Chris Wilder Bournemouth speculation offers Middlesbrough two possible routes out of their post-Burnley funk

The speculation linking Wilder with the vacant manager's job at Bournemouth offers two head-clearing solutions. He can learn from his mistake in April, quickly knock it on the head and refocus a club that has lost its way over the last five months, or move on.

Given how good a manager he is, the first would be preferable but if Boro fans and players again get the impression – correctly or otherwise – that he is not as committed as they need him to be, a parting of the ways would be better than Easter's uncomfortable limbo.

Some have suggested the tumbling bookmakers odds have no grounding in the thinking in the Dean Court boardroom but it is the lingering perception which can do damage.

When Burnley sacked Sean Dyche on April 15, Wilder was not unnaturally linked with the job. He is an excellent manager, as he was showing by dragging Middlesbrough up to eighth in the Championship – a win outside the play-offs with a game in hand to get it.

Incredibly, since then, Boro have only once won back-to-back games. They finished the season seventh, five points behind the play-offs – disappointing only in the context of the at one point seemingly unstoppable momentum they had built up in Wilder's first five months in charge – and now sit in its relegation zone.

Whatever context you view that in, it is disheartening. The expectation was that they would finish the season above the dotted line at the other end of the table.

Boro's record "pst-Dyche" is played 17, won four.

On the face of it, Wilder's response to being linked with another job – essentially "None of your business" – was not unreasonable but even he had to later admit it was unhelpful. All of us, but especially sportspeople are supposed to want to better ourselves and with the prospect of a Premier League job being dangled in front of him, it would be forgivable if he was tempted. The issue was that he was in a position to get Boro into the Premier League in the next few weeks.

And football demands loyalty and commitment that other jobs just could not. If players sense their manager is wavering, it can have an effect, maybe only sub-consciously. Boro's form since might be coincidence, but it might well suggest it has, even though Wilder claimed he was never approached about the job.

It only took a week but it felt like an eternity, not helped by the busy backlog of matches and therefore press conference leading to Burnley question after Burnley question dead-batted before Wilder declared himself "all in" at Boro. The result? A draw at Swansea City, then those back-to-back wins, against Cardiff City and Stoke City. But the damage had been done.

"A lot of things get chucked at you after a game and it's not always the easiest time to speak to a manager," said Wilder when belatedly pledging his commitment. "I'm not saying I get it right all the time."

If Wilder is still "all in", Boro need to hear it much sooner this time.