The Official Sunderland thread
Discussion
p4cks said:
As a neutral I see things differently.
I see a club which isn't being ran properly and hasn't been for a number of years; changing a manager every 8/12 months is not going to give you stability. It could have been Allardyce getting them relegated, it could have been Mourinho it really doesn't matter that it was Moyes. Sunderland were always doomed to go down and were incredibly fortunate to stay in the PL this long.
Now the thing is, and this again is from a neutral looking at both of the NE clubs, is that Sunderland will never, ever be competitive in the PL whilst Newcastle are there (or thereabouts). The thing is Sunderland will never be able to attract the kind of player that Newcastle can because of the type of city Newcastle is versus Sunderland as well as the history of the club and the fans.
What history is that? Since the inception of the Premier league? Recent? Since the clubs were formed? If you said perceived history I would agree
The only time someone would sign for Sunderland over Newcastle would be wages. And then you start attracting the journeyman players who know they're coming to the end of their career but still want the massive payday - O'Shea, Lescott, Anichebe, Pienar, Gibson, Oviedo. None of them could really give a s
t. The rest of the squad are just average and in the PL that just doesn't work anymore.
The only caveat to all of this is of course Defoe (and Pickford who's had a good season largely because he's had shots peppered at him all season) - if any of the other players had even 10% of his desire or commitment then Sunderland would probably have had a higher finish. I'm not saying they'd have stayed up but looking at the rest of the team (and seeing them play myself, I got some of those free tickets that Sunderland are seemingly infamous for) they are completely out of sorts.
As much as it pains me Defoe downed tools a while ago, he has been fantastic for us but I think the last 2 months he's given up. I can't really blame him, playing with that shower must be soul destroying
Another contributing factor will be the fact that Sunderland are skint, massively. The worrying thing is they don't have any assets of any great value. Take out Pickford £20M maybe?, Borini £5M max, Kone £10M and Khazri £12M there's little else left other than has beens and misfits who will leave on a free transfer or be released so as to cut the wage bill. I really worry that Sunderland might be another Blackpool/WIgan/QPR/Villa/Blackburn et al.
Apart from Pickfords fee you're miles out on what the others are worth IMHO. Spot on with what the club could become though
I know this might have come across as an argument starter and that's what I'm trying to avoid. I just wanted to add a balance to the posts, from a neutral. I'm so neutral I used to support Spurs as a child because Gazza was my favourite player and he played for them at the time, and for the last 5 or so years I've had a season ticket at Hartlepool for a laugh and what a laugh it's been but that will need a thread all of its own.
If you'd put that at the start I wouldn't have bothered reading it all
I see a club which isn't being ran properly and hasn't been for a number of years; changing a manager every 8/12 months is not going to give you stability. It could have been Allardyce getting them relegated, it could have been Mourinho it really doesn't matter that it was Moyes. Sunderland were always doomed to go down and were incredibly fortunate to stay in the PL this long.
Now the thing is, and this again is from a neutral looking at both of the NE clubs, is that Sunderland will never, ever be competitive in the PL whilst Newcastle are there (or thereabouts). The thing is Sunderland will never be able to attract the kind of player that Newcastle can because of the type of city Newcastle is versus Sunderland as well as the history of the club and the fans.
What history is that? Since the inception of the Premier league? Recent? Since the clubs were formed? If you said perceived history I would agree
The only time someone would sign for Sunderland over Newcastle would be wages. And then you start attracting the journeyman players who know they're coming to the end of their career but still want the massive payday - O'Shea, Lescott, Anichebe, Pienar, Gibson, Oviedo. None of them could really give a s
t. The rest of the squad are just average and in the PL that just doesn't work anymore. The only caveat to all of this is of course Defoe (and Pickford who's had a good season largely because he's had shots peppered at him all season) - if any of the other players had even 10% of his desire or commitment then Sunderland would probably have had a higher finish. I'm not saying they'd have stayed up but looking at the rest of the team (and seeing them play myself, I got some of those free tickets that Sunderland are seemingly infamous for) they are completely out of sorts.
As much as it pains me Defoe downed tools a while ago, he has been fantastic for us but I think the last 2 months he's given up. I can't really blame him, playing with that shower must be soul destroying
Another contributing factor will be the fact that Sunderland are skint, massively. The worrying thing is they don't have any assets of any great value. Take out Pickford £20M maybe?, Borini £5M max, Kone £10M and Khazri £12M there's little else left other than has beens and misfits who will leave on a free transfer or be released so as to cut the wage bill. I really worry that Sunderland might be another Blackpool/WIgan/QPR/Villa/Blackburn et al.
Apart from Pickfords fee you're miles out on what the others are worth IMHO. Spot on with what the club could become though
I know this might have come across as an argument starter and that's what I'm trying to avoid. I just wanted to add a balance to the posts, from a neutral. I'm so neutral I used to support Spurs as a child because Gazza was my favourite player and he played for them at the time, and for the last 5 or so years I've had a season ticket at Hartlepool for a laugh and what a laugh it's been but that will need a thread all of its own.
If you'd put that at the start I wouldn't have bothered reading it all
f
ellroy said:
I'm not sure how I'd react to that.
At least he showing his character. Your thoughts AK/Ray et al?
Bit miffed, he's headed up an absolute joke of a season and it's surprising that he isn't paying the price for that considering how Short seems like like wielding the axe when it comes to failing managers (of which we have had many).At least he showing his character. Your thoughts AK/Ray et al?
Maybe getting him out of the media spotlight and back to basics will help him - I certainly hope so because the rebuild is going to take a good few years and it's a mammoth job.
My main concern is the rest of the fan base, I live in Aberdeen so I don't get to games often (going to the Swansea one next week however) but I'd imagine that the atmosphere would be pretty pants this last month or so, if the crowd turn against him big time and that carries over the summer it could be a looooooooooooooooong season.
Hopefully a positive transfer window and a nice young, football hungry squad going into next season, in comparison to the dross we have playing for us now, will get the fans reinvigorated.
Summed up our arsewipe of a club at the moment taking part in that 26th minute ste.
About time the ginger one acted like a man and walked instead of waiting to be sacked. The stand off between him and Short is going to fk up what little chance we have of doing anything next season.
I still think we'll struggle but if the situation goes on much longer then we could really be in the st.
te. About time the ginger one acted like a man and walked instead of waiting to be sacked. The stand off between him and Short is going to f
k up what little chance we have of doing anything next season.I still think we'll struggle but if the situation goes on much longer then we could really be in the s
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