Redknapp Picks Wilder Over Klopp For Manager Of The Season

Former Liverpool midfielder and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has overlooked Jurgen Klopp and picked Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder as his Premier League manager of the season.

Redknapp Picks Wilder Over Klopp For Manager Of The Season

After Sheffield United gained promotion from the championship last season, they were tipped by many to be one of the candidates to go straight back down to the second tier of English football at the start of the 2019/2020 season.

The Blades have however defied the odds to push for a European place instead, with Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Chelsea taking them up to seventh on the league log.

Klopp has masterminded Liverpool’s first league title in three decades and with three games still to play, the Reds could achieve a record points tally at the end of the season.

Nonetheless, Redknapp is impressed by the work Wilder has done at Bramall Lane and has tipped the Englishman to gain recognition at the end of the campaign.

“Jurgen Klopp will go down in history as one of the greatest managers ever. Deservedly so, too,” Redknapp wrote in the Daily Mail.

“The man's a genius, from his tactics to the way he conducts himself. Kudos to the German's English teacher because he is such an eloquent speaker. He always knows exactly what to say and his enthusiasm is infectious. The players adore him and so do the supporters.

“But there is only one Manager of the Year for me, and that is Chris Wilder of Sheffield United.

"Not only have his side survived, they have survived with style.

"Wilder, 52, took a group of players who, no disrespect, had hardly walked the red carpet in their careers, and made them competitive.

"He stood by a system that is unique — a 3-5-2 that involves centre backs overlapping and overloading the flanks.

"It’s football on the front foot. We thought they’d be found out playing that way. We thought because they didn’t spend a fortune in the transfer market, like Aston Villa, that they’d struggle.