Chris Wilder is an experienced Football League campaigner these days and knows what it takes to produce a fully firing squad.

The former Sheffield United boss has won promotion from each of the three tiers below the Premier League and is in a position to make the leap to the top-flight again at the Riverside Stadium.

Wilder identified the club's medical operations as an aspect that Boro can improve to increase the availability of their best players and reduce muscular injuries when he spoke to TeessideLive.

He said: "Some are impact injuries that you can’t do anything about. Some are muscle injuries that we have to look to try and connect that (medical) department back into the football club really.

"You have to try and get your best players on the pitch and you have to get them healthy to compete and give you the strength in the squad that you need in this division where you play Saturday-Tuesday or Saturday-Wednesday."

There is a lot of money spent on sports scientists, nutritionists and medical staff at football clubs and muscular injuries is clearly something Wilder thinks he can get a greater control over. They are more likely to happen when players are fatigued, so possibly Wilder will be hoping to achieve a greater awareness of who is at risk of injury in order to avoid muscular issues cropping up.

The Verdict

This is a small dig at Neil Warnock and the medical department, Wilder is essentially saying that he thinks less players would be currently out injured had he been at the club since the start of the season. Key man Paddy McNair has been in and out of the team this season due to injury, with his international duties with Northern Ireland potentially contributing to the levels of fatigue he has experienced.

Wilder kept a consistent starting XI where possible when in charge of the Blades and saw players hit new heights than previously in their careers. The former Northampton Town manager will be taking on players at the beginning of their Football League careers on Teesside and it will be interesting to see who his early favourites are in his first outing at home to Millwall on Saturday.