Sir Chris The interview

[PaulHalfway]

He wasted a phenomenal amount of money on bang average players, who now look shot and passed there best,

 

[Bladesman]

The fact he is still out if work shows what he really is, a lower league manage who got lucky....

That is not fair. Wilder didn't get lucky at all, he just didn't manage the eyewatering amounts of money you get at PL level and spent it in the wrong areas of the team.

Much like Warnock, he can manage better knowing he has fuck all moneywise to work with.

 

[Rudders]

That is not fair. Wilder didn't get lucky at all, he just didn't manage the eyewatering amounts of money you get at PL level and spent it in the wrong areas of the team.

Much like Warnock, he can manage better knowing he has fuck all moneywise to work with.

TBF the Premier League is almost like a different game. We are not a Premier League set up in most ways so a bit harsh to give Wilder all the blame for that. I still think he did a great job in getting the team there and the first season was amazing. It's just such a shame that he/we couldn't go again and that the relegation season was just so damaging.

 

[Maidenhead]

I've loved everything that Wilder has done for the club but you have to keep evolving or the only way is backwards.

Unfortunately when things were going against us Chris was too one dimensional and resistant to change/experimentation.

I said quite a long time ago when we were winning for fun that it's easy to manage (anything) when things are going well but the real test of management comes when everything is going against you, and in those circumstances Chris just didn't have the answers.

It's unfortunate, I'm disappointed, but the club has rightly chosen to move on, and we have to look forwards now.

My view then, and still my view now.

 

[SouthportBlade]

Wilder was untouchable. An unblemished and meteoric rise in stature and reputation over a 4 year period and very much a darling of the media.

Astute in the transfer market, genuinely innovative tactics, excellent all round manager and unbelievable results

For whatever reason, he lost his way, lost his nerve, maybe believed his own hype, and failed spectacularly in the last part of his tenure.

As a result now, outside of Sheffield, he's seen as someone who's wasted a fucking ludicrous sum of money making a team worse, been unable to adapt to adverse circumstances or show flexibility and ultimately threw in the towel when the going got tough

This has decimated his reputation as a top tier manager, and he'll need to rebuild. Listening to some of his comments about Covid/fans etc, whilst he mentioned fault still dont think he's fully shouldered responsibility for the demise, fall from grace and smouldering wreck he left behind

I'm sure he'll rebuild, and have a career as a decent championship level manager, but don't think he'll ever have it as good again. Not to sully his first few years, but he was very much right man, right place, right time.

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

I read that as he chucked him under the bus. Is he actually being complimentary about him saying he was chucked in when he shouldn't have been?

Not sure i agree TBH. A £23m players should be ready to play.

I'll watch this later

I think people are misunderstanding Brewster's price tag

Did we pay £20/25 mill for him yes , we knew however we weren't buying a £20 million pound striker

We bought Brewster because of his potential which at the time you couldn't argue there weren't many better rated young strikers about

It is very unfair to Beat brewster with the well you cost 20 mill and you've not scored 15 goals in the prem so you are shite stick

If we have spent that money on a player and decided to not play him in a team that will develop him as a player then that's on us & wilder and also Brewster

Yet we still continue to not play him and when we do play him play him out of position and not give him a run of games

 

[SouthEssexBlade]

I could be a pedant and ask why is this in GBC. But, for a variety of reasons, the fan base hasn't universally moved on yet. Still looking for answers, justifications, excuses, explanations for one of the biggest drop-offs ever seen in the PL. I sort of get that and the consequences of it all are being keenly felt by both club and supporters now. Can't change it, only learn and move on.
I'd like to say it's done, but it won't be. It will be in the background for quite some time. For the next 5+ years we are only a handful of poor results from "get Wilder back".

 

[Bladesman]

TBF the Premier League is almost like a different game. We are not a Premier League set up in most ways so a bit harsh to give Wilder all the blame for that. I still think he did a great job in getting the team there and the first season was amazing. It's just such a shame that he/we couldn't go again and that the relegation season was just so damaging.

I think Wilder struggled to motivate himself and the team during COVID. You couldn't really do anything with the squad such as taking them away from the training ground (like the events Warnock used to put on golf, bowling etc). I reckon that is one reason he kept banging on about the training ground. All the little issues with the training ground felt like big ones.

As always with the Blades, If the wheels were going to come off it would be a perfect storm of unfortunate events. COVID, No fans, JOC's injury etc.

 

[Bert]

It is very unfair to Beat brewster with the well you cost 20 mill and you've not scored 15 goals in the prem so you are shite stick

He hasn't scored any goals in a league game. Not a one.

People have every justification to be annoyed with him football wise.

 

[mattbianco1]

I think people are misunderstanding Brewster's price tag

Did we pay £20/25 mill for him yes , we knew however we weren't buying a £20 million pound striker

We bought Brewster because of his potential which at the time you couldn't argue there weren't many better rated young strikers about

It is very unfair to Beat brewster with the well you cost 20 mill and you've not scored 15 goals in the prem so you are shite stick

If we have spent that money on a player and decided to not play him in a team that will develop him as a player then that's on us & wilder and also Brewster

Yet we still continue to not play him and when we do play him play him out of position and not give him a run of games

I don't beat Brewster up. I do however question the points you have raised and the people who agreed to put us in that position (Wilder and the Board).

Signing Brewster, unproven at that level for the money we did was suicide. We should have been spending that money on players that had played that level, or at least more experienced heads.

If we had sustained top flight football for 3, 4, 5 seasons, maybe then is the right time to buy £20m+ players for the future. What we needed was players for the here and now.
As an example, I'm pretty sure Burnley still don't spend those figures on players "for the future"??

For me signing Brewster was akin to signing Ahmed Fathi and Luton Shelton when we were nowhere near safe

 

[FallowfieldBlade]

He hasn't scored any goals in a league game. Not a one.

People have every justification to be annoyed with him football wise.

No I agree he has been poor , however I think a lot of that is down to not playing and when played either in the wrong position or in games impossible in the Prem

 

[FTPE]

Who cares what he says

You came on... to write that?

 

[bladeinspaceandtime]

I recall someone posting an excerpt from an interview with the chariman of Oxford United, whose recollection of the events surrounding Wilder's departure from that club were eerily reminiscent of what happened last season. Things going wrong, Wilder sticking his bottom lip out and sulking his way out of the job.

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

Don't care what anyone says.

The bloke is a fucking Blades legend and he always will be.

He is - I agree.
But he quit when the going got tough and that had a hugely damaging effect on the club and the squad.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

He is - I agree.
But he quit when the going got tough and that had a hugely damaging effect on the club and the squad.

Nevermind lad.

Soon be Christmas.

 

[ATL Recs]

Knows the players, better chance of hitting the ground running. Probably a better understanding of the market & what was needed, the strengths / weaknesses of the squad. Better motivator.

You could argue that a rot had set in and something needed to change. Possibly right. Buy my opinion is that we'd have had a better shot this season with Wilder at the helm.

Just waisted 100 million plus on buying duds, primarily from the Market he has an understanding of !!

 

[ElephantBlade]

Yeah it went south at the end, but Jesus Christ, lets remember where we were when he got here

 

[CaptainMorgans]

But he didn't want to be at the helm did he? somet about a leaky roof and not being backed was what I read on here. Not being backed/having more money than any other manager has ever had at United both in his wage slip and to blow on very very average players.

Didsy let slip in an interview that the players needed to hear a new voice when Wilder left. Maybe things had got a bit stale and would have got worse had Wilder stayed? We did start seeing better performances when Hecky took charge.

I'm not arguing that we should have kept him, it's very much just a hypothetical musing. Ultimately, his time was up as things had gotten untenable between him & the board & maybe his mental health was at a bit of a low.
But if you're asking me straight, would we be better off with Wilder or SJ then my opinion is Wilder.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

I’m almost in complete agreement with ya there Millhouse , add his stubbornness with his refusal to change tactics / players
His reputation has been diminished/ tarnished in my eyes as a result

Absolutely - and his reputation now goes before him and will be known by every single chairman at other clubs.

More than likely he will have to start again in the lower leagues and alter/amend how he does things if he wants to make it back to the big time again.

He will be stuffed IF he continues to argue against a DOF and the fact he wants "his fingers in every pie" simply won't wash in modern day football.

He can be a legend in my eyes for what he did at this football club, but he can also go into the dinosaur category too for not wanting to embrace changes in the modern game, and it wasn't as if he wouldn't have been told.

Never wanted him to go, but the continual teddy out of the cot which happened not only at United speaks volumes for other clubs looking at CW for his next job.

He should have stayed here and build Blades dynasty Mk2 - perhaps his "good mate" Sir Alex didn't advise on this considering the number of times he rebuilt Man U.

What a sad fucking end it all turned out to be.

UTB

 

[Rudders]

He should have stayed here and build Blades dynasty Mk2 - perhaps his "good mate" Sir Alex didn't advise on this considering the number of times he rebuilt Man U.

What a sad fucking end it all turned out to be.

UTB

Absolutely my thoughts. Chris (even when he was in full teddy chucking mode) still understood the club and the fans and I agree he should have ground his way through this difficult couple of years and got to the otherside.
I think SJ gets the club too and hope he can build a similar successful managerial stint. We need the SJ team to show some of the unity, fight and swagger that Chris and his team bought. That is what gets fans excited at BDTBL, not the passing about within our own 18 yard box from a goal kick.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

As I've stated elsewhere I personally find it sad on a human level the bloke who gave me nearly half a decade of nothing but good memories is now been chastised for 20 odd games when the world changed for every single one of us, during them 4 years we were as one and we will never know how much it impacted on Wilder that we weren't with him. I wish him every success and if the previous decade or so of his management is taken into account he will be a good manager somewhere else. GLTTL. x My view there, and still remains the same, think some of you should be a bit kinder to the bloke. Given that history suggests now we are in for a long period away from the top flight.

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

My view there, and still remains the same, think some of you should be a bit kinder to the bloke. Given that history suggests now we are in for a long period away from the top flight.

Best manager we’ve ever had, followed by John Harris, and Dave Bassett.

 

[Kop sufferer]

Yes, I've read through all the posts, everyone has there own take on the guy and everyone has provided a valid opinion whether they are with him, against him or just like me are scratching their heads in frustration to try and make sense of it all.
At the end of the day he's a passionate Blade just like us, he rode the crest of the wave with us, and then fell overboard and couldn't find his way to scramble back on board and in his desperation made some wrong calls
Will he ever recover, will we ever recover from that journey, my generation maybe not, the younger generation will soon forget.
So we all move on, thanks Chris for the memories ... UTB

 

[bakeblade]

Yes, I've read through all the posts, everyone has there own take on the guy and everyone has provided a valid opinion whether they are with him, against him or just like me are scratching their heads in frustration to try and make sense of it all.
At the end of the day he's a passionate Blade just like us, he rode the crest of the wave with us, and then fell overboard and couldn't find his way to scramble back on board and in his desperation made some wrong calls
Will he ever recover, will we ever recover from that journey, my generation maybe not, the younger generation will soon forget.
So we all move on, thanks Chris for the memories ... UTB

Unfortunately while trying to climb back aboard, he managed to put a great big hole in the ship with his awful, expensive signings.
That hole is going to prove expensive and long winded to fix.

 

[Sean Thornton]

Unfortunately while trying to climb back aboard, he managed to put a great big hole in the ship with his awful, expensive signings.
That hole is going to prove expensive and long winded to fix.

More than the changing room roof?

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

Nevermind lad.

Soon be Christmas.

at least Santa won’t let me down.

 

[SwissBlade]

He wasted a phenomenal amount of money on bang average players, who now look shot and passed there best,

And yet he also got us from League 1 obscurity to Top 10 finish in the Prem in a remarkable turn around.

But if you want to judge him on the signings in the last year or so, then thats your choice.

He is - I agree.
But he quit when the going got tough and that had a hugely damaging effect on the club and the squad.

So much more to why he finally left the club...

But yes, i agree, his departure undid all the fantastic work done by Wilder and the phenomeninal team around him

 

[dublin 10 blade]

Best manager we’ve ever had, followed by John Harris, and Dave Bassett.

I’d put Sir Dave ahead , only because we spent 3 seasons in top league, then Chris

 

[MagnifiqueShorehamStreet]

And yet he also got us from League 1 obscurity to Top 10 finish in the Prem in a remarkable turn around.

But if you want to judge him on the signings in the last year or so, then thats your choice.


So much more to why he finally left the club...

But yes, i agree, his departure undid all the fantastic work done by Wilder and the phenomeninal team around him

Just as a reminder.
Don’t remember many having a pop that night!

 

[ISZA ⚔️]

And yet he also got us from League 1 obscurity to Top 10 finish in the Prem in a remarkable turn around.

But if you want to judge him on the signings in the last year or so, then thats your choice.


So much more to why he finally left the club...

But yes, i agree, his departure undid all the fantastic work done by Wilder and the phenomeninal team around him