I never wanted Wilder at the club and while I was more thank frank about our abysmal start to the season, I never called for him to be sacked either.
My main concern was that the appointment meant abandoning the criteria that had selected the previous managers in favour of yet another change in direction from the board. More than anything, it was the board I had problems with. We seem to hire and fire managers with little rhyme or reason, and going for a League 2 manager with no experience beyond it, after having insisted we needed a manager with experience of promotion from this level and above, fit right in with that.
I thought Wilder would take over a group of players, none of which suited him, and get us playing the much more direct (dare I say, hoof) football that was on display early on.
Since that start everything seems to have changed. He's shipped out players most thought were good enough, and made better players out of ones most thought should go. We're playing the most attractive, entertaining, style of football since Wilson was here with proven Championship players in the side. The effort and work rate off the ball is phenomenal, and the class on it is producing goals. Right now we're flying. Every game looks winnable and the players are delivering performance after performance. As for the manager, I pointed out yesterday some of the tactical changes he made as the game progressed, changing the formation at 1-0 up, moving Fleck out wide to completely nullify their major threat, and such.
We're a group of fans that have been hurt too often though. We're the best at coming close and missing out. You aren't going to make believers out of the long starved fans at Bramall Lane until we see promotion is a mathematical certainty, and that's going to take another 30 games thereabout. So I'll just say, for now, he's put the hope back in us. If he goes one step further and makes promotion happen he'll rise to legendary status in the space of a season.
