Interesting that there wasn't much interest in Jack Clarke. Tbh I'm really interested to see if he makes the step up. He had 2 really good seasons here where all our play was directed through him. Perhaps that inflated his stats some what. Either way he was a hell of a player for us.
Agree. Think as fans we think on a different timescale to Speakman. We want to win every game and he is judging the performance of the entire club from juniors through to first team.
So flew back to Newcastle from naples today vie frankfurt, big Jan kirchoff our old midfielder was on the flight. Was going to ask what he was doing over here but he was off like a shot. Imagine he was in a coaching role here? Dan Neil would just get better and better.
There was a slightly hysterical reaction to the sale of Clarke with some saying Ipswich had taken us to the cleaners, the same was said about Ross Stewart tbf. Speakman has left his critics looking a little exposed in all honesty, some clubs have splashed the cash with little reward while the value of our squad is self evident. The sale of Ekwah and Hemir has shown Speakman knows his stuff in my opinion. And it's the way we've allowed Clarke to leave that will inspire our 'reserves' and attract young ambitious players. It may transpire that players are choosing Sunderland, with less money but better opportunities, rather than sitting around in Chelsea's massive squad or whatever. I said two seasons back that players will be asking their agents to look at a move to Sunderland, I still believe that to be true. There are still people, on forums, saying Speakman's position is untenable, which is the latest buzzword, and that he still hasn't signed a striker. Seriously if KLD wanted someone to clear out the timewasters, vastly increase the value of the squad and sit at the top of the table he seems to have chosen well. Speakman deserves better than the hatred he's had in some places ... ... even if he was useless, he's just a man doing his job.
People are still saying how poor last year's business was. While Jobe, Mayenda, and Mundle all look more than capable at this level. I don't really get the contempt for him to be honest. I don't particularly like him, I don't know a lot about him other than some of the players he has brought in are great and some not so much. He seems to have far more about him than any of our other DoFs. That's for sure.
Yeah but he's purposely sabotaging us because he doesn't want us promoted, don't you know? He's also actively refusing to sign a striker in an attempt to line his own pockets (even though that makes zero ****ing sense), remember? If those truly are his goals then I agree he's doing a terrible job; the idiot has us sat top of the league and accidentally signed 5 strikers in the last 2 years
One of the remaining jibes people have to cling to was that the foreign signings have all flopped, some before they've barely played. Mayenda is Spanish but had the courage to go to a French club, become their youngest player to sign a pro-contact and make a debut at 16yo. Writing him off, after a handful of games, isn't what will attract other young lads to the club although he hopefully didn't go on Sunderland forums. Imagine how he'd feel to be declared useless and told he'd never make a footballer. I'd like to think his, and Mundle's, folks were at the SOL for their first goals in a new season ... ... you'd struggle to find two better first goals in consecutive home games. Although I can't say the same about Browne's first goal tbh
Personally think we got a great deal for Ross Stewart, ended up £10 million didn't it? He was a lot older, lot less potential age wise and massively injury prone! Where as Clarke, again.. I think the buyer has still had to fork out for him, but the seller has been done simply by the sell on clause, which I understand had to be there, I just had expectations of a certain amount AFTER Spurs took their cut. I'm comparing him to others in the league as well. It's one of those things where, if he does well and they sell him for 30 million, our sell on garners us a lot more, which would be substantial I think. If he's crap and leaves for very little or nothing, well...many across the North will say "I told you so".
The two problems with Clarke was that the balance on his contract was tipping .... ... and the 'bidding war' only had one bidder. As with any auction, if that's the case, the item will go for the reserve price.
Good analogy. I have worked in IT for 35 years and you know you're doing well when you have silence from your internal customers.
You have to take people "on the journey" where change is concerned, otherwise suspicion and negativity become rife because, in general, people don't like change.
He got the balance wrong last year, not ready to compete and Burstow was a massive error. A couple of others I’m also not keen on like AA. His signings last season weren’t ready for last season and he needed more that were, but none of us are complaining now.
The problem with that is that you're just delaying the development of your existing young players like Jobe, Rigg, Hume, Neil etc. For example lots of people seemed desperate for us to sign Kieffer Moore, fair enough he's good in the Championship. However he's not good enough for the PL, 33 years old, already been through a dozen clubs and on big money. So, by the time you make the PL, he'll already need replacing and Mayenda/Wilson/Rusyn won't be ready because they've not played. Repeat that scenario half a dozen times, through the team, and you might gain promotion but would need an instant rebuild. Go down and you have a 'Burnley' with well paid mercenaries who want out the second you drop. This is much more exciting than bringing in the likes of Kieffer Moore but I accept that's just my opinion ... ... other opinions are available
Sometimes you have to lose a battle to win the war and we certainly lost the battle last year here’s hoping we achieve victory this year
I agree they got it wrong last season, but that was always the risk as it was the first phase of a huge step change from the old 'Buy whatever the new Manager wants " to this conveyor belt of youth behind the first team..ie Mundle ,Rigg replacing Clarke ,Eckwah . We hadn't completed that process. The challenge now is getting youth in without clubs screwing us on value or competing in the same space.
Good points, we'll just have to accept top clubs will allow us to take their young talent but insist on 'sell on clauses', etc. Sometimes, with the likes of Burstow, it just doesn't work out but that's tough ... ... sometimes you arrive in a new job/town/environment and your heart sinks after a few days. Me and Mrs Smug once took a fantastic job in St Tropez at a private villa with it's own beach, fabulous detached 3 bedroom accommodation, company car and well paid, plus the owner, Jean Claude Decaux, had a dozen houses round the world so rarely visited. We arrived on Friday afternoon and left on Saturday morning
Aye you’re right. I think though that Burstow and AA came to be our forwards and weren’t good enough and Hemir was embarrassingly bad as an alternative. If Burstow had been an Amad level loan or even just a good one we’d be less bothered. They got that badly wrong.
Maybe, but what if he was as good a coach as Rooney. Always thought Rooney would make a good coach/gaffer! Turns out I was quite wrong
