A hard reset and an acceptance of where we are

[Kenilworth]

It is truly hilarious that some people think that Wilder is literally the peak manager we could have given our current football operations structure. Does that need improving? Yes. Does the lack of it mean that we cannot possibly improve the first team coaching setup? No.

No I don’t think he is the peak manager but I also don’t think we are in a position to appoint a “peak manager” whilst the infrastructure is as it is.
Those who would accept the job would not be of the “peak manager” type since they won’t accept the current structure. Consequently the pool is the same as SeLLLLLLes.

What I still say is that whilst we are building then Wilder is currently a solid choice. He’s not going to be here forever, of course.

 

[Everblade]

Anybody who thinks those days are coming back hasn’t been paying attention. He’s far from the manager he was 10 years ago. Nowhere close to it.

He was indeed happy when we signed Mousset, Berge & Brewster. The first highlights what bullshit gets spouted about doing a deep dive on “character”. The third flags up a continuing issue with our recruitment. It only took a brief look at his injury history at such a young age to realise that he was a crock waiting to happen. No other PL club was in for him because they do due diligence on potential signings. Liverpool were more than happy to get rid and saw us coming. Berge was successful and was a Van Winkel signing. That’s the closest we ever got to having a DoF.

I get that some people have a need to cling to comfort blankets, but sadly that attitude is why we never move forward as a club.

Spot on.

I don’t see much evidence of ‘character’ in this bunch of players. I think he just says he likes to recruit players with character ( he used to, mind ) as a meaningless sound bite these days.

As for recruiting ‘ experienced’ players, and we need them, why do most of them need to be slow, old injury prone crocks.
I think we’ve suffered majorly from lazy and poor recruitment in the last few years - could we have been a little parochial and not progressive enough ( ignoring recent AI efforts ) on this front?

Having said all this I sincerely hope I’m wrong and our main man quickly rediscovers his mojo and can muster up a team that actually cares and can show us that they do.

Here’s hoping.

 

[JayGreen17]

Morning all, and a happy Easter to you and your family.

I’ve been on the fence on whether to post this or not, but after sitting on this for a few weeks I feel now is the right time.

Following Fridays draw, and the previous results of losing points from winning positions, it’s easy to see why we’re all looking at various issues as the main point of concern. In reality, I’m of the opinion that it’s not one thing, but a large number of smaller issues amounting to a consistent lack of progress on the pitch (and arguably off it).

It can’t be ignored that Wilder has just about turned our season round to almost guarantee survival, but equally he’s not the manager he used to be and these consistent collapses require him to shoulder some accountability.

Selles was the wrong choice, no one disputes that, but I think we need to wipe the slate clean and start again, including a new manager and rebuild of the squad. The owners need to have our backing on the tough decisions, and as fans we need to understand where we are, a squad in need of a rebuild and stability, essentially a long term project over a few seasons.

I worry that keeping things as it is condemns us to another wasted season next year, where we’re likely to have more CW old boys signings, no plan A and a group of owners scratching their heads about what’s going wrong.

If we’re going to rebuild after next season anyway, why not rip off the plaster and start now? Get a manager in with an idea of long term strategy and let them start trying to introduce it. And us, as fans, realising that changing a team requires time.

As fans, we’re scarred by Selles and Jokanivic, but unfortunately we need to persevere on these routes to change the narrative of the club. Every other club does it, and we’re left wondering how, but it’s not a unique approach. We’re not a one man club, and we need to adapt to a newer model to progress.

As fans we NEED to try and be patient, because I genuinely feel that we’re becoming numb to being Blades, seeing the players blowing out of their arse after sixty minutes and bang average teams putting us to the sword. Wilders pashun and fight has obviously gone, so we need a hard reset and patience going forwards.

All we can hope for is the owners learning from their mistakes and making informed choices going forwards.

Just my two quid, I’d be interested to hear yours.

Quite simplistic.. this strategy is just a one way ticket to a downward spiral….

The club needs extensive modernisation, with a whole new structure and a strategy with reasonable investment, to make the right decisions and Improve incrementally, if the fans see improvements and a plan then patience will happen, without that we just get Selles and Jokanivic levels of ineptitude and cycles and a 1 way ticket to league 1

 

[Houston_Blade]

I know Bettis gets a lot of praise from in and around the club and is also in a good working relationship with Wilder so I might be completely wrong but according to AI:

• Club CEO Tenure (General): While specific, current data exclusively for EFL club CEOs is less frequently published than manager turnover, studies of European "Big Five" leagues show club CEOs average 7.2 years. However, the English football landscape is notably more volatile, with executives often under intense pressure to deliver immediate results.

Maybe it’s time we had a change at CEO level, brought someone in with a fresh approach and let them do a full exercise on how to take the club forwards.

That way we can retain Wilder in the short to medium term and focus on what the club needs to underpin a sustainable and successful future.

 

[reedy63]

The Board has done nothing to help us. The sacking of Wilder, getting a manager with no idea, and reappointing Wilder make the owners look as if dont have a clue.
Would Wilder buy or loan these players? That selles signed, I don't think so. So, what the American owners/ Directors do now.
Do they bankroll the club and give Wilder the chance to get the players that can get automatic Promotion, or give him a small budget to sign mostly players on loan, and have a bad start to next season and struggle to get in the playoffs?. The defenders are very poor. I would keep Burrow, Seriki and Cooper. The rest are not good enough.
In opinion. Probably some players like Hamer will be sold, and some players who are injured most of the time will be moved on, hopefully.

 

[Borbokisfreekick]

Why change a manger who as proven he can get promoted from the championship.

Wilder has been promoted once from the Championship in 6 attempts (4 seasons with us, 1 season with Boro and 1 end of season push with Watford who had a good squad).

There is more evidence from his record to suggest another mid table finish next season.

 

[FatPaul]

Maybe I should be manager. I'm good at winning things. I once bought a single ticket in pub raffle and won a meat basket, all the other poor sods purchased at least 2.

 

[Keen Blade]

Who the manager is is much less important than who's making the decisions on how the club will operate as a whole under the new SCR financial rules and with much less TV revenue.

The current plan is to hope Wilder et al can pull out the sort of sensational transfer dealing that occurred in 16-19. That's unlikely because that sort of return from a net transfer spend of zero and a wage bill of no more than £70m over 3 seasons is almost unprecedented.

The likely outcome is an ok season because we'llhave a decent wage bill and Wilder is competent. I think it'll be similar to this one post Selles, and a deferment of the decision on how the club moves forward.

Then, who knows

And in the meantime , they want me to renew my ST !

 

[Blade56]

Quite simplistic.. this strategy is just a one way ticket to a downward spiral….

The club needs extensive modernisation, with a whole new structure and a strategy with reasonable investment, to make the right decisions and Improve incrementally, if the fans see improvements and a plan then patience will happen, without that we just get Selles and Jokanivic levels of ineptitude and cycles and a 1 way ticket to league 1

I think we had a nugget with Prince Abdullah. He was progressive and ruthless (evidenced by dispatching McCabe and reuniting parts of club). Unfortunately he was skint.

 

[ekke287]

I did.
I read the whole post.
Then I summarised his position.
It’s a simple sack the manger post, that’s all it was.

If that’s your summary then you’ve not even read the title.

 

[TJ blade]

Why change a manger who as proven he can get promoted from the championship.

Not with 92 points, and a failed play-off final he can't

 

[Kenilworth]

If that’s your summary then you’ve not even read the title.

Of course I have.
The post is entitled a hard reset since the OP is advocating a change of manager. It’s just another hardly veiled sack Wilder thread. Fans be patient with the new boss.
As I have stated, we were with SeLLLLLLEs and I could see pre season that he’d be a disaster and after the first game vs Bristol City I knew he was out of his depth - and I said so at the time.

People who advocate a change are stating it as change is the answer. It’s got to better than we have now mentality. Well, all it is is change for changes sake. No constructive argument. Just change it cos I don’t like it.

My position is that there are a hell of a lot more variables than just the manager that needs to be improved but at the moment Wilder pulls all that together. He can run a club structured the way we are. Others have no track record of doing anything like that. Hence the shite that Jokanovic served up and SeLLLLLLEs. There’s so much crap talked re Jokanovic, that he wasn’t backed. That’s just revisionist claptrap. He’s done nowt since he left and Hecky took that same squad and was a hairs breadth away from going up via the play offs. It’s all an anti Wilder agenda is all it is.
I get why people are disgruntled but COH has a lot to do with that. Just a change of manager is not the panacea people think it will be.

 

[originaltrueblade]

A Poem

We had our man, he knew the game,
Chris Wilder remember the name.

We cast him out, thought change was right,
Brought Ruben Selles in, lost the fight.

So learn it now, don’t drift again,
We stand with Wilder until the end.

 

[luffenhamblade]

Maybe I should be manager. I'm good at winning things. I once bought a single ticket in pub raffle and won a meat basket, all the other poor sods purchased at least 2.

As long as you're not veggie, that is.

 

[luffenhamblade]

Of course I have.
The post is entitled a hard reset since the OP is advocating a change of manager. It’s just another hardly veiled sack Wilder thread. Fans be patient with the new boss.
As I have stated, we were with SeLLLLLLEs and I could see pre season that he’d be a disaster and after the first game vs Bristol City I knew he was out of his depth - and I said so at the time.

People who advocate a change are stating it as change is the answer. It’s got to better than we have now mentality. Well, all it is is change for changes sake. No constructive argument. Just change it cos I don’t like it.

My position is that there are a hell of a lot more variables than just the manager that needs to be improved but at the moment Wilder pulls all that together. He can run a club structured the way we are. Others have no track record of doing anything like that. Hence the shite that Jokanovic served up and SeLLLLLLEs. There’s so much crap talked re Jokanovic, that he wasn’t backed. That’s just revisionist claptrap. He’s done nowt since he left and Hecky took that same squad and was a hairs breadth away from going up via the play offs. It’s all an anti Wilder agenda is all it is.
I get why people are disgruntled but COH has a lot to do with that. Just a change of manager is not the panacea people think it will be.

I get that Slav hasn't had success since he joined us. We killed his career, and he hasn't had a role since, with the backing you need, as far as I'm aware. If he had been backed at that time, he had a track record of success. Sorry Slav. I'm a Wilder fan and he needs the summer to give him a final chance but I'm increasing of the view we need a reset and suck it up for a year or two.

 

[Gimli]

We missed a trick when Alex Blessin couldn’t get a Work Permit. Took St Pauli up to the Bundesliga top League and is keeping them there. Ultra fit side, quick players with an immense team spirit. Shame.

I don’t know how realistic getting Blessin was, but one thing that would be appealing is having an ultra fit side. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing a supposedly professional football team look so utterly unfit.

 

[54yrblade]

Maybe I should be manager. I'm good at winning things. I once bought a single ticket in pub raffle and won a meat basket, all the other poor sods purchased at least 2.

Nowt like a good meat raffle

Gary Sinclair - are you reading?

 

[54yrblade]

I don’t know how realistic getting Blessin was, but one thing that would be appealing is having an ultra fit side. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing a supposedly professional football team look so utterly unfit.

My biggest criticism of Wilder

Nothing else matters or works if you're not fit enough to compete

 

[Nick Jansky]

Nowt like a good meat raffle

That’s basically what our non retained list will look like this summer.

 

[fleckagainagainagain…]

The Time to bring about the change to the structure and culture of the club that we desperately need was when we got relegated last time whilst we had two full years of parachute payments to bring in new coaching staff, a DOF and new recruitment team…

However at that point The Prince was still trying to finalise the sale of the club so we were in Limbo and we stuck with CW, who I’m sure was only initially brought back the second time to see the Prem season out.

We now have no funds to bring in the complete restructure we need so if we just change the manager again it will just be a re-run of the Seles debacle where he’s expected to work with the same awful recruitment team and basically run the club

With absolutely no enthusiasm I think we have to stick with Wilder for next season as there is no one else of his type out there who’s better and hope we can be at least a competitive upper mid table side.

Agree we would have been better doing the restructure 2 years ago or last summer, but I don’t agree that it’s pointless to do it now we have less money.

Backroom staff are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things. A top DoF at our level probably wants paying £200-£300k max. Give him a budget of the same again to bring in a decent recruitment team and it’s still fairly small change, given the £millions we’re currently wasting every transfer window and with poor manager appointments.

The biggest job of a DoF is to recruit the next manager, so we need someone in place with a shortlist ready for if/when Wilder blows up next season (which even those who want him to stay on, expect is a reasonable probability).

Think about it this year - if we had a DoF and literally the only thing he did all year was say “No” to Wilder bringing in Phillips - that’s saving, what £500k+? he’d have more than justified his annual salary with one decision. And that’s before we get into Matos, McGuinness, Cannon etc which probably cost us more than a decade’s worth of the salaries running a state of the art recruitment team.