Is CW taking the piss ?

[BlairBlade]

Yesterday he was saying he wants to stay and today he's saying he wants to stay. I think he wants to stay.

I think he wants to muddy the waters.
He obviously knows no one is bigger than the club.
Perhaps if he chose to be a bit more positive about things eg the talks he goes on about that haven't happened - well do something about that!
He can sound as though he feels a little sorry for himself.
Take the initiative, earn even more brownie points to add to all those millions you already have in the bank!

 

[BlairBlade]

He’s trying to blame others for his fuck ups. He backed the Prince in to a corner to buy Brewster (allegedly) and won’t play him with “ I’ll talk about him when the times right” bullshit

If that is true about Brewster, then CW should be careful.

Seems a very strange way to go about things.

He has not covered himself in glory this season. Being confrontational is not likely to reap too many benefits - for anyone, the club included.

The only thing that matters is the club - that is far, far more important than any manager, player, tea-lady, seating capacity, temporary owner, local developer, etc.

The club should always be first.

Personalities should not be allowed to get in the way of that.

 

[Whiston Blade]

My guess is that the present risk is that they want a DOF, given this season's transfer failings. Wilde won't accept that.

Could you blame them for wanting a DoF given some of CW's signings this past season? If the board want a DoF then there'll be one winner, the board. I guess a compromise could be that the board say's to CW that if, come December we're not where we want to be then a DoF will be appointed whether he likes it or not.

 

[cooperblade]

"If we stick to the plan, I want to stay". Seems fairly clear.

What he can't say is if he's happy with how that plan might change. He can't say he'll want to stay, no matter what the chairman does. No manager will say that.

My guess is that the present risk is that they want a DOF, given this season's transfer failings. Wilde won't accept that.

I think the big unknown is whether the plan he's referenced (keep everyone, add a couple, go again) is his plan or the plan.

Jim Phipps is on Twitter talking about selling Berge. Obviously we've got no idea what, if any, knowledge he has of the Prince's plan but, at worst, he's well placed to have a guess.

Maybe the board have said 'Berge is going to balance the books a bit, if you want anyone in you'll need to wheel and deal'. Maybe they haven't said anything at all and that's what has frustrated him?

I don't like that it's being discussed in public and I don't like that, on the face of it at least, there's some conflict between CW and the board.

 

[Maidenhead]

I don't like that it's being discussed in public and I don't like that, on the face of it at least, there's some conflict between CW and the board.

If there is conflict between the board and the management then in my experience there will only be one winner, and it won't be the club, the fans, or Chris Wilder.

 

[Keef Chedwyn]

If we're currently sticking to the plan, the plan is shit.

 

[pommpey]

There's a lot that goes on that we obviously don't know about - and neither should we.

No. But what we are exposed to - us being beaten most weeks, is a gauge of success.

Wilder wanted Cash, Robinson and Wilson. We were blown out of the water with wage demands, so he stuck to his plan of buying players who might make it, but also demand much less wages.

I'm kinda sick of hearing this 'wage demands' trope now. What do people expect in the PL? Div One wages? If you are purposefully limiting wages then as others have said, you are purposefully limiting talent and capability to perform in the English Premier League. This isn't rocket science. And it's certainly not rocket science when we signed players (fee or no fee) who are still a financial liability on the club yet don't appear in a United shirt. That is just poor scouting, profligacy with funds and frankly incompetent recruitment.

Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

Snake - when you are in Division One, such an ambivalent approach doesn't cut too much ice. When you have spent several times the club's own worth in two seasons on dud players, then the factor is more serious. Please tell me you acknowledge this and understand it?

Yep, we've bought some duds,

C Robinson - c£6m. Hardly played. Loaned then 'swapped' for Burke, who has his feet on back to front.
Morrrison - Free. Hardly played. Waged.
L Freeman - £5m. Hardly played. On loan at Forest.
Jagielka - Free. Hardly played until needed. Waged (possibly considerably)
Mousset - £10m. Never played 90 minutes of English football in nearly 100 appearances. Nine fucking goals, six for us. Allus out of condition or injured. Fucking kitbag of a signing
Osborn - c £4m, In and out and when in, tries like fuck but clearly isn't even the best of the Championship in honesty
McBurnie - £20m. Six goals last season and some visions of potential but this season way, way below standard
Verrips - Free. We got Foderingham as well? Has anyone seen him play? Still drawing a wage, as is Moore, who played twice last season due to Hendo being loan-tied
Rodwell - Free. Waged. Unused
J Robinson - Undisclosed. Fucking useless. Mysteriously injured forever now but still being paid
Berge - c£23m. Now injured and never really showing anything which changes the game

We also loaned in Besic, Zivkovic and Retsos, The latter two were anything but good enough for this level, but presumably still drew a wage for next to fuck all showing or return. Besic was definitely one to buy or further loan but, y'know ...

then, as if that lot wasn't enough

Foderingham - Free. There isn't a Rangers fan who didn't breathe a sigh of relief when he fucked off. Still drawing a wage, mind
Ramsdale - £18m. Played every game and has been on the whole, an unmitigated disaster.
Lopata - Free. Who?
Lowe - c£4m. Struggles at PL level
Bogle - c£4m. More potential and has the ability to threaten and score. There, you can have him as a 'good signing'.
Burke - part of the swap deal with C Robinson. Pace to die for. Footballing ability and goal threat to top yourself for.
Coulibally - Undisc. Who?
Brewster - c£26m. Woefully underhorsepowered and nowhere near capable

but this has to be balanced by the good signings we have made

Bogle - c£4m. More potential and has the ability to threaten and score. There, you can have him as a 'good signing'.

Great balance.

and the proof in the pudding is we got to the PL and reaped all the associated financial rewards.

Firstly, we got to the PL without all of the above and secondly the financial rewards we jizzed on the above. That's a kind of sweet circular argument, but fuck me is it true, or what? Now tell me snake - who signed all of these? Was it you? Was it HRH? Was it mild mannered Henry, the janitor?

Yep, it's gone tits up

Fucking tell me about it.

- but we always knew there was a fair chance of that happening.

Not really. Up until lockdown we were talking about Europe and playing pretty decent football. Even if we didn't qualify, it could be said we had done bloody well in our first season in the PL and just needed to augment the squad in areas we'd shown weaknesses. Instead, we come back after lockdown and when it was seen that teams had sussed us out, simply stuck to plan A, because that is all we know, or want to know.

Wilder has of course made mistakes, he's also make some cracking decisions. He'll do for me.

Yes he has and indeed, he will still do for me. But he needs to make some big decisions in the intermediate weeks between dropping out of the PL with humiliation and opprobrium. Ones that will affect the clubs future and ours as supporters and him as manager. He needs to ditch the sentimental retainers, bite the bullet with sicknotes, clear out the fucking loft-full of stuff there 'just in case' and change the fucking system. Next season won't be quite as easy as people think and if he isn't in the top six by Christmas with a minimum objective of winning the playoffs without taking us to second legs needing snookers and having Ramsdale take the last spot kick and it clearing the stadium roof again then he really needs to ask himself the question what he can achieve with the scared cutlasses on his left breast.

pommpey

 

[steve26272]

The only wage bill comparable with ours in the Premier League is West Brom's and they're only ahead of us courtesy of a fortunate win against us, therein lies a story.

When we were promoted the Prince had to spend £50m of our new found riches on purchasing the real estate connected to the club and baulked at buying the two pieces that he was not obliged to. (a massive mistake for the long term in my book but driven by his lack of cash). We also had to spend a lot of money, by our standards, on bringing the ground up to Premier League standards.

Because of this we have already had to borrow against future income in order to meet our present running costs/improvement plans and the wages we can offer are at the top end of what we can afford but are not competitive in Premier league terms.

I think that the next nearest team to us in terms of wage bill is Burnley and their wage bill is 30% bigger than ours and Fulham's is almost double ours but they're (Fulham) not exactly covering themselves in glory.

By way of contrast Leeds had none of these extra costs and I have heard that Cellino (sp?) has pumped an additional £45m into the club, a situation that we can only dream of.

As far as I'm concerned, it is what it is.

Wilder has done a good job with the resources available within a plan that is potentially sustainable for the longer term, and P.A knows this or Wilder would have been sacked long ago.

Wilder is encouraging the Prince to stick with this model and go again next year, and is going public because he knows that sales in the summer inevitable and he wants to make sure that he has a say in managing those.

Wilder didn't get his January targets and I think he knows why not so I don't think that there is any conflict between board and management at the moment and Wilder is simply trying to set the agenda for the meetings when next season's plan does come up for discussion.

Again, in my view that sort of discussion shouldn't take place until after relegation is confirmed, which it sadly will be, because it is pointless to plan extensively for something that MAY not happen no matter how likely it may be.

What happens in the summer will be crucial for us going forward but if I was Chris Wilder I'd be a bit careful about putting too much out in the public domain, as I'm sure he is being, because the Prince holds the purse strings and does the hiring and firing.

The only wage bill comparable with ours in the Premier League is West Brom's and they're only ahead of us courtesy of a fortunate win against us, therein lies a story.
------------------------

Agree on most of your post, however what was our wage bill last season? to finish 9th
Fair to say our wage bill will have gone up in the close season - to finish bottom

The problem we have, and CW must take some responsibility for this, is how he has allowed this to happen

He was massively in credit, thats all cashed in now

I dont buy that his success grants him immunity

 

[I should coco]

We shouldn't be counting our blessings. All of those were McCabe appointments.

All of them seemingly arrived with big aspirations and plans only to have the till shut on their fingers by Mister Meddler who short-sticked the squad and blamed every other fucker for the failures

Wilder was a McCabe appointee who lucked out on some canny catches and a decent work ethic, and when it came to fruition,

The Prince bought his 50% stake in September 2013, so was involved in the Clough, Adkins and Wilder appointments but don't let the facts get in the way of your foaming hatred of McCabe.

I agree with your comment that we need the old humble CW back though.

 

[Hamburg Blade]

The only wage bill comparable with ours in the Premier League is West Brom's and they're only ahead of us courtesy of a fortunate win against us, therein lies a story.
------------------------

Agree on most of your post, however what was our wage bill last season? to finish 9th
Fair to say our wage bill will have gone up in the close season - to finish bottom

The problem we have, and CW must take some responsibility for this, is how he has allowed this to happen

He was massively in credit, thats all cashed in now

I dont buy that his success grants him immunity

Your assumption is the current spend on wages / transfers and the current squad = a level that will give us 9th, therefore finishing bottom is a failure. How about the current spend on wages / transfers and the current squad = a level that will see us bottom, therefore finishing 9th was a huge success?

A manager doesn't have a job because he's "in credit" or because he has a credit balance that slowly gets used up, Wilder is here because he has proved that he can do it (at all levels), proved he can do it on a limited budget (at all levels) and has shown commitment to the club when many managers would not have the patience to deal with such limited resources. As long as these things combine to make him the best prospect for future success, he will not be sacked.

 

[Gin&Juice]

It's getting a bit tiresome now. His weird friends on twitter + the local news really play into this shitty snakey mentality.

 

[Ecco1889]

If the Prince sticks to whatever agreement they had.

Like the one he had with McCabe
hope I’m wrong but I’m getting the feeling that this is gonna end in tears

 

[bartman]

The only wage bill comparable with ours in the Premier League is West Brom's and they're only ahead of us courtesy of a fortunate win against us, therein lies a story.
------------------------

Agree on most of your post, however what was our wage bill last season? to finish 9th
Fair to say our wage bill will have gone up in the close season - to finish bottom

The problem we have, and CW must take some responsibility for this, is how he has allowed this to happen

He was massively in credit, thats all cashed in now

I dont buy that his success grants him immunity

Wish I could double like for the Hong Kong Phoey reference

 

[Stuart Davis]

I’d be the first person to say build a statue for CW, but I don’t like these press games. This is a classic example of passing the buck. His signings have not come due, he’s steadfastly insisted on playing a formation that hasn’t worked, and he’s quick to call Sheff United “my team” when the results are going well. I know there’s been injuries, the board passed him over in January, etc., but he is responsible for several missteps and I’m frankly a little tired of the finger pointing. The gaffer takes the heat. He doesn’t dish it out. Like he always says, no one person is bigger than the club. He should heed his own advice.

 

[Snake]

No. But what we are exposed to - us being beaten most weeks, is a gauge of success.



I'm kinda sick of hearing this 'wage demands' trope now. What do people expect in the PL? Div One wages? If you are purposefully limiting wages then as others have said, you are purposefully limiting talent and capability to perform in the English Premier League. This isn't rocket science. And it's certainly not rocket science when we signed players (fee or no fee) who are still a financial liability on the club yet don't appear in a United shirt. That is just poor scouting, profligacy with funds and frankly incompetent recruitment.



Snake - when you are in Division One, such an ambivalent approach doesn't cut too much ice. When you have spent several times the club's own worth in two seasons on dud players, then the factor is more serious. Please tell me you acknowledge this and understand it?



C Robinson - c£6m. Hardly played. Loaned then 'swapped' for Burke, who has his feet on back to front.
Morrrison - Free. Hardly played. Waged.
L Freeman - £5m. Hardly played. On loan at Forest.
Jagielka - Free. Hardly played until needed. Waged (possibly considerably)
Mousset - £10m. Never played 90 minutes of English football in nearly 100 appearances. Nine fucking goals, six for us. Allus out of condition or injured. Fucking kitbag of a signing
Osborn - c £4m, In and out and when in, tries like fuck but clearly isn't even the best of the Championship in honesty
McBurnie - £20m. Six goals last season and some visions of potential but this season way, way below standard
Verrips - Free. We got Foderingham as well? Has anyone seen him play? Still drawing a wage, as is Moore, who played twice last season due to Hendo being loan-tied
Rodwell - Free. Waged. Unused
J Robinson - Undisclosed. Fucking useless. Mysteriously injured forever now but still being paid
Berge - c£23m. Now injured and never really showing anything which changes the game

We also loaned in Besic, Zivkovic and Retsos, The latter two were anything but good enough for this level, but presumably still drew a wage for next to fuck all showing or return. Besic was definitely one to buy or further loan but, y'know ...

then, as if that lot wasn't enough

Foderingham - Free. There isn't a Rangers fan who didn't breathe a sigh of relief when he fucked off. Still drawing a wage, mind
Ramsdale - £18m. Played every game and has been on the whole, an unmitigated disaster.
Lopata - Free. Who?
Lowe - c£4m. Struggles at PL level
Bogle - c£4m. More potential and has the ability to threaten and score. There, you can have him as a 'good signing'.
Burke - part of the swap deal with C Robinson. Pace to die for. Footballing ability and goal threat to top yourself for.
Coulibally - Undisc. Who?
Brewster - c£26m. Woefully underhorsepowered and nowhere near capable



Bogle - c£4m. More potential and has the ability to threaten and score. There, you can have him as a 'good signing'.

Great balance.



Firstly, we got to the PL without all of the above and secondly the financial rewards we jizzed on the above. That's a kind of sweet circular argument, but fuck me is it true, or what? Now tell me snake - who signed all of these? Was it you? Was it HRH? Was it mild mannered Henry, the janitor?



Fucking tell me about it.



Not really. Up until lockdown we were talking about Europe and playing pretty decent football. Even if we didn't qualify, it could be said we had done bloody well in our first season in the PL and just needed to augment the squad in areas we'd shown weaknesses. Instead, we come back after lockdown and when it was seen that teams had sussed us out, simply stuck to plan A, because that is all we know, or want to know.



Yes he has and indeed, he will still do for me. But he needs to make some big decisions in the intermediate weeks between dropping out of the PL with humiliation and opprobrium. Ones that will affect the clubs future and ours as supporters and him as manager. He needs to ditch the sentimental retainers, bite the bullet with sicknotes, clear out the fucking loft-full of stuff there 'just in case' and change the fucking system. Next season won't be quite as easy as people think and if he isn't in the top six by Christmas with a minimum objective of winning the playoffs without taking us to second legs needing snookers and having Ramsdale take the last spot kick and it clearing the stadium roof again then he really needs to ask himself the question what he can achieve with the scared cutlasses on his left breast.

pommpey

Quite simply, I look at where we were on 12 May 2016 to where we are on 2 March 2021 for a measure of his success.

 

[K1 flabby stick]

Possibly he should take a subtler approach in answers to questions that he doesn't need to respond to.

Sadly he wont, which could piss his employers off.

Mind you, there's a very nice opening at Donny for someone.

 

[chesblade]

Perhaps the prince is changing the plan that was made last year if we got relegated. If cw was promised that new young players would not be sold and has now heard differently ( just like we have been told we are not a selling club anymore), then I can understand his comments.

 

[Bladesman]

One thing Wilder needs to be aware of is the impact of the pandemic on the club. Plans that were made early doors last year may have gone out of the window now.

If the board are changing the plan a bit then there needs to be some compromise from Wilder.

 

[bartman]

Perhaps the prince is changing the plan that was made last year if we got relegated. If cw was promised that new young players would not be sold and has now heard differently ( just like we have been told we are not a selling club anymore), then I can understand his comments.

We will no doubt sell at least one player, probably Berge, which is solely a result of being relegated as we will have to cut some costs and generate income. We will want to sell others e.g Mousett. Other players may want to leave as they want to stay in the premier league or they want to play regular football( e.g. Brewster).

This issue will be how much of that money the manager will receive

 

[BettingBlade]

I used to listen to wilders interviews and feel re- assured that we were going to turn it round. It used to be the perfect antidote to a shit result/performance and he used to get it right all the time.

I now haven’t listened to one in full for a long long time. They’ve started to piss me off in all honesty. His attitude has completely changed, he’s recently starting to accept some responsibility but it’s far too late and even now it only appears to be through gritted teeth.

The budgets of other teams didn’t seem to matter so much last season when we were troubling the European places. The final straw for me was after the Fulham game where he tried budgets on as an excuse. He constantly says he’s not going to mug us fans off, well with comments like that he is doing and more. Some of his excuses for his own failings this season have been a complete piss take.

We can talk about how much credit he’s got in the bank and all that but he’s had the easiest ride of any manager in our history. The national media pity us because they don’t give a shit about us. The local media pussy foot around the tougher subjects because they’re scared of asking the big questions and the bloke who does the club media has to wipe spunk off his chin at the end of each interview.

Things have gone against us that are out of our control but absolutely none of that was enough to cause such a catastrophic down turn in performance. We can talk about not having the financial backing to compete which is fine but the answer to that is to be much shrewder in the transfer market. If Wilder is holding firm on his philosophy of Brexit Blades then we can expect to massively over pay on almost every player we buy and ultimately end up worse off for it. Reading between the lines, that’s where the stand off is. The philosophy Wilder wants is clearly way out of the price range that the Prince is currently able to provide so we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Wilder wants to stay, then he’s probably going to have to accept that he’s going to keep missing out on his first choice targets unless he overhauls his transfer policy. He can’t keep stamping his feet and taking swipes at the board if the funds clearly aren’t available. It’s not the Prince’s fault if he doesn’t have the money, it’s not the Prince’s fault that Wilder is attempting to shop in one of the most expensive and least value for money markets in the world.

 

[chesblade]

We will no doubt sell at least one player, probably Berge, which is solely a result of being relegated as we will have to cut some costs and generate income. We will want to sell others e.g Mousett. Other players may want to leave as they want to stay in the premier league or they want to play regular football( e.g. Brewster).

This issue will be how much of that money the manager will receive

I can understand if players want to move on,we can't force them to stay. Mousett definitely need to go if we can sell but Don't think we have seen enough of berge. We could at least keep him until January and see where we are

 

[niktheblade]

In all honesty. Apart from Egan, I can't see anyone wanting any of our players. JOC, maybe, but would anyone pay anywhere near what we would be asking for, for a player who has been out for a long time and suffered a setback on his return to training?

Berge, not really pulled up any trees and whilst I think he's a really good player, who might pay the 20m we will inevitably want for him? Newcastle, Palace, Brighton maybe? but I can't see it.

Someone like Norwich might take a punt on Baldock as he seems to fit their style of play.

 

[steve26272]

Your assumption is the current spend on wages / transfers and the current squad = a level that will give us 9th, therefore finishing bottom is a failure. How about the current spend on wages / transfers and the current squad = a level that will see us bottom, therefore finishing 9th was a huge success?

A manager doesn't have a job because he's "in credit" or because he has a credit balance that slowly gets used up, Wilder is here because he has proved that he can do it (at all levels), proved he can do it on a limited budget (at all levels) and has shown commitment to the club when many managers would not have the patience to deal with such limited resources. As long as these things combine to make him the best prospect for future success, he will not be sacked.

Hmmm, not sure on all that, but agree generally with your sentiment

Yes wages = position, however having broken the seal and proved it can be done, there will always be a question as to why it wasnt repeated.

I think CW earned a wealth of credit for the promotion seasons, and rightly so, he must have, as lets be honest, if there was no 'look at what hes done for us' reflection, he would have been sacked months ago! Its only the work he has done, call it credit, as you mention that has saved him from the bullet - how many of the other 91 teams would be in our position and not have sacked their manager?

I would guess just about all managers would say they have to deal with limited resource, of course its all relative, but do you really think Klopp wanted a lad from Preston in the JTW, or would he have preferred to go out and buy Koulibaly?!

CW has been shown commitment in return by the board, who have sanctioned the biggest spend in our history, and lets be honest have then sat patiently whilst these players either dont get on the pitch, or dont perform when they do - so maybe thats a two way street

I am not suggesting that he should be sacked, but he has to take responsibility for many aspects of this seasons shit show

Hopefully he will give us the Championship season of 18/19 again, and all sins forgiven

 

[The Vicar]

Sounding petulant!

 

[pommpey]

Quite simply, I look at where we were on 12 May 2016 to where we are on 2 March 2021 for a measure of his success.

Snakey, seriously. With respect (because you're a decent poster on here) we can't keep justifying failures - and this season has been a fucking catastrophe - on past performances. At what stage does 2016-2019 stop becoming a sop for forgiving Wilder's shortcomings? He has bought some fucking woefully crap players, bought some players he's never played (and never intends playing) refused to change the system and then goes on camera claiming other clubs' wealth is the reason we've lost 21 times out of 26 this season. It's not good enough, y'hear? We're not fooled. His team is in a bucket, either injured, demoralised, useless or hooked on kebabs. It is his job to acknowledge the failures, own them and make it his responsibility we move positively forward.

On one of our Command, Leadership and Management courses, we watch the 1942 Gregory Peck film, 12 O'Clock High. Peck comes into (as commanding officer) of a failing USAAF squadron of Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bombers based in England in 1942. The crews in his squadron are full of misfits, demoraliseds, pissed offs, homesicks and the odd focussed, but they are all badly supervised and led at crew, group and squadron level. When he arrives, they want time off, he refuses. He corrects the poor leadership by putting those in charge on the planes themselves. He has troublecausers, lazy twats, incapables and non hackers transferred. He refocusses discipline. Then he rewards good work when it comes. Morale picks up, they kill a shitload of innocent bullethead families sheltering terrified in their houses from the hell from above, we win the war and Hitler shoots himself. The End.

It's fucking hackneyed, melodramatic and typically Yank, but fuck me analyse it and the command, leadership and management (three different aspects of successful military operation) pointers are all there. Not saying he should have them fell in with rifles and webbing, but Wilder needs to accept the faults now and work to correct them. It's no one's fault but him, Knill (his adjutant and tactical supervisor) and Sharp, his crew captain, flying the winged messenger of horror and death. No hugs, no sympathy, no tubby-boo-hoo. Other people, in his team who he is responsible for, are underperforming. They need work, they need objectives and direction or they need sacking.

The objective for him is PL 2022-23 and there for decades.

It is Wilder's legacy for us.

pommpey

 

[FMBlade1]

I used to listen to wilders interviews and feel re- assured that we were going to turn it round. It used to be the perfect antidote to a shit result/performance and he used to get it right all the time.

I now haven’t listened to one in full for a long long time. They’ve started to piss me off in all honesty. His attitude has completely changed, he’s recently starting to accept some responsibility but it’s far too late and even now it only appears to be through gritted teeth.

The budgets of other teams didn’t seem to matter so much last season when we were troubling the European places. The final straw for me was after the Fulham game where he tried budgets on as an excuse. He constantly says he’s not going to mug us fans off, well with comments like that he is doing and more. Some of his excuses for his own failings this season have been a complete piss take.

We can talk about how much credit he’s got in the bank and all that but he’s had the easiest ride of any manager in our history. The national media pity us because they don’t give a shit about us. The local media pussy foot around the tougher subjects because they’re scared of asking the big questions and the bloke who does the club media has to wipe spunk off his chin at the end of each interview.

Things have gone against us that are out of our control but absolutely none of that was enough to cause such a catastrophic down turn in performance. We can talk about not having the financial backing to compete which is fine but the answer to that is to be much shrewder in the transfer market. If Wilder is holding firm on his philosophy of Brexit Blades then we can expect to massively over pay on almost every player we buy and ultimately end up worse off for it. Reading between the lines, that’s where the stand off is. The philosophy Wilder wants is clearly way out of the price range that the Prince is currently able to provide so we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If Wilder wants to stay, then he’s probably going to have to accept that he’s going to keep missing out on his first choice targets unless he overhauls his transfer policy. He can’t keep stamping his feet and taking swipes at the board if the funds clearly aren’t available. It’s not the Prince’s fault if he doesn’t have the money, it’s not the Prince’s fault that Wilder is attempting to shop in one of the most expensive and least value for money markets in the world.

Outstanding comment, totally agree ^^^

 

[ormester]

I think he's earned the right to say these things. Yes, this season has turned out to be a pile of dog shit, but people should always remember that this pales into insignificance when we remember the pile of dog shit he took over in 2016. Be careful what you wish for folks........... Robson, Blackwell, Adams, Wilson, Weir, Clough, Adkins.

He's earned no right this season is a disaster he blames others without blaming himself

 

[The Vicar]

A manager doesn't have a job because he's "in credit" or because he has a credit balance that slowly gets used up, Wilder is here because he has proved that he can do it (at all levels), proved he can do it on a limited budget (at all levels) and has shown commitment to the club when many managers would not have the patience to deal with such limited resources. As long as these things combine to make him the best prospect for future success, he will not be sacked.

I may be mistaken but didn't Adkins take the saints up to the PL in 2 seasons & then get sacked. he proved he could do it, but has proved very little since!

 

[Snake]

Snakey, seriously. With respect (because you're a decent poster on here) we can't keep justifying failures - and this season has been a fucking catastrophe - on past performances. At what stage does 2016-2019 stop becoming a sop for forgiving Wilder's shortcomings? He has bought some fucking woefully crap players, bought some players he's never played (and never intends playing) refused to change the system and then goes on camera claiming other clubs' wealth is the reason we've lost 21 times out of 26 this season. It's not good enough, y'hear? We're not fooled. His team is in a bucket, either injured, demoralised, useless or hooked on kebabs. It is his job to acknowledge the failures, own them and make it his responsibility we move positively forward.

On one of our Command, Leadership and Management courses, we watch the 1942 Gregory Peck film, 12 O'Clock High. Peck comes into (as commanding officer) of a failing USAAF squadron of Boeing B17 Flying Fortress bombers based in England in 1942. The crews in his squadron are full of misfits, demoraliseds, pissed offs, homesicks and the odd focussed, but they are all badly supervised and led at crew, group and squadron level. When he arrives, they want time off, he refuses. He corrects the poor leadership by putting those in charge on the planes themselves. He has troublecausers, lazy twats, incapables and non hackers transferred. He refocusses discipline. Then he rewards good work when it comes. Morale picks up, they kill a shitload of innocent bullethead families sheltering terrified in their houses from the hell from above, we win the war and Hitler shoots himself. The End.

It's fucking hackneyed, melodramatic and typically Yank, but fuck me analyse it and the command, leadership and management (three different aspects of successful military operation) pointers are all there. Not saying he should have them fell in with rifles and webbing, but Wilder needs to accept the faults now and work to correct them. It's no one's fault but him, Knill (his adjutant and tactical supervisor) and Sharp, his crew captain, flying the winged messenger of horror and death. No hugs, no sympathy, no tubby-boo-hoo. Other people, in his team who he is responsible for, are underperforming. They need work, they need objectives and direction or they need sacking.

The objective for him is PL 2022-23 and there for decades.

It is Wilder's legacy for us.

pommpey

You certainly have a way with words mate, I'll give you that

I honestly do see things far more simply though. I really do - perhaps that's a fault of mine, I don't know. As I see it, it's like a loooooong game of cards where you won a bit, won big, lost a bit, won a bit, lost big. Overall you are still well up on the deal and go home pissed off that you had more in your pocket an hour ago, but you are still well happy with how the whole evening went. Like the Prince said a few weeks ago, if I had to pick a manager who I would want to give us the best chance of promotion next season, then it would be Wilder. I honestly think that. So, he's my man, warts an'all!

I'm one of the people, you might not like at a game --- I apologise to all around me as I'm invariably a few seconds late after needing that extra piss - that last pint always does me! Then I sit, shouting and clapping and, admittedly, watching through my rose coloured SUFC specs. All I ask for is they send me back to the pub after the game happy ...... I'm easily pleased

 

[GymClassHero]

There's a lot that goes on that we obviously don't know about - and neither should we. Wilder wanted Cash, Robinson and Wilson. We were blown out of the water with wage demands, so he stuck to his plan of buying players who might make it, but also demand much less wages. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. Yep, we've bought some duds, but this has to be balanced by the good signings we have made, and the proof in the pudding is we got to the PL and reaped all the associated financial rewards. Yep, it's gone tits up - but we always knew there was a fair chance of that happening. We have parachute payments and a wage bill more akin to a playoff Championship side rather than a mid table prem side.

Wilder has of course made mistakes, he's also make some cracking decisions. He'll do for me.

Good post