How do You Feel Now? What Should the Club Do?

[JayGreen17]

I purposely came away from the forum until today to let my emotions subside and come at it with a level head.

First off football is just sport and whilst we all get so involved in the bigger scheme of things it’s really not that important. That said in the context of the game and our membership and enjoyment of the club, certain standards must be upheld.

These standards and ethos should be upheld right through the club, to the owners, management team, team, and fans.

The way the team has performed has been well below the standard you’d expect, you have to question what has happened since the Coventry game, has there been an internal issue here?

The behaviour of our manager this weekend has been nothing short of a disgrace, the manager, especially ours (he’s one of our own) is a bastion of the club and is held up with such high regard, this type of behaviour influences the general view of our fantastic club and can impact the culture of everything running through it. How can we expect players to behave on and off the pitch, and fans not being influenced by the behaviour, if the manager has no control and acts in this manner.

What should be done?

First off Wilder needs needs to come out and apologise - is this enough for the owners to do nothing.

The owners need to investigate quickly and make a decision, do they stand Wilder down for the rest of the season, and bring in someone short term, until a decision is made.

Do they do nothing - if they took this option to me it says that they don’t condone his behaviour. Tarnishing the clubs image and brand which can lead to loss in commercial activity. Social Media posts tarnishing our club will not have gone unnoticed.
Do they release him fully straight away? if finding that his behaviour was unacceptable for the reasons above then he’s dismissed.

Do they do nothing but pull the trigger at the end of the season for a fresh start.

Maybe Wilder will walk out the front door this time, making that apology to the club, fans and those involved.

Personally I think the club need to make a decision to stand him down, until the end of the season, this may push Wilder into leaving.
We then look for a fresh start and build on this season. Whether in the Champ or Prem (unlikely now) There’s far too much noise around Wilder rather than on what we should be talking about and that’s the football.

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

The question about performances being sub-par isn’t a recent thing. We haven’t actually played ‘well’ most of the season, but we always found a way to grind out a result. This was based on a rock solid Defense at the beginning of the season, stopping sides from getting chances against us and relying on individual quality to nick us a goal.

That solidity left once we lost Souttar and ended up reliant on a Jack Robinson who is always good for conceding a penalty per-game. Our attacking output (albeit limited anyway) also degraded once we lost Blaster for the season.

We’re now in a weird position where we’re actually pretty soft defensively, giving up quite a few good chances per game and still in a position where we don’t create a lot despite chucking the best part of £10 million on a new striker and having players in the side who would walk into every other in the league.

Ultimately, the way we set up means unless we get a flash of class from the likes of Gus, COH, Campbell or JRS, then we don’t score a goal. It doesn’t bode well for the play-offs (providing one of Leeds / Burnley don’t implode and we somehow regain our knack of winning a game).

That being said, we’d be daft to shift Wilder out now. He’s built this side from nothing & let’s be fair, at the beginning of the season none of us expected to be challenging for automatic promotion. He deserves at least until the end of the season to see how things go then it’s up to the new owners which direction they want the club to go. Be that with or without Wilder - so be it. I’m still fairly confident that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat & get us firing but these last few weeks have been draining on everyone.

 

[Carlton Blade]

Just play the season out, decide once the important stuff is done.

 

[FTPE]

Cool.
I think we keep him.
We're top of the playoffs spots. We've only had a run of 3 bad games. We stop making 7 different threads about sacking him. We get behind the most successful manager of my lifetime (for the remaining 7 games). We stay positive and get behind team because negativity won't help. We admit we wouldn't as high as 3rd with any other manager, and we reasses at the end of the season, like all clubs do.

He doesn't need to apologise to me for pushing and and shoving opposition players either. I'm not a toddler. It's a passionate sport and he's a passionate man. If he wants to apologise to his bosses (because he'll cost them a few bob) fine, the players that were antagonising him, ok, but as a fan I don't need one.

 

[Gimli]

I purposely came away from the forum until today to let my emotions subside and come at it with a level head.

First off football is just sport and whilst we all get so involved in the bigger scheme of things it’s really not that important. That said in the context of the game and our membership and enjoyment of the club, certain standards must be upheld.

These standards and ethos should be upheld right through the club, to the owners, management team, team, and fans.

The way the team has performed has been well below the standard you’d expect, you have to question what has happened since the Coventry game, has there been an internal issue here?

The behaviour of our manager this weekend has been nothing short of a disgrace, the manager, especially ours (he’s one of our own) is a bastion of the club and is held up with such high regard, this type of behaviour influences the general view of our fantastic club and can impact the culture of everything running through it. How can we expect players to behave on and off the pitch, and fans not being influenced by the behaviour, if the manager has no control and acts in this manner.

What should be done?

First off Wilder needs needs to come out and apologise - is this enough for the owners to do nothing.

The owners need to investigate quickly and make a decision, do they stand Wilder down for the rest of the season, and bring in someone short term, until a decision is made.

Do they do nothing - if they took this option to me it says that they don’t condone his behaviour. Tarnishing the clubs image and brand which can lead to loss in commercial activity. Social Media posts tarnishing our club will not have gone unnoticed.
Do they release him fully straight away? if finding that his behaviour was unacceptable for the reasons above then he’s dismissed.

Do they do nothing but pull the trigger at the end of the season for a fresh start.

Maybe Wilder will walk out the front door this time, making that apology to the club, fans and those involved.

Personally I think the club need to make a decision to stand him down, until the end of the season, this may push Wilder into leaving.
We then look for a fresh start and build on this season. Whether in the Champ or Prem (unlikely now) There’s far too much noise around Wilder rather than on what we should be talking about and that’s the football.

It’s all gone downhill since you did the view from Coventry.

Roy has put a curse on the club as punishment for someone daring to take his position as chief opposition forum lurker.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I must admit, feel slightly embarrassed by these antics but I also did with Wilder jumping about on tables singing about Sausage Rohl, it's not professional conduct, I manage people and if I behaved like that I'd, quite rightly, be in HR, don't see how Wilder should be any different, said it for a while he's turning into a bitter old pisshead.

He's becoming a new Neil Warnock in other fans eyes.

Next time can we have a non Bladey Blade appointment?

Will owt be done? Depends on the boards view

 

[Newbury Blade]

The question about performances being sub-par isn’t a recent thing. We haven’t actually played ‘well’ most of the season, but we always found a way to grind out a result. This was based on a rock solid Defense at the beginning of the season, stopping sides from getting chances against us and relying on individual quality to nick us a goal.

That solidity left once we lost Souttar and ended up reliant on a Jack Robinson who is always good for conceding a penalty per-game. Our attacking output (albeit limited anyway) also degraded once we lost Blaster for the season.

We’re now in a weird position where we’re actually pretty soft defensively, giving up quite a few good chances per game and still in a position where we don’t create a lot despite chucking the best part of £10 million on a new striker and having players in the side who would walk into every other in the league.

Ultimately, the way we set up means unless we get a flash of class from the likes of Gus, COH, Campbell or JRS, then we don’t score a goal. It doesn’t bode well for the play-offs (providing one of Leeds / Burnley don’t implode and we somehow regain our knack of winning a game).

That being said, we’d be daft to shift Wilder out now. He’s built this side from nothing & let’s be fair, at the beginning of the season none of us expected to be challenging for automatic promotion. He deserves at least until the end of the season to see how things go then it’s up to the new owners which direction they want the club to go. Be that with or without Wilder - so be it. I’m still fairly confident that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat & get us firing but these last few weeks have been draining on everyone.

Out of interest, how many penalties has Jack Robinson conceded this season.

 

[Blade56]

Just play the season out, decide once the important stuff is done.

Agree, we’ve blown it for autos. Just hope they give him help with play offs cause he looks rinsed and acting in a manor not befitting his position.

Bringing him back was always a car crash waiting to happen but who else would have come back and give us so much hope (albeit false hope)?

New era delayed 12 months

 

[loveWalrusDaveTheBlade]

The question about performances being sub-par isn’t a recent thing. We haven’t actually played ‘well’ most of the season, but we always found a way to grind out a result. This was based on a rock solid Defense at the beginning of the season, stopping sides from getting chances against us and relying on individual quality to nick us a goal.

That solidity left once we lost Souttar and ended up reliant on a Jack Robinson who is always good for conceding a penalty per-game. Our attacking output (albeit limited anyway) also degraded once we lost Blaster for the season.

We’re now in a weird position where we’re actually pretty soft defensively, giving up quite a few good chances per game and still in a position where we don’t create a lot despite chucking the best part of £10 million on a new striker and having players in the side who would walk into every other in the league.

Ultimately, the way we set up means unless we get a flash of class from the likes of Gus, COH, Campbell or JRS, then we don’t score a goal. It doesn’t bode well for the play-offs (providing one of Leeds / Burnley don’t implode and we somehow regain our knack of winning a game).

That being said, we’d be daft to shift Wilder out now. He’s built this side from nothing & let’s be fair, at the beginning of the season none of us expected to be challenging for automatic promotion. He deserves at least until the end of the season to see how things go then it’s up to the new owners which direction they want the club to go. Be that with or without Wilder - so be it. I’m still fairly confident that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat & get us firing but these last few weeks have been draining on everyone.

Fully agree with all of the above.
In terms of what we can change between now and the end of the season, I think we have to put our major emphasis on sorting out our defence to the best extent we can with the resources available, and stop conceding so many goals. We have neither the time nor the nous to work out how to improve our attacking output beyond what we’ve seen all season, so need to plan on the assumption that individual quality up front will continue to bag a few goals, but will only provide enough to win us matches if we can shut up shop at the back.
I’ve been a defender of Robbo, but his form has gone and so has his head. Surely Anel and Holding have to be paired for the remainder of the season. I’d also put Gilchrist back in, with Burrows on the other side. Whatever happens, wilder needs to make changes now - stop repeating the failed experiment - select his best back 5, drill the hell out of them in training, and play them together in every match to gain understanding. Shutting the back door is our only hope of going up.
We shouldn’t be distracted by the handbags in the tunnel or any other off-field aspect between now and the end of the season. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet, and the prize is still there for the taking.

 

[Speedracer]

I also have given myself a break from here, since the Millwall game in my case as I knew how it would be on here.

Almost all members who slag Wilder off also mention the last time he left & keep going on about it, bleating like a jilted bride at the altar. They cannot let it go & bring up every tenuous "reason" going to keep hammering it in.

I really don't like the way the world is now, every one being told to apologise & throw themselves on their sword for the most innocuous of reasons, moments that wouldn't have raised an eyebrow a few years ago now become sensationalist headlines with a growing section of the public baying for blood.

I may be accused of being a dinosaur & not moving with the times, but I would not want to be someone who hunts out minor moments & tries to turn them into huge moments, the days of witch hunting are well behind us now...I think.

Do I like certain things happening at the club right now? well no I don't, but we still have a great chance to go up & I believe that sacking the manager & certain players would be a disaster right now. Let's see the season out, see what happens, & take it from there. The team needs our support, not castigation, for the next how ever many games we get to play.

 

[redandwhitewizard]

The biggest mistake was made when we failed to sign an adequate replacement for Souttar. Not sure if that was a Wilder decision or came from above.
There has also been a shift in attitude along the way. Cast your mind back to the early weeks of the season. Our defence was fantastic. Every tackle was celebrated. Every blocked cross was high fived. Somewhere along the way we lost that attitude and team spirit and started to concede cheap goals.
Some players that started well have gone off the boil such as Burrows. Had Sydie Peck not stepped up the way he has I think we would have dropped out of the automatic places a lot sooner. We've been papering over the cracks for a while and now we're seeing the result.

 

[FTPE]

I must admit, feel slightly embarrassed by these antics but I also did with Wilder jumping about on tables singing about Sausage Rohl, it's not professional conduct, I manage people and if I behaved like that I'd, quite rightly, be in HR, don't see how Wilder should be any different, said it for a while he's turning into a bitter old pisshead.

He's becoming a new Neil Warnock in other fans eyes.

Next time can we have a non Bladey Blade appointment?

Will owt be done? Depends on the boards view

A none Bladey Blade appointment?
Lets stop the academy too. Who wants Sheffield lads? Fans of the club even
A few years ago our owner was a Blade, the manager was a Blade, and our captain was a Blade, and I absolutely LOVED it.
The day our team becomes an Arsenal, with no identity, a team of foreign players, a manager that couldn't point Sheffield out on a map, and a owner than wants nothing but to build a company.. I'm done.

In my eyes very little sets us apart from other clubs. There's bigger grounds, similar fan bases, richer owners all over the football league in the last 10 years Wilder has been the difference between League 1 and the Premier league.
How he talks, how he celebrates, how he hurts and how he cares makes football enjoyable for me. I get people hang off Danny Rohls nuts for being young and German, but even though he's one of the better random manager I'd just completely lose interest in a dull, emotionally void manager if we kept finishing mid table.

Bladey Blade? Like Wilder and Warnock haven't done well for us? And that we just constantly hire ex players that continue to fail. There's some fans that would rather us sign a random Chinese, Indian... AMERICAN manager, just because the unknown excites them.
No, not for me. I'd rather we play our under 21s every week and be in Leaue 1 than play 11 mercenaries and be in the Prem.

 

[bornablade]

A none Bladey Blade appointment?
Lets stop the academy too. Who wants Sheffield lads? Fans of the club even
A few years ago our owner was a Blade, the manager was a Blade, and our captain was a Blade, and I absolutely LOVED it.
The day our team becomes an Arsenal, with no identity, a team of foreign players, a manager that couldn't point Sheffield out on a map, and a owner than wants nothing but to build a company.. I'm done.

In my eyes very little sets us apart from other clubs. There's bigger grounds, similar fan bases, richer owners all over the football league in the last 10 years Wilder has been the difference between League 1 and the Premier league.
How he talks, how he celebrates, how he hurts and how he cares makes football enjoyable for me. I get people hang off Danny Rohls nuts for being young and German, but even though he's one of the better random manager I'd just completely lose interest in a dull, emotionally void manager if we kept finishing mid table.

Bladey Blade? Like Wilder and Warnock haven't done well for us? And that we just constantly hire ex players that continue to fail. There's some fans that would rather us sign a random Chinese, Indian... AMERICAN manager, just because the unknown excites them.
No, not for me. I'd rather we play our under 21s every week and be in Leaue 1 than play 11 mercenaries and be in the Prem.

You would rather be in League 1?

The owners have said they want us to be an established Premier league club.

What you want is irrelevant.

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

Out of interest, how many penalties has Jack Robinson conceded this season.

Let’s be honest, that’s purely by chance. If VAR was used in this league, there would have been a few this season. Giving the Plymouth striker a bear hug after about 20 minutes, 0-0, 18 yards out, back to goal, ball in the air and absolutely no danger to our goal was completely brain dead… and not the first time he’s been caught wrestling with opposition for absolutely no reason.

Anel occasionally does the same and it’s fucking irritating to see. Petulance at an absolute minimum - brainless at worst.

 

[Ball_Sup (Phil)]

It's all a load of nothing to see here.

Opposition players celebrating in front of the away end. Yes please.
The manager telling those players to Fuck Off (or similar). Yes please.
An ongoing reaction from those involved. Yes please.

It's football. It's chaotic. It's not an episode of Scooby Doo. I'm not going to look for things that aren't there.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Some of the reactions to this Plymouth incident have been unbelievable

Look, if you want him out, fair enough. There are valid arguments to support that position. Use them. Don't hide behind this conduct issue as if he's committed a serious offence that you have deep moral concerns over. In reality managers don't lose their jobs over an incident like this. So dream on

 

[raul]

1) One of the new owners needs to zoom the squad and management to say that, assuming fine is incoming, this will be the last one the club is paying and it all needs a line drawing through it.

2) Instead of doubling down on a siege mentality, Chris realises that his Big Characters/Proper Players/Culture Carriers have just folded under the pressure of other teams running at them. I get why pretty much all the focus is on Chris right now, but to an extent the players have let him down this past week. Serious 2 way dialogue to work out who can do what to get back on track

3) Tactically plan for a 7 game season. I doubt anyone is fully fit at this point of a season ( every club ) and Chris has been goid at managing the injury situation across the season. As above, work out who has what left and deploy accordingly, building to the final three games.

4) Lighten up a bit. You're all highly paid people doing something everyone who watches you dreams they could too.

 

[Foody]

The owners don't need to do anything at the minute. The season isn't over and doing anything now would be rash.

As for the behaviours, just deal with it behind closed doors. At the minute nothing from Plymouth is a headline, no point in turning it in to one.

 

[FTPE]

You would rather be in League 1?

The owners have said they want us to be an established Premier league club.

What you want is irrelevant.

What is want is irrelevant?
On a fans form? Particularly a thread asking me what I want?

 

[DeanLearner'sCat]

It's amusing watching people, who have basically been screaming "Wilder out!" since about August, pretend to care about his "disgraceful" behaviour and acting like that is the reason they want him gone. It's also amusing to see the revisionism about his antics after the derbies. Suddenly, after losing 3 games, lots of people have problems with it. Nobody was complaining about it 10 days ago.

 

[FredZeppelin]

Wilder will get the chance to finish the season but I'm personally of the mind that the new owners will sack him as soon as the season ends and bring in a new approach. Let all the loans go back to their parent clubs and the new man in charge define his own squad with a bit of financial backing regardless of which division we are in.
I was of the mind all season that we wouldn't finish top 2, but I've had a strange feeling that this might be our year to break our play-off curse.
Either way, he goes when all is settled.

utb

 

[JayGreen17]

The question about performances being sub-par isn’t a recent thing. We haven’t actually played ‘well’ most of the season, but we always found a way to grind out a result. This was based on a rock solid Defense at the beginning of the season, stopping sides from getting chances against us and relying on individual quality to nick us a goal.

That solidity left once we lost Souttar and ended up reliant on a Jack Robinson who is always good for conceding a penalty per-game. Our attacking output (albeit limited anyway) also degraded once we lost Blaster for the season.

We’re now in a weird position where we’re actually pretty soft defensively, giving up quite a few good chances per game and still in a position where we don’t create a lot despite chucking the best part of £10 million on a new striker and having players in the side who would walk into every other in the league.

Ultimately, the way we set up means unless we get a flash of class from the likes of Gus, COH, Campbell or JRS, then we don’t score a goal. It doesn’t bode well for the play-offs (providing one of Leeds / Burnley don’t implode and we somehow regain our knack of winning a game).

That being said, we’d be daft to shift Wilder out now. He’s built this side from nothing & let’s be fair, at the beginning of the season none of us expected to be challenging for automatic promotion. He deserves at least until the end of the season to see how things go then it’s up to the new owners which direction they want the club to go. Be that with or without Wilder - so be it. I’m still fairly confident that he will pull a rabbit out of the hat & get us firing but these last few weeks have been draining on everyone.

Can’t argue at all with this!

 

[Cheeky Blade]

I purposely came away from the forum until today to let my emotions subside and come at it with a level head.

First off football is just sport and whilst we all get so involved in the bigger scheme of things it’s really not that important. That said in the context of the game and our membership and enjoyment of the club, certain standards must be upheld.

These standards and ethos should be upheld right through the club, to the owners, management team, team, and fans.

The way the team has performed has been well below the standard you’d expect, you have to question what has happened since the Coventry game, has there been an internal issue here?

The behaviour of our manager this weekend has been nothing short of a disgrace, the manager, especially ours (he’s one of our own) is a bastion of the club and is held up with such high regard, this type of behaviour influences the general view of our fantastic club and can impact the culture of everything running through it. How can we expect players to behave on and off the pitch, and fans not being influenced by the behaviour, if the manager has no control and acts in this manner.

What should be done?

First off Wilder needs needs to come out and apologise - is this enough for the owners to do nothing.

The owners need to investigate quickly and make a decision, do they stand Wilder down for the rest of the season, and bring in someone short term, until a decision is made.

Do they do nothing - if they took this option to me it says that they don’t condone his behaviour. Tarnishing the clubs image and brand which can lead to loss in commercial activity. Social Media posts tarnishing our club will not have gone unnoticed.
Do they release him fully straight away? if finding that his behaviour was unacceptable for the reasons above then he’s dismissed.

Do they do nothing but pull the trigger at the end of the season for a fresh start.

Maybe Wilder will walk out the front door this time, making that apology to the club, fans and those involved.

Personally I think the club need to make a decision to stand him down, until the end of the season, this may push Wilder into leaving.
We then look for a fresh start and build on this season. Whether in the Champ or Prem (unlikely now) There’s far too much noise around Wilder rather than on what we should be talking about and that’s the football.

Recent results have been below standards set by Wilder and the squad themselves this season. Performances have been fairly consistent.

Re: Manager.

New owners will evaluate at the end of the season and I’m sure they’ll factor everything in. Best we can do right now is get behind the team for the play offs instead of willing on failure.

 

[JOEYDEE]

Fully agree with all of the above.
In terms of what we can change between now and the end of the season, I think we have to put our major emphasis on sorting out our defence to the best extent we can with the resources available, and stop conceding so many goals. We have neither the time nor the nous to work out how to improve our attacking output beyond what we’ve seen all season, so need to plan on the assumption that individual quality up front will continue to bag a few goals, but will only provide enough to win us matches if we can shut up shop at the back.
I’ve been a defender of Robbo, but his form has gone and so has his head. Surely Anel and Holding have to be paired for the remainder of the season. I’d also put Gilchrist back in, with Burrows on the other side. Whatever happens, wilder needs to make changes now - stop repeating the failed experiment - select his best back 5, drill the hell out of them in training, and play them together in every match to gain understanding. Shutting the back door is our only hope of going up.
We shouldn’t be distracted by the handbags in the tunnel or any other off-field aspect between now and the end of the season. The fat lady hasn’t sung yet, and the prize is still there for the taking.

Totally agree about Anel and Holding pairing,we've got four 'free hits' coming,and would give us time to prepare for the inevitable play offs.
If it works,great, if not,we've lost nothing.

 

[Wards]

I think you need to separate the on-field stuff and the off-field stuff entirely.

3 defeats. Yeah, it happens. We've lost the plot on the field but that's football. When all's said and done then he's done a great job getting us up there challenging, albeit the football has been appalling to watch at times (ok, most of the time). In the grand scheme of it all though you give him until at least the end of the season now. Serious questions as to why we haven't really improved over the season. Too much attacking talent that's gone to waste and we haven't scored nearly enough goals to be serious contenders.

The off-field nonsense? Well, I wouldn't want the most important figurehead position at the club to be represented by someone who can't control their emotions based on what we've seen this last week or two. It's unnacceptable bordering on gross-misconduct. His role is to manage the team but also represent a multi-million pound business in a professional capacity - not in a manner that wouldn't look out of place at 2am on West Street.

Big decision for the ownership to make, but not one that needs to be rushed into. You give him until the end of the season at the very least now, then re-assess.

 

[54yrblade]

I think you need to separate the on-field stuff and the off-field stuff entirely.

3 defeats. Yeah, it happens. We've lost the plot on the field but that's football. When all's said and done then he's done a great job getting us up there challenging, albeit the football has been appalling to watch at times (ok, most of the time). In the grand scheme of it all though you give him until at least the end of the season now. Serious questions as to why we haven't really improved over the season. Too much attacking talent that's gone to waste and we haven't scored nearly enough goals to be serious contenders.

The off-field nonsense? Well, I wouldn't want the most important figurehead position at the club to be represented by someone who can't control their emotions based on what we've seen this last week or two. It's unnacceptable bordering on gross-misconduct. His role is to manage the team but also represent a multi-million pound business in a professional capacity - not in a manner that wouldn't look out of place at 2am on West Street.

Big decision for the ownership to make, but not one that needs to be rushed into. You give him until the end of the season at the very least now, then re-assess.

Those years between L1 and 9th in the PL are long gone and what a ride that was!
Let's not forget though that the success really wasn't just predicated on the manager, but having the triple energy of having a Blade as an owner, whatever you thought of Kevin McCabe, and Billy as skipper. It's unlikely that will ever happen again. That was simply incredible and drove that period of success too.

The reason for Chris's leaving the first time are still shrouded and protected, probably by NDA's. What he has said himself, is that he 'repaired his relationship with the owner', whatever that means, but we seem to easily gloss over that Hecky was still our manager and working under what must have been almost intolerable pressures at that very same time. A man who Wilder had worked closely with only a short time before. We cannot, and should not, only talk about the positives without balancing that with the, potentially uncomfortable, other truths.

Pragmatically speaking, the then owner was going through a rocky time with the fan base and needed a lift in that respect, at the same time that Wilder was looking for his next job option and having already done his ground work with the Prince. I'd love to read Hecky's thoughts on it all, a man striving, and who did brilliantly, to get us to the PL and, if rumours are correct, save us from a financial disaster. Some might say that a re-marriage of convenience was very helpful to both parties.

I posted before about Chris being too close to the club and too emotionally wrapped up in it. I want a manager capable of self control and clear thinking, not one who is the subject of avoidable negative media attention that is counter productive to what we are trying to achieve as a club.

What we saw on Saturday was avoidable. It's not his job to control another club's players while recent evidence from our own club's behaviour proves that he can't control ours either. His ramble and comments on another club after the derby game were avoidable too.

When one person becomes the negative story in an organisation, that is a huge problem. Our new owners will be taking a long, hard look at it and Chris is willingly putting himself 'in the shop window' for the wrong reasons.

When he came back, I hoped that he wouldn't tarnish the legacy that he left first time round. The simple fact is that this relationship cannot and will not go on forever. I get it that some want it to, some for personal and social connection reasons rather than professional realism, but this is hard business now. There is and can be little sentiment when we are trying to look forward to the future.

I don't know what the future holds, but he's had everything any Blades fan could want. IF there is a parting of the ways, I want him to do it right, professionally and by his own decision making. Maybe then, he can go out with his head up, 'take it head on' and go with pride through the front door.

For me, he stays to the end of the season and owns whatever happens. The new owners will (must) have had plans in place for going forward, whatever league we are in.

Interesting times ahead.

 

[Newbury Blade]

Let’s be honest, that’s purely by chance. If VAR was used in this league, there would have been a few this season. Giving the Plymouth striker a bear hug after about 20 minutes, 0-0, 18 yards out, back to goal, ball in the air and absolutely no danger to our goal was completely brain dead… and not the first time he’s been caught wrestling with opposition for absolutely no reason.

Anel occasionally does the same and it’s fucking irritating to see. Petulance at an absolute minimum - brainless at worst.

I don’t disagree with that, nor with the rest of your post. I just felt that “always good for conceding a penalty per game”, to describe someone who hasn’t given away a penalty all season, was somewhat exaggerated.

 

[Newbury Blade]

I don’t disagree with that, nor with the rest of your post. I just felt that “always good for conceding a penalty per game”, to describe someone who hasn’t given away a penalty all season, was somewhat exaggerated.

(The one he did give away was never a penalty.)

 

[71Blade]

It's amusing watching people, who have basically been screaming "Wilder out!" since about August, pretend to care about his "disgraceful" behaviour and acting like that is the reason they want him gone. It's also amusing to see the revisionism about his antics after the derbies. Suddenly, after losing 3 games, lots of people have problems with it. Nobody was complaining about it 10 days ago.

Its always harder to be critical when the team is winning makes you look a bit stupid, as mentioned by many others on here the football has not been great but we had done enough to be top two what i cannot get mt head around is a team that dismantles Coventry looks so devoid of ideas against Oxford and Millwall, - basically play champagne entertaining football he can do what he wants anything less he is there to be shot at... crap analogy - CR9 he talked the talk and walked the walk untouchable because he delivered pretty much week in week out, most would probably say bit of a big head with a massive ego, when you are that good who cares.

 

[SwitchBLADE Smiles]

I don’t disagree with that, nor with the rest of your post. I just felt that “always good for conceding a penalty per game”, to describe someone who hasn’t given away a penalty all season, was somewhat exaggerated.

Fair comment but can’t get away from the fact that Robinsons antics on the pitch will invariably lead to a detrimental result at some point. When all of our games are so tight (seemingly by design), we can’t afford the risk that he’s going to body slam a centre forward at some point and put us in a shit position, especially now we’re going into the crunch part of the season and potentially the single result play off scenario. The fact he has yet to adequately punished is purely luck or outright incompetence from the officials.

I’ve always advocated that Robinson should be here but never as a first choice centre half. He’s a perfectly capable defender to fill in when needed, but really shouldn’t be in the starting 11 every week.