If we were sat in 9th place come january 1st, and not rock bottom setting records the problems with the board would be non issues. When you fail as badly as Wilder did the first half of the season in any job your boss has the right to ask questions! It was the results that caused the tensions not the other way round. And if you genuinely think wilder offered another realistic JOC replacement and was knocked back but next minute asked for 23million brewster to compete with 5 other strikers and it was granted, you're having yourself on.
If he hadn't got credit in the bank hed have been sacked in October.
With respect, unless you're privy to information behind the scenes, you have no idea whether Wilder did or didn't have more than one player he wanted for JOC replacement. You also have no idea whether there were tensions before the results deteriorated, I suspect that there may well have been re recruitment but when results are good that covers over problems until the results deteriorate. Hindsight's a wonderful thing, but I recall most Blades were delighted we'd signed Brewster and also that we recognised we did need another forward because it Mouset was starting to fade out last season and we needed pace up top. It's not worked out, but for Swansea Brewster looked a real handful. I'm not saying Wilder couldn't have done better, recruitment could have been better, more use of foreign markets with greater value, but you;ve got to recognise that up to last summer Wilder's recruitment of domestic players bar one or two had worked very well.
I've said this previously, but on our wage budget it's difficult to improve on the players we had, certainly in this country as proved by how many players we missed out on - Watkins, Robinson and Cash, but we failed with all three. I think Watkins and Cash were possibly always destined to go to Villa, but Robinson was much more realistic and we lost out on him to a newly promoted side, albeit a wealthy one.
Yes the results caused tensions, no one can deny that. You mention credit in the bank, otherwise he'd have gone in October. You could be right there, but I'd say that Wilder deserved that credit given we were in League One when he arrived, he took us up twice in three seasons and then keeps us in the top 7 for almost all the season. No one in their right mind would have predicted the season we've just had, so many players dropped their level compared to last season, for those that say try another system, I don't think that would have made a jot of difference, given injuries and how so many players dropped from last season. Also, and I think we can all agree on this, I can't recall, other than under Bassett, the fanbase so united with the manager and the team. We'll have other good managers and players, no doubt success at times, but the bond Wilder had with the fans, that will be hard to replicate. Finally, before Wilder left most of the fans on here were desperate from him to stay I believe. Now he's gone it seems many are critical of his last season with us. Are these the same people as before who wanted Wilder to stay or is it just that more critical fans are having their say now he's gone?
