Blades have cut Wilder far too quickly

SHEFFIELD UNITED were in League One going absolutely nowhere when Chris Wilder arrived.

Almost overnight, the Blades’ fortunes sky-rocketed, culminating in a campaign 12 months ago where they feared no one and stood toe-to-toe with the Premier League’s best.

The wheels have fallen off this season, yet they’ve still to take a real hammering, with only Chelsea scoring four against them.

The players certainly haven’t chucked in the towel for their manager, despite being tied to the foot of the table almost from day one.

That fact alone speaks volumes.

It’s a familiar story as far as seasoned observers of football are concerned.

There have been plenty of Championship clubs who suddenly found themselves promoted into the big league then dump their managers as soon as the momentum disappears.

It is just a shame because when the Blades are in the second tier next season, Wilder (above) will be exactly the type of guy the club needs to find its feet quickly.

It can be done. Daniel Farke at Norwich and Sean Dyche at Burnley are proof of that. It’s a shame Wilder’s own boyhood club didn’t show the same loyalty.

THE upshot of the row between referee Darren Drysdale and Ipswich Town’s Alan Judge should bring another improvement to the game.

To recap, the big official lost his rag with the Tractor Boys’ player – squaring up to him – after judging that the midfielder had dived to win a penalty in the last minute of a game against Northampton.

Drysdale’s submission this week was that the Irishman had been abusive in the extreme. Judge contests that.

Never mind the fact that the official should have awarded the Ipswich man a red card anyway for language that 32-year-old Judge accepts was abusive, what was actually said should have been recorded. Refs should be mic’d up. That way the argument would have been properly settled by the facts, not by an unseemly war of words.