Chris Wilder handed his resignation in to Sheff U on 3rd Jan, ironically after losing to us. The players heard he had resigned and that's what led to Mousset writing his lambo off as a few of the players got together and had a load of drinks.

The board rejected his resignation and Wilder even asked to be paid off as part of his resignation. There was a stalemate for a few days but in the 9-10 days between then and the next game, they managed to sort it out, but he's wanted to leave pretty much since he resigned.

The rumours are true that he will leave or has left and I've asked my mate if he walked or was pushed.

Personally, I would take him. He overachieved last season but also lost 2-3 key players in Henderson, O'Connell and Berge to injury/end of loan. If you look at the rest of the squad, to have done what they did last season was a miracle.

In terms of signings, I don't accept that. Berge is quality, Brewster I still think will make it and Burnie was signed at a time when the amount of players that would have wanted to go to them was limited so he was the best they could entice. Our first season we got Dwight Gayle who didn't exactly set the world alight.

Just been messaged by my mate whilst typing this, who told me the above, it's a mutual decision but he's sort of taking it as a sacking for the pay off. Apparently he could get a quick return to management at either end of the country though in Celtic or Bournemouth. Likelihood is Celtic and Bournemouth are now talking to Howe and Van Winckel.

Would he though? I don't know enough about his tactical prowess to agree with you.

Right now I remain unconvinced.

Think I might be missing something here.

Wilder has done a good job at Sheffield United. I would think there are plenty of good managers who would have fancied their chances of getting a club that size out of league 1, though fair play to Wilder for actually doing it, and for then achieving a very impressive promotion to the big league. Credit too for keeping them up with what was partly the league 1 squad he started with.

Thereafter he couldn't do anything to arrest a massive, humiliating, season long capitulation. They have literally been in the running to be record breakers. He hasn't been able to overhaul the team that did so well for him in the lower leagues, despite buying and borrowing some highly rated players.

The list of managers to get clubs promoted into the premier league isn't exactly short, but the list of those to do well once in that league is. Wilder has earned his place on the first list, but not on the second.

What exactly has he done to make him the right man to build a new team, on a relatively limited budget, at a club who have hit the glass ceiling in the top flight? Does he have any obvious track record of developing young players? Has he integrated new signings into a side with success?

Shouldn't think he'll have to wait too long before a good championship club makes him an offer, but I genuinely can't see why he'd be suitable for us.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (12 Mar 2021 2.18pm)

I agree. If it was a choice between Wilder and Hodgson, I cannot see any reason why they would go for Wilder. To me, he also appears quite full of himself and hence probably difficult to manage.

I also doubt very much, if Freedman has anything to do with it, that he would feature on any short list.

Time will tell and maybe these will be famous last words!

Wagner went on to manage Schalke in the Bundesliga but was relieved of his duties after about a year and a quarter due to poor results.

At Huddersfield, in their first season in the PL he took them to 16th place.In their 2nd season he was sacked after 22 games with the team bottom of the table.

Edited by Willo (12 Mar 2021 2.47pm)

Every manager is a risk, but Wilder's managerial record up until this season has been largely on an upward trajectory. Obviously he has only two years experience in the PL, one in which they massively overachieved and one in which they have achieved largely the opposite. If he was to be considered I imagine Parish and the board would vet him on how he felt he could improve the team and take the club forward. Although not PL clubs, he does appear to have improved the teams he has managed throughout his career and in the case of Sheffield Utd implemented a long-term strategy rather than doing a simple job of plugging holes, which culminated in their unique approach to the game that was so lauded last season. This season the centre-backs who made that system possible have often been missing through injury and with a lack of squad depth or support in the January window has meant they've sunk lower and lower.

Any manager is a risk, especially as we have gone through the list of seemingly sure bets (Hodgson, Allardyce and Pulis). Of those not already employed, the rest of the field are mainly either managers with no PL experience, managers with no experience of managing a smaller PL team, or managers who were sacked from their PL club. Howe is one of the few exceptions, but there are as many question marks over him as there are over Wilder, I would say. Dyche looks like the best fit in terms of ensuring PL football, but Burnley can generally be as hard to watch as us.

Several managers have spoken about how Wilder is a 'student of the game' and he certainly seems willing to change tactics to try and fix things. We arguably have better players than Sheffield Utd and with a few additions I think he may be our best hope of finding a way of playing more entertaining football without being rinsed by the PL's big clubs. If he could find a strong working relationship with Parish and Freedman he could thrive, but that, as I said earlier, could be the biggest sticking point.