I think football’s sacking culture has reached a new low. I mean, I wasn’t happy with the sackings of Slaven Bilic or Frank Lampard earlier this season, but they are nothing compared to what has been done today.
Sheffield United have sacked Chris Wilder.
Chris Wilder, the boyhood Sheffield United fan who in five years as their manager has hauled the Blades from League One (the third division) to the Premier League, and even into the European places at one stage last season. Now, I’m not pretending that they haven’t been appallingly bad this year. They have and they are utterly doomed to relegation. But:
A drop-off was inevitable after the heights of last season
They’ve had a lot of bad luck with injuries.
They’ve hardly been getting pasted, most of their losses (of which there have, admittedly, been many) have been by the odd goal.
Their players are still fighting for Wilder.
That last one is a big one. Yes, confidence is (very) low and they’re beyond saving from the drop. But their players still head out every week and battle. Nobody has thrown the towel in; their problem is simply that most of their players are Championship-level and that has caught up with them.
And that makes Wilder’s sacking even more baffling. No other manager is going to come in and turn them into world beaters that they simply are not. The situation is that, twelve points from safety and having won four league games all season, there is absolutely zero hope of keeping them up. If that is the goal, then the board have lost their minds. If that is not the goal, then the board have still lost their minds.
Because their goal next season will surely be to be promoted straight back up to the Premier League. Why sack a manager that has already done that with your club, who clearly maintains a fantastic relationship with his squad, who is beloved by the Sheffield United’s fans and who loves the club?
It’s insanity.
Furthermore, there is precedent for sticking by the gaffer and coming back stronger. Norwich City, who finished bottom of the pile in the Premier League last time out, stuck with Daniel Farke and are currently ten points clear at the top of the Championship. An even better example though is Sean Dyche. Burnley were relegated at the end of the 2014-15 season but stuck by Dyche and bounced straight back up. And there they have stayed ever since, Turf Moor becoming a fixture of the Premier League. Hell, they even reached the Europa League qualifiers one year.
That could be Sheffield United, if they hadn’t just lost their collective minds.
