Merson Backs ‘Fantastic’ English Manager To Be A Contender For West Ham Job

Merson Backs ‘Fantastic’ English Manager To Be A Contender For West Ham Job

Paul Merson believes Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder should be a candidate for the top jobs in English football after his superb work with the Blades.

The TV pundit feels that both West Ham and Arsenal should seriously consider the Englishman if they dispense with their current managers, after guiding United to fifth in the table:

“Chris Wilder has done a fantastic job at Sheffield United and deserves a crack at a really big job at some point. We should all be talking about him right now but we’re not. Maybe his name’s too English? But look at what he’s achieved.”

“Managers like Unai Emery and Manuel Pellegrini are under pressure, and okay you never know for sure if a manager can make such a big step up. But Chris Wilder has got to be in the conversation the next time a big job comes up. He deserves it.”



Wilder is very much flavour of the month at the moment, and while he has done an excellent job at Bramall Lane, it would be a kneejerk appointment if the Hammers did look to the former Oxford and Northampton boss.

There is no doubt that Wilder has shown himself to be an innovative tactician, with his 3-5-2 system using unconventional overlapping centre-backs to overload opponents on the wings.

However, he has just 12 games experience in the top flight, and West Ham’s board would likely want to see how Wilder fares over a whole Premier League season.