Chris Wilder promoted all manner of speculation this week, with comments he made suggesting he might leave Sheffield United if board room issues were not resolved.

The Blades have stumbled at the final hurdle after threatening to break into the top six all season, but it has still be a superb return to Championship action for them.

Wilder's side have been knocking on the door all season long, but a run of poor form has seen them slide away late on.

The former Halifax, Oxford and Northampton manager has been working his way up through the divisions and is seemingly ready for that next step up, or maybe even down if speculation is to be believed.

He's emerged as an early favourite to take over at the Stadium of Light after Chris Coleman's sacking, but would the move be right for him and Sunderland? There's only one way to find out, another FLW spotlight.

Wilder has been I charge of the Blades for 101 matches, spanning League One and the Championship. Of those games he's won 54, a fine return that has seen his side climb to the top ten in the Championship.

He's only lost 28 games, drawing even fewer than that. The points have been shared on 19 occasions meaning he's won almost three times as many games as he has drawn and almost twice as many as he has lost.

His win ratio is 53.5%, boosted by the League One win last season but nonetheless, a fine return. That results in 1.79 points per game, enough to ensure any side is challenging at the right end of their division.

Wilder has all the ingredients to be a success at Sunderland, they're a big club and he's won that division before. His decision would surely come down to whether he's happy at Bramall Lane and whether he feels the Sunderland take over is going to be sufficient to halt their off-field collapse.

If so, then maybe Chris Wilder could swap the Championship for League One, taking one step back to spring two forward in the long term.