Our Chris - BBC Article on Wilder

[PeterNdlovu081]

The best United team I’ve ever seen finished the 91-92 season as the 9th best team in England.
The 06-07 team were never outside the top two in this division and lost only 8 games all season.
Older Blades than me have seen better and higher-placed Blades teams than I have.
This isn’t the best Blades team most of us have ever seen (yet) but it is certainly one of the most attack-minded and entertaining.
Given time to development and continuity, it could certainly be one day amongst the best ever.

I think you've confused the 2006-07 team with the 2005-06 promotion team.

 

[DaveBassettsgoneonholiday]

I started going as a young un in 72-73 and was too young to understand about how we played, it was all about goals and winning....which it still is really. I asked Ted Hemsley before the Bradford game at the end of last season what he thought about us now compared to his team and he said that if they played each other it'd be close....as his lot are all in their 60's now.
Being serious he went on to point out that his side did it at the highest level (despite not winning anything) so hopefully that test is yet to come. At the moment we can only beat what's put in front of us and up to now we're doing a bloody good job of it.

 

[Sothall_Blade]

I think you've confused the 2006-07 team with the 2005-06 promotion team.

Well yes, I typed the wrong years in but the point remains the same.

 

[FleaPitBlade]

If we do get promoted this season, I want to see that tattoo on the town hall balcony. If neccesery, he can use the Mayoress' hat to retain his modesty.

 

[grafikhaus]

I read a article by Graham Souness the other day and he said there’s a lot of crap talked in football formations today and he quoted Bill Shankly who said “Footballs a simple game made difficult by idiots”.

This one? It's a cracker and cuts through all the Lineker/Garth Crookes bullshit.

The statistic was he had created 95 chances for Ingolstadt last season, the most in the Bundesliga. And four assists. How the f*** is that possible?

'I hear fans talking. How did we not win today, we had 64 per cent possession? Yes, but 44 per cent of it was in your own half. They're all kidding.

'Expected goals. High press and a low press. What the f***'s a low press? A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player.

'It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?

 

[Revolution]

A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player.

'It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?

See also Leon Britton.

 

[I should coco]

I was there for the last match of the season under Adkins against Scunthorpe.
Yet again we played some nice possession football and we played OK.
But it was so slow lacking any energy, it was like watching a decent work out in a pre season friendly.

Scunthorpe scored and I thought, at least we’ll see a reaction and we’ll up the tempo.
But NO, we continued to play a neat slow side ways passing game and we lost 0-2.
After that match I was depressed because it dawned on me we could end up in league 1 for another 10 years.

It was worse than that for me. Prior to that game I'd been all for giving Adkins another season. I know the football had been shite, but we just couldn't carry on giving managers less than 12 months.

That game turned it and I got angrier and angrier as it went along. We started insipid and toothless and showed NO desire to compete. .
None.
Not a sausage.

The fact that about 1,200 people were left for the 'lap of dishonour' summed it up.
Boo.
Booooooooooo.

What a transformation this man has made. Whatever may happen in the future we MUST remember how far we have come in 18 months.

UTB

 

[BushBlade]

This one? It's a cracker and cuts through all the Lineker/Garth Crookes bullshit.

The statistic was he had created 95 chances for Ingolstadt last season, the most in the Bundesliga. And four assists. How the f*** is that possible?

'I hear fans talking. How did we not win today, we had 64 per cent possession? Yes, but 44 per cent of it was in your own half. They're all kidding.

'Expected goals. High press and a low press. What the f***'s a low press? A couple of years back we had figures on who had completed the highest rate of passes of any Premier League player.

'It turned out to be Per Mertesacker. Five yards this way, five yards that way. So what?

Whilst I share his dislike for raw stats, which really do propagate huge amounts of bullshit, he also talks a fair amount of shit himself. He starts the article by criticising Mourinho. He's not everyone's cup of tea but how many European Cups did Souness win as a manager? How many English championships?
He's stuck in an early eighties time warp. Happily, Wilder isn't and knows how to use all the tools available to him, understands their relevance and understands what's fundamentally important in the game. And is able to communicate it well. I'm afraid Souness sounds like yet another old man saying things were much better in his day.

 

[BushBlade]

It was worse than that for me. Prior to that game I'd been all for giving Adkins another season. I know the football had been shite, but we just couldn't carry on giving managers less than 12 months.

That game turned it and I got angrier and angrier as it went along. We started insipid and toothless and showed NO desire to compete. .
None.
Not a sausage.

The fact that about 1,200 people were left for the 'lap of dishonour' summed it up.
Boo.
Booooooooooo.

What a transformation this man has made. Whatever may happen in the future we MUST remember how far we have come in 18 months.

UTB

Yes, at that point it was clear his position was untenable. The job was just too big for him.
If you look at his successes, Scunny were doing well when he took over; he had plenty of time to set up a scouting network (if there wasn't one already in place) and didn't inherit many problems. Southampton were set up more like a continental club. They had their own scouting network and people like Les Reed coordinating football matters.

With us, he came in late and it seems our scouts had left with Clough. So he recruited badly. It seemed like he'd come in cold, with little knowledge of our players and made decisions hastily. I'm not sure if he just didn't spend enough time looking at what we'd done in the previous season, assessing the players' strengths and weaknesses, or if he put the time in but his assessments were wrong.

Maybe with the knowledge he'd acquired over the season, he'd have done a better job the following season but he'd lost the confidence of the supporters, the players and the board. It could only go one way.

 

[alcoblade]

Totally totally agree.

I was there for the last match of the season under Adkins against Scunthorpe.
Yet again we played some nice possession football and we played OK.
But it was so slow lacking any energy, it was like watching a decent work out in a pre season friendly.

Scunthorpe scored and I thought, at least we’ll see a reaction and we’ll up the tempo.
But NO, we continued to play a neat slow side ways passing game and we lost 0-2.
After that match I was depressed because it dawned on me we could end up in league 1 for another 10 years.
I was thinking we could become another Notts County, permanently in the lower divisions.

In come Wilder and inside 6 months we look a totally different team.
All the players play like they are fans of the team playing for a contract, thank you Chris Wilder.
In the circumstances he’s already done more that what Bassett and Warnock did because I thought our club was dead.

Largely agree, but although we were a division higher, we were fucked as a club when both Basset and Warnock took over too. They were really depressing times.

For all our failings over the last four decades, we’ve been blessed with three really top managers. Any success has been in spite of those running the club.

 

[BushBlade]

Largely agree, but although we were a division higher, we were fucked as a club when both Basset and Warnock took over too. They were really depressing times.

For all our failings over the last four decades, we’ve been blessed with three really top managers. Any success has been in spite of those running the club.

Can I add Porterfield to the list? I think him and Brearly also did a decent job of turning round a fucked up club, even if it didn't end well.

 

[I should coco]

Can I add Porterfield to the list? I think him and Brearly also did a decent job of turning round a fucked up club, even if it didn't end well.

A good shout for an easily forgotten manager.

Things were completely rotten under Haslam/Peters and we had an ageing team who just didn't want to be there. Porterfield at least ensured we only spent one season in the lowest divsion we had ever been in, but it took a couple of years to limp over the line back to the Second Division (thanks Hull!).

His biggest issue was he suddenly became very negative when we got back to the heights of La Liga and decided the answer was to fill the team with European Cup Winners (Now the Champions League for da yoof out there).
Mortimer, Thompson, Withe, McNaught and then added Burridge too to get the average age over 47.

Brearly? Tory Maggie-arse-licker who promised loads but delivered little and ended up selling Deano behind DB's back.

I'll accept Porterfield ("We'll take more care of you....") but not Reg.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

I read a article by Graham Souness the other day and he said there’s a lot of crap talked in football formations today and he quoted Bill Shankly who said “Footballs a simple game made difficult by idiots”.

That's interesting about Bill Shankly.

Some of us go back that far and have heard old sages like Shankly speak and CW reminds me of Shanks in certain ways - just straight talking, nothing fancy, no airs and graces.

Apparently at the league managers meeting last season, CW made a speech and he talked about "old school" being the new school - which apparently made Sam Allardyce chuckle a bit - perhaps this is why Sam recommended CW to Palace in the summer?

Coutts described CW as being tactically very astute the other day in an interview............we have a monster of a manager on our hands with Wilder. These are very different times to when Brian Clough won things with Forest, and I doubt that can be repeated again like Cloughy did, but Wilder can do for United what some special managers have done for other teams in the past. The more this goes on, the more special it becomes - and I am sure the majority of our fans feels the same. What can possibly go wrong.................

UTB

 

[alcoblade]

I'll accept Porterfield ("We'll take more care of you....") but not Reg.

I loved that song!

 

[alcoblade]

That's interesting about Bill Shankly.

Some of us go back that far and have heard old sages like Shankly speak and CW reminds me of Shanks in certain ways - just straight talking, nothing fancy, no airs and graces.

Apparently at the league managers meeting last season, CW made a speech and he talked about "old school" being the new school - which apparently made Sam Allardyce chuckle a bit - perhaps this is why Sam recommended CW to Palace in the summer?

Coutts described CW as being tactically very astute the other day in an interview............we have a monster of a manager on our hands with Wilder. These are very different times to when Brian Clough won things with Forest, and I doubt that can be repeated again like Cloughy did, but Wilder can do for United what some special managers have done for other teams in the past. The more this goes on, the more special it becomes - and I am sure the majority of our fans feels the same. What can possibly go wrong.................

UTB

Spot on. And what can go wrong - shudder - we could lose him much easier than most acknowledge.

We need to make him now how much we love him - however we achieve that?

My contribution - I'll let him shag my wife.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Spot on. And what can go wrong - shudder - we could lose him much easier than most acknowledge.

We need to make him now how much we love him - however we achieve that?

My contribution - I'll let him shag my wife.

nearly spit my coffee out on the last sentence you silly bugger

UTB

 

[Jonboy60]

nearly spit my coffee out on the last sentence you silly bugger

UTB

My contribution, I'll let him shag your wife as well.