So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
well we approached Wilder before Riga had resigned. Wilder met RD in Belgium last week and if RD had agreed the assurances Wilder wanted then and had then followed it up in writing I have no doubt that Wilder would be our new manager now. By lying to him and prevaricating RD & KM allowed Sheff Utd into the frame and gave Wilder another, better option. It's RD's and Daisy's fault entirely. Amateurish.
Do we know for certain that Wilder was lied to ?
as I said on Saturday he spoke to RD last week, spoke to friends in the game, and turned it down on Friday. By Monday it was back on again. So something had changed. It's reasonable to assume that they had agreed to provide the assurances he demanded after all only to renege on them later.
Can't help but at least slightly agree with Colin here, can't imagine Wilder had no idea that Sheff U would sack Adkins at the time of our approach. We see it happen with players all the time, stalling on a deal in case another better offer comes in. If he thought there was a chance of not moving his family and managing his local team I think it's entirely possible he wasn't too keen on the job altogether. As far as I know a verbal agreement is enough to take someone to court anyway so I'm not too sure how well that stands up anyway.
If this was under any other ownership we'd all be saying this. Yes we should have pushed to get the deal done but I think it may well have been on his end. As I said the other day I hate this regime as much as anyone but this is just a reality of the modern game, it's not exclusive to Roland and Katrien.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
well we approached Wilder before Riga had resigned. Wilder met RD in Belgium last week and if RD had agreed the assurances Wilder wanted then and had then followed it up in writing I have no doubt that Wilder would be our new manager now. By lying to him and prevaricating RD & KM allowed Sheff Utd into the frame and gave Wilder another, better option. It's RD's and Daisy's fault entirely. Amateurish.
Do we know for certain that Wilder was lied to ?
as I said on Saturday he spoke to RD last week, spoke to friends in the game, and turned it down on Friday. By Monday it was back on again. So something had changed. It's reasonable to assume that they had agreed to provide the assurances he demanded after all only to renege on them later.
If accept everything you say but how do we know that Charlton reneged on the assurances ? If they did then condemnation of the regime is justified. I just havnt seen anything other than speculation that this in fact happened. Until this is confirmed I won't rule out other pressures affecting the breakdown of the deal.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
well we approached Wilder before Riga had resigned. Wilder met RD in Belgium last week and if RD had agreed the assurances Wilder wanted then and had then followed it up in writing I have no doubt that Wilder would be our new manager now. By lying to him and prevaricating RD & KM allowed Sheff Utd into the frame and gave Wilder another, better option. It's RD's and Daisy's fault entirely. Amateurish.
Do we know for certain that Wilder was lied to ?
as I said on Saturday he spoke to RD last week, spoke to friends in the game, and turned it down on Friday. By Monday it was back on again. So something had changed. It's reasonable to assume that they had agreed to provide the assurances he demanded after all only to renege on them later.
If accept everything you say but how do we know that Charlton reneged on the assurances ? If they did then condemnation of the regime is justified. I just havnt seen anything other than speculation that this in fact happened. Until this is confirmed I won't rule out other pressures affecting the breakdown of the deal.
We are never going to know for sure exactly why it broke down
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
well we approached Wilder before Riga had resigned. Wilder met RD in Belgium last week and if RD had agreed the assurances Wilder wanted then and had then followed it up in writing I have no doubt that Wilder would be our new manager now. By lying to him and prevaricating RD & KM allowed Sheff Utd into the frame and gave Wilder another, better option. It's RD's and Daisy's fault entirely. Amateurish.
as I said on Saturday he spoke to RD last week, spoke to friends in the game, and turned it down on Friday. By Monday it was back on again. So something had changed. It's reasonable to assume that they had agreed to provide the assurances he demanded after all only to renege on them later.
Sounds as if the stumbling block was not the assurances but putting them in writing. Which suggests that RD was not overly sincere in the first place. In fairness to Wilder, his stock is high so why not shop around. It's not as if managers are treated well by any owners. And if he was prepared to overlook the high turnover of managers, he clearly wasn't prepared to take the word of people with a track record of lying.
If we'd not dicked him about Wilder would be our manager already. The only playing was by Duchatelet and Meire.
Considering Northampton never granted us permission to talk to him till Friday it's highly unlikely and against rules for him to go and see RD last week.......
Considering he was in Belgium BEFORE that, then I'd say you are talking nonsense....again.
They didn't PUBLICLY grant permission until Monday, after Wilder had a preliminary chat with Roland and they were looking to move ahead with a deal.
Honestly not just saying this, or cutting the board any slack...
Personally I think the moment Wilder heard Sheff United was interested... He wasn't coming to us.
From a personal point of view, if I had to choose between Wilder and Adkins.. I'd choose Adkins. He may not of done amazing at Sheff United but the flip side is how well he did at Southampton.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
Think you're spot on and we should probably give the club the benefit of the doubt in this case. Wilder will presumably be announced as the next Sheff Utd manager in the next 24/48 hour
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
well we approached Wilder before Riga had resigned. Wilder met RD in Belgium last week and if RD had agreed the assurances Wilder wanted then and had then followed it up in writing I have no doubt that Wilder would be our new manager now. By lying to him and prevaricating RD & KM allowed Sheff Utd into the frame and gave Wilder another, better option. It's RD's and Daisy's fault entirely. Amateurish.
Do we know for certain that Wilder was lied to ?
as I said on Saturday he spoke to RD last week, spoke to friends in the game, and turned it down on Friday. By Monday it was back on again. So something had changed. It's reasonable to assume that they had agreed to provide the assurances he demanded after all only to renege on them later.
If accept everything you say but how do we know that Charlton reneged on the assurances ? If they did then condemnation of the regime is justified. I just havnt seen anything other than speculation that this in fact happened. Until this is confirmed I won't rule out other pressures affecting the breakdown of the deal.
We are never going to know for sure exactly why it broke down
I'm sure you are right. In the absence of that I'm going to cut the club a bit of slack on this one.
I want them out as soon as possible but we are in danger of condemning absolutely anything they try without any evidence.
That imho diminishes our legitimate protests about the real catalogue of mismanagement.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
Think you're spot on and we should probably give the club the benefit of the doubt in this case. Wilder will presumably be announced as the next Sheff Utd manager in the next 24/48 hour
No we should not give them the benefit of the doubt. Despite appointing 5 manager's already, our CEO has never had to appoint a proper one as they all known to the network. The first time a proper appointment needs to be made she gets it totally wrong, showing just how far out of her depth she is
May I politely suggest many are missing the point here.
None of this, absolutely none of this needed to be played out in the public domain.
These sort of negotiations go on all of the time between agents, players, coaches and clubs. Players and agents will often use clubs as a "stalking horse" to secure a better deal elsewhere.
The headline statement from Northampton only needed to be agreed to the point they had received an approach from a "Championship" club (we are not officially classified as League 1 until next seasons fixtures are announced) and they had agreed terms for Wilder & Knill to talk to that club.
We had no need to say anything until the deal was signed and delivered
If you wanted to comment at all if the deal had failed we could have quite simply stated whilst we enjoyed the fullest discussions with Wilder & Knill we recognised there would be domestic, locational and historic relationship challenges to concluding the deal before thanking Northampton, Wilder & Knill for their time and wishing them well in the future endeavours.
No rejection, no accusations of double dealing just a simple respect of the factors which meant for the personnel involved there were other options which better suited their needs.
I once spent 18 months on a deal to launch a product in the USA with a US corporation, going through partner selection/ approval process, heads of agreement, due diligence, financial terms, branding and operations, product launch to the point only a few items remained outstanding.
My Head of Business met their senior people. To my surprise he conceded on the few remaining points and shook hands on the deal. The US guys were delighted and caught their plane home with a spring in their step. Before they had landed my Head of Business completely denied he had conceded or agreed anything. It killed the deal.
Every facet of the deal from conception to product launch was confidential. It enabled both parties to move forward with others without them knowing they were effectively not the original preferred party.
For goodness sake our titular CEO is supposed to be a commercial lawyer.
No matter the underlying good or ill intentions of either party in negotiating with anyone keep the bloody detail under wraps until the deal is done.
This regime was already playing with a weak hand and now they appear even weaker with any future negotiations being with someone else who everyone will know was at best 2nd choice.
Nobody has put the club in this position but this regime. It is rank bad management.
May I politely suggest many are missing the point here.
None of this, absolutely none of this needed to be played out in the public domain.
These sort of negotiations go on all of the time between agents, players, coaches and clubs. Players and agents will often use clubs as a "stalking horse" to secure a better deal elsewhere.
The headline statement from Northampton only needed to be agreed to the point they had received an approach from a "Championship" club (we are not officially classified as League 1 until next seasons fixtures are announced) and they had agreed terms for Wilder & Knill to talk to that club.
We had no need to say anything until the deal was signed and delivered
If you wanted to comment at all if the deal had failed we could have quite simply stated whilst we enjoyed the fullest discussions with Wilder & Knill we recognised there would be domestic, locational and historic relationship challenges to concluding the deal before thanking Northampton, Wilder & Knill for their time and wishing them well in the future endeavours.
No rejection, no accusations of double dealing just a simple respect of the factors which meant for the personnel involved there were other options which better suited their needs.
I once spent 18 months on a deal to launch a product in the USA with a US corporation, going through partner selection/ approval process, heads of agreement, due diligence, financial terms, branding and operations, product launch to the point only a few items remained outstanding.
My Head of Business met their senior people. To my surprise he conceded on the few remaining points and shook hands on the deal. The US guys were delighted and caught their plane home with a spring in their step. Before they had landed my Head of Business completely denied he had conceded or agreed anything. It killed the deal.
Every facet of the deal from conception to product launch was confidential. It enabled both parties to move forward with others without them knowing they were effectively not the original preferred party.
For goodness sake our titular CEO is supposed to be a commercial lawyer.
No matter the underlying good or ill intentions of either party in negotiating with anyone keep the bloody detail under wraps until the deal is done.
This regime was already playing with a weak hand and now they appear even weaker with any future negotiations being with someone else who everyone will know was at best 2nd choice.
Nobody has put the club in this position but this regime. It is rank bad management.
Most of me feels exactly like @Stig describes. It's another blow to the Duchatelet regime.
But there's still a little bit of me that wanted a credible British manager with a decent track record that, most importantly, would have been given the kind of control that would have signified some softening of the Duchatelet approach. It was forlorn hope, but that is better than no hope at all and that's why some people were quick to seize on the news like a drowning man seizes a lifebelt.
Our CEO gave up on being a commercial lawyer after not very long at all. I suspect she was found out pretty quickly by the look of her CV and having seen her performances on the various fan meeting/forum videos it is clear she couldn't argue her way out of a car park. I can't imagine her negotiation skills are any better.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
We will know more if they appoint a traditionally minded manager who is allowed to work on his own terms (in writing). If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder. If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
We will know more if they appoint a traditionally minded manager who is allowed to work on his own terms (in writing). If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder. If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
I thinks that's entirely reasonable. What I do know though @seth plum is that Sheffield United is Wilders club. He lives in Sheffield. Very big pulls.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
We will know more if they appoint a traditionally minded manager who is allowed to work on his own terms (in writing). If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder. If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
I thinks that's entirely reasonable. What I do know though @seth plum is that Sheffield United is Wilders club. He lives in Sheffield. Very big pulls.
Yes, and it is a good job which he ought to take. However the series of events, taken chronologically according to reports (jet to Belgium, announcements, deal on, then off, then on again and finally off) suggests to me that the Sheffield United thing was a fortunate happenstance, and if Sheffield United didn't want a manager, then Wilder would have turned us down anyway.
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
We will know more if they appoint a traditionally minded manager who is allowed to work on his own terms (in writing). If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder. If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
Agree with this - we'll just have to wait and see how things play out
So wilder went all the way to Belgian...to say look at me look at me Sheffield I'm available....before the managers position was vacant....so your suggesting that Sheffield united made an approach for wilder before Adkins was sacked (if he gets the chop)...and that prompted wilder to meet with RD in Belgium to furthermore encourage the sacking of Nigel Adkins....
Or wilder expected united to sack Adkins simply because wilder has declared that he might be more ambitious then Northampton so that automatically makes him an attractive prospect?
It may well end up that wilder goes Sheffield united, I wouldn't rule it out...I would however rule out the accusation that "we have been played" by Chris wilder.
If only things were that straightforward. I'm confident that Wilder wanted to come right throughout the process right up until he was made aware (by Sheffield Utd) ? that they were interested. Yes they have a manager in place but if the SU board have already decided Adkins was to be replaced I don't doubt that they would contact Wilder. That for him would be a huge "snag" in his decision.
It's hard not too pour all the blame onto Charlton but in this case I think there is enough evidence to cut them some slack until we know more.
We will know more if they appoint a traditionally minded manager who is allowed to work on his own terms (in writing). If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder. If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
I thinks that's entirely reasonable. What I do know though @seth plum is that Sheffield United is Wilders club. He lives in Sheffield. Very big pulls.
Yes, and it is a good job which he ought to take. However the series of events, taken chronologically according to reports (jet to Belgium, announcements, deal on, then off, then on again and finally off) suggests to me that the Sheffield United thing was a fortunate happenstance, and if Sheffield United didn't want a manager, then Wilder would have turned us down anyway.
Comments
If this was under any other ownership we'd all be saying this. Yes we should have pushed to get the deal done but I think it may well have been on his end. As I said the other day I hate this regime as much as anyone but this is just a reality of the modern game, it's not exclusive to Roland and Katrien.
They didn't PUBLICLY grant permission until Monday, after Wilder had a preliminary chat with Roland and they were looking to move ahead with a deal.
Personally I think the moment Wilder heard Sheff United was interested... He wasn't coming to us.
From a personal point of view, if I had to choose between Wilder and Adkins.. I'd choose Adkins. He may not of done amazing at Sheff United but the flip side is how well he did at Southampton.
Let's see what happens..
But still RD, KM & RD out
I want them out as soon as possible but we are in danger of condemning absolutely anything they try without any evidence.
That imho diminishes our legitimate protests about the real catalogue of mismanagement.
I'm only interested in what happens next.
None of this, absolutely none of this needed to be played out in the public domain.
These sort of negotiations go on all of the time between agents, players, coaches and clubs. Players and agents will often use clubs as a "stalking horse" to secure a better deal elsewhere.
The headline statement from Northampton only needed to be agreed to the point they had received an approach from a "Championship" club (we are not officially classified as League 1 until next seasons fixtures are announced) and they had agreed terms for Wilder & Knill to talk to that club.
We had no need to say anything until the deal was signed and delivered
If you wanted to comment at all if the deal had failed we could have quite simply stated whilst we enjoyed the fullest discussions with Wilder & Knill we recognised there would be domestic, locational and historic relationship challenges to concluding the deal before thanking Northampton, Wilder & Knill for their time and wishing them well in the future endeavours.
No rejection, no accusations of double dealing just a simple respect of the factors which meant for the personnel involved there were other options which better suited their needs.
I once spent 18 months on a deal to launch a product in the USA with a US corporation, going through partner selection/ approval process, heads of agreement, due diligence, financial terms, branding and operations, product launch to the point only a few items remained outstanding.
My Head of Business met their senior people. To my surprise he conceded on the few remaining points and shook hands on the deal. The US guys were delighted and caught their plane home with a spring in their step. Before they had landed my Head of Business completely denied he had conceded or agreed anything. It killed the deal.
Every facet of the deal from conception to product launch was confidential. It enabled both parties to move forward with others without them knowing they were effectively not the original preferred party.
For goodness sake our titular CEO is supposed to be a commercial lawyer.
No matter the underlying good or ill intentions of either party in negotiating with anyone keep the bloody detail under wraps until the deal is done.
This regime was already playing with a weak hand and now they appear even weaker with any future negotiations being with someone else who everyone will know was at best 2nd choice.
Nobody has put the club in this position but this regime. It is rank bad management.
If that happens, then indeed it would give some credence to the Sheffield United angle regarding Wilder.
If on the other hand they revert to type with Nobby or whoever, then it seems pretty likely that Wilder balked at the absence of credible terms, rather than he was seduced away by Sheffield United
However the series of events, taken chronologically according to reports (jet to Belgium, announcements, deal on, then off, then on again and finally off) suggests to me that the Sheffield United thing was a fortunate happenstance, and if Sheffield United didn't want a manager, then Wilder would have turned us down anyway.
Sheffield Utd was merely a red herring IMHO>