The jungle drums – as usual – were right, but it was Sheffield, not South London where Wilder rocked up.
He still lives in the city, played over 200 games for United, and is a life long Blades fan. In short, Bramall Lane is his dream job, with Charlton seemingly no more than a diversion to force United’s hand.
Demanding written clauses in his contract that no manger in the country has, gave Wilder the opportunity to stall long enough to wait for the Blades to make their move.
He was installed at Bramall Lane within hours of Nigel Adkins’ sacking, no demands for transfer autonomy this time. Hmmm.
Wilder has taken 15 years to become an overnight sensation. He has spent his entire managerial career at Conference and League Two level without pulling up any trees until recently.
He then done magnificently well with Oxford, propelling the U’s to the upper echelons of League Two, before, surprisingly, leaving to join a Northampton side adrift at the bottom of the division.
This season has been little short of astonishing. He guided the Cobblers to the title, despite the club coming within five days of going out of business in November.
The success did not go unnoticed, Charlton, Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United being alerted to his talents.
At least two of those clubs agreed to pay the substantial compensation fee needed to trigger Wilder’s release clause.
Strangely though, Northampton seemingly made little effort to keep him. An abrasive character at the best of times, it seems inevitable that Wilder would quickly have fallen foul of both the senior management team and the players at The Valley. Perhaps – for all the wrong reasons – the Addicks dodged a bullet.
Where do Charlton go now though? Things have gone very quiet on the Lennie Lawrence front. If the Addicks legend does not return, they are unlikely to turn to a rookie manager like Simon Clark.
Ironically, Sheffield United’s recently departed manager – Nigel Adkins – ticks most, if not all of the boxes. He led Scunthorpe and Southampton out of League One, and went on to earn a back-to-back promotion at St Mary’s that saw Saints return to the Premier League.
He was perhaps unlucky to lose his job, but Southampton had done their homework and made an inspired choice in Mauricio Pochettino to take the club forward.
Adkins has fared less well since, he hardly pulled up any trees at either Reading or Sheffield United, and will be desperate to re-establish his reputation.
A year ago, Steve Cotterill was celebrating Bristol City’s return to the Championship.
A bubbly, lively west countryman, Cotterill’s enthusiasm is infectious. In the right environment, he can lift spirits and, as Bristol City proved, his teams can flourish.
Adkins and Cotterill look the front runners for the Valley hot seat and Charlton will be keen to make an early appointment to enable the player recruitment process to begin.
Fans may have to be a little patient though, the appointment of the club’s next boss may not happen as quickly as it did at Bramall Lane.