Why Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder is suffering from 'Jack Charlton Syndrome'
Familiarity breeds contempt was a mantra Jack Charlton believed in and Chris Wilder will also be all to aware of it’s meaning
Chris Wilder is suffering from what I call Jack Charlton syndrome.
Unrelenting success is the only cure. Let me explain.
Way back in the 1970s when Big Jack became a manager he proclaimed that five years was long enough at any one club. Any longer and he reckoned supporters would become restless for a change.
Up until his legendary decade in charge of Ireland, Charlton stuck to his own advice. He served four years at Middlesbrough and five-and-half years at Sheffield Wednesday, leaving both on his own terms, before becoming quickly disillusioned at Newcastle and quitting after just 14 months.
I doubt any of this will be lost on Wilder at Sheffield United, where his once seemingly unassailable personal popularity has been under greater challenge than at any time of his three tenures, currently totalling seven-and-a-half years.
Even allowing for the gaps in between and Wilder's standing as a "one of our own" Blade, he is in Big Jack territory for patience and tolerance.
I'd argue this has nothing to do with his ability in the job and that United couldn't have a better man in charge, especially in today's highly testing circumstances which are decidedly not of his own making.
The problem as I see it, as a neutral observer of Sheffield football although admittedly someone who has known Wilder for many years, is the truth of the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt.
People become weary of same-old even more rapidly than in Charlton's day; they hanker for change, often without considering what it might look like.
I'd be surprised if even Wilder himself has not pinned down this factor in his own thoughts, whether he gives voice to it or not.
And, in fairness, there has to come a time when the Blades move on, find a new way forward.
But now is not that time by any logical analysis. Two promotions and an almost forgotten ninth-place finish in the top flight puts Wilder heavily in credit, much as he would own his part in Premier League relegation.
Yet ultimately there are very few exceptions to Big Jack's five-year yardstick - unless you are a big club trophy-a-year winner like Fergie or Pep.
So I continue to surmise this, as per previous columns, as a pivotal season for one of Bramall Lane's most successful ever managers.
However, I'd add one more saying to "familiarity breeds contempt." It is: "Be careful what you wish for."