For debate...... Why can't we attract a top coach of the likes of Guus Hiddink or Luis Van Gaal. We have the Ground, the training facilities, the fans & a chairman/owner who has the finances. Is it purely to do with location? After all the history of SAFC is one of the greatest in English football. Durham & Northumberland are some of the most beautiful places to live in the country. I'm sure these top coaches want to manage the best teamsin the Premiership but why don't they take on a challenge like our club and prove how good they really are...'Hey look I took an underachieving Sunderland & got them into the Champions league etc'.... Surely that is a greater achievement than say managing Man City or United or Chelsea with all the top players & money and doing the same thing. A certain Middlesbrough bloke took Derby to the title and then Forest to the Title & ultimately became champions of Europe twice. It's not all to do with money but how they can coach players and how their tactics affect the game. A ggod honest debate is what I would like & not just cos 'you are &^$£%' cos at the moment under Bruce I know we are. KTF
I don't mean this in a disrespective way, but over the last 20 years you guys have been dipping in and out of the upper and lower leagues - being relegated on more than one occasion. As you know, most managers are old fellas, so being able to remember the history of a team in the EPL isn't too difficult at all. For that reason, you may not be seen as one of the more 'stable' Premier League clubs with a long pedigree. A few years is a very short amount of time in football. Just look at us. We had CL football, facing some of the best and largest teams in the world, and we were big spenders. But within a few years we were in the Championship. It's all very fickle.
Geography is a big one. In my time of supporting Newcastle we have only had one big name manager and he was from the area!!!
Syd, say that we do, then lose or draw the next two games, we will still be in the same position with a manger who is not good enough. I don't want to dis Bruce as I think he is a genuine guy but I just don't think he is good enough. But my issue is still WHY can't we attract a top coach/manager?
Ok Geography you say, but ffs you can get a train to London in less than 3 hours & these guys are rich enough to fly. I just don't see why London or Manchester has so much pulling power than our neck of the woods. Surely paying a top coach 3-5 million a year would be re-couped with a successful team. (I know having a top coach won't gaurantee improvement) but we've tried the mediocre to crap coach/manager and that hasn't worked.
The north east is promoted very poorly compared with other areas of the country so to a foreign manager it will come way down the pecking order than an arsenal,Liverpool or a villa for instance.We usually stay over in Sunderland or Newcastle if we play at weekend as its usually a good craic,we do swerve Middlesbrough though but that's another story.Cant see you going anywhere with Busface and I would hope Niall,through the enormous respect the footballing world should have for him,can bring that big name in.Martin Oneill would be a good shout especially as he'll be itching to get back in now
We once (as a second division team) had the highest paid manager in the country....a certain Mr Makem-enemy. Paying huge wonga doesn't guarantee success
It's got now't to do with Geography IMO. It's all about the money. Remember Mackemeny? Traveled the length of the country to "manage" us. Why? Cause he was the highest paid manager in England in his time with Sunderland. Wish he hadn't bloody bothered mind.
If Capello cant make it up for 1 game in 3 years (seems a lot longer than that) and 6 million a year, then what chance have we got, even Keane didnt move up here, hence the argument and him leaving. Its like to everyone else we may as well be 20,000 miles away and in the North Poll ffs.
But surely this north/south divide has been around for ever. During our glory days there was heavy industry up here and the people were working class then, no different to now. Just can't understand it. Surely if the ambition is here & the money (Short is not short of a bob) then we should be able to attract the type of coach/manager we all want. I don't clas MON in the same league as Guus Hiddink, or Van Gaal or Hitzfeld etc.
Nothing to do with where we are it's all to do with who we are, the one overriding thing that would draw a top quality manager to us is success and we haven't had any of that for years. Look at the top managers in the PL and they are all bar Moyes in the top six teams and, the thing those teams have is success.
Because they don't know who we are, if we were to offer them a lot of money then it would all change.
For me i dont think the likes of Van Gaal, Hiddink, Van Basten or Rijkaard would be any use at all for the likes of us. They are all Champions League managers or ex players used to operating in an area we can only dream about. They would all require a minimum of 30m or 40 m to spend each transfer window and all would be more comfortable in the Man Utd, Chelsea or City hot seat. We are not even a comfortable EPL side yet never mind Champions League. We need a manager that knows the EPL inside out and has a track record of building teams into winning units. He wont have millions but will have a healthy budget each year and will have to be able to operate within it. Martin O Neill is head and shoulder above all of them imo for us as a club and would not require multi millions at all. However, whatever money he was promised would have to be given or he will not take any **** or lies from anyone. Yes he can be pig headed and arrogant but then he has a cv of silverware to back it up and lets not forget he knows a thing or two about winning the European Cup as well? Bruce is a plodder who will always be in the relegation pack looking to be top of it. 10th to 14th is his highest position target. I think MoN would look to have us 8th or 9th this season of he took over now and maybe 6th or 7th next year. To go any higher would require a huge investment but if we finished top 7 or 8 two years running, I believe Short would invest the necessary to break into that top 6. I just don't think he believes Bruce is capable of that and therefore gave him **** all to spend in real terms this summer. I think (just my gut feeling though) that he (Short) has been almost anonymous since he tool over from Quinny and is simply biding his time, waiting for an opportunity to cut him (Bruce) adrift. Defeat v Wigan would surely have to be the final game for Bruce but even a draw should prove fatal for him. I hope and pray that O Neill turned the Leicester job down because he has already been given the nod from Ellis to bide his time and wait for Bruce to **** up again.
Well the starting point is who is a big manager. To me the big ones wont come until we are a top 6 side and that would take years. Mancini would have come but would he have been successful without the cash. Its luck, Reidy did the job, Maccmenemy was a big name when he came and flopped