Wilder OUT - megathread

[luffenhamblade]

what benefits? He’s made some very average players millionaires, he’s spent tens of millions with agents, he’s got himself a couple of nice payouts while keeping his mates in work.

How has the club benefited? We’ve got memories and a basketful of debt. Oh and the fan park and some led signs.

We’re back at the foot of the championship with a declining squad & horrible style of football, right back where we started in 2016.

Ouch and I thought I’d had a bad day!

 

[Valley Blade]

When Sunderland knew autos were beyond them they prepared for the play offs and found a way to pinch it off Coventry and beat us and let’s be reight the last 30 minutes we were crap embarrassingly crap and the better team won because they weren’t crap in the last third of the game
And played us off the park at the lane with expansive football even though we nicked it
Sunderland also put 2 portfolios together in January one a plan for the next season in the championship and one for the PL both lists had recruitment targets in January
Oh and our form post beating Coventry was worse than Sunderland’s

The better team did not win. Conveniently you disregard the 60 minutes previously. Do they not count? And they did not play us off the park at The Lane thats absolute rubbish. They had more of the ball thats it. Over the 46 games they were inferior to us and in the final they were. They got lucky.

 

[Edgar Allan Poo]

what benefits? He’s made some very average players millionaires, he’s spent tens of millions with agents, he’s got himself a couple of nice payouts while keeping his mates in work.

How has the club benefited? We’ve got memories and a basketful of debt. Oh and the fan park and some led signs.

We’re back at the foot of the championship with a declining squad & horrible style of football, right back where we started in 2016.

Whoa - Chris Tarrant and Chris Wilder are one and the same?!

 

[Jacobsenthecrab]

what benefits? He’s made some very average players millionaires, he’s spent tens of millions with agents, he’s got himself a couple of nice payouts while keeping his mates in work.

How has the club benefited? We’ve got memories and a basketful of debt. Oh and the fan park and some led signs.

We’re back at the foot of the championship with a declining squad & horrible style of football, right back where we started in 2016.

What’s the obsession with money? Footballers earn millions unless we want to sign non-league players?
Managers earn millions it’s just how it is.
Our main issue is that even with PL money we can’t actually pay enough in wages, we identified plenty of players who went on to have good PL careers and we could afford the transfer fees.
However, when it came to wages we were 50% or more lower then what they got elsewhere.
Also what’s the issue with having created memories - isn’t that what footballs about?
I’m yet to hear a set of fans chanting about how strong their balance sheet is!

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

I don’t think that the owners are blameless. But Wilder is the coach. He’s supposed to make a group of players, greater than the sum of their parts, by training them in structure and process, as well as making the better individually. He’s also supposed to be able to think on his feet and manage in game, and in season issues, like different teams’ approaches, injuries, game burden etc. if it was just down to signing loads of brilliant players, ANY of us could coach! Of course Hamer and Brooks will be missed, but he’d have to manage it if they had long term injuries.
What I saw in this game, and in plenty of games last season with Hamer and Brooks, is an absence of structure, strategy, style, guile, creativity, speed of thought, fitness… all things that a coach is there to address.
I simply don’t think that Wilder is a good enough coach for the Championship these days.

His last full season with a proper recruitment window saw us finish with over 90 points. If he’d had a full pre‑season last year, we’d be looking at a far stronger squad than the one we’ve ended up with.

From what the inner circles say, the players genuinely rate Wilder. Removing a key figure from a football club can strip the soul out of a training ground, that stuff matters far more than people think. Look at Selles for instance where there were heavy rumours the players didn’t like the staff.

Phillips & Bamford are specifically here because of Wilder, I’d probably say Pecks not forced a move either because of his love for Wilder.

The idea that he’s “not good enough for the Championship” is nonsense. Look around the league: you’d take Wilder over most of the managers in it. Do I think he’d walk into a West Ham, Wolves, or Boro job these days? Probably not. But we’re not operating in that bracket anymore, and that’s the reality.

I’m not saying Wilder is the saviour, but right now I’d rather have a safe pair of hands while the owners are clearly cash‑strapped and dealing with off‑field issues. Stability isn’t glamorous, but it’s exactly what we need.

 

[GeorgeDonis1889]

what benefits? He’s made some very average players millionaires, he’s spent tens of millions with agents, he’s got himself a couple of nice payouts while keeping his mates in work.

How has the club benefited? We’ve got memories and a basketful of debt. Oh and the fan park and some led signs.

We’re back at the foot of the championship with a declining squad & horrible style of football, right back where we started in 2016.

In 2016 we were in league 1. He nearly got us in Europe. Are you really not able to understand how that benefited the club? Do you think we'd be in a better position if we'd never got to the premier league and never had any of the money? You've lost all sense of perspective. You're hysterical.

Anyway only 5 days until you can cheer on Swansea from your sofa.

 

[KMC-1889]

What’s the obsession with money? Footballers earn millions unless we want to sign non-league players?
Managers earn millions it’s just how it is.
Our main issue is that even with PL money we can’t actually pay enough in wages, we identified plenty of players who went on to have good PL careers and we could afford the transfer fees.
However, when it came to wages we were 50% or more lower then what they got elsewhere.
Also what’s the issue with having created memories - isn’t that what footballs about?
I’m yet to hear a set of fans chanting about how strong their balance sheet is!

Because that money presented an opportunity to modernise the club and set us up for the next 15 years, and it’s been squandered on vanity projects.

 

[Nedski]

From what the inner circles say, the players genuinely rate Wilder. Removing a key figure from a football club can strip the soul out of a training ground, that stuff matters far more than people think. Look at Selles for instance where there were heavy rumours the players didn’t like the staff.

Of course they rate him - would you rather have a strict, professional coach keeping tabs on your nutrition, sleep, health, while bringing you in early on game days to prepare? Or Wilder, who leaves you alone as long as you turn up in time for the warm up on match days?

We need a modern coach who values discipline and professionalism. Wilder's old school ways don't work anymore, he needs to adapt or we'll fall way behind. It's evident in the fact our players consistently look unfit, overweight and unable to finish matches.

 

[Zeblades34]

Looking at the squad, you'd actually say it's suited to playing the old system if anything of a back 3/back 5?

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Of course they rate him - would you rather have a strict, professional coach keeping tabs on your nutrition, sleep, health, while bringing you in early on game days to prepare? Or Wilder, who leaves you alone as long as you turn up in time for the warm up on match days?

We need a modern coach who values discipline and professionalism. Wilder's old school ways don't work anymore, he needs to adapt or we'll fall way behind. It's evident in the fact our players consistently look unfit, overweight and unable to finish matches.

If you don’t think Wilder is strict, then I’m not sure you know much about him. Every ex‑player you hear on podcasts talks about his ruthlessness. We don’t look like an unfit side either, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to there, if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams. Compare his injury record with Hecky’s and it’s night and day. He demands high intensity and tempo, so of course players are going to tire eventually. I genuinely can’t think of a single overweight player in the current squad.

I'm not sure what you mean by getting players in early on game days? They get there around 12.30-1pm. Could you say the alternative view is it would be pretty boring sat at the ground from 11am waiting 4 hours to play.

Selles & Jokanović valued both professionalism and tactical detail.

If your argument was simply that you’d prefer a manager who’s more tactically astute, I’d completely agree. The problem is I have zero confidence that this ownership and board would appoint someone better than what we already have.

Selles openly admitted he wanted to coach and leave recruitment entirely to the club and we all saw how that turned out.

 

[Tarqs]

If you don’t think Wilder is strict, then I’m not sure you know much about him. Every ex‑player you hear on podcasts talks about his ruthlessness. We don’t look like an unfit side either, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to there, if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams. Compare his injury record with Hecky’s and it’s night and day. He demands high intensity and tempo, so of course players are going to tire eventually. I genuinely can’t think of a single overweight player in the current squad.

I'm not sure what you mean by getting players in early on game days? They get there around 12.30-1pm. Could you say the alternative view is it would be pretty boring sat at the ground from 11am waiting 4 hours to play.

Selles & Jokanović valued both professionalism and tactical detail.

If your argument was simply that you’d prefer a manager who’s more tactically astute, I’d completely agree. The problem is I have zero confidence that this ownership and board would appoint someone better than what we already have.

Selles openly admitted he wanted to coach and leave recruitment entirely to the club and we all saw how that turned out.

"if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams."

2016-2020 years, since then it's the polar opposite. A team and players that can't last longer than 60 mins.

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

We don’t look like an unfit side either, so I’m not sure what you’re referring to there, if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams.

Have you been in a coma for the past three years?

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

Go back and watch the play off final against Sunderland to see how fit these recent Wilder teams have been.

When it got to the end of the game we looked fucked. Every single player. Even the substitutes. Absolutely fucked.

Thank God it didn't go to extra time because it could have got embarrassing.

 

[Bladedog]

I don’t think that the owners are blameless. But Wilder is the coach. He’s supposed to make a group of players, greater than the sum of their parts, by training them in structure and process, as well as making the better individually. He’s also supposed to be able to think on his feet and manage in game, and in season issues, like different teams’ approaches, injuries, game burden etc. if it was just down to signing loads of brilliant players, ANY of us could coach! Of course Hamer and Brooks will be missed, but he’d have to manage it if they had long term injuries.
What I saw in this game, and in plenty of games last season with Hamer and Brooks, is an absence of structure, strategy, style, guile, creativity, speed of thought, fitness… all things that a coach is there to address.
I simply don’t think that Wilder is a good enough coach for the Championship these days.

Didn't he say he shouldn't have to coach them...last season..sure someone posted the comment on here.

 

[Nah den]

There was a period on Saturday where he was stood there shouting "Rom, Rom, Rom", a bit like Alan Partridge's "Dan, Dan Dan" scene. Rom didn't hear him so he gave up and Rom never got the tactical or positional advice...

I just don't think he takes the club forward, I can't see it. That's not to say he hasn't done a good job previously but we can't just go on forever with him can we?

Clearly Selles wasn't the right coach for us, but that doesn't mean it's inevitably going to be a failure if we try a young, progressive, hungry manager again.

 

[54yrblade]

"if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams."

2016-2020 years, since then it's the polar opposite. A team and players that can't last longer than 60 mins.

A 100% this.

Those still parroting the line that Chris is still capable of producing fit teams hasn't looked closely at his recent work.

The 16-20 side would run our current squad into the ground and fight them to a standstill.

We are entitled to ask what happened to change him and his attitude to matches.

I'd kill to watch a side like Wilder 1.0 again.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

"if there’s one thing Wilder has always been consistent with, it’s having fit teams."

2016-2020 years, since then it's the polar opposite. A team and players that can't last longer than 60 mins.

I get your point and the sarcasm over my comment, but the only season I felt we could judge him fairly on was 24/25 (the one he had a pre-season), and fitness never struck me as the issue. Tactically, I thought that’s where things went wrong.

Tactically, I don’t think Wilder is a top‑level manager, but the whole point of this thread is about replacing him with someone who can get more out of this squad. I just don’t see many managers who would genuinely do a better job with what we’ve got.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Have you been in a coma for the past three years?

The first season he took over from Hecky halfway through, so it was always going to be a bit chaotic. In the second season, I genuinely didn’t think fitness was the issue; tactically is where I thought we fell short. Even then, we still managed to see out a lot of tight games.

Last season was a complete mess, and Wilder himself commented on the condition the players were in when he arrived. They did improve marginally, but the starting point was miles off where it should’ve been.

 

[Vass Borbokis]

No, it was James Bord (engaged by the owners) that caused the club big problems.
Hoevering up all those star players (and manager).

Most of those 'stars' are still here on long contracts, that we are struggling to give away.

Did Birmingham's £15/20 million pound striker Jay Stansfield set the Lane alight yesterday?

You do realise, the 'stars' you are referring to, were brought in by the same recruitment team that Wilder put in place?
His mates Jamie Hoyland and Mike Allen?
They were here before Selles, during Selles and remain here, despite being absolutely fucking dreadful.

Selles didn't have the luxury of bringing in his own recruitment team, he was barely allowed any coaches.
Selles wasn't allowed to sign players he wanted, he vented that frustration publicly, which lead to a mass panic hoovering up all the shit up at the end of the window.
By the way, I'm not saying we should have stuck with Selles, he was out of his depth. But the bloke never had a fucking chance.
Wilder, after being relieved, was still meeting with the players for pints, while Selles was still at the club ffs

The 'AI' signings gets banded about a bit, that's a different matter (Ukaki, Nwachuku etc) but they weren't even AI signings. They were literally a scam from Bord. Over inflated transfer fees for Nigerian players trafficked through Russia, then Bulgaria, from a club that Bord just so happened to be associated with.

 

[Tarqs]

I get your point and the sarcasm over my comment, but the only season I felt we could judge him fairly on was 24/25 (the one he had a pre-season), and fitness never struck me as the issue. Tactically, I thought that’s where things went wrong.

Tactically, I don’t think Wilder is a top‑level manager, but the whole point of this thread is about replacing him with someone who can get more out of this squad. I just don’t see many managers who would genuinely do a better job with what we’ve got.

Could well be tactics, but I think it was still down to our own fitness problems. We barely scored any goals post 60 mins the whole season. We threw a lot of points away last 30 mins. It was always, backs to the wall, cling on to the 3 points.

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

Could well be tactics, but I think it was still down to our own fitness problems. We barely scored any goals post 60 mins the whole season. We threw a lot of points away last 30 mins. It was always, backs to the wall, cling on to the 3 points.

All fair points, playing devil's advocate, the amount of 1-0's we held on to in the 24-25 season, you could say, was due to conditioning to see a game out?

 

[Tarqs]

All fair points, playing devil's advocate, the amount of 1-0's we held on to in the 24-25 season, you could say, was due to conditioning to see a game out?

But it wasn't, we were fucked and sat on edge of our box regularly. That's not conditioning.

 

[blade too long]

We're an average Championship team.

We'll win a few, draw a few and lose a few.

Not sure what some people were expecting yesterday.

hes aware we need a few more players , Wilders bargaining chips are just that though, a bag of chips

a greassy chip butty , if someone puts in funds to buy the bread cakes

 

[Nedski]

In regards to fitness I think there's a few things at play here:

1. Natural athletes. We have very few athletic players. All the top teams have strong, quick players littered throughout the squad. Seriki is the only natural athletes that comes to mind - I expect we have the slowest squad overall. Wilder has a preference for scrawny kids who lack pace - Peck, Burrows, Cannon, O'Hare, Bamford.
2. Lack of discipline. When you have a key player in Peck being arrested for drink driving shortly before the season starts, you have a problem. Elite athletes don't touch alcohol, but when your manager is well known for being a regular down the local pub, and talking about his 15 gins at awards ceremonies, you're going to have a problem.
3. Tactics. Or the lack of. We sit deep, we spend a lot of time hitting it to the channels, and basically giving the opposition the ball. We then spend large portions of the game chasing the ball due to lack of shape which is obviously going to tire them out. I imagine we do a lot more running per game than other teams and this isn't because we're super fit it's because we're constantly chasing the ball after giving it back to the opposition.

 

[sitwell]

Could well be tactics, but I think it was still down to our own fitness problems. We barely scored any goals post 60 mins the whole season. We threw a lot of points away last 30 mins. It was always, backs to the wall, cling on to the 3 points.

And yet last game of the season with nothing to play for we came from 1-0 down to beat a play of chasing Derby on their own ground. No doubt you will fathom an excuse.

 

[metalblade]

And yet last game of the season with nothing to play for we came from 1-0 down to beat a play of chasing Derby on their own ground. No doubt you will fathom an excuse.

We threw 28 points away late in games last season but of course you focus on the one game we didn't

 

[PeterNdlovu081]

And yet last game of the season with nothing to play for we came from 1-0 down to beat a play of chasing Derby on their own ground. No doubt you will fathom an excuse.

Shame about the other 22 games we lost, eh?

 

[Maidenhead]

I thought it was only PorkTalk where delusional idiots held sway. Football in England is always about money in the boardroom, at the moment we aren’t in the top 25, maybe not top 30. The only reason we’ve been punching is because of what Wilder achieved and the money that came from that and the culture he has put in the club. There seem a lot of people on this forum who don’t seem to understand that Sheffield United has always been about graft.

Actually the only reason "we've been punching " is because of what Heckingbottom achieved.

Without his promotion we'd be in a far worse state than we are now.

 

[Tarqs]

And yet last game of the season with nothing to play for we came from 1-0 down to beat a play of chasing Derby on their own ground. No doubt you will fathom an excuse.

You mean when our season was already over?

It's the outlier, you know it, but for some reason chose to take the 5% for some reason.

 

[sportsmanblade]

Wilder out after 1 game lol wow some of our fanbase are shameful. there isnt anyone out there who can get the best out of our team in this division come back to this thread at christmas were the results will speak for themselves this teams practically the 92 point season team once it gets clinical i would argue its stronger once we get wingers who wanna take players on

i do believe the slight adjustment i would make is to switch the wingers more and have the full backs underlap so it creates spaces for the cross and adds a player into the front post