00:00Danny, you broke the story on Saturday. We're now at Monday and Chris Wilder has just about
00:08half an hour reinstated as the Sheffield United manager for the third time. This coming, well,
00:17off the back of a very poor season, but certainly off the back of a humiliating defeat on Friday
00:23night at Dipswich Town, which proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back as far as COH
00:28sports are concerned. Being relieved of his duties yesterday, and as we said, Chris Wilder
00:35back in the hot seat as of today. Danny, if you wouldn't mind, just give us a bit of background
00:42as to what has happened over the course of the last few days.
00:47Yeah, essentially, as you mentioned, the straw that brought the camel's back was that humiliating,
00:55terrible, shambolic performance on Friday night at Dipswich. Obviously, the issues were put in place
01:02before that with the season that's happened so far, with the results that have been gathered by Ruben
01:07Sellers since he came in. I think it was just under 90 days ago. I think it was. It's been a bit of a
01:13whirlwind time since he was appointed, obviously, to replace Chris Wilder after that playoff final defeat
01:19in May. There was already mumblings about his future, Ruben Sellers' future, that is. It was
01:26talk after the games merging to one after a while, after Middlesbrough, when it was quite a difficult
01:33reception for him from the United fans in the away end, and fair play to him for fronting that up.
01:39He didn't try and hide behind his players. He took front and centre stage, didn't he, and accepted what
01:46was coming from the away end, which wasn't great in terms of the reception for him. And then you just
01:53feel like they needed a response on Friday night, and they obviously didn't get it, did they, by the
01:59manner of the scoreline or the performance. So after that, you started to wonder, will he see this
02:06result out, Ruben Sellers? The sort of indication was that he wouldn't. Our information was that Chris
02:14was sounded out on Friday night, so pretty soon after the final whistle had blown in Suffolk.
02:22You know, would you be interested in coming back? You know, obviously, the reception was, obviously,
02:28Chris was receptive to that. You know, it's his boiler club. He has, I imagine, unfinished business.
02:34His feeling is unfinished business here with how he was, how his time, his second spell ended just a
02:42few months ago after that final defeat. And he obviously would not be able to say no to this.
02:48You know, it's his club. He has history here. Everyone knows that. And then from there,
02:54it was almost the worst kept secret going, really. You know, Ruben Sellers was essentially a dead man
03:00walking, you know, with news that United were sounding out replacements. And then, obviously,
03:06the confirmation that the axe fell on Sunday afternoon. And then, obviously, from then,
03:13we understood Chris Wilder took training this morning at Shirecliff. And then, from then on,
03:18it was a pretty much a formality, wasn't it, in terms of his third managerial spell, his fifth overall,
03:26if you include the two as a player as well. So, yeah, I think it will be, it was the obvious
03:31choice, wasn't it? Let's be fair. You know, after a season so far that's split the club in two,
03:39almost, in terms of the fan base and the players and the manager, it was a very divided club in such
03:46a short space of time, you know, to go from last season and winning so many games, winning so many
03:52points and coming so close to being in the Premier League again, to be suddenly bottom of the league.
03:5713 points behind the leaders, I think it was, falling so far off the playoffs already,
04:03the manner of the performances just wasn't good enough for a club with the ambitions that United
04:08have this season. So, I think Chris Wilder is an obvious choice. I don't mean that in a drogatory way,
04:15I think his skill set speaks for itself. The statement that talks about his leadership qualities
04:20and his understanding of this football club made him the obvious candidate and he now has to come in
04:27and just, I imagine his first, I mean, we'll speak to him tomorrow, but his first sort of task as
04:33United manager this time around, I guess, will be to just try and get a bit of confidence back in
04:38those players because they look utterly devoid of belief, of confidence, of any sort of real plan.
04:44And I imagine at this stage, it's just about trying to get some smiles back on faces and a little bit of
04:49a fresh belief into the players before Saturday's game against Charlton. And then from there,
04:57obviously, he has to try and rescue something from this disastrous start to the season.
05:07What do you think he can bring? I mean, is it just a matter of at this stage, just as you kind of touched on there,
05:13is it a matter of just bringing in a bit of belief? Because I mean, on paper, this squad is at very
05:23least top six squad, isn't it, in the championship?
05:25Yeah, 100%. I mean, it was pretty noticeable for me that the statement that the owners made on
05:33bringing Chris back mentioned promotion, you know, there was no acceptance that this season is being
05:39written off, you know, there's no waving the white flag or thinking, you know, we're thinking next
05:43season or the season after that, you know, they still believe that there's a chance this season.
05:48They've given themselves a hell of a lot to do, is what I will say. But like you say, you're right,
05:52you look at that team sheet on Friday night, and you look at the players who weren't in it,
05:56you know, your Gus Harmers and your Tyrese Campbells and the other players who were on the bench.
06:01You know, you forget that Chris is coming in now to a team that two weeks ago was signed four
06:07players on deadline day for Ruben Sellers. So he's coming in now with, you know, somebody else's
06:13sort of new players to add to the ones he already had. You know, so he has to sort of make decisions
06:18on players pretty quickly. Yeah, I think it's just about putting a bit of belief back in the
06:24players, a bit of confidence and just bringing a bit of respect back to this football club because,
06:30you know, this season so far has been a shambles. There's no two ways about it. I think,
06:35obviously, Ruben has paid the price for this job, but I think, you know, that's always what happens
06:39in cases like this, isn't it? But I think the players have got to have a look at themselves
06:43in the mirror as well because they're the ones who go out there and carry it out. Whether they
06:47have reservations about how they've been prepared or the way they've been set up, they're the ones
06:51who can go out and affect it. So I think they've got to have a look at themselves in the mirror as well.
06:59Yeah, I think this is a move. I think it'll dramatically change the mood on Saturday. I think
07:06if Ruben Sellers have still been in charge for this weekend's game against Charlton at Pramble Lane,
07:11the atmosphere could have been very interesting. I think it will be interesting still, but for very
07:16different reasons now, I think the mood will be lifted by the return of Chris Wilder. And he'll
07:24just be looking now, I guess, to just put a bit of respectability back into this football club,
07:28you know, get the players back firing and battling first and foremost, probably get square
07:34pegs back in square holes rather than the round ones that Ruben Sellers have been putting them in.
07:38Whether he does go back to the shape he used last season and the style last season remains to be seen
07:44because it is a different set up. Whether he tries to reinvent things again or reverts the type,
07:51we'll have to wait and see. But I think, yeah, my immediate sort of reaction is that it's a,
07:57it's an appointment that hopefully will bring a bit more Sheffield United identity back to this club,
08:03because that's something that was completely lost this season. Even though Ruben Sellers,
08:08the few times that I asked him about it, he didn't agree. He didn't believe that this squad had lost its
08:13identity. I'm not sure what he thought the identity was because, you know, you watched it and thousands of
08:20other fans watched it and nobody was really sure. But I think under Chris, you know, whether the results
08:26come quickly, whether it takes a bit of time, I think one thing that we can guarantee is that we
08:30will know what his teams look like. We'll know what a Sheffield United team looks like under Chris Welder.
08:36And that, after the first six games of the season, I think is a very important thing.
08:44Just finally, Danny, the, I mean, the fact that they've made this decision now,
08:51that they're accepting that they've made a mistake in the summer. What does this look like from the
09:00outside to the ownership, towards the ownership in terms of, you know, the, the perception of their,
09:07their ability to, to run this football club?
09:13Yeah, it's a tough one. Um, I think first and foremost, they've had a lot of criticism from,
09:19you know, people in the media, myself included, for the decisions they've made, because that is just
09:23part and parcel of, of running a football club. When you make decisions, you live and die by those
09:27decisions. And this one by any conceivable metric did not work out. You know, it's not wise after the
09:35event or wise after the fact we said quite vociferously at the time in the summer, this was a bad
09:40decision to sack Chris or to get rid of Chris Wilder or to make a decision to move on from Chris
09:45Wilder, um, back in July, whenever it was something like that. Um, you know, everything was set up there
09:53for another promotion push. You know, that was pretty obvious, just needed slight tweaks, but then
09:59Ruben Serres came in and tried to change too much, in my opinion. Um, but I think this does show a
10:06humility from them to go back to the man that they decided to move on from 90 days ago, whatever it was,
10:1389 days. I think it shows a humility from them. It shows an acceptance that they got it wrong.
10:19And I think they've, you know, must have accepted that, you know, Chris obviously shows from his
10:24side as well, that he's not too proud or too stubborn to accept the call. You know,
10:29obviously we know they ended on, on reasonable terms, you know, there was talk of fallouts over
10:34transfers and stuff. And that wasn't our understanding. We understood that they parted on,
10:38on decent terms. And there was always a, you know, a slight chance, you know, that if it didn't go
10:44right, that Chris could be getting the call, you know, within a few months time, and that's exactly
10:48how it's transpired. Um, so there will be question marks about the decision they made in the first
10:55place, what it says about their understanding of this football club and what makes it tick.
11:00You know, don't forget in recent times, this is two sort of, two occasions have sort of gone down a
11:07different path. You go back to the BC a few years ago and Ruben said as this time, and neither of
11:14those sort of experiments have worked. So I think maybe that says something about what works at this
11:21football club and what is, what perhaps doesn't. Um, and hopefully they've learned the lesson from
11:26that. It's an expensive lesson. I'm sure because hiring and firing managers within a short space of
11:31time is never a cheap thing. Um, I think from my point of view, it shows, you know, they're not too
11:38proud or not too stubborn to go back on their, on their decisions. But I think from the outside,
11:43yeah, it will raise no further question marks about how much they understand what is football club is
11:48about. Uh, and hopefully, you know, they'll learn that going forward.
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