FA CUP 3RD ROUND Driven out on Facebook, this Bentley is heading in a new direction... and ‘likes’ it
‘Be Wilder to succeed’
SHEFF UTD
AFC FYLDE boss Jim Bentley says Chris Wilder is proof to young English managers everywhere that they can make it to the top of the game if they have what it takes.
The pair lock horns at Bramall Lane today when Fylde’s non-league side take on Wilder’s high-flying Sheffield United.
Bentley and his dangerous midfielder Ryan Croasdale (above) will be doing everything to inflict a second successive third-round shock on the Blades, following non-league Barnet’s success last year.
But Bentley has total respect for his opposite number.
“As a manager who wants to manage at the highest level, Chris Wilder’s success is fantastic,”he said.
“It’s great to see a homegrown English manager who has done his apprenticeship, so to speak, at the lower levels and worked hi s way up.” Wilder’s career path since entering management has seen him go from Alfreton through Halifax, Oxford and Northampton before Sheffield United.
He has gained promotions with all of the last three, taking the Blades from League One to the Premier League.
Bentley says Wilder’s formula is simple, citing the building blocks of “hard work”, but insisted there is more to his approach.
“Yes they work hard but they have created something different at Sheffield with their three at the back and overlapping centre-halves,” added Bentley.
“It is refreshing in this day and age to see an English manager doing so well in that regard.”
JIM BENTLEY is used to surprises.
But even the longest serving manager in the Football League was stunned to read on Facebook that a fans’ poll suggested it was time for him to go.
He was even more shocked to discover that one of League Two Morecambe’s co-owners had cast his vote, saying that Bentley should be sacked.
To coin Facebook, Bentley didn’t ‘Like’ that.
So when ambitious non-league outfit AFC Fylde from down the coast came calling in October,
Bentley created a sensation of his own. The 43-year-old swapped the Football League for the National League after eight years as the Shrimps boss.
Today he will be looking to create more shockwaves as AFC Fylde, who were only created in their present guise in 2008, step into the FA Cup third round against Premier League Sheffield United.
As a diehard Evertonian, Bentley stole into enemy territory on Thursday night for a look at today’s Bramall Lane opponents against champions-elect Liverpool.
He said: “I’m certain there will be lots of changes in the Sheffield United side from the one on Thursday. But it’s still important to take a look because you get the gist of how they play. Chris Wilder has done an excellent job, that’s for sure.”
The last time the pair locked managerial horns was when Wilder was in charge of Northampton with Bentley immersed in his annual battle to maintain Morecambe’s league status on a small budget.
Confronted
For 18 months, following the departures of Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Exeter’s Paul Tisdale, Bentley enjoyed the status of the Football League’s longest surviving manager.
He served as a player, captain and nine years as coach at Morecambe and admitted: “That’s something no one can take away and not bad for someone in their first job.” It’s why