The Wilder Rebuild of our Club.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Woodwardfan

Woodwardfan

Woodwardfan
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
8,920
Reaction score
8,125
Location
Whitby
There is a background to the rebuild and it relates to the ownership of the club. It can affect everything to do with our manager and his plans and that is, as they say, the typical Bladesway ( anybody heard from him lately? love the man.) to complicate things.

For this thread I ask you to assume the status-quo as regards budgets, likely future budgets and ownership.

I ask you to offer a considered response to my question: Are we on the right tracks to develop the club as a force for elevation to the Premiership by, say 2020?

By then Wilder will have been manager for 4 years after he took over a demoralised average squad in League 1 less than 2 years ago.

The reason I ask this question is because I thought the fans last night were over-critical of the team which had to defend for their lives in the face of a capable, long established Championship team which showed they had a plan and were prepared to ruffle our feathers throughout the game, aided by a lenient referee.

Rebuilds depend on the leader. He has to motivate what he has got and then improve the squad through whatever budget he is given. Player signings from funds available are key to real progress even if the leader is Mr. Motivator Supreme.

Wilders signings in Year 1 were brilliant. We strolled through League 1 as Champions.

Since then we have added to the squad last summer and again, with quite a number of signings in January. Nobody would say these signings were 'expensive' for this division but certainly a 'step-up' for us as a club.

The question is: Do you think our manager has stepped up to the challenge of incremental improvement of the squad within the above stated reasonable timescale to challenge for promotion to the Premier League by 2020?

My view is very much the affirmative. What do you think?

The sub-plot is - How much do we want right now FGS?

The other sub-plot is: Do you believe our manager can grow the club during the next stage despite his lack of experience at this and the next level. Again I say 'Yes'.

There is another stage of all this in the Premier League and if we have foreign owners they can easily be swayed by know-all, never dun'it advisors.

Kevin McCabe. Please stay, please Blade.
 

Woodwardfan said:
There is a background to the rebuild and it relates to the ownership of the club. It can affect everything to do with our manager and his plans and that is, as they say, the typical Bladesway ( anybody heard from him lately? love the man.) to complicate things.

For this thread I ask you to assume the status-quo as regards budgets, likely future budgets and ownership.

I ask you to offer a considered response to my question: Are we on the right tracks to develop the club as a force for elevation to the Premiership by, say 2020?

By then Wilder will have been manager for 4 years after he took over a demoralised average squad in League 1 less than 2 years ago.

The reason I ask this question is because I thought the fans last night were over-critical of the team which had to defend for their lives in the face of a capable, long established Championship team which showed they had a plan and were prepared to ruffle our feathers throughout the game, aided by a lenient referee.

Rebuilds depend on the leader. He has to motivate what he has got and then improve the squad through whatever budget he is given. Player signings from funds available are key to real progress even if the leader is Mr. Motivator Supreme.

Wilders signings in Year 1 were brilliant. We strolled through League 1 as Champions.

Since then we have added to the squad last summer and again, with quite a number of signings in January. Nobody would say these signings were 'expensive' for this division but certainly a 'step-up' for us as a club.

The question is: Do you think our manager has stepped up to the challenge of incremental improvement of the squad within the above stated reasonable timescale to challenge for promotion to the Premier League by 2020?

My view is very much the affirmative. What do you think?

The sub-plot is - How much do we want right now FGS?

The other sub-plot is: Do you believe our manager can grow the club during the next stage despite his lack of experience at this and the next level. Again I say 'Yes'.

There is another stage of all this in the Premier League and if we have foreign owners they can easily be swayed by know-all, never dun'it advisors.

Kevin McCabe. Please stay, please Blade.
Click to expand...

Pardon? Can you say again please? :(
 
  • Thread starter
  • Banned
  • #4
Blackheath Blade said:
Pardon? Can you say again please? :(
Click to expand...


OK. Is Wilder on the right track and are the fans getting ahead of themselves and will the ownership issue muck it all up? Side-issue, are our signings not exactly what we require? I say YES.
 
Answer: he has done exceptionally well within the restraint of the budget he has had to work with. However, goal scorers cost money and unless we unearth a a couple of gems from either the lower leagues or from our own youth ranks. We will struggle to reach a challenge for automatic promotion as our own forward line is ageing. So yes, given more money to spend on strikers and allowed to keep our better players.

I assume you mean automatic as we are challenging this season?

Answer 2: he was inexperienced in league 1 smashed it and inexperienced in The Championship and has smashed so again yes.

It’s not the manager we should be asking questions about.
 
Good question:

YES, I think he's done a good job recruiting within his limited budget. If he'd have a bigger budget, he may have got better players (he may not of course).
YES. I think he can grow with the club. The refreshing attitude to going out and winning games rather than constantly aiming for a point is well worth maintaining. Personally, and I appreciate it is not everyone's view, the performance level is MORE important than the actual result (consistent performance WILL lead to consistent results).

I have enjoyed this season thoroughly and, although last night was not in my favourite 20 games of the season so far, I think the crowd were too critical when we were under the cosh. Experienced players at this level will not roll over for us just because we go two up like some teams might have done last season at the lower level.
 
I think the current squad is more than capable of reaching the Premier league. I am not sure they have the capacity to remain there. They would do well in one-off matches against Premier league opposition such as Leicester last Friday but to maintain that over 38 games. I don't think so.

So what's the answer?

Heavy investment is the obvious one. Not sure whether we'll ever have the financial heavyweights to back us on that score. Similarly the work ethic & team spirit that Wilder & Knill have introduced could disappear with the recruitment of players that are seen as only here until the next best thing comes along. I think Chris would feel uncomfortable working in that environment.

As an old romantic Chris Wilder in my opinion represents everything that is good about the game. The Premier league represents everything that is bad. If the two ever meet I'm not sure what the outcome will be.
 
The ownership wrangling, if protracted, has the potential to become an issue re: future signings. Pretty obvious really.

Wilders signings have been overwhelming successful, thus far. I expect that to continue.

A year ago, questions were being asked of Wilders ability to step up to the next level, without any experience. I'd suggest that he's answered those questions and then some.

Basically, don't fret. No matter what happens, the club, the squads and the management team are in the best situation for a decade.
 
He's currently performing miracles on a shoestring. In order to get to the next level he'll need more funds. We have an old attack which will need replacing over the next couple of years. Sharp Clarke, Donaldson, Duffy, Holmes. Very hard to replace in terms of experience and ability on very limited funds. We have no striker who will be with us in 2 years time. That's going to be a major task.

We'll need major investment to stay there if we did go up. That or try and yoyo with parachute payments.
 
We aren't quite there yet but over the 90 minutes there were plenty of sign's last night that we are getting there.
People tend to forget that it's a team game and we have added a number of new faces over the last few weeks ,it's not going to happen over night at this level but for me it's coming along nicely .
 
Good OP.

For me Wilder is different class and the scouting and recruitment staff are the best I’ve ever known.

The fans need to show patience. Atmosphere has been on the decline for a few seasons and something needs to be done to address it. I couldn’t give a toss if plenty of other grounds are quieter, this is Bramall Lane and it is and always has been an exception to the rule.
 
robbiez666 said:
He's currently performing miracles on a shoestring. In order to get to the next level he'll need more funds. We have an old attack which will need replacing over the next couple of years. Sharp Clarke, Donaldson, Duffy, Holmes. Very hard to replace in terms of experience and ability on very limited funds. We have no striker who will be with us in 2 years time. That's going to be a major task.

We'll need major investment to stay there if we did go up. That or try and yoyo with parachute payments.
Click to expand...

I think we have seen with a number teams, money is not always the complete answer..
 
Wilder may get us a play off spot this season or next with similar finances, but despite doing a tremendous job over all, I don't see him being able to put together a top 2 side over 46 games without significant extra investment.

That's not a criticism, it's just my take on reality.

As we have no idea what route the ownership is taking at present, it's hard to make predictions beyond that.
 
This question might better asked on September 1st 2018.

Fleck, Duffy, Blackman, o’Connell and Brooks all have their admirers and assuming we don’t go up we could have the core of a decent champ team ripped out.
 

Woodwardfan said:
OK. Is Wilder on the right track and are the fans getting ahead of themselves and will the ownership issue muck it all up? Side-issue, are our signings not exactly what we require? I say YES.
Click to expand...

Well why didn't you say so?!
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Possibly
4. Depends what you mean.

I thank you.
 
Or it could be off Owlstalk:

robbiez666 said:
He's currently performing miracles. In order to get to the next level he'll need more funds. We have an old attack which will need replacing over the next couple of years. Hooper, Fletcher, Forestieri, Bannan. Very hard to replace in terms of experience and ability on very limited funds. We have no striker who will be with us in 2 years time. That's going to be a major task.

We'll need major investment to stay there if we did go up. That or try and yoyo with parachute payments.
Click to expand...

This could be just about any club. Which team (except Wolves) won't need major investment if they go up? Villa? Bristol? Cardiff?

Let's just enjoy one of the most productive times at BDTBL in many a year. As the OP says, Wilder is key. Or, we could have £100m in funds and appoint a 'name' manager. Like Sunderland. Or, we could go into a tough away game with no strikers. Like Wednesday. (Edit: I know the Blades did similar for the game at Hillsborough, but I used to think we had injuries that decimated the team. Then I read it's only Wednesday who have to put up with that).
 
Davalon said:
Wilder may get us a play off spot this season or next with similar finances, but despite doing a tremendous job over all, I don't see him being able to put together a top 2 side over 46 games without significant extra investment.

That's not a criticism, it's just my take on reality.

As we have no idea what route the ownership is taking at present, it's hard to make predictions beyond that.
Click to expand...

Not a problem, once you get to the promised land they shower you with pot's of gold,

Tis said.....:tumbleweed:)
 
Grecian2000 said:
Good question:

YES, I think he's done a good job recruiting within his limited budget. If he'd have a bigger budget, he may have got better players (he may not of course).
YES. I think he can grow with the club. The refreshing attitude to going out and winning games rather than constantly aiming for a point is well worth maintaining. Personally, and I appreciate it is not everyone's view, the performance level is MORE important than the actual result (consistent performance WILL lead to consistent results).

I have enjoyed this season thoroughly and, although last night was not in my favourite 20 games of the season so far, I think the crowd were too critical when we were under the cosh. Experienced players at this level will not roll over for us just because we go two up like some teams might have done last season at the lower level.
Click to expand...




Very good, mature amd knowledgeable
 
bornablade said:
I think the current squad is more than capable of reaching the Premier league. I am not sure they have the capacity to remain there. They would do well in one-off matches against Premier league opposition such


as Leicester last Friday but to maintain that over 38 games. I don't think so.

So what's the answer?

Heavy investment is the obvious one. Not sure whether we'll ever have the financial heavyweights to back us on that score. Similarly the work ethic & team spirit that Wilder & Knill have introduced could disappear with the recruitment of players that are seen as only here until the next best thing comes along. I think Chris would feel uncomfortable working in that environment.

As an old romantic Chris Wilder in my opinion represents everything that is good about the game. The Premier league represents everything that is bad. If the two ever meet I'm not sure what the outcome will be.
Click to expand...


Couldn't agree more.
 
LS26BLADE said:
Can’t be bothered to read through all this can someone summise?
Click to expand...

default_blakey.png
 
Wilder was lucky enough to get backed to buy enough championship quality players last season so we could piss league one , not a given as our 6 years there showed , but he got in enough decent players to not just get us up but good enough to steer clear of a relegation fight. on our return ,

The real hard work is getting gradual improvement to compete with clubs better financed with squads well versed at this level .
But we have surprised ourselves by our cavalier approach catching out a lot of sides hes hit on a method of putting a cat among the fat pigeons
Hes prepared to take risks and he who dares..........

ask Del Trotter

one day we'll get a billionaire
 
Last edited:
To compare us to Leicester the other night, then I would say we are halfway there but we really need pace in attack and a player that is that little bit special...Is Brooks our Mahrez?
The other question is do we really want to go up, is it just more interesting and fun in the Championship??
 
blade too long said:
Wilder was lucky enough to get backed to buy enough championship quality players last season so we could piss league one , not a given as our 6 years there showed , but he got in enough decent players to not just get us up but good enough to steer clear of a relegation fight. on our return ,

The real hard work is getting gradual improvement to compete with clubs better financed with squads well versed at this level .
But we have surprised ourselves by our cavalier approach catching out a lot of sides hes hit on a method of putting a cat among the fat pigeons
Hes prepared to take risks and he who dares..........

ask Del Trotter

one day well get a billionaire
Click to expand...


Inspirational post.
 
Your question is about us pushing for promotion to the prem, and if we're on the right track.

The very fact this thread even exists, instead of one asking if Wilder will get us into the auto places of League 1 or will we have to settle for the play offs, should tell you everything you need to know.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

All advertisments are hidden for logged in members, why not log in/register?

Back
Top Bottom