As inevitable rumours swirl Chris Wilder has already stated his case as right man to rebuild Sheffield United

It was only a matter of time before a proposed takeover of Sheffield United kicked the rumour mill into action.

Players will soon be linked with a move to Bramall Lane - some likely to be realistic moves, many of them simply stupid. And then, of course, there’s the manager.

It’s often assumed that new owners equates to a new manager - ‘they’ll want their own man...’ And so it came as no real surprise to read that United had apparently made an approach for another boss, namely the currently out-of-work Steve Cooper. Whether that was a simple case of ‘out of interest, what’s your plans, Steve’ or a full blown, ‘would you fancy taking over at Sheffield United’ is anyone’s guess at the minute.

The current incumbent of the Bramall Lane hotseat is a bit too long in the tooth to be getting overly concerned about a reported approach to the former Nottingham Forest boss but he was smart enough to know that he still has some fans to win over after being given a second spell in charge of the club that didn’t make a great deal of difference to the struggling Blades.

He’ll be aware that some doubts will have set in from the stands and so, before everyone broke away for their holidays, Wilder was happy to make his case - when asked by the media - as the right man to rebuild a side that has already lost a number of important players whose experience at United stretched back to his first time in charge. And with a few players yet to commit, there could yet be more on the way out.

This all takes place amid a takeover bid by a US-based group that is already at the stage of being looked into by the EFL.

Wilder’s been here before, though, and he’s convinced that previous experience can hold him in good stead for another start-again summer.

“I'd like to think so,” he said when asked if he’s the rigt man to lead United into a crucial summer. “I've done it before so I've got experience and we've had success at it, going back to the biggest one when I walked through the doors at Halifax and had no players! That was quite a big overhaul.

“We had no players, no pre-season, no balls or bibs or cones. We didn't have a training ground or a physio. So I suppose going back to that, that's the ultimate blank canvas. I did it at my previous clubs and done it here as well, and had success. So we're experienced enough to do it, all of us, and we're not daunted by it.

“I think if you're trying to sell your car and it's a clapped-out one on bricks and needs an MOT, it might be quite difficult to sell. But we've got a decent car that we're selling. A decent football club we're putting to players and the narrative coming back is that players would want to come to us. Whether that's loan signings or permanent ones.

“We're still looked at as a good club, I'd like to think we're still looked at as good people to work for in terms of the coaches and the manager. We'll still have a decent group to work with, with the young players coming through.”