The Lenihan deal shows Wilder is the right man for the Boro job

viv_andersons_nana

viv_andersons_nana

Well-known member
For years the Boro have needed a proper central defender. This goes back to when we were in the Premier League and subsequently relegated. We had Ben Gibson and nothing else, nothing for years before him. Monk, Pulis, Woodgate and Warnock never signed a proper one between them in about six seasons combined, despite it being a clear area of the team that needed to be improved right across that time. Flint, Shotton, Mokoudi. Bamba was the best of the bunch, a bloke in his mid-30s just back from a serious illness and with his best years firmly behind him.

Wilder comes in and has now seemingly signed one of the best in the division in Darragh Lenihan. To my mind this bodes well and shows that there's no messing about now. No stop gaps, no short termism. Lenihan has 250 games under his belt and wore the armband for his former club. He is exactly what the Boro have needed for a very long time IMO.

Fingers crossed they get the deal completed and we can look ahead to the next one coming in.
 
viv_andersons_nana said:
For years the Boro have needed a proper central defender. This goes back to when we were in the Premier League and subsequently relegated. We had Ben Gibson and nothing else, nothing for years before him. Monk, Pulis, Woodgate and Warnock never signed a proper one between them in about six seasons combined, despite it being a clear area of the team that needed to be improved right across that time. Flint, Shotton, Mokoudi. Bamba was the best of the bunch, a bloke in his mid-30s just back from a serious illness and with his best years firmly behind him.

Wilder comes in and has now seemingly signed one of the best in the division in Darragh Lenihan. To my mind this bodes well and shows that there's no messing about now. No stop gaps, no short termism. Lenihan has 250 games under his belt and wore the armband for his former club. He is exactly what the Boro have needed for a very long time IMO.

Fingers crossed they get the deal completed and we can look ahead to the next one coming in.
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I mentioned on the 'Manager merry-go-round' thread that I think he is a poor man's Steve McClaren and that he will be off at the first opportunity for a so called bigger club. There is something about Wilder that I cannot put my finger on and was surprised to read how many on here agreed with me.

I hope I am proved wrong about the above, but for Wilder to get his big opportunity he needs to make the Boro sing and improve the football that is on offer. That way he starts to get noticed and will be in the frame for a top club.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I mentioned on the 'Manager merry-go-round' thread that I think he is a poor man's Steve McClaren and that he will be off at the first opportunity for a so called bigger club. There is something about Wilder that I cannot put my finger on and was surprised to read how many on here agreed with me.

I hope I am proved wrong about the above, but for Wilder to get his big opportunity he needs to make the Boro sing and improve the football that is on offer. That way he starts to get noticed and will be in the frame for a top club.
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Surely the same can be said of any manager though, or at least most.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I mentioned on the 'Manager merry-go-round' thread that I think he is a poor man's Steve McClaren and that he will be off at the first opportunity for a so called bigger club. There is something about Wilder that I cannot put my finger on and was surprised to read how many on here agreed with me.

I hope I am proved wrong about the above, but for Wilder to get his big opportunity he needs to make the Boro sing and improve the football that is on offer. That way he starts to get noticed and will be in the frame for a top club.
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It's an interesting view, partly because it isn't backed up by the facts of his career so far.

Following on from a season in charge of Alfreton Town, he did Halifax Town(2002-2008), Oxford United(2008-2014), Northampton Town(2014-2016), Sheffield United(2016-2021). That doesn't look like a manager who chases 'bigger' jobs or leaves clubs at the earliest opportunity, whenever someone perceived as bigger shows an interest or is linked in the papers.

The short spell at Northampton may stand out but look at what was going on there at the time, with players not being paid and a club in turmoil off the field. Can you blame him for wanting to take the chance to his hometown club after that period? I certainly can't.

I think maybe the Burnley issue last season has put a few people off and I agree he could and should have put it to bed sooner, or much more effectively, than he did but the bottom line is nobody will ever know what went on. How do we know that Burnley didn't make an approach and the club accepted it, for example, and that annoyed him or make him doubt the 'project'? We will never know. It's just speculation. All we can go off is his track record and his body of work, which to my mind is very impressive.
 
uncle_rico said:
Surely the same can be said of any manager though, or at least most.
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I am not silly enough to suggest it couldn't happen with any other manager but there is something about Wilder that I can't put my finger on and this is stopping me from backing him 100%.

I am not saying I am right and want to be proved wrong, I think he's the best manager we've had since Karanka and would love him to commit long term.

Viv - You say it's not backed up by fact then discuss the Burnley situation. I had this feeling prior to that but that saga didn't help and I think it cost us a place in the play-offs.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I am not silly enough to suggest it couldn't happen with any other manager but there is something about Wilder that I can't put my finger on and this is stopping me from backing him 100%.

I am not saying I am right and want to be proved wrong, I think he's the best manager we've had since Karanka and would love him to commit long term.

Viv - You say it's not backed up by fact then discuss the Burnley situation. I had this feeling prior to that but that saga didn't help and I think it cost us a place in the play-offs.
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The whole Burnley thing, if it was ever even a thing, left a slightly sour taste, but he did eventually commit to the club, and I agree that it shouldn't have ever got to the point where it came to that. He has to deliver this season though otherwise questions will start to be asked.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I am not silly enough to suggest it couldn't happen with any other manager but there is something about Wilder that I can't put my finger on and this is stopping me from backing him 100%.

I am not saying I am right and want to be proved wrong, I think he's the best manager we've had since Karanka and would love him to commit long term.

Viv - You say it's not backed up by fact then discuss the Burnley situation. I had this feeling prior to that but that saga didn't help and I think it cost us a place in the play-offs.
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My point about that was that there are no facts available to us though? We don’t know if Burnley ever approached Boro, or Wilder, whether he was interested or even spoke to anyone from Burnley. Or whether Boro gave him permission to talk to them. It’s pure speculation, reading a lot into each and every word Wilder said at the time because there’s no facts around. We’ll never know what happened there. It caused a stir online but did it cause a stir anywhere else? Again, we’ll never really know.
 
We don't have any proof other than it coincided with a downturn in our form that eventually cost us a play-off place, would you agree with that?

Wilder is on record stating he could have handled the situation better and as Uncle_Rico mentions in his reply 'he has to deliver this season though otherwise questions will start to be asked.'
 
Norman_Conquest said:
We don't have any proof other than it coincided with a downturn in our form that eventually cost us a play-off place, would you agree with that?

Wilder is on record stating he could have handled the situation better and as Uncle_Rico mentions in his reply 'he has to deliver this season though otherwise questions will start to be asked.'
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In the period between him being linked with the Burnley job, and him categorically ruling himself out of it, we won 2, drew 1, lost 1.

The Preston defeat was after he had publicly and emphatically committed himself to Middlesbrough.
 
Norman_Conquest said:
I mentioned on the 'Manager merry-go-round' thread that I think he is a poor man's Steve McClaren and that he will be off at the first opportunity for a so called bigger club. There is something about Wilder that I cannot put my finger on and was surprised to read how many on here agreed with me.

I hope I am proved wrong about the above, but for Wilder to get his big opportunity he needs to make the Boro sing and improve the football that is on offer. That way he starts to get noticed and will be in the frame for a top club.
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In this day and age the instance of a manager staying at one club for the vast majority of his career is almost unheard of tbh, though it's really a case of when and the exact timing and manner in which a manager moves on.

I'm rather interested with the "needing to make the Boro sing and improve the football" bit (and the possible ramifications of that) tbh.
 
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