SUNDERLAND outcast Matt Kilgallon is on the verge of ending his Wearside misery with a loan move to the Championship. The ex-Sheffield United centre-half has not featured for the Black Catsâ first team since May last year and is free to leave the Stadium of Light. While Black Cats boss Steve Bruce has enjoyed success in offloading fellow out-of-favour defenders Nyron Nosworthy and George McCartney, Kilgallon remains on Sunderlandâs books with more than 18 months still to run on his contract. But Championship outfits Birmingham City, Nottingham Forest, Millwall and Burnley are believed to be upping their interest in the 27-year-old, with a loan move potentially being concluded this week. âA few Championship clubs are looking at Matt, although I donât want to say exactly who they are at this stage,â said Kilgallonâs agent Paul Masterton. âBut they are considering taking Matt on loan until January and I think there is a good chance that something will happen this week. âIt has been a very difficult time for Matt because he is not playing at Sunderland and that doesnât look like changing for now. âHe just wants to be back playing again and a loan move would be the best option for him at the moment. âHe hasnât given up on Sunderland â you never know what is around the corner in football â but he does need to play games somewhere.â Kilgallon (left) has made just seven appearances for the Black Cats since arriving in a £2million deal from Sheffield United in January last year. After failing to impress Bruce, the former Leeds United man was sent out on loan to Middlesbrough at the start of last season, only for the spell to be cut short by a back injury. He eventually returned to the Championship with Doncaster Rovers, but struggled to make an impact at the Keepmoat Stadium. Kilgallon was not given a squad number by the Wearsiders at the start of the season and has found himself below rookie defenders Louis Laing and John Egan in the pecking order, with both youngsters appearing on Sunderlandâs bench. Bruce said: âMatt needs to go somewhere to start playing games again, because unfortunately he isnât getting games here at Sunderland. âIf youâre not in the first team, you need to move on. Matt knows the situation.â If Bruce can offload Kilgallon, it will be further progress for the Sunderland boss in his attempts to ease the pressure on the clubâs wage bill. Argentine Marcos Angeleri, still on the sidelines after knee surgery, will be the only player left at Bruceâs disposal who doesnât figure in his first-team plans. Free up a couple of quid....
His signing has to go down as one of the biggest disasters of Bruce’s reign. When we needed money for better players, he wasted probably the best part of 4m (signing and wages) on a player that has never made any impact whatsoever here. That 4m could have been used to keep Bent FFS. Bruce is often praised for his transfer dealings but all I see are some very good players coming in for 5 mins, having a good look around and then ****ing off as quickly as they came. I see players who should have improved us not making much impact or being used very well and I see some disasters like Killgallon. I see some loan deals that have cost us as a club dearly in the long term and I see last minute panic buying as with Bendtner. What I have never seen in 2.5 years is a workable plan of action, where positions are systematically filled and tactical formations put into place. We just seem to jump around from player to player (or many players to many other players during one transfer window to another transfer window) and no pattern of play or balance. We are as unsettled and out of shape today as we were when Bruce took over form the equally hapless and equally out of his depth Ricky Sbragia 2.5 years ago. I had hoped that by this time we would be no more than 3 or 4 players short of a decent well oiled unit but as we head towards yet another Transfer window of uncertainty, we are probably as many players short of that settled team as we were all that time ago at Bruce’s inauguration. Piss poor management doesn’t really cover the travesty upon which Bruce has formed his SAFC career imo. Complete and utter bollocks is closer and downright shambolic tops it for me.
Was he ever given a chance? Twenty minutes here, ten minutes there is a waste of time. You have to give somebody half a dozen games to prove themselves. Turner imo is sh*te but we play him. Welbeck & Campbell were sh*te initially but with more game time but proved themselves. Not pro Kilgannon just a view
Agree with giving someone a chance if their up to it BUT sometimes it can be down to their attitude shown on or off the training pitch.
The only way he'd find out would be if you were able to get a message to his person, so that that person could tell him.
