Name in the frames
CHRIS JOB PUSH
CHRIS WILDER will feel like pinching himself tonight when he leads Sheffield United into battle against Manchester City at The Etihad.
Taking your hometown club to the English champions to clash with managerial greatness in the shape of Pep Guardiola?
It doesn’t get much better than this for someone who was managing Halifax Town in the Conference just over a decade ago – until the troubled club went into liquidation.
Wilder is living the dream – and it all sounds too good to be true.
The problem for him, though, is that it literally might never get any better than this for someone who is working miracles in Yorkshire without the ultimate recognition.
Listen to Wilder long enough and he will tell you he’s got the best job in the world. He is a lifelong Blades fan who still lives close enough to Bramall Lane to cycle to work when he chooses.
But if Wilder stopped for a moment to allow his head to rule his heart, he would realise that deep down he deserves to manage a much bigger club than the Blades. Will it ever happen, though?
If recent events at Arsenal and Everton are anything to go by, then the answer is a resounding no.
Wilder now finds himself heading towards the same pigeonhole the likes of Sean Dyche and Eddie Howe have found themselves stuck in for too long now.
Howe and Dyche (inset) have done remarkable jobs at respective clubs Bournemouth and Burnley but not good enough it seems to provide either of them with a job promotion and the chance to test themselves at a higher level.
Instead, both seem resigned to treading water, with Howe’s mission being to keep the Cherries in the top flight and Dyche’s to secure a top 10 finish for the Clarets while flirting with a return to Europe. Fair enough, some might think. But these two, along with Wilder, need to be more ambitious than just settling for acceptable levels of success. Why weren’t any of these three serious contenders to take charge of either the Gunners or the Toffees?
Instead of appointing a bright, young, experienced and successful Englishman, the Gunners gave the job to managerial virgin Mikel Arteta, while the Toffees fell for the seductive charms of Carlo Ancelotti. Time will prove if these decisions are right but what remains wrong in the game is how the Premier League’s top clubs continue to dismiss the credentials of those who don’t seem fashionable enough.
So Wilder needs to drink in what life is like for him right now, because it’s difficult not to feel like there’s only one way to go from here – and it’s down.