This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
It was only really a matter of time before these discussions started to crop up.
There’s only so long you can go as a ‘smaller club’ before talks begin about your best personnel being pinched by other clubs. Tony Cascarino believes that it isn’t the players that Sheffield United should be worried about losing, but rather their manager Chris Wilder.
What’s he said?
Speaking on the Weekend Sports Breakfast on Talksport, Cascarino spoke about how he believed the Sheffield United boss should be in contention for a much bigger side, such as Manchester United and Arsenal:
“I don’t like to do this, but I sometimes think, Man Utd job, Arsenal job, Chrissy Wilder? Absolutely. And yet loads of people out there, there’d be a snobbery around football that’d go ‘Allegri or a Mourinho’, and I’m like no, I’d rather go for Chrissy Wilder”.
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Improbable, but not impossible.
It’s well known that Wilder is a fan of the club, but that shouldn’t instantly mean that he is guaranteed to stay at Bramall Lane until he retires or is pushed out the door by the owners.
Neil Warnock is another one who was a famed Blades fan, and he decided to call it quits when they were relegated back in 2007, so just because they’re a fan doesn’t mean that they’re immune from wanting to jump ship if the time suits them.
That’s why it’s up to Sheffield United, if they truly believe that he is someone that can take them forward, to really show how much they appreciate him and value him.
He signed a new contract with them in the summer, but that was before their incredible start to the season and before he was being talked about for the bigger jobs in the division.
It might seem bonkers to do so, but it may be worth sitting down and negotiating a new contract even though it’s less than four months since he signed the last one. At least that way, if his head does get turned, they’ll at least be able to get themselves extremely well compensated for whichever club ends up going after him.
