Why Chris Wilder makes Jack Rodwell and Sheffield United the perfect match

Those are the words of Jack Rodwell on August 12 2012.

It was the day the midfielder completed a £12m move to the Etihad from his boyhood club Everton and, to use a footballing cliché, had the world at his feet.

He had just broken into the national squad under Fabio Capello and was widely regarded as one of the hottest properties in the English game.

At the time the Italian predicted 21-year-old Rodwell would be ‘very important for many years to come’.

But for one reason or another his move to City did not work out and he joined Sunderland for a reported £10m in August 2014.

It’s fair to say his four-year stay on Wearside is not remembered fondly among the Stadium of Light faithful to put it mildly

One article penned in the North East at the time of his Sunderland exit in June 2018 carried the headline ‘Pound for pound, Jack Rodwell must be the worst signing in Sunderland's history’.

Another publication referred to his stint there ‘as one of the most unhappy sagas in Sunderland’s recent history’ after the midfielder was criticised for sitting tight on a big salary following the club’s Premier League relegation..

In fact, any story written about Rodwell in reference to his Sunderland experience will more often than not refer to him as 'flop’ or ‘misfit’.

If you go on social media or any fans' forum you'll find much harsher adjectives to describe the Merseysider.

But if there’s one manager who can succeed where others have perhaps failed, it’s Chris Wilder.

One figure in the game who firmly believes this to be the case is Simon Grayson, who managed Rodwell during his short spell in charge on Wearside in 2017.

Grayson was only at Sunderland for four months but saw enough from the 28-year-old ‘special talent’ to suggest he could still go on to enjoy a successful career in the game – especially under a manager like Wilder.

“For me, as his manager, he was good to work with,” said Grayson an interview with the Athletic.

“Chris might be just the right manager to get him going again. In many ways, he is a very Chris Wilder sort of signing.

“There have been a few at Sheffield United who were given a chance and it really worked out well. Lads like David McGoldrick, who was on trial a couple of summers ago; what a great signing he proved to be.

“Not all transfers work. That is just how it is in football. But there would be nothing to lose for Chris to sign Jack as he is a special talent.”

Grayson highlighted how he believed Rodwell was made a ‘scapegoat through no fault of his own’.

“It wasn’t his fault the contract had no relegation clause,” said Grayson. “There was a Q&A with fans that I went to as manager. His wages kept being brought up. I asked the entire room if they would be willing to accept a pay cut of 40-50 per cent and not one arm went up.”

Wilder, himself, has been impressed with what he has seen from Rodwell during his short time training with the Blades and says ‘there have been no issue with his attitude’.

And, like Grayson, the United manager has suggested the problems he experienced in the North East were not of his own making – touching on a recent Netflix documentary on the Black Cats not painting an entirely accurate picture of the midfielder's time on Wearside.

"From my point of view that's history. All the boxes that I needed to tick, and Jack needed to tick, he has done,” said Wilder.

"I've sat down with him for quite a long time and spoke about his career going forward, it aligns with the club's goals.”

So while the short-term move to United may not be the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity he was given when he joined City, it certainly is another chance afforded to him to resurrect a career which has become more of a nightmare than a 'dream come true’.

“He definitely has all the tools (to do so),” said Grayson. “He is 6ft 2in, he can pass with both feet, and he is mobile.”