It's getting worse

[Chicken with no head]

Berge doesn't suit our style.it’s not anything against him,he’s a good footballer, unfortunately not our style.

 

[DaleHillBlade]

The answer to all criticism seems to resolve around us losing to Gillingham.
Fuck that, we were all happy being in PL last season and now kidding ourselves that Championship is ok. Fucking great.

 

[YorkBlade]

It's easy when you're winning.

Now is the time to REALLY support your football team.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Not sure I see the logic in this, to be honest.

Many of us thought there was a good chance we'd be relegated last season, it's true. But if you had said at the beginning of last season "not only will you go down, but you will break the record for lowest number of points, regress to ineffective long-ball tactics, score nothing but a handful of goals from open play, and go whole games without hardly a shot on target" would we all have just shrugged and accepted it? I'm not sure we would. I think we would've expected a bit more than that. And that's before we spent a pretty penny on improving the squad and before this group of players proved they are actually capable of holding their own at this level. We have the right to expect better of this team and this manager.

Fans on both sides of this debate are asking themselves the same question: what is best for the future of the club? If you think it's to keep Wilder in charge, that's fine--there are some very good reasons to believe that. But there are also some pretty strong arguments that the club's future might be better served by a change of course.

A slightly different non sequitur than I predicted, but "shrug and accept it" is nearly there.
But to answer your question, if, on promotion to the PL, you'd have said, "you can have one season so good you can't believe what's happening, followed by one nightmare season where the players have forgotten where the net is", I would have said yes, I'll take it. Reasonable expectation was a lower mid-table PL existence for the foreseeable, staving off relegation, hoping for a good run to sneak into Europe. Generally, being in the PL is crap for clubs like us, some good matches and opponents, but not much chance of winning anything.
More importantly, if you'd laid the next 5 years on a table 5 years ago, I'd have grabbed it in a heartbeat. How soon football fans forget.
Besides which, we haven't actually gone down yet, never mind with record breaking lowest points. I have never understood wallowing in the misery of something which hasn't happened yet - and might not.
So if you want to claim "the right" to call for the managers head after 4 incredible seasons because we've finally run into the brick wall of reality, basically brought on by Wilder having too much success too quickly, you carry on.
If he does go, which will make a growing number of fans happy despite almost a unanimous call for support when the bad times come, and we get one of the merry-go-round managers in to get us playing dinosaur-brand football but end up rooted to the bottom of the Championship, what will those calling for his head say then? I know what I'll be saying to them.

 

[dc_blade]

A slightly different non sequitur than I predicted, but "shrug and accept it" is nearly there.
But to answer your question, if, on promotion to the PL, you'd have said, "you can have one season so good you can't believe what's happening, followed by one nightmare season where the players have forgotten where the net is", I would have said yes, I'll take it. Reasonable expectation was a lower mid-table PL existence for the foreseeable, staving off relegation, hoping for a good run to sneak into Europe. Generally, being in the PL is crap for clubs like us, some good matches and opponents, but not much chance of winning anything.
More importantly, if you'd laid the next 5 years on a table 5 years ago, I'd have grabbed it in a heartbeat. How soon football fans forget.
Besides which, we haven't actually gone down yet, never mind with record breaking lowest points. I have never understood wallowing in the misery of something which hasn't happened yet - and might not.
So if you want to claim "the right" to call for the managers head after 4 incredible seasons because we've finally run into the brick wall of reality, basically brought on by Wilder having too much success too quickly, you carry on.
If he does go, which will make a growing number of fans happy despite almost a unanimous call for support when the bad times come, and we get one of the merry-go-round managers in to get us playing dinosaur-brand football but end up rooted to the bottom of the Championship, what will those calling for his head say then? I know what I'll be saying to them.

I'm not calling for his head. I think he has earned the chance to turn this around and I definitely think it would be hasty to act before Christmas. And if he can take us down fighting, then I'd be delighted to accept that he's the guy to bring us back up. But I can certainly see why many people are questioning Wilder's decisions this season and why some are even calling for him to go--and I don't think those doing so are either "entitled" or somehow lesser supporters.

The question now is not what Wilder has done in the past. It is whether Wilder is the best manager to lead us forward. And, yes, his past accomplishments and the things we all love about his character and connection to the club are a big part of that. But there are other factors at play, too. Trying to weigh that up doesn't make you a bad supporter.

 

[Bladesman]

Even Blades Analytics has given up trying to paper over the cracks.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

Hmmm, not so sure about that. They all knew the wage situation when they signed.

Baldock has just signed a new deal too.

Cos he knows he's not really PL standard

 

[Mendi]

Sad times.

 

[hidesbehindapseudonym]

Fulham, Albion and us. Easy. I really want to back Wilder but he has to get into the real world and stop believing his own propaganda. 3-5-2 worked on the pub league, it even worked for 6 months in the PL but the game is well and truly up now.

 

[JJBlade]

It's not his head he needs to find it's his bollocks.

Where's the "we'll always have a go" mentality gone?

I've said before on other threads that I got the switch to a flat 3 in MF at the start of last season as he probably thought we would be over run more than we were but as the season progressed we should have started playing with a "10" in quite a few of the games as teams were there to be attacked.

Unfortunately now our levels have dropped, we're stuck with this defensive approach and the consequences are there for all to see.

I don't disagree mate
And if a top quality, preferably foreign manager who would change every single backward fabric within this fucking club came in I'd say adios and thanks Chris.

But it won't happen, so Chris is the best we can get IMO

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I'm not calling for his head. I think he has earned the chance to turn this around and I definitely think it would be hasty to act before Christmas. And if he can take us down fighting, then I'd be delighted to accept that he's the guy to bring us back up. But I can certainly see why many people are questioning Wilder's decisions this season and why some are even calling for him to go--and I don't think those doing so are either "entitled" or somehow lesser supporters.

The question now is not what Wilder has done in the past. It is whether Wilder is the best manager to lead us forward. And, yes, his past accomplishments and the things we all love about his character and connection to the club are a big part of that. But there are other factors at play, too. Trying to weigh that up doesn't make you a bad supporter.

My post, which you responded to with "Not sure I see the logic in this, to be honest." was entirely addressing the call for Wilder's head. I started it by quoting "He's got to go". You've talked it round to weighing up different factors when deciding who's best to lead us forward whilst you're not calling for his head yet, providing this, that and the other. So I'm not quite sure which bit of logic you didn't see, unless you're just defending the call "he's got to go" but in a bit more diplomatic fashion.

What I think makes a bad supporter is being Blades-No.-1-Fan-Chrissy's-Star-Supporter when everything is rosy, we're running rings around the opposition, we're doing it on a shoestring, an ownership battle hasn't knocked him off course and everyone is singing "He's one of our own", then blubbing uncontrollably and calling for the manager to be sacked and the players sold when things go wrong, ok badly wrong, even though things going wrong in one form or the other was pretty much expected.
That's not support.
It's piss easy to be a supporter when the good times roll. Just like it's easy to predict relegation at the start of every season. Just like it's easy to claim a signing is shit and your preferred signing, who wasn't even bid for, would have been so much better. Just like it's easy to list all the things that Wilder has done wrong and should've done differently when things don't work out.

I pointed out on another thread where the thread starter took a season and a bit to go from telling people not to question Wilder and Knill because "they know what they're doing" to calling for him to be sacked. His reason why? We've lost some games since then. So was he talking bollocks before or now?
Of course everyone who does all this can always reason it out, justify why they're doing it.
It's still not support.

There may come a time when Wilder has to go. He will likely know himself when that is, or the Prince will. Then it will happen. But looking back on our history (or probably almost any club's history) and seeing the long list of poor and failed managers and deciding that we would be better dumping the one bright light in that long history, who has proven he can do it even with the restraints SUFC gives him, because he's encountered his first really bad spell - not entirely unexpected - on the basis that another great manager who will take this club into the top half of the PL is bound to be just around the corner, is just madness.

So everyone can carry on weighing up, especially those I was actually referring to in my original post, but if the scales tip to "sack him" before we're in the bottom half of the Championship, take your scales to be repaired.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

There is only one direction you can go from rock bottom.

 

[FMBlade1]

My post, which you responded to with "Not sure I see the logic in this, to be honest." was entirely addressing the call for Wilder's head. I started it by quoting "He's got to go". You've talked it round to weighing up different factors when deciding who's best to lead us forward whilst you're not calling for his head yet, providing this, that and the other. So I'm not quite sure which bit of logic you didn't see, unless you're just defending the call "he's got to go" but in a bit more diplomatic fashion.

What I think makes a bad supporter is being Blades-No.-1-Fan-Chrissy's-Star-Supporter when everything is rosy, we're running rings around the opposition, we're doing it on a shoestring, an ownership battle hasn't knocked him off course and everyone is singing "He's one of our own", then blubbing uncontrollably and calling for the manager to be sacked and the players sold when things go wrong, ok badly wrong, even though things going wrong in one form or the other was pretty much expected.
That's not support.
It's piss easy to be a supporter when the good times roll. Just like it's easy to predict relegation at the start of every season. Just like it's easy to claim a signing is shit and your preferred signing, who wasn't even bid for, would have been so much better. Just like it's easy to list all the things that Wilder has done wrong and should've done differently when things don't work out.

I pointed out on another thread where the thread starter took a season and a bit to go from telling people not to question Wilder and Knill because "they know what they're doing" to calling for him to be sacked. His reason why? We've lost some games since then. So was he talking bollocks before or now?
Of course everyone who does all this can always reason it out, justify why they're doing it.
It's still not support.

There may come a time when Wilder has to go. He will likely know himself when that is, or the Prince will. Then it will happen. But looking back on our history (or probably almost any club's history) and seeing the long list of poor and failed managers and deciding that we would be better dumping the one bright light in that long history, who has proven he can do it even with the restraints SUFC gives him, because he's encountered his first really bad spell - not entirely unexpected - on the basis that another great manager who will take this club into the top half of the PL is bound to be just around the corner, is just madness.

So everyone can carry on weighing up, especially those I was actually referring to in my original post, but if the scales tip to "sack him" before we're in the bottom half of the Championship, take your scales to be repaired.

When things go right supporters are happy. When things go wrong supporters aren't happy. It's not complicated.

Doesn't mean they are bad supporters. Watch this:

 

[dc_blade]

My post, which you responded to with "Not sure I see the logic in this, to be honest." was entirely addressing the call for Wilder's head. I started it by quoting "He's got to go". You've talked it round to weighing up different factors when deciding who's best to lead us forward whilst you're not calling for his head yet, providing this, that and the other. So I'm not quite sure which bit of logic you didn't see, unless you're just defending the call "he's got to go" but in a bit more diplomatic fashion.

What I think makes a bad supporter is being Blades-No.-1-Fan-Chrissy's-Star-Supporter when everything is rosy, we're running rings around the opposition, we're doing it on a shoestring, an ownership battle hasn't knocked him off course and everyone is singing "He's one of our own", then blubbing uncontrollably and calling for the manager to be sacked and the players sold when things go wrong, ok badly wrong, even though things going wrong in one form or the other was pretty much expected.
That's not support.
It's piss easy to be a supporter when the good times roll. Just like it's easy to predict relegation at the start of every season. Just like it's easy to claim a signing is shit and your preferred signing, who wasn't even bid for, would have been so much better. Just like it's easy to list all the things that Wilder has done wrong and should've done differently when things don't work out.

I pointed out on another thread where the thread starter took a season and a bit to go from telling people not to question Wilder and Knill because "they know what they're doing" to calling for him to be sacked. His reason why? We've lost some games since then. So was he talking bollocks before or now?
Of course everyone who does all this can always reason it out, justify why they're doing it.
It's still not support.

There may come a time when Wilder has to go. He will likely know himself when that is, or the Prince will. Then it will happen. But looking back on our history (or probably almost any club's history) and seeing the long list of poor and failed managers and deciding that we would be better dumping the one bright light in that long history, who has proven he can do it even with the restraints SUFC gives him, because he's encountered his first really bad spell - not entirely unexpected - on the basis that another great manager who will take this club into the top half of the PL is bound to be just around the corner, is just madness.

So everyone can carry on weighing up, especially those I was actually referring to in my original post, but if the scales tip to "sack him" before we're in the bottom half of the Championship, take your scales to be repaired.

I don’t see the logic in the idea that anyone calling for Wilder to be sacked is automatically “entitled” or a lesser supporter. They might be wrong but that’s not the same thing.

You can’t really be surprised that people praise Wilder when things are going well and criticise him when things are going badly. The easy thing to do, though, is to fuck off and stop watching us altogether—and if you want to jump all over the fair weather “fans” who do that then please be my guest and I’ll join in.

I don’t think the choice is between finishing in the top half of the Premier League and performing as abjectly as we are. I think the players are good enough and Wilder has been given enough money for us to be doing a damn sight better than we are now. That “damn sight better” might still involve relegation. But I just don’t accept that what we’re seeing now is the best we can hope for and any calls to change it amount to “uncontrollable blubbing.”

 

[jono_t2000]

I'm not calling for his head. I think he has earned the chance to turn this around and I definitely think it would be hasty to act before Christmas. And if he can take us down fighting, then I'd be delighted to accept that he's the guy to bring us back up.

This pretty much sums it up.

If we had the real Chris Wilder we all know in charge, then no-one would be calling for his head regardless of results.

However, this is NOT the Wilder we know, this is an imposter.

Whether something is going on in his personal life or internally at the club I'm not sure but we have lost the Wilder who would shed blood sweat and tears for the badge and make sure every opposition we play against know they were in one hell of a tough game.

We've gone from having a no bullshit real Yorkshire MAN in charge to a timid, apprehensive, frightened BOY in charge.

Bring back that man, and regardless if we never win another game this season I would keep on backing him.

But the imposter HAS TO GO!

 

[dc_blade]

If we had the real Chris Wilder we all know in charge, then no-one would be calling for his head regardless of results.

Not sure I agree with everything you’ve written Jono but this is spot on. If you asked me do I want the Wilder from League One, the Championship, and the first six months of last season—no question, 100% yes.

Do I want the version of Wilder we’re seeing now? I’m not sure. I’m still looking for signs that the old Wilder is still in there somewhere.

 

[JJBlade]

There is only one direction you can go from rock bottom.

No, there's still two ways you can go

 

[Delboyscap]

It is looking rather worrying for you guys I must admit (that is with me being a huge Wilder fan having tracked his career since he managed my team Halifax). There does seem to be a bit of the old Wilder back again that I had thought he had matured out of. By this I mean a sort of sulking, defeated and overly sensitive guy from his time at Halifax and Oxford at times, particularly when being criticised. The question is can the Wilder of the last few years be found?

It does seem that Wilder and Knill may have lost their way a little. The 3-5-2 has worked very well since their Northampton days and worked well until this season it seems, is that a personnel issue or has the system been found out and run it's course? Has Wilder created a self-fulfilling prophecy at the club in proclaiming that the Blades are punching above their weight because even last season it was quite a regular occurrence to hear Chris almost state that the team had no right to take points off some of the big sides (which may be true of course but what effect does this have). Maybe Chris himself is feeling hopeless with the wage structure in being able to compete at a level that will give him a chance to evenly go toe to toe with a good percentage of the mid-table and lower Prem teams. Wilder needs to take stock right now and perhaps call on some experienced heads to help him and offer some advice. You would hope he has already reached out to Sir Alex Ferguson who seems to be a very approachable guy for other managers. If Wilder has lost his way he is going to need some help in getting back on track, lets hope he knows who to reach out to if that is the case.

The likeliest scenario though is that the system right now is not working for whatever reason. However, things can change very quickly in football. My team Halifax were struggling up until three games ago and in many ways mirroring you guys in not being able to score goals or find the right system that works offensively. We had scored 6 goals in 9 games and not looking like scoring either. Two slight tweaks and suddenly we have scored 13 goals in the last three games with two of the games being away from home. First we got a striker who could hold the ball up giving the rest of the team time to get forward and join the play, and the bigger difference was possibly that our most experienced CB is out and suddenly instead of him launching aimless balls forward we are bringing the ball out of defence and keeping possession better. Two slight tweaks and we look like a different beast, prior we were starting to feel the manager was out of his depth too. The point I am making is things can change quickly and we now seem full of confidence and more importantly have some momentum which is everything in sport. I really hope Wilder and Knill can find a little tweak or too to get things moving in the other direction.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

When things go right supporters are happy. When things go wrong supporters aren't happy. It's not complicated.

Doesn't mean they are bad supporters.

That's not what I said, though, is it? It's also not complicated to manage to read a simple sentence and understand it.

I don’t see the logic in the idea that anyone calling for Wilder to be sacked is automatically “entitled” or a lesser supporter. They might be wrong but that’s not the same thing.

You can’t really be surprised that people praise Wilder when things are going well and criticise him when things are going badly. The easy thing to do, though, is to fuck off and stop watching us altogether—and if you want to jump all over the fair weather “fans” who do that then please be my guest and I’ll join in.

I don’t think the choice is between finishing in the top half of the Premier League and performing as abjectly as we are. I think the players are good enough and Wilder has been given enough money for us to be doing a damn sight better than we are now. That “damn sight better” might still involve relegation. But I just don’t accept that what we’re seeing now is the best we can hope for and any calls to change it amount to “uncontrollable blubbing.”

You are entitled if you are the supporter of an established League 1 club, and let's not forget the word "established" there, and then after just three successful seasons you think that your club belongs in the Premier League to the point where you will sack the person who got it there, even before relegation is certain. Imagine Hull doing the same as we've done, then their fans calling for their manager's head at the first sign of relegation. We'd be laughing our heads off and taking the piss.

You keep trying to move the goal posts, which tells me you can't argue with my point. Changing manager for someone we don't think will get us into the top half doesn't make sense, or at least we'll want to change again soon, so from a manager point of view, it is a straight fight between the two situations.
You've resorted to the non sequitur I predicted in my original post. No one's saying he can't be criticised. No one's saying everyone should be happy - I'm certainly not. I'm not saying "any calls to change it" is uncontrollable blubbing, unless you mean sacking Wilder by "it". Read what I've put instead of taking words out of context to shift the point away from the one I'm making.

So are you still saying fans are being perfectly reasonable for calling for Wilder's head, or are you trying to say something else?

 

[CarlMcBlade]

What the fuck do they actually say to each other in this little get together.......I’m guessing it must be “fuck that miserable grey haired bastard on the touch line.”

 

[singaporeblade]

"He's got to go". Fuck me.
Some fans deserve Robson, Adkins, Weir, et al.
What the fuck did people expect when we got promoted to the PL? This is what most people thought would happen last year - it's happening now and all this talk of supporting the club through thick and thin has gone out the window. The number of fans who only want to support the club when we're winning is shocking. It's where the term "self entitlement" comes from. Do people even know what support is?
"So we can't criticise the team" is the usual non sequitur. No, that's not what anyone's saying, learn what support is, understand the realities of the situation. This is the fight that we should have had but was kicked down the road. Mistakes have compounded the problem, we've now got a mountain to climb. So let's fire the one manager we've had in over a decade who has actually delivered for us?
I'll say it again.
Fuck me.

Whilst i understand your sentiments, you have to admit there is something gravely wrong with the attitude of the players. I appreciate we are knew the Premier League would be a hard lesson for us, the team has lost all semblance of fight, togetherness and don't seem to bloody care!

 

[FlamingLip]

It's the manner of our demise rather than the demise that hurts the most. For me it's already just about erased and undone last season's glories. We've seen none of our hallmark intensity or spirit and instead fast-tracking our way to premier league infamy. We're re-writing quiz answers and re-establishing view that little owd sheff united dont belong with the big boys.

My feet are still planted in the 'moan like fck but can't actually bring myself to say sack him' camp. No wins by Feb? Easter? End of season? Not sure what my personal tolerance is but I don't at all blame others if they've already reached theirs.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Funny but they lost 9 0 at home to Leicester and the club stood by him, pity our so called fans can't do the same with our manager.

Yes, however they didn’t go on a run of 16 without a win! If they had he’d of gone 100%

 

[DaleHillBlade]

There is only one direction you can go from rock bottom.

As Sunderland found out.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Whilst i understand your sentiments, you have to admit there is something gravely wrong with the attitude of the players. I appreciate we are knew the Premier League would be a hard lesson for us, the team has lost all semblance of fight, togetherness and don't seem to bloody care!

I don't agree. The players don't have any confidence. They are playing in the classic devoid-of-confidence way - not wanting to hold onto the ball, rushing the passes, laying off rather than shooting, not darting into space eager to receive the ball, not trying to go past anyone, jumping into tackles/blocks with backs half-turned because they don't trust themselvers to win the ball. I don't believe for a second that they don't care. The club going down will take their careers with it.

 

[Booker4]

He’s too stubborn to step down.

It's not a case of being stubborn, he will want to lead us out of this or at the very least to see us have better results and to go down with our heads held high and have another crack next season.

 

[dc_blade]

That's not what I said, though, is it? It's also not complicated to manage to read a simple sentence and understand it.

You are entitled if you are the supporter of an established League 1 club, and let's not forget the word "established" there, and then after just three successful seasons you think that your club belongs in the Premier League to the point where you will sack the person who got it there, even before relegation is certain. Imagine Hull doing the same as we've done, then their fans calling for their manager's head at the first sign of relegation. We'd be laughing our heads off and taking the piss.

You keep trying to move the goal posts, which tells me you can't argue with my point. Changing manager for someone we don't think will get us into the top half doesn't make sense, or at least we'll want to change again soon, so from a manager point of view, it is a straight fight between the two situations.
You've resorted to the non sequitur I predicted in my original post. No one's saying he can't be criticised. No one's saying everyone should be happy - I'm certainly not. I'm not saying "any calls to change it" is uncontrollable blubbing, unless you mean sacking Wilder by "it". Read what I've put instead of taking words out of context to shift the point away from the one I'm making.

So are you still saying fans are being perfectly reasonable for calling for Wilder's head, or are you trying to say something else?

I haven’t moved the goalposts once. I’ve said from the beginning that I disagree with calling people who want Wilder sacked “entitled” and implying that they’re lesser supporters. I’m saying that if you think Wilder is the man for the job now, make a case based on the state of the team now and what the future of the club might look like under him. In other words, try talking about football for once instead of just slagging other fans.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

I haven’t moved the goalposts once. I’ve said from the beginning that I disagree with calling people who want Wilder sacked “entitled” and implying that they’re lesser supporters. I’m saying that if you think Wilder is the man for the job now, make a case based on the state of the team now and what the future of the club might look like under him. In other words, try talking about football for once instead of just slagging other fans.

Ah, so now you've run out of non sequiturs you're going for the moral high ground. I've explained clearly why they're entitled and if you're saying that support is shouting "hurray, love this man" when we're winning and "sack the clueless knows-nowt" when we're losing, then you can keep your version of support and I'll keep mine.

 

[dc_blade]

Ah, so now you've run out of non sequiturs you're going for the moral high ground. I've explained clearly why they're entitled and if you're saying that support is shouting "hurray, love this man" when we're winning and "sack the clueless knows-nowt" when we're losing, then you can keep your version of support and I'll keep mine.

Are there any circumstances at all under which you think he should be sacked?

 

[Hamburg Blade]

Are there any circumstances at all under which you think he should be sacked?

Yes, but it would involve doing badly in the Championship. Some people seem to have entered a different world where we are a PL team and should be matching established PL teams. The talk at the end of the promotion season on here was mostly very sensible, talking about the gulf now compared to last time, problems with the finances, grasping the chance even though we may come straight back down, debating whether we're ready for it, whether it's a good idea.
Now it's all outrage and "I'm so embarrassed" because we haven't beaten anyone yet.

Is it because of how we did last season? Maybe. But that's ridiculously unfair. Perhaps if we'd scraped 17th people wouldn't be so shocked now. As usual we're hamstrung by our finances. We've spent reasonably, not amazingly. The signings haven't paid off. It happens, it's disappointing but the reaction to it is stupid.

The players have clearly got problems, Wilder is clearly at a loss as to what to do, although a few thousand armchair manages could tell him. They actually need our support far more now than when we were doing well. I've stopped commenting on which players I think aren't good enough, because it is completely the wrong time to do so. Not that it stops anyone else.

We cannot get away from the fact that we have had a long series of pretty awful managers (and I usually defend a lot of them) combined with the simple fact that there isn't a queue of top managers waiting to jump in. We still don't have the money to buy our way out of trouble, but we have a manager who's committed to us, shown he can do it, knows the set up and the players.
Wilder is by far our best shot at escaping relegation or getting straight back up. So many fans criticise players (and managers) for having no loyalty - look at the reaction to Lundstram not signing a contract ffs - yet look at this message board now. We haven't even gone down yet. I dread to think we could go back to swapping managers every year as the team gets bought and sold to fit different system after different system. Sam Alladyce?! Good grief. Eddie Howe?! Because he did so well relegating his last team? We'll end up with Steve Bruce again.

I know they would all have got more than one point by now. I would have. No one's going to appoint me. They're crap at the moment, but we know they can be better. It's a sport and you are allowed to lose, even be crap at times. Calling for Wilder's head at this time, in the circumstances we're in, is not "just the thing to spur them on". It's petulant, destructive bollocks and I'm worried that the Prince will think it's the view of the fans.