The big IF

[BiggerBladeThanThou]

Humour me.

100% guarantee the “let’s keep our powder dry” and “one game at a time” comments and that’s fair. But life would be pretty boring if we didn’t look ahead.

If you can’t look ahead, close the thread.

IF we go up, would you want Wilder in or out?

That sounds like a ridiculous question given his masterclass so far this season and his ability to galvanise new players and the youth to quickly become firm fan favourites, however, bar our first season back, he didn’t show he was up to too much in the Prem so would you trust him to lead us to Prem consolidation instead of the yo-yo club we seem to have become or would you opt for a new manager with a new budget, set of ideas etc.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Yeah if you ignore the season we came 9th in the premier league and only focus on once in a life time season with no fans where we had a key part of that side missing....

 

[71Blade]

Yes redemption already achieved in my eyes what other manager could do what Chris has done this season? 100% yes for me

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

If he has learnt his lessons and doesn’t go all Billy big bollocks again, he certainly deserves another chance in the Premier League

 

[S64 Blade]

I think you’d have to keep him. However, I’d be intrigued to know how we’d go about trying to win games in the top flight. I’m not sure our current approach would work - score one and shut up shop.

 

[Jan Age]

With. Investment - no

Without investing yes

 

[Tazzy]

I want us to win the league stay down and get the wonga And to win the league every year and be the man city of the championship

 

[Blademan89]

In - amazing season finishing 9th as you say. Depending on who the owners are and how they are prepared to back him.

Dont forget wilder didn't get any of his first choice targets due to budget and wages, and if we have new owners and with the new scouting team maybe it's just enough.

We could have best manager in world but if we are not prepared to invest in premier league players then we are just pissing in the wind.

The club needs to have a recruitment structure in place where if the team isn't pulling up trees or tactics are not quite right and the board feels they need to bring in a more premier league experienced manager that the players recruited should be good enough for a replacement - if you know what i mean (not like last season, where the squad just wasn't good enough regardless).

 

[IdLiketoRogerMoore]

Let's have a bit of context here....

People were talking of Maguire for the Chelsea job and as a future Man Utd manager and look how Ipswich are doing!

The transition from Championship to PL survival needs significant investment in the infrastructure of the club not just players. The key to the success of Brentford, Brighton etc is due to the millions they've spent on scouting, data analysis, having a holistic sporting programme.

If we get promoted and expect to chuck £100m at Wilders little black book again, then we'll be back down in no time. Whereas if we invest in a proper structure to support this transition and growth, then we stand a much better chance.

 

[ATL Recs]

Yeah if you ignore the season we came 9th in the premier league and only focus on once in a life time season with no fans where we had a key part of that side missing....

Ahh the fucking pandemic excuse and JOC getting injured with a third of a season left raises its ugly head -

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Ahh the fucking pandemic excuse and JOC getting injured with a third of a season left raises its ugly head -

It's literally the only sample size we have of a poor run in the premier league under a wilder built side If ramsdale wasn't so poor first half of that season we probably would have still gone down but made a fight of it.

 

[nopigfansintown]

I'd expect to be relegated regardless of who the manager was and will have adjusted my expectations. I'd want Wilder to lead the club again in the Championship. If he miraculously kept us up again I'd want him to continue. It's all about expectations and perspective. If you have realistic expectations going in you won't be phased when we're almost inevitably the whipping boys.

 

[Zeblades34]

Not even a question if any manager gets a team promoted to the apparent "best league in the world" then they deserve the chance to try and keep said team up. Be a massive stab in back if we let him take us up then pat him on back and say "Thanks mate! same time next time?"

 

[Flumps]

Not even a question if any manager gets a team promoted to the apparent "best league in the world" then they deserve the chance to try and keep said team up. Be a massive stab in back if we let him take us up then pat him on back and say "Thanks mate! same time next time?"

I don't consider his debt repaid yet and I do think Wilder has a bit of an ego about him but I agree a thousand percent on this. Wilder deserves alot of recognition for firstly having the balls to walk back through the door he scuttled out of and for doing a decent rebuild this season.

I think he feels he has a point to prove to everyone at united including the fans (maybe even the fans more so) and I've got no issues giving him his shot. It's a weird position for me because we're hardly going to be overly competitive (if at all) in that league without a fuck load of balls to the wall investing so it's hardly like a new manager would make the team a top 6 contender. We're always going to be in a relegation scrap anyway, why not let Wilder go at it even if he is a proven flight risk.

 

[North Shields Blade]

Ahh the fucking pandemic excuse and JOC getting injured with a third of a season left raises its ugly head

A third of the season left?

His injury came right at the start of 2020/21. He played only two games and that was it.

It was a terrible season for other reasons as well but Jack didn’t play two-thirds of it.

 

[Charlieblade]

Imagine what the club might achieve with a Cat1 Academy? It’s nearly there now, but using academy players by default now, because we have no choice, is a difficult blend to manage.

Hecky got promotion because we had N’Diaye, Berger, Doyle and McAtee, plus a sprinkling of Blades heroes who have now aged and moved on. Without finance and a Cat 1 Academy, we are at the mercy of big business teams like the regular top six.

Even with quality loans and a Cat 1 Academy, it’s a long hard slog, just to establish mid table mediocrity. Is that too pessimistic under any manager?

 

[McGrath]

Last time he won promotion to the Premier League he got us to finish 9th. So definitely for me

Wilders problem (and it's a nice problem to have) is that he gets players to vastly over perform and play at a far higher level than they normally would (he's doing it again this season). When injuries strike or there's a spot of adversity (e.g. COVID), things can come crashing down as said players hit their natural level again

No other manager would squeeze the same level of performance out of these players regardless of doing division and why would you want to roll the dice anyway

 

[GymClassHero]

Can't believe this is even up for debate!

He gets us up, he gets the chance to keep us up. Simple as that.

He's really proved doubters wrong, I for one love the bloke.

 

[CopenhagenBlade]

Imagine what the club might achieve with a Cat1 Academy? It’s nearly there now, but using academy players by default now, because we have no choice, is a difficult blend to manage.

Hecky got promotion because we had N’Diaye, Berger, Doyle and McAtee, plus a sprinkling of Blades heroes who have now aged and moved on. Without finance and a Cat 1 Academy, we are at the mercy of big business teams like the regular top six.

Even with quality loans and a Cat 1 Academy, it’s a long hard slog, just to establish mid table mediocrity. Is that too pessimistic under any manager?

Would the Cat1 Academy make that much of a difference. We are attracting young talent because they can see the potential to actually play first team football. We also attract because we are successful and have talented youngsters.
Arblaster, Peck, Brooks, Seriki have all come through despite us not being Cat1

 

[Eels]

Agree Charlieblade and McGrath. The gap in quality is bigger now than it was in 20/19/19. Back then I didn't think we'd got many players that would make the jump up in standard but a lot did. We'd probably need at least half the current lot to do that - and some very good signings just to survive. Wilder's getting above my expectations out of a decent squad and team spirit is essential when you're getting your arse tanned most weeks so I'd keep him.

 

[McGrath]

Not even a question if any manager gets a team promoted to the apparent "best league in the world" then they deserve the chance to try and keep said team up. Be a massive stab in back if we let him take us up then pat him on back and say "Thanks mate! same time next time?"

It feels like some people are already getting the West Ham/David Moyes syndrome!

 

[ben1987]

I didn’t particularly want him back in the first place.

not because I think he’s a bad manager but because of the way he left.

I loved that team and those promotion seasons so much. The league one promotion season in particular was just so special. It was before I had kids so I went everywhere. That connection between fans and players, going to small stadiums pissed up, playing them off the park singing our heads off was just immense.

It felt like he betrayed us when he left and showed little loyalty. Was like being cheated on by an 11/10. By all accounts he was desperate to leave but made sure he got what is essentially a John Egan in pay out. He and that team will always have a special place in my heart but that’s what had made the whole situation worse.

But he came back and this season he’s done a phenomenal job. Takes time for me to forgive and forget but he’s on his way

It would be ridiculous after this transformation to just bin him off. I’d like to think both sides learned something after the first time round

 

[west_yorks_blade]

I’d definitely keep him on. He’s been fantastic…again.

But we need to improve the recruitment process at that level.
We spent huge sums (for us) on players that didn’t work out at that level last time we went up under him.

Whether that’s the DOF route or another approach, I don’t know. But we can’t just give him a large bag of cash to squander. And we must make progress on targets more effectively and in a much more timely manner.
Lost count of the number of times we previously missed out on key targets to rivals.

 

[bonobo]

I don't expect anyone to consolidate our position in the Premier League, not saying it's impossible, but I don't think you can name one manager you could make that expectation of. I don't care if managers have good or bad seasons, as long as over a measure of time, they are not taking us backwards.

 

[McGrath]

I didn’t particularly want him back in the first place.

not because I think he’s a bad manager but because of the way he left.

I loved that team and those promotion seasons so much. The league one promotion season in particular was just so special. It was before I had kids so I went everywhere. That connection between fans and players, going to small stadiums pissed up, playing them off the park singing our heads off was just immense.

It felt like he betrayed us when he left and showed little loyalty. Was like being cheated on by an 11/10. By all accounts he was desperate to leave but made sure he got what is essentially a John Egan in pay out. He and that team will always have a special place in my heart but that’s what had made the whole situation worse.

But he came back and this season he’s done a phenomenal job. Takes time for me to forgive and forget but he’s on his way

It would be ridiculous after this transformation to just bin him off. I’d like to think both sides learned something after the first time round

I don't get his thing "about the way he left"!

Nobody knows what happened and most of the stories since seem to be based on the same type of nonsense rumour spreading you see on the takeover thread.

 

[ben1987]

I don't get his thing "about the way he left"!

Nobody knows what happened and most of the stories since seem to be based on the same type of nonsense rumour spreading you see on the takeover thread.

That’s up to you.

I base my opinion on what was reported at the time and the interview the prince gave.

The prince publicly said he’d offered to resign several times but hadn’t as he wanted his contract paying up.

They’ve both since said that the prince recommended him for the Boro job, offered him a reference and they were talking amicably again within a few weeks.

That’s not like the takeover thread at all as it’s from the horses mouth from public interviews

Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah: Chris Wilder 'resigned' twice, wanted £4m pay-off

Prince Abdullah: Chris explained why he wanted to resign. He said that he felt the team needed a change, a new voice. We were very clear and said we dont want to fire you but if you want to resign, you can, but we will not pay you the same money as if we were firing you.

www.skysports.com

 

[Blades1971]

If you look at the data, regarding managers in the Premiership, they are Foreign. Not sure why there are not more English managers.
Last time was a difficult time for Chtis, second season.
What about making him Director of Football at the club.
Bring in a foreign manager and let Chris tutor/guide him as to the culture of Sheffield United.
If Chris wanted another crack at Premiership Management give him the chance.
Leave that decision to "One of our own "

 

[Sheffsteel]

Humour me.

100% guarantee the “let’s keep our powder dry” and “one game at a time” comments and that’s fair. But life would be pretty boring if we didn’t look ahead.

If you can’t look ahead, close the thread.

IF we go up, would you want Wilder in or out?

That sounds like a ridiculous question given his masterclass so far this season and his ability to galvanise new players and the youth to quickly become firm fan favourites, however, bar our first season back, he didn’t show he was up to too much in the Prem so would you trust him to lead us to Prem consolidation instead of the yo-yo club we seem to have become or would you opt for a new manager with a new budget, set of ideas etc.

I'd prefer to keep him for the same reason I wanted him to stay even after we were relegated last season.

Last season Wilder saw with his own eyes how good or bad our players were, the ones that had fighting character and the ones who were flakey and gave up. He knew the whole squad needed a total refresh, get rid of the deadwood and start again.

If we're promoted........next season will be a massive challenge.

However I'd say no one is more knowledgable and experienced at knowing this, than Wilder. He should know exactly what is required regards transfers, tactics, options etc....he should also know which of our current players have the potential to take the step up.

Also think it's fair to give anyone who haas performed well to be given a chance to see if they can step up.
Let's see how Wilder is going up to Christmas 25, if he's struggling, then think about a change but only if that change is obviously better.
However there's an argument that Wilder should remain at the club, no matter what.

 

[McGrath]

That’s up to you.

I base my opinion on what was reported at the time and the interview the prince gave.

The prince publicly said he’d offered to resign several times but hadn’t as he wanted his contract paying up.

They’ve both since said that the prince recommended him for the Boro job, offered him a reference and they were talking amicably again within a few weeks.

That’s not like the takeover thread at all as it’s from the horses mouth from public interviews

Sheffield United owner Prince Abdullah: Chris Wilder 'resigned' twice, wanted £4m pay-off

Prince Abdullah: Chris explained why he wanted to resign. He said that he felt the team needed a change, a new voice. We were very clear and said we dont want to fire you but if you want to resign, you can, but we will not pay you the same money as if we were firing you.

www.skysports.com

So basically there was a falling out at the time. Wilder felt his job had becomes untenable. I don't have a beef with him wanting his contract paying up there.

 

[Badger Blade]

Yes, assuming he's learned from his mistakes last time around stubbornness about systems and certain players being in the team every week without justification.

Hopefully we'd approach it with the 2019 mindset and not the one the season after, bitching and moaning about money, "how can we compete" etc while signing players like Burke, Bryan, Brewster (last night notwithstanding), Robinson and Foderingham (not up to PL standard) and basically going into a game against the might of West Ham or Crystal Palace already assuming we've lost it.