There is a lot on here who believe we belong in the Prem I believe the Championship is about our proper level be nice if it wasn't but there you go.
Have to say I disagree with you there. In terms of the size of the club, history, fanbase, infrastructure etc, we "should" be at least hovering between 10th and 15th in the Premier League in my opinion. Teams like West Brom, Burnley, Watford, Stoke and Southampton have all managed it and none of them are what you would call "bigger" clubs than Sunderland. Difference is none of those clubs have been mismanaged from top to bottom for four seasons...
I was referring to how long it's been since Quinny was here; obviously he made plenty of bad calls himself but at least he was a football person and he understood the club. Short, Byrne, and Bain don't seem to have a clue.
I don't buy all that personally, it's a results based industry so we're simply at the level we are at, which is the worst team in the top flight as it stands. Do we deserve to be there? Damn right we do. If we get out of it, then we've earned our place. If we go down it's where we should be.
Maybe I wasn't quite clear in my point; I'm not saying we have some divine right to be in the Premier League because we have a big ground and large away crowds, or that we deserve to be there over any of those other clubs. I'm saying that those clubs have put us to shame by showing ambition, building their squads in the right way, and backing their managers, and that we have failed to live up to the standards set by the rest of the league. Everything should be there in theory for us to be a mid-table PL team but we haven't managed it. If the Championship is the right level overall for our club, then by that logic the last ten years should be looked at as a golden era of over-achievement, and I don't think anyone would argue for that point...
Just on the subject of the state of Safc I was watching El Classico and Rakatich scored for Barca and I remembered we were linked with him. So I googled it and apparently it was suggested by Ian Atkins (ex player and then scout) to sign him in 2011 but SAFC declined the fee was £ 380,000. Just about sums the incompetent f** kers up.
Still think it all counts for nothing. We've the facilities, attendances and ground to be champions league regulars and top 6 in our country if you want to base it on those things. But it all counts for nothing. Results define everything for me.
Seen relegation many times over the years and seen some fine promising teams that were dismantled when a new manager was appointed. We can grumble and grunt all we want but over the years supporters have wanted the best whilst not willing to wait for it to happen leading to our big player and manager turnover. This season has been the worst in my memory for injuries and for all we clamour for bigger signings only big money will attract them to us without the guarantee of performance. I am coming to the conclusion that we are nothing more than victims of the way modern football is going as there are too many people involve in our drop over too long a time. What we do not need however, is the kind of moping we are seeing among the supporters, whatever happens the club will survive and staying away until it rises again was never the way to go in the past.
