Outgoing? Chris Wilder

[thehet]

Then I'll bare my arse on the town hall steps (whilst praying we get 101).

All if, buts and maybes.

So you can see at least 2 reasons we may not get promoted? Even with your new swashbuckler from the German second division.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Indeed.

So, which manager is going to come in, bring in 7 or 8 new players, with a new style of play, probably not fancy some of the current players, and achieve an equal or better points tally to get promoted, to stop you and the others having to repeat yourselves next May.

You seem very caught up in the need to get promoted next year, but the owners haven’t set a timescale on that. The only firm target they have stated is to become an established PL club. That might take time, and they might be prepared to finance us for whatever timescale they have in mind. We don’t know what that is.

They might also have decided, as many fans have, that from everything they have seen so far, on and off the pitch, Wilder isn’t the man to take us on that journey. Maybe they think that he might take us up next season, but would then need to be replaced and we would have to start another rebuild, so we might as well start now.

But we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we.

 

[Danetheblade]

So you can see at least 2 reasons we may not get promoted? Even with your new swashbuckler from the German second division.

Blessin were one of the suggestions. How's about Cooper?

 

[thehet]

You seem very caught up in the need to get promoted next year, but the owners haven’t set a timescale on that. The only firm target they have stated is to become an established PL club. That might take time, and they might be prepared to finance us for whatever timescale they have in mind. We don’t know what that is.

They might also have decided, as many fans have, that from everything they have seen so far, on and off the pitch, Wilder isn’t the man to take us on that journey. Maybe they think that he might take us up next season, but would then need to be replaced and we would have to start another rebuild, so we might as well start now.

But we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we.

Well on the basis that this season is being deemed a failure for not doing so.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Well on the basis that this season is being deemed a failure for not doing so.

Have the owners said that?

 

[thehet]

Blessin were one of the suggestions. How's about Cooper?

I’d have to look up Blessin.
Cooper, he’s only had 2 successful seasons around our level, taking forest up and then keeping them up.

 

[thehet]

Have the owners said that?

No but most of this topic think so…

 

[NewyorkBlade]

Is there any manager in world football that would align with AI picking their players, though? If any decision on a manager is based on that, we're in trouble.

Franks @ Brentford

 

[Danetheblade]

I’d have to look up Blessin.
Cooper, he’s only had 2 successful seasons around our level, taking forest up and then keeping them up.

So.. isn’t that similar to Wilder? He took us up from this division, then kept us up?

Cooper however has a better pedigree having worked with Liverpool in the youth set up, then winning the youth World Cup with England.

 

[Blade56]

Indeed.

So, which manager is going to come in, bring in 7 or 8 new players, with a new style of play, probably not fancy some of the current players, and achieve an equal or better points tally to get promoted, to stop you and the others having to repeat yourselves next May.

The overriding assumption for those wanting to retain Wilder is he will get 92+ points again next season, really?

Change manager and fail to win promotion will results in shouts of we should have kept Wilder. He will just rinse and repeat and be lucky to be in role come Xmas. It’s going to be a tougher league next season and teams making the transition to the modern business game are storming up the leagues (Wrexham/Birmingham),

Imagine Wilders reaction if we are tonked 3-0 by Wrexham, I can’t imagine the fines.

Yes a change of manager and a transition to a team fit for promotion and retention of PL status won’t be done in 1 season whether it’s Wilder or A N Other. Retaining Wilder will only prolong the process.


Imo

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

You know Farke lost the playoff final last year too? Did you also see what happened to the team that beat them in it?

This is just a total overreaction.

My point with Farke is that none of us had heard of him when he first arrived in English football at Norwich. There are a lot of good, young foreign managers out there who we probably haven't heard of who may well be our Daniel Farke or Thomas Frank. Until the position is advertised you don't know who's out there, and just because you've not heard of them doesn't mean they're going to fail or be a risk. We don't need someone who will fit into our identity. We can change our identity and what's wrong with that.

Progressive clubs get promoted and stay up and we're not a progressive club, but hopefully we will be under the new owners. They seem to recognise our potential and have recognised that our old way of doing things doesn't suit the modern game and they want to give us the best chance of going up and staying up by modernising everything they can. Unfortunately you can't modernise a stubborn manager who's stuck in his ways and refuses to adapt and change and this may end up being his downfall.

 

[UTB Blade]

In all fairness I don’t think anyone was calling for his head then, because he was an entirely different manager and person. People are judging him, quite rightly, on his outputs now, and he’s coming up short. You can’t constantly hark back to what he’s done in the past and ignore the present.

Chris Wilder amassed 92 points in the 2024-25 season, which ended less than a week ago. As no new season has started since that one finished, it's physically impossible to get any more 'present' than that.

 

[Aston max]

The problem is ( and I've got no idea how his mind works anymore )
We all could see the errors, the players in wrong position, the substitutions , holding has been the biggest scratch of the head moment, we all saw how much better than Jack he was !! ( this has been another lunwank episode)
I truly love chris and if I ever saw him in the pub I'd be first in line to buy him a drink, but it's time !!
For some of you , you're getting as caught up as Neil bowing to chan " deluded " and Stockholm syndrome

 

[UTB Blade]

... It's why people never acknowledge what a great job Danny Wilson did and rarely speak of him other than with disdain, despite him being one of our best managers and first to turn us into a proper attack minded footballing team...

We have a small club mentality with a big club stature.

I've seen it all now.
Danny Wilson - one of our best managers.
The guy who couldn't get us out of the third division.
It's pretty easy to get your team playing attacking football when your opponents are Crawley Town - although Danny Wilson couldn't even manage that, since he ended up getting sacked for allowing them to hand us our arses in a defeat that was one of the most abysmal performances I've ever seen from a United team.

You accuse others of having a small club mentality, whilst singing the praises of someone who couldn't get us out of the third division. There's nothing demonstrates a small club mentality more than keeping us stuck in a division, the stature of the club is way too big for.

I'm beginning to understand, now, why some people are genuinely lamenting appointing CWAK in 2016, and genuinely did prefer being in League One - it's because they're the kind of small-time, small-minded, inferiority complex type people, who enjoy being a big fish in a little pond, which is what we were in League One. Chris Wilder's 'crime' was to take us out of the little pond, and get us to go toe to toe with some fish that are more our size, and some people can't forgive him for that. We'll never progress as a club while our fan base is full of people with this type of unambitious mindset.

 

[MartBlade]

What annoys me for a bloke who claims to love the club " Mr Sheffield United " looks like he'll happily walk away with another wedge of money if he goes .
No doubt someone will correct me but I work it out at 5m plus over 2 occasions
That ladies and gentlemen is out of your pockets

Manager in “gets paid” shocker

 

[TJ blade]

Just because we can't name them doesn't mean they don't exist or aren't out there. Had you heard of Daniel Farke before he took over Norwich, or David Wagner when he took over Huddersfield, or Thomas Frank when he took over Brentford?

Hopefully the new owners can find similar to us instead of going for the usual names like Sean ****ing Dyche. Our fans are often so rooted in the history and DNA of this club that they're afraid of change, or dismiss it because it went wrong in the past. Bryan Robson was the wrong man but would've been a great director of football but only Chelsea and Spurs were using them at the time. Weir tried to pick up the best young players from Premier League academies and develop them into players, a job he does now to great effect at Brighton as Sporting Director. This would have required a few seasons but could have worked. We gave him a handful of games before McCabe shat his pants and pulled the trigger. Jokanovic was mis-sold the club and not backed in the transfer market. He was also guilty of square pegs in round holes, but when he reverted to type and changed formation to suit what he had we started winning, but the club shat it's pants and sacked him anyway. Who knows how that might have worked out.

The game has moved on and our club and a lot of fans haven't. It's why average players who run around a lot get hero worshipped despite having limited ability. It's why people never acknowledge what a great job Danny Wilson did and rarely speak of him other than with disdain, despite him being one of our best managers and first to turn us into a proper attack minded footballing team.

I'm all for a modern manager and a modern approach as it's painful watching teams like Brentford, Brighton and Bournemouth come from beneath us, over take us and establish themselves in the top flight while we merely flirt with it and fail because we refuse to change our DNA and refuse to adapt to the modern game. We have a small club mentality with a big club stature.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

I've seen it all now.
Danny Wilson - one of our best managers.
The guy who couldn't get us out of the third division.
It's pretty easy to get your team playing attacking football when your opponents are Crawley Town - although Danny Wilson couldn't even manage that, since he ended up getting sacked for allowing them to hand us our arses in a defeat that was one of the most abysmal performances I've ever seen from a United team.

You accuse others of having a small club mentality, whilst singing the praises of someone who couldn't get us out of the third division. There's nothing demonstrates a small club mentality more than keeping us stuck in a division, the stature of the club is way too big for.

I'm beginning to understand, now, why some people are genuinely lamenting appointing CWAK in 2016, and genuinely did prefer being in League One - it's because they're the kind of small-time, small-minded, inferiority complex type people, who enjoy being a big fish in a little pond, which is what we were in League One. Chris Wilder's 'crime' was to take us out of the little pond, and get us to go toe to toe with some fish that are more our size, and some people can't forgive him for that. We'll never progress as a club while our fan base is full of people with this type of unambitious mindset.

We lost 20 games out of 106 under Wilson. He had a 51% win percentage.

Yes, he failed to get us promoted, but to not acknowledge his record demonstrates my previous point.

 

[pleh_blade]

I’m not a Wilder fan but I think get rid of him at our peril. The only person I’d want would be Cooper but I suspect he thinks he can hold out for a better job. I’m wary of appointing someone who doesn’t understand the division and has a philosophy but won’t put that aside to do what it takes to win football matches.

Wilder is not thick. He wants to be a Premier League manager again and must surely know that this is his last realistic opportunity. No Premier League club will hire him. We are in the last year of parachute payments. For him it’s now or never.

People say he’s stubborn and arrogant. I think he’s achieved incredible things in his managerial career (what he did at Northampton is incredible). He’s experienced and knows what works and what he wants. Sticking to your guns isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A bit like Warnock who went back to Webber and Shipperley after signing Horsefield and Akinbiyi.

I read Kevin McCabe’s book and took note of Bassett’s comments. I’m concerned about appointing someone who’s trendy and interviews well but doesn’t know how to win in the Championship.

Wilder obviously cares about the club. I think get rid of him and we’ll all miss having a manager that wants to be here.

The new ownership is great in so far as intial impressions are that they will invest and seemingly care about the club based on the few public statements they’ve made. They have expertise in the health industry, real estate and films. My concern is there’s no football brain advising them and Bettis is not that man.

Wilder rebuilt the side. I’m worried we are heading for a Jokanivic type who wants to play continental style that our squad is not wired to play.

On a bigger picture, I question if this is really what us as all want? I look at some Premier League clubs and think ‘If I was a fan would I care?’

 

[thehet]

We lost 20 games out of 106 under Wilson. He had a 51% win percentage.

Yes, he failed to get us promoted, but to not acknowledge his record demonstrates my previous point.

Weerz his record got him?

 

[thehet]

My point with Farke is that none of us had heard of him when he first arrived in English football at Norwich. There are a lot of good, young foreign managers out there who we probably haven't heard of who may well be our Daniel Farke or Thomas Frank. Until the position is advertised you don't know who's out there, and just because you've not heard of them doesn't mean they're going to fail or be a risk. We don't need someone who will fit into our identity. We can change our identity and what's wrong with that.

Progressive clubs get promoted and stay up and we're not a progressive club, but hopefully we will be under the new owners. They seem to recognise our potential and have recognised that our old way of doing things doesn't suit the modern game and they want to give us the best chance of going up and staying up by modernising everything they can. Unfortunately you can't modernise a stubborn manager who's stuck in his ways and refuses to adapt and change and this may end up being his downfall.

Farke finished 14th in his first season with Norwich. If finishing 3rd on 92pts is unacceptable goodness knows what 14th would be.

I’d like your view on whether Southampton and Leicester are operating in the “old way of doing things”.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Farke finished 14th in his first season with Norwich. If finishing 3rd on 92pts is unacceptable goodness knows what 14th would be.

I’d like your view on whether Southampton and Leicester are operating in the “old way of doing things”.

Again, I'm not talking about Farke's managerial record. I'm talking about the fact that he was unheard of by English football fans when he arrived in Norwich, so we shouldn't be afraid if the club appoint a manager whom the fans haven't heard of from abroad.

If you're going to pick apart someone's post and debate it, at least read it and understand the point they're making first.

My point has nothing to do with results. It's to do with looking beyond English football for a potential new manager.

 

[JayGreen17]

Please be true, we totally need a fresh start, ROSSENIOR, go get him!

 

[thehet]

Again, I'm not talking about Farke's managerial record. I'm talking about the fact that he was unheard of by English football fans when he arrived in Norwich, so we shouldn't be afraid if the club appoint a manager whom the fans haven't heard of from abroad.

If you're going to pick apart someone's post and debate it, at least read it and understand the point they're making first.

My point has nothing to do with results. It's to do with looking beyond English football for a potential new manager.

So you’d be happy with us taking a punt on an unknown foreign manager on the basis that nobody had heard of Farke?

I would hazard a guess that more clubs that have hired such managers have failed than succeeded.

Look no further than S6.

 

[UTB Blade]

We lost 20 games out of 106 under Wilson. He had a 51% win percentage.

Yes, he failed to get us promoted, but to not acknowledge his record demonstrates my previous point.

Oh no, not the Danny Wilson win percentage nonsense, again!

I thought I'd seen the back of that utter insanity back in 2013. Week in, week out: 'Danny Wilson's win percentage is fantastic' - My response: 'It should be fantastic - we're in League One, playing the likes of Crawley and Yeovil Town every week - he should have a win percentage of nigh on 100 fucking percent!'

There's a reason why managers like Alex Ferguson, who won a lot in the top division, get knighthoods, and managers like the Cowley brothers, who won a lot in the lower divisions, don't, it's because anyone with a brain understands that it's harder to win matches against Liverpool and Manchester City, than it is to win them against Blackpool and Lincoln City.

51%! Any self-respecting manager would be ashamed of a win percentage like that, with a club our size, in League One.

Anyway, now I've acknowledged Danny Wilson's record, are you going to acknowledge Chris Wilder's vastly superior record? Do you know what Wilder's win percentage was with us in League One? I'll give you a clue, it was a fair bit higher than 51%.

 

[UTB Blade]

Looks like a fair few need to decide if they support Sheffield United or Chris Wilder.

It's generally understood in the football supporting world, that best practice is for the supporters of a football club to support the current manager, in the same way that they are supposed to support the current players. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of our fan base seem unable to get their heads around this concept.

 

[Charlieblade]

Sorry 92 points.

It really doesn’t matter because Leeds and Burnley finished better than us and they gained automatic promotion.
The Wilder conviction that we could hold a one goal lead, proved to be incorrect, too often!

 

[54yrblade]

Get better players then - better characters. I'm actually of the opposite opinion: they did great and we had an excellent season.
Congratulations to the manager and the players for that .

You'd have thrown the baby out with the bath water and shown a huge amount of naiveté there. A school boy error as it were.

Football isn't any other industry. It's unique. Wilder's behaviour is perfect for a football club. Galvanising and motivating.

And, whether it's now or in the not too distant future, his clock is ticking down.

He walked out on the players and fans at Wembley.

Quite apart from his behaviour issues, failure to nail top two, failure to buy strikers who could actually, believe it or not, actually 'do a job', sort a defence out and show tactical awareness to win the bigger games.

All the evidence I needed to not waste my money and time going to the big city for the final. The first huge Blades game I've ever missed. Common sense, on this occasion, outweighed my loyalty.
The 35k who did go deserved his leadership at the end. He failed them.

Quitting and leaving your team alone to face a difficult time is unforgiveable. That's final for me.

The bigger issue isn't CW though. It's the people who won't see the very obvious flaws in Wilder 2.0. Flaws that he is incapable of changing up and why he can't take us forward. We ALL have limitations but he's desperate to stay, despite his.

He talks about culture whilst not backing it up personally. It's just words.

I love what he's done but his petulance has done him for me.

 

[54yrblade]

I’d have to look up Blessin.
Cooper, he’s only had 2 successful seasons around our level, taking forest up and then keeping them up.

St Pauli have the connection between fans and club that Wilder can only dream of. It's incredible, he's kept SP in 1 Bundesliga on a budget and plays very attacking, attractive football.
If he's available he's a great shout!

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

So you’d be happy with us taking a punt on an unknown foreign manager on the basis that nobody had heard of Farke?

I would hazard a guess that more clubs that have hired such managers have failed than succeeded.

Look no further than S6.

As I said, some United fans fear change and are rooted in the DNA of how the club has always been. I would be happy to take a punt on an unknown foreign manager if they had a good record where they've come from.

I'm not suggesting we take a total unknown who has never managed before. I'm not saying hire them on the basis that no one one had heard of them.

There will be plenty of young foreign managers with good records who would be interested in managing us, who would fit the direction the owners want to go in of being a progressive club. We will never be progressive under an old-school stubborn manager like Wilder who is stuck in his ways, irrespective of his history and prior achievements.

 

[Yogi]

If the meeting with ownership is legit and his job is up for discussion I’d imagine whether he keeps it or not will come down to whether he’s capable of being humble and genuinely self scouting what went wrong the 2nd half of this year.

He needs a good and convincing answer to the question of why after significant backing in January the standard of football dropped and we played an increasingly negative style of play which ultimately cost us against sides that we on paper should’ve beaten.

He’ll also need to show he’s willing and able to slot into whatever medium term plans the owners have for the club and their modernisation efforts. If your boss said things were going to be run differently at work and either refused to do it or showed you couldn’t you wouldn’t be in a job much longer.

If his attitude is that we were unlucky, the ball didn’t bounce our way and if we run it back another year then we’ll get over the line then I can see why ownership would be frustrated. However, if he admits where things very clearly went wrong and comes with a plan for what he’s going to differently to try and change that then he might keep his job.