Chris Wilder is poised to make a surprise return at Sheffield United and manage his boyhood club for a third time after the Blades sacked Rubén Sellés following six defeats from six games. United acted after Sellés’s side were dismantled 5-0 at Ipswich on Friday.

Wilder was dismissed after losing the Championship playoff final at Wembley and the Blades turned to Sellés, who narrowly avoided relegation with Hull City last season.

Sellés attended United’s playoff semi-final first-leg win at Bristol City and was hastily appointed after talks with their US owners, the COH sports group consortium.

It is thought Wilder will return to Bramall Lane empowered, given the manager previously clashed with the ownership around their shift in transfer strategy. United’s owners’ attempts to implement artificial intelligence-led recruitment have so far backfired.

The Spaniard Sellés, who also coached at Southampton and Reading, was an unpopular appointment and endured a disastrous spell in Sheffield. He lost all six matches in charge, five in the league, and his side had not scored a goal in their past four fixtures.

skip past newsletter promotion

Sign up to Football Daily

Kick off your evenings with the Guardian’s take on the world of football

Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The Blades recognised the need to sack Sellés after Friday’s humiliation at Portman Road. United’s co-chairman Steven Rosen is understood to have been in attendance for that capitulation at Ipswich.