Stuart Rayner - Sheffield United should demonstrate resolve with Chris Wilder that Bradford City failed to show with Stuart McCall

With the games coming so thick and fast, emotions seem to peak and trough even more alarmingly than usual at the moment. Perhaps the fact most fans cannot get into the grounds adds to the frustration. The pressures of Covid life and the need for positive distractions probably do not help either.

A week-and-a-half ago, Barnsley suffered a 4-0 home defeat littered with mistakes, six days earlier all was rosey in the Leeds garden after back-to-back clean sheets and four points against Arsenal and Everton. This time last week Middlesbrough were in a trough and things were looking up for Huddersfield Town.

This column was deliberately written before the latest round of matches so not to be swayed by which clubs are now in the depth of despair or on the crest of a wave.

League football has become even less predictable than usual on this season’s treadmill, sped up as it is by the delayed start caused by the Spring lockdown. The decision-makers have to try and distance themselves from it when the time comes to act – or not.

The course of life at Bradford City has been no less erratic in the boardroom than on the field. On November 25, the Bantams responded to a difficult run of form by giving their manager Stuart McCall and his assistant, Kenny Black, contract extensions, and pledging their support in the January transfer market. A week-and-a-half ago they dropped into the League Two relegation zone for the first time this season. Seven days later they scrambled out, albeit it only on goal difference because Stevenage had lost more heavily. The next morning McCall was sacked.

The looming transfer window was cited – City needed to know they were going to be giving their transfer kitty to a manager they trusted with it. A few weeks ago McCall had emphatically met that criteria; not now.

For the chairmen and chief executives of Tier 3 clubs it must be difficult to gauge the mood of supporters when they are not in the stadium. With owners increasingly based overseas, bumping into fans in the street and the pub is unlikely enough even in normal times and as we all know, social media and radio phones are never an accurate measure, an amplifier rather than a barometer of opinion.

Sacking a manager is not just down to form. If it was, Chris Wilder would deserve the sack at Sheffield United after one point from 12 matches. Before the latest and worst defeat of the season, the Blades’ owner Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Abdulaziz, said he planned to stand by Wilder regardless of whether he was able to pull off a miraculous escape this season.We can only hope his resolve is stronger than it was in Bradford because his support makes perfect sense. Wilder took the Blades from League One to the Premier League in three seasons. In 2019-20 he almost took them into the Europa League which would have been ridiculous under the circumstances. Eighteen months ago his managerial peers voted him the manager of the year, ahead of league champion Pep Guardiola.

He has not suddenly become a bad manager. If they went down without him they would want a manager with a Championship track record – a manager like Wilder. Outside of the top six or seven in the league, the margins are very thin. Last season the Blades got the better of them.

Marcelo Bielsa is perhaps suffering too for expectations he has raised at Leeds, not that there are any mutterings about him being sacked, just questioning of his methods.

Like the Blades last season, he has built a squad greater than the sum of its parts – the ultimate test of a manager or coach.

The Whites are very light on Premier League experience so, like Rotherham United and Harrogate Town, we should not expect them to stroll into their new surroundings. Because Leeds played so well against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Arsenal, Everton and even in defeat at Liverpool, we can lose sight of that.

Aspiring to be better is part of being a football fan, player, manager and owner. Remembering where you came from is important too.

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