But what role? DOF? Giving him full control over expenditure?
What is a DOF? Most successful clubs have one, but they come in a whole range of shapes and sizes.
Would I give him full control over expenditure? Of course not. If we are to deliver the Board vision of becoming an established Premier League team, then I would expect that we will need to spend on a scale exceeding anything in our history, and it would be irresponsibly stupid to invest full control of this expenditure in a single individual.
The problem that we have is an almost complete lack of the necessary corporate infrastructure required to deliver our aspiration. That needs to be addressed quickly. Simply changing managers will not achieve this. Chris wilder is a demonstrated key talent within the SUFC organisation, and so I would be asking myself the question as to how best to utilise and develop him as an individual in service both of his own success and that of the overall enterprise.
If it were down to me, then I’d be telling Chris Wilder that his over-riding priority for the remainder of this season is to get us promoted. Nothing else. Revenue growth is a critical driver underpinning our ambitions, and we are in our final year of parachute payments. I would have structured his short term remuneration to heavily reflect this focus.
Beyond that, I would be asking myself what his key strengths are, and how they could align with a more senior role. I’d also be wanting to involve him in generating the space and support to develop into a more senior job. Ideally, this would involve him in identifying and recruiting potential successors to him in his current job, as part of the development of his own support team.
Critical existing strengths that I would want to build into a more senior role for him over time include:
- mentorship and man management
- youth and talent development, player pipeline management
- working his influence network across football. Contrary to the views of the many pearl clutchers on this forum, he is very well respected in footballing circles, as evidenced by the preparedness of major clubs to trust us in development of key talents through loan moves. This is a very valuable quality that we need to exploit.
- strengthening the identity of the club, and the connection between the supporters, the players, the club and the Board. I would seek to build his relationship with the Board asap, to help fill the current glaring gap in communication. He can bring us all together like very few can.
- setting strategic direction for style of play, as part of a team charged with this responsibility.
In terms of his areas where he’s OK but needs more development, I’d be thinking about things like recruitment and talent identification ( and the spending of money associated with this). As a start to this, I’d want to involve him in creating a team that brings together best practice in the diversity of approaches needed. The days of individuals, including him, making unilateral calls ( if this indeed has happened) need to be over if we are to achieve our ambition.
I hope this illustrates to you my belief that there is clear scope for a more senior long term role for Wilder, potentially at Boardroom level. From ballboy to Board Room at the Club that he’s loved all his life - I think he would kill for that. If he wasn’t prepared to show the humility to accept that some of his skills need strengthening, and the personal flexibility to achieve this, then I would ask him to focus exclusively on the short tern need for promotion. Then I would sack him at the end of the season, using this forward knowledge to make appropriate adjustments of judgements in recruitment of other members of the leadership team, as well as to the identity of his successor.
