Ex-Staff Chris Wilder

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I don't have anything against him anymore to be honest. He came back last year for the 10 year anniversary of the play off win too. He gave us some great memories and I will be forever thankful he got us out of the mess we were in when he joined!
 
What a weird decision. No idea who they think they’ll find who will care more or work harder for that club - particularly at this stage of the season.

Good luck to him. He’s an abrasive character, he stayed too long, his exit was a farce and some of his rhetoric when us and Northampton were going for League 2 promotion felt unnecessarily unpleasant - but enough time has passed and, as others have pointed out, in the last couple of years he has displayed a clear affinity for OUFC and popped up with bits and pieces that as a Premier League manager he certainly didn’t have to.

I, for one, find it hard to shake my gratitude to him for hauling us off our knees (with plenty of help) and back into the FL so absolutely wish him well. I’m sure he won’t be short of offers, certainly at Championship level.
 
Good luck to him.
He has bought a striker for too much money. If that had been Mourinho he would’ve got the money for another player.
I personally wish him well as he did well for us despite leaving for Northampton.
We didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes.
Sheffield United have made a big mistake going by Norwich keeping their manager.
 
MJB said:
Loving those kings of irony who continue to use the phrase chippy at any occasion, years and years after he left, made a massive success of two clubs and has built bridges with our club after getting us out of non-league hell[emoji1303]
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If you're referring to me, then yes, he was chippy when he was with us and has been, when I've seen him interviewed, on many occasions since. So I'll stand by my comment and my right to an opinion thanks. If that makes me a "King of Irony" then long live the f*****g King. Do I "use the phrase at any occasion"? No, I don't, but I used it here as it was appropriate to my response by way of explaining why I feel as I do.

And in response to you (and others) saying you'll forever be grateful to him for getting us out of the Conference, well he nearly fucked that up. Let's not forget we had the biggest budget and were top until half way through the season. Then Wilder signed players that weren't needed and it all started going pear shaped meaning we had to scrape in via the play-offs. Then, after getting us up, he got rid of certain players far too early and never really had us threatening the promotion places during his tenure. He stayed at the club about two or three years too long in my opinion, and the atmosphere at the time of his leaving was toxic, due in part to the boring football and in part to his demeanour and attitude toward the club and fans. Let's not also forget him touting himself about for every other job that came up. He has had success at Northampton (one season) and Sheffield United, or is it Allan Knill?

Give me Michael Appleton or Karl Robinson any day. Good managers and decent human beings.
 
Great points raised about budgets, playing styles and promotions. I’m not particularly interested in the ‘chippy’ argument though. He has a dour demeanour and said some really silly things at times. Most people do, and I don’t have to listen to his Debbie Downer interviews anymore, so I can really quite easily get over it.

Hard to argue that our budget for our Conference promotion year was excellent for the league we were in. And I very much agree that (parts of) the Conference promotion team were jettisoned too quickly with some incredibly ill-judged replacements. Bulman and Green come to my mind. Although it’s worth pointing out he also binned Creighton as part of that and - beloved as Beast was, Wilder was right on the money that he was too slow and limited for League football.

But on decent but no better budgets in League 2 he had a couple of decent seasons in and around the playoffs with us. I also remember there were points (during the Kitson season comes to mind) where he had us playing some REALLY good stuff too. I imagine if he’d had the kind of investment Appleton or KR have enjoyed we may have kicked on. He also left us very much in a promotion race.

His budget at Cobblers was competitive too of course. But I’d say his accomplishments at Sheff Utd blow the assumption that he can only succeed with money away. There’s no way they had the biggest budget in their Championship promotion year surely?! And his first year in the PL with them (and Lunny and Baldock 😢) was an astonishing achievement.
 
Mojofilter said:
Very strange. I wonder what they're hoping anyone else could do? He's their best bet in the championship next year, I'd've thought.

Also where do you go after managing the club you love and taking it to the highest level...
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I think if this season hadn't been so bad, and he hadn't shown such poor judgment when given a big of a budget to buy players with, he could have been looking at some big jobs. For example, Celtic was mentioned in the other thread, which might once have been feasible but looks too big now. As it is, I could see perhaps a West Brom or a Newcastle (when they inevitably jettison their managers at/by the end of the season) going for him for sure.
 
Colin B said:
If you're referring to me, then yes, he was chippy when he was with us and has been, when I've seen him interviewed, on many occasions since. So I'll stand by my comment and my right to an opinion thanks. If that makes me a "King of Irony" then long live the f*****g King. Do I "use the phrase at any occasion"? No, I don't, but I used it here as it was appropriate to my response by way of explaining why I feel as I do.

And in response to you (and others) saying you'll forever be grateful to him for getting us out of the Conference, well he nearly fucked that up. Let's not forget we had the biggest budget and were top until half way through the season. Then Wilder signed players that weren't needed and it all started going pear shaped meaning we had to scrape in via the play-offs. Then, after getting us up, he got rid of certain players far too early and never really had us threatening the promotion places during his tenure. He stayed at the club about two or three years too long in my opinion, and the atmosphere at the time of his leaving was toxic, due in part to the boring football and in part to his demeanour and attitude toward the club and fans. Let's not also forget him touting himself about for every other job that came up. He has had success at Northampton (one season) and Sheffield United, or is it Allan Knill?

Give me Michael Appleton or Karl Robinson any day. Good managers and decent human beings.
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Couldn't agree more. I could have wrote that me self.
 
I think they should have stuck with him ready for a promotion push next year. He clearly is a supporter of the Blades and has a commitment to the Club above and beyond what you would ordinarily expect from a manager. The combination with Knill is clearly one that can be effective.
Personally can’t stand the bloke. His actions when he left us showed a distinct lack of class, completely disrespectful.
He will be a success wherever he turns up.
 
Colin B said:
If you're referring to me, then yes, he was chippy when he was with us and has been, when I've seen him interviewed, on many occasions since. So I'll stand by my comment and my right to an opinion thanks. If that makes me a "King of Irony" then long live the f*****g King. Do I "use the phrase at any occasion"? No, I don't, but I used it here as it was appropriate to my response by way of explaining why I feel as I do.

And in response to you (and others) saying you'll forever be grateful to him for getting us out of the Conference, well he nearly fucked that up. Let's not forget we had the biggest budget and were top until half way through the season. Then Wilder signed players that weren't needed and it all started going pear shaped meaning we had to scrape in via the play-offs. Then, after getting us up, he got rid of certain players far too early and never really had us threatening the promotion places during his tenure. He stayed at the club about two or three years too long in my opinion, and the atmosphere at the time of his leaving was toxic, due in part to the boring football and in part to his demeanour and attitude toward the club and fans. Let's not also forget him touting himself about for every other job that came up. He has had success at Northampton (one season) and Sheffield United, or is it Allan Knill?

Give me Michael Appleton or Karl Robinson any day. Good managers and decent human beings.
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KR and Mapp are gents. Wilder isn't.
 
Sounds like he's had a bit of a falling out with Prince Abdullah.
Wilder was upset that he hadn't been given more money in January to spend to drag Sheffield United up the table; the Prince was upset that he'd wasted all the money he had been given in the summer on rubbish.

So the fact that Wilder would probably be an excellent fit for them back in the Championship is less relevant when he can't get on with the top dog.

Not going to get into the like/dislike argument - he did the job he was brought in to do at OUFC, which was get us back into the league and consolidate; and he then went on and overachieved at both Northampton and Sheffield. I can't imagine he'll be out of work for long. I wonder if Pompey might be thinking they might give him the pitch? See if he can reproduce the Blades miracle on the south coast?
 
tonyw said:
Sounds like he's had a bit of a falling out with Prince Abdullah.
Wilder was upset that he hadn't been given more money in January to spend to drag Sheffield United up the table; the Prince was upset that he'd wasted all the money he had been given in the summer on rubbish.

So the fact that Wilder would probably be an excellent fit for them back in the Championship is less relevant when he can't get on with the top dog.

Not going to get into the like/dislike argument - he did the job he was brought in to do at OUFC, which was get us back into the league and consolidate; and he then went on and overachieved at both Northampton and Sheffield. I can't imagine he'll be out of work for long. I wonder if Pompey might be thinking they might give him the pitch? See if he can reproduce the Blades miracle on the south coast?
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tonyw said:
Sounds like he's had a bit of a falling out with Prince Abdullah.
Wilder was upset that he hadn't been given more money in January to spend to drag Sheffield United up the table; the Prince was upset that he'd wasted all the money he had been given in the summer on rubbish.

So the fact that Wilder would probably be an excellent fit for them back in the Championship is less relevant when he can't get on with the top dog.

Not going to get into the like/dislike argument - he did the job he was brought in to do at OUFC, which was get us back into the league and consolidate; and he then went on and overachieved at both Northampton and Sheffield. I can't imagine he'll be out of work for long. I wonder if Pompey might be thinking they might give him the pitch? See if he can reproduce the Blades miracle on the south coast?
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I would be surprised if he doesn't get a decent Championship club to try and get into the PL.
If Pompey stay down I not sure why he would drop so far down?
 
Belgium Yellow said:
More surprising than it seems. Either keep him and rebuild for next year (e.g. Norwich) or make the change earlier when there was still a chance or survival. Must be something behind the scenes or he's had enough. Boardroom problems at that place aren't there?
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Defo and relationship issue with the owner reading BBC.. investments haven’t paid off and the owner has the hump.
 
werthersoriginal said:
Why would any Oxford fan have anything against him? Unless you’re the sort of person who obsesses about a gesture some player is said to have made at some point. Apparently hes fallen out with the owners, otherwise they should have kept him as im sure he’d get them back up.
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Damned if I know, but football is very fickle.

Decent manager with a decent CV.

Good luck to him.
 
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MC Yellow said:
Damned if I know, but football is very fickle.

Decent manager with a decent CV.

Good luck to him.
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I mean, he’s a bit of a git and I thought his teams were boring once he got us up, but he did a lot for us. I don’t want to be personal friends with any of our managers, though I bet Denis Smith is a nice fella
 
werthersoriginal said:
Why would any Oxford fan have anything against him? Unless you’re the sort of person who obsesses about a gesture some player is said to have made at some point. Apparently hes fallen out with the owners, otherwise they should have kept him as im sure he’d get them back up.
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I'll bite.

He left us without a single ounce of respect for a club in the same league. We have him the opportunity to make a name for himself and let's be honest, it was getting stale. But after six years you at least give your employer some respect. The wheels were falling off the team and he turned on the fans to protect his own a**e. The rhetoric when he was at Northampton about us was unpleasant.

Quite frankly, f**k the bloke. I have no sympathy.
 
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