Wilson eyes Blades success

No manager in League One will be under closer scrutiny than Sheffield United's Danny Wilson when the new season kicks off.

When the 51-year-old, a former player and manager of Sheffield Wednesday, was unveiled as United's new boss at Bramall Lane in May, chants of "We Hate Wilson" and "Wilson Out" could be heard outside in the stadium car park. Had he not known it before, several hundred Blades fans who had gathered in protest made it quickly apparent that Wilson was facing the biggest challenge of his managerial career. "I knew it wasn't going to be smooth-seas sailing in here," said Wilson. "But, as those who know me will say, I'm a very determined character." Revered by Wednesday fans during a three-year spell as a tough-tackling midfielder at Hillsborough in the early 1990s and reviled by the Blades in equal measure, Wilson's has not been the most popular of appointments. But the former Barnsley, Bristol City, MK Dons, Hartlepool and Swindon manager, who also spent 18 months in charge of Wednesday before being sacked in 2000, will not shy away from his responsibilities. "Of course you'd rather have people on side," he said. "But that only makes me even more determined, and surely everyone deserves a chance? "Hopefully we'll be able to bring results in the style of football that I'm accustomed to." Wilson, whose new club will face old foes Wednesday in third-tier action this season for the first time since 1979, added: "There's a great tradition and great rivalry here and I know as well as anybody having lived in the area for 25 years, so I know what the clubs mean to the people of Sheffield." Wilson, born in Wigan, made 24 appearances for Northern Ireland as a player and counts Brighton, Luton, Wednesday and Barnsley as former clubs. He was installed as Barnsley's player-manager in 1994 and guided the Tykes to the top flight three years later for the first time in the club's history. He also won promotion with Hartlepool, but MK Dons were relegated while he was in charge and he left Swindon deep in the mire when he quit as boss there in March this year. Wilson has also been sacked as Bristol City manager and was unable to halt Wednesday's slide towards the Premier League trapdoor 11 years ago. The Blades have quickly restructured both on and off the field since relegation from the Championship was confirmed at the end of April and Wilson has had to sell in order to reshape his squad. Jean-Francois Lescinel, from Wilson's former club Swindon, striker Chris Porter, from Derby, and midfielder Ryan Flynn, from Falkirk, have been drafted in on free transfers and another forward, Danny Philiskirk, signed permanently following his loan spell last season from Chelsea. Wilson has also persuaded highly-rated teenage striker Jordan Slew to sign a new deal and will look to introduce several more of the club's homegrown players to his squad, such as defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Callum McFadzean. Strikers Jamie Ward (Derby) and Darius Henderson (Millwall) and winger Mark Yeates (Watford) have been sold for undisclosed fees and youngsters Kingsley James and Phil Roe allowed to join Port Vale on free transfers. Wilson added: "There's a big restructuring job to be done. We're going into a tough league, make no mistake about that. "I want to play football, but there are also going to be times when it's physically uncompromising. "There's a lot of work to be done but, if you're in at the start of that process then I think it gives you a better chance of making things work. "The thing that would give me more satisfaction than anything - other than bringing success on the field here - will be if I can turn those doubters around," he said. "That's the aim."