Bristol City 6-0 on aggregate, winning both legs 3-0.
Wilder praised his side's attitude after it bounced back from the disappointment of not gaining automatic promotion.
"There's been a real reset since we missed out on promotion," he added. "What we wanted to do after the Burnley game was to get ourselves back in form, get a couple of wins, and we managed that.
"We're in great shape physically. The players are playing with a real light shirt, and we're really positive. The feel about the place has been completely different. And I know you can't get away from the track record of the football club in the play-offs.
"But this club's been here for over 135 years. And there is going to be a play-off campaign where we get it right in the next 135 years. I'm sure that supporters won't want to wait that long.
"There's been a real flow to our game, a positivity about our game, and from the stands and the supporters, a real freshness that this could be our year, and we've got to go and make that happen."
