Not only did I want Hughes, I actively was against MON. I'm a right bell-end like. Or, is this just even more credit for more, from unwanted to heroic in 2 months? Yeah, i'm a bell-end.
I didn't really think there was much chance he would but it looked like he was being starved of funds and I would have loved him to come if he was ready for a change - always struck me as a man who could do a lot more if he had a bit more cash to spend and he seems like a straight-arrow and all round decent guy. As it happens I think O'Neill has turned out to be a really good fit for the club and he's already done wonders with Bruce's squad... can't wait until he gets to bring in some of his own players in the summer... I reckon if we can get past you in the cup at the weekend Short might be persuaded to dig a little deeper too. My reason for putting him as my second choice was purely down to the time he's been away from the game and wondering if he might have lost some passion... glad to say I was wrong Good luck tonight mate - I hope you appreciate I don't mean any malice when I hope you have a really tiring game and a couple of your key players get pushed over the edge by Suarez's diving and get themselves suspended!!
Hughes has a decent record on paper and was worthy of consideration but nothing more than that for me. Hughes has a very drab personality and doesn't inspire me... His interviews are monotone, expressionless, no passion... exactly the type of man we didn't want subsequent to Steve Bruce. Martin O'Neill is the man for the job and was the only candidate I hoped to see appointed. please log in to view this image
Financial reasons. He has been operating on a shoe string budget for ages and despite the promises of Everton being sold to a wealthy person or consortium nothing has materialised. Sunderland are no Man City, but I thought we had a chance (though a very small one) of tempting him here with the promise of money to spend and not having to sell if he didnt want to. However, MON has turned out for the best because we would have had to agree compensation with Everton if Moyes did want to come, and I think MON has done as good a job as Moyes would have done. I now rate Moyes, MON, Moyes, SAF, Wenger and Redknapp (though I cant stand the man) as the best 5 managers currently in the premier league.
It's good to see a fan change his views and not allow any initial thoughts fester over the long-term. I sense that some fans (not yourself) were for some strange reason hoping that Martin would fail to achieve anything spectacular in order to justify their belief that Bruce wasn't provided with enough time and deserved to continue guiding Sunderland toward a relegation battle. Hopefully I'm wrong on that and those type of people don't actually exist. Martin O'Neill is a thinker... He wouldn't of taken the job at Sunderland without taking into consideraiton all of the factors that combine to make our club what it is. Finance, supporters, emotional ties and the new fair play rules would have been fully considered before Martin chose to take over the mantle of guiding our great club onward and upwards. If I could hand pick 5 managers from anywhere in the world to manage Sunderland, Martin O'Neill would be in that list and out of those 5 managers, Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger, O'Neill and Pardew (I was going to throw Kinnear into the fray but he didn't quite make the cut), none of them would suit Sunderland the way that Martin O'Neill does and therefore there could only be one choice and the correct choice was put into position. Just aswell Mr Short understands his football and philosophy !
To be honest mate, it was never a case of MON having to turn me, if we'd appointed Alan Shearer i'd have backed him till proved wrong. I had this illusion that we'd play more open, expansive football under Hughes, maybe we would have, but then we'd have shipped goals, and we don't score enough to cover that. MON has completely convinced me, and I hope he is here for many a long year. Point of note, Bruce had WAY more than enough time, the chuff.
I think all fans at the end knew that Bruce had been given enough time. I was in the BiB group, but had said on several occasions that 11th of December (Blackburn game) was the maximum he should have been given. In fact he was sacked a game before that - the way he couldnt pick up a decent amount of points from those last 3 games was the death of his reign as SAFC manager. If the club hadnt sacked him, I would have continued to "support" him, simply cos I dont think protesting is productive, but at the end I was happy he went. I dont think you'll find a single BiB who wasnt.
I wanted MON all the way up to Mark Hughes being mentioned, then I wanted Hughsey. Glad i'm not in charge.
A chance of getting to a higher level, not in terms of size of the club as I do think Everton are a very big club but currently and in the near future they's no real chance of improving on their consistent league standings of around mid-table. We have 2 things in our disposal which Everton are crying out for, investment from an owner/consortium and a modern stadium, both of which are seriously holding back Everton's chances of improving. Granted though when he decides to leave Everton I think he will go to a better club than ours.
