What is Wrong With Wilder?

[Wards]

One of the bigger issues seems to be the overall structure of the club and we can't have a head coach type until that is sorted. Alas, we have Wilder and Bettis advising the owners on how to run a football club and they're not stupid enough to do themselves out of a job in a 'turkeys voting for Christmas' type scenario.

We had 123 points to play for when CW came back this season and as it stands we don't look like getting to half that number. He's done a semi decent job in steadying the ship but little more above that remit. I've been largely happy given the start and harboured no real hope of the play offs but the drop off from January given the money spent has been quite alarming to say the least, and some of the signings point to us having a totally ineffective approach to recruitment.

 

[CornwallBlade]

He's overseeing a team that he fails to get fit enough to play effectively, can't go anywhere near 90 minutes, can't cope with any sort of pressure and he's clearly lost the powers he had in 16 - 20.

It's not coming back either. Time to call it quits and move on.

This. I don’t care if we signed a squad of galacticos, if they can’t run for 90 minutes, you can forget trying to employ tactics. That is the single biggest failing of Wilders coaching. We all know that we sit deeper after half time and there’s no press. Teams swarm over us and we concede. Our second half performance stats are shocking. It has happened every game since the PL and cost us the playoff final. Overweight or unfit players have no right to be pro footballers and should not be in the team, no excuses.
Things ain’t going to change until this fundamental failing is addressed and I see no evidence that Wilder and his team are the ones to do it.

 

[AnstonBlade1]

Even Alan Knill looks bored watching us

Consistently signing ageing slow players

It’s no coincidence strikers turn to shit when they come here, we create nothing for them there just feeding off scraps

Need to sign some pace something Wilder seems reluctant to do we need to sign two rapid wingers in the summer.

The squad is far too big we’re carrying an awful lot of very average players who were going to struggle to move on in the summer.

 

[Broomhall Blade]

Teams who do well, are defensively sound, tight as a drum, and dont keep conceding soft goals. You have faith in them that if they take the lead in a game, they will at least come away with a draw at the end. United took the lead last night and i was waiting for the inevitable goal to be conceded and then us to possibly go on and lose the game. In that respect, United didnt disappoint.

We are weak mentally, physically, we have players who arent up to a Championship season, too injury prone, or have simply checked out and dont look interested.

CWs tactics need questioning too. Three subs made on 88 mins, our constant desire to not mark man to man on corners and leave players unmarked on the edge of our own penalty area, too many jobs for the boys cas they are 'culture carriers' and a 'good lad.whp is liked in the changing room'. Thats all lovely, but fans mainly want to see positive results and performances on the pitch, not hear whether someone is Mr Culture. How much money has been wasted on very average or injury prone players? Ridiculous.

Id keep for next season even though im not blind to CWs failings, but he needs to be backed and told a few truths by the board and told aome things need to change. The current squad now needs big surgery and a lot of them being shown the door in the summer. Fitter, bigger, and more robust so that heaven forbid most can comfortably play 90 mins twice in 4 days. We currently have a set of players who flatter to deceive and they have been found out consistently this season against the better teams. Put simply, they arent good enough.

Your first point is wrong, teams that do well score goals look at Leeds, Burnley last season and Coventry and Middlesbrough this season.
All were not particularly solid at the back but attacked with pace and always looked threatening going forward.
They didn't need too be that strong in defensive because they know if they did concede they are more than capable of out scoring the opposition.
Of course the Holy grail would be a tight defensive and a lightning quick free scoring attack.
Personally I think it is more important to be better in attack than defense, at the end of the day goals win games.
The triple assault season was a good example we often conceded but you knew we had goals in us, we were equally capable of scoring inside the first 10min or in the 96th minute.
Now when Wilder makes substitutions our attacking threat evaporates and we never look like scoring.

 

[UddersBlade]

I think this is why he gets next season, he’ll have the summer to clear out and build the team, within the financial restrictions that he wants, he will have no excuses then, if it doesn’t work next season then that’s him done, we move into a new era and the club need to be preparing for this with or without him, we need a medium to long term footballing strategy - which includes modernising the club from top to bottom. Do these owners have it in them?

I agree with your thoughts. The owners will give him the summer & next season - frankly I don’t think they’ve much new money to throw at it - so it will be wheeling & dealing / ins/outs / to build a smaller competitive squad. If it works - great….. if not - I think Wilders contract ends in Summer 2027 so that will be the end of his time here.

 

[AnstonBlade1]

I agree with your thoughts. The owners will give him the summer & next season - frankly I don’t think they’ve much new money to throw at it - so it will be wheeling & dealing / ins/outs / to build a smaller competitive squad. If it works - great….. if not - I think Wilders contract ends in Summer 2027 so that will be the end of his time here.

Going to be hard moving on some the dross we signed in the summer.

 

[CornwallBlade]

No these owners don’t have it in them

This is what you get when clubs are acquired by people with absolutely zero knowledge or understanding our the game. “Soccer” is just another facet of the entertainment business and they will be relying 100% on delegated opinions. If Wilder still has credibility with COH they will continue to dance to his tune. That will only change if/when they a) wake up and b) get people in who know how to run a professional football operation.
Their focus will be in financial metrics, which I’m certain they are very good at but the core of the club will continue to wither in the meantime. It’s not just us, other examples in the PL and Championship. They have bought into the Wrexham PR exercise ( which I am convinced will end badly btw)

 

[Nick Jansky]

I’ve seen a few comments to the effect that Wilder was the only person who could have possibly turned around the Selles shitshow. A ridiculous notion that bears no scrutiny whatsoever. Last night we were up against a manager who could have done exactly that. Other clubs find them all the time. We could too.

The club’s carrying far too much baggage right now and at some point it needs a fundamental reset. But I’m not holding my breath. As I said in another thread, the appointment of Selles followed by a panicked about face has set us back years.

 

[HermitageBlade]

We look a better side when Bamford plays. Hence you can point a huge finger at our 3 other strikers who are simply not up to it. If we had just 2 more strikers that impacted a game like Bamford we’d still be talking of the play offs. Now that’s not to let Wilder off the hook as that is also on him but it needs sorting in the summer.

 

[metalblade]

POOR SIGNINGS
January has been another disaster. If we were going to go for it, we should have acted early in the transfer window. Instead, we wasted too much time and ended up bringing in players on high wages who are unfit and rusty. The club also has to take responsibility here. This pattern of late panic activity in the window has to stop. It’s been damaging the club for the last four seasons. We’ve wasted millions on expensive late signings that make little sense, especially when we realistically had no chance of making the playoffs.

POOR FITNESS
Need I say more? We’re being shown up by other teams physically. Players are blowing out of their backsides after 50 minutes, and some look like they’re carrying excess weight. Fitness and conditioning are part of the culture installed by the manager, and right now that culture isn’t good enough for a professional club. You could probably put a points tally on fitness alone in terms of games we’ve let slip.

POOR DECISION MAKING
Whether it’s the starting lineup, substitutions, or the lack of them, the list of “what the hell?” moments is endless.
Fans can often see what’s coming long before anything changes, but the manager seems blind to it. How many points have we lost because changes came too late — or didn’t come at all? Take today as an example. Everyone could see what was happening, yet he took off our best player, made the team weaker, and then we conceded. At times it’s genuinely mind-boggling. There’s no Plan B. Is it a lack of football intelligence? Is he becoming a footballing dinosaur while other managers move forward tactically? Or is it just stubbornness — maybe a bit of both?

WEAK MENTALITY
We look ill-disciplined and mentally fragile. That could partly be confidence, but it still falls on the manager to instil belief and resilience.
How many points have we dropped from winning positions this season? I’d guess 15 or more. Instead of pushing to win games, we often retreat into defending, trying to hold on.This has been happening ever since the first Premier League relegation season. It almost feels like that experience scarred the mentality of the team and the manager, and we haven’t truly recovered. And regardless of what he says publicly, how a manager sets up the team absolutely shapes how they behave on the pitch.


All of these issues have nothing to do with individual player ability. They are structural, cultural, and decision-making problems. I honestly think these factors alone could have cost us up to 20 points since his return. Before we even start talking about rebuilding the squad, these underlying issues have to be addressed. Wilder needs to take a long, honest look at himself, reflect on what’s gone wrong, and start putting things right.

The club probably won’t sack him this summer. They’ve stared into the League One abyss before, and they won’t want to repeat that mistake. He did come in when we were in a massive hole and helped stabilise things, and for that he probably deserves one more season.
But he’ll know that if things don’t improve quickly, that will be it. He needs to completely rethink the approach, shake things up across the club, and maybe bring in a younger, modern coach to work alongside him.

The club also need a plan, because as yet there absolutely no visible signs of a strategy without Wilder…

Address the issues above, rebuild the squad properly, and maybe — just maybe — we’ll have a real chance next season.

Superb post the only thing I could add to that is the recruitment team has to go along with Wilder. He gets my thanks for turning around the Sellés disaster but no way is Wilder going to recapture what he did in his first period up to 2020. I'm sick to death of seeing this lot outplayed, outfought and out muscled in games. We have some good young players but far too many older ones not up to the job or living on past reputations. A club in decline next seasons West Brom perhaps.

 

[mattbianco1]

POOR SIGNINGS
January has been another disaster. If we were going to go for it, we should have acted early in the transfer window. Instead, we wasted too much time and ended up bringing in players on high wages who are unfit and rusty. The club also has to take responsibility here. This pattern of late panic activity in the window has to stop. It’s been damaging the club for the last four seasons. We’ve wasted millions on expensive late signings that make little sense, especially when we realistically had no chance of making the playoffs.

POOR FITNESS
Need I say more? We’re being shown up by other teams physically. Players are blowing out of their backsides after 50 minutes, and some look like they’re carrying excess weight. Fitness and conditioning are part of the culture installed by the manager, and right now that culture isn’t good enough for a professional club. You could probably put a points tally on fitness alone in terms of games we’ve let slip.

POOR DECISION MAKING
Whether it’s the starting lineup, substitutions, or the lack of them, the list of “what the hell?” moments is endless.
Fans can often see what’s coming long before anything changes, but the manager seems blind to it. How many points have we lost because changes came too late — or didn’t come at all? Take today as an example. Everyone could see what was happening, yet he took off our best player, made the team weaker, and then we conceded. At times it’s genuinely mind-boggling. There’s no Plan B. Is it a lack of football intelligence? Is he becoming a footballing dinosaur while other managers move forward tactically? Or is it just stubbornness — maybe a bit of both?

WEAK MENTALITY
We look ill-disciplined and mentally fragile. That could partly be confidence, but it still falls on the manager to instil belief and resilience.
How many points have we dropped from winning positions this season? I’d guess 15 or more. Instead of pushing to win games, we often retreat into defending, trying to hold on.This has been happening ever since the first Premier League relegation season. It almost feels like that experience scarred the mentality of the team and the manager, and we haven’t truly recovered. And regardless of what he says publicly, how a manager sets up the team absolutely shapes how they behave on the pitch.


All of these issues have nothing to do with individual player ability. They are structural, cultural, and decision-making problems. I honestly think these factors alone could have cost us up to 20 points since his return. Before we even start talking about rebuilding the squad, these underlying issues have to be addressed. Wilder needs to take a long, honest look at himself, reflect on what’s gone wrong, and start putting things right.

The club probably won’t sack him this summer. They’ve stared into the League One abyss before, and they won’t want to repeat that mistake. He did come in when we were in a massive hole and helped stabilise things, and for that he probably deserves one more season.
But he’ll know that if things don’t improve quickly, that will be it. He needs to completely rethink the approach, shake things up across the club, and maybe bring in a younger, modern coach to work alongside him.

The club also need a plan, because as yet there absolutely no visible signs of a strategy without Wilder…

Address the issues above, rebuild the squad properly, and maybe — just maybe — we’ll have a real chance next season.

I put this in another thread last night...

Been like it 2 seasons now and it's on Wilder.

We played with the handbrake on all last season and got through it mostly because the squad was superior to most in the league. If he'd gone for it, we win that title
This season it was almost a free hit for him. Played 6 lost 6. Survival would've been seen a success.
We started spanking teams as the pressure was off. As soon as we got a sniff of the play offs, Wilder reverted to type and has gone cautious, it's like a fear of losing, which actually makes us more likely to lose because we can't see a 1-0 lead out with this team

 

[gordoncharles]

The OP is very good but let's not forget that when the 2nd Wilder Comeback Tour was first announced practically everyone here claimed they'd be happy just to avoid relegation. Well, that requirement has, at least, been met.

The actual football this season has, in general, been more enjoyable than last season when we were doing far better in the league. Unfortunately we suffered a downgrade in the quality of players at the manager's disposal not helped by two panicked windows in which we ended up with a bloated squad full of blokes who seem to have come either from a Legends side or direct from Blackpool beach.

The second of those windows is all down to Wilder himself. If we were a musical act it seems that the 2nd Comeback Tour had added Tony Hadley, Martin Fry and Phil Oakey to its roster.

We're stuck in a loop. I don't know yet if it's a loop or a downward spiral.

 

[ekke287]

If anyone can explain the idea of bringing Danny Ings on, away from home, while losing, with about five minutes left, please tell me.

 

[metalblade]

This is what you get when clubs are acquired by people with absolutely zero knowledge or understanding our the game. “Soccer” is just another facet of the entertainment business and they will be relying 100% on delegated opinions. If Wilder still has credibility with COH they will continue to dance to his tune. That will only change if/when they a) wake up and b) get people in who know how to run a professional football operation.
Their focus will be in financial metrics, which I’m certain they are very good at but the core of the club will continue to wither in the meantime. It’s not just us, other examples in the PL and Championship. They have bought into the Wrexham PR exercise ( which I am convinced will end badly btw)

I only wish they had bought into the Wrexham PR exercise. I watched a youtube video about how Wrexham are being financed, It is not just a couple of rich Hollywood actors with a new toy there is a whole structure to bring more and more money into the venture. Even with Phil Parkinson as manager they are on the up, as seen with the likes of Bournmouth as long as big money is there you don't need to be a club with a huge fanbase.

 

[Bell4]

Why would he need to be anything other than complacent, slack and uninventive? We've proven we'll just give him the job back anyway.

And theres the issue

We have no (it seems from the outside at least ) no strategy in our planning . It seems to be good intentions with no knowledge of how to implement.

The club has many assets - fan base , ground , improved training facilities but is a car crash in terms of player recruitment and modern coaching .

It’s all hand to mouth - rinse and repeat - good intentions (adopt a more modern approach) but atrocious execution. Resulting in a shit the bed outcome - go to fall back position to stop ship sinking , ie keep CW .

Until it changes at the top and they have clarity of where and why they want to go - and they put in an infrastructure to achieve this - we are going nowhere

 

[Bell4]

The OP is very good but let's not forget that when the 2nd Wilder Comeback Tour was first announced practically everyone here claimed they'd be happy just to avoid relegation. Well, that requirement has, at least, been met.

The actual football this season has, in general, been more enjoyable than last season when we were doing far better in the league. Unfortunately we suffered a downgrade in the quality of players at the manager's disposal not helped by two panicked windows in which we ended up with a bloated squad full of blokes who seem to have come either from a Legends side or direct from Blackpool beach.

The second of those windows is all down to Wilder himself. If we were a musical act it seems that the 2nd Comeback Tour had added Tony Hadley, Martin Fry and Phil Oakey to its roster.

We're stuck in a loop. I don't know yet if it's a loop or a downward spiral.

That much is True

 

[PrestwichBlade]

That much is True

Nice!

 

[I should coco]

As I said in another thread, the appointment of Selles followed by a panicked about face has set us back years.

Yet you were one of his cheerleaders in the summer.

You had the cheek to question my 'seriousness as a poster', for calling him a charlatan, which he most obviously was.

I'm pleased you've changed your view, but please don't start re-writing history.

 

[IOM Blade]

24 points lost from winning positions. All under Wilder as we never lead under Selles. Has to be one of the highest in the league.

6 points gained from losing positions is also one of the lowest in the league.

 

[Ndiayewillalwaysloveyou]

Trouble is alot of our fans would not give anyone who isn't a Blade or doesn't "get the club" time.
They would be on a hiding too nothing, has soon as we lost a couple of games a fair portion of our fan base would be screaming get Wilder back, get Billy in he would get us fired up, get Hecky and McCall back they know the club.

Slav and Selles deserved the sackings they got. Not "bladey blade" but awful at their jobs so rightfully were fired.

Results picked up with Hecky and Wilder coming in as replacements.

 

[Blade56]

Yet you were one of his cheerleaders in the summer.

Well Mr Jelly was always firmly in the Wilder out camp.

We still need to modernise, but as others have said, with COH in charge, no para income and the lack of experience in running a football club we are at risk of being a club fighting to avoid relegation and happy with mid table.

 

[54yrblade]

Wilders cost us 20 pts since his return has he? I think you're forgetting the situation when he arrived...

Players heads have gone last 2 games as they know the seasons over. Don't let the rest of this season stress you, it's over.

I'm glad I sacked the season ticket off when he left first time. If you've invested cash in United for a season you deserve full value for the season.

They've been phoning it in in too many games as he is incapable of getting them fit or his often quoted 'proper Sheffield united performance' out of them, nowhere near it.

 

[Nah den]

Trouble is alot of our fans would not give anyone who isn't a Blade or doesn't "get the club" time.
They would be on a hiding too nothing, has soon as we lost a couple of games a fair portion of our fan base would be screaming get Wilder back, get Billy in he would get us fired up, get Hecky and McCall back they know the club.

This is the crux of the problem going forward. The club tried a different direction, albeit probably with the wrong man, but the fickle nature of football means there often isn't the time allowed for a change of direction. Unless there's an immediate upturn in results and style a new manager is toast. It's very difficult to make the changes required and be an immediate success, and football fans don't have the patience for that.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Look, no manager who has sat in the Bramall Lane hot seat owes the club anything. But it’s different with Chris Wilder.
Being such a big Blade who came through ranks, he more than anyone would want leave a legacy at the club.
So maybe if we stick with Wilder the club should insist on there being some sort of succession plan in place.
Whether it’s new younger coaches, who could challenge Wilders thinking or merely act as sounding board for him.
Chris, rightly or wrongly seems to carry the full weight of this club on his shoulders. The club must either help him with this burden or take him out of the equation altogether…The board must think very carefully about their next move.

 

[Nick Jansky]

Yet you were one of his cheerleaders in the summer.

You had the cheek to question my 'seriousness as a poster', for calling him a charlatan, which he most obviously was.

I'm pleased you've changed your view, but please don't start re-writing history.

More than happy to admit I was wrong about Selles. I have zero respect for anyone who is unable to bring themselves to admit that they have been wrong about something.

That doesn’t mean that I am also wrong about the club needing a change in direction though.

 

[Wards]

The thing is it was a positive step in the right direction, it was just terribly, terribly executed without any supporting structure to go alongside it. We'll now go the opposite direction and entrench ourselves in the Muck and Nettles Blades Way for a few years. We've been scared off from a different way of working despite only dipping our toe in essentially.