Wilder's proven me wrong on what I said about him way back when he was just a rumour that Adkins was leaving with him as favourite for the replacement. The board, not so much. That's because the board's record goes back far longer and they have far more to repair. Unless we're stable in the Championship again and looking to push on, we'll still be feeling the pain from the farce that's brought us to League One and kept us here.
One thing I tried to make clear when Wilder came along was that it wasn't the manager himself I had the biggest problem with. What I had a problem with was that the criteria for selecting Adkins had been announced as someone who plays progressive attacking football and with a record of success at this level and higher. Wilder represented, and I still think to an extent represents, a board who had once again completely changed their approach recruitment. A board who appoints a succession of managers with no sense of consistency, and results in wholesale changes season after season, while blindly hoping that this one will be the one who gets it right.
While Wilder has got almost everything right so far, I don't know how much I'm supposed to put down to luck or judgement from the board. While Wilder has shown great nous in players he's brought in, the board sat idly by while Clough did the exact opposite, and while Adkins was barely able to sign anyone (Sharp being a fantastic purchase, his other long term recruits being fairly awful). Giving managers free rein is only as good a policy as the manager in question. Clough's twenty odd signings set us back at least a season to get where we are now.
Appoint enough managers you have to expect one of them will be decent.
