Going from the Quinn, era, we've had Keane, bought wisely in the championship but still shifted the cash about. Keane put what was an almost finished Sunderland back on the map (granted he didn't do this alone, we all know Quinn saved us from disaster) anyway. Roy came in the board was green, Roy was given everything he wanted, he ended up throwning money around like confetti! He made some good signings and some afwful signings. However I never got the impression Keane was building a team? Others may think different, If felt he bought anyone willing to come. He did however move us up in qualitiy of player. Steeeeeed was a great signing and he got lower level players to come, but for me it was a case of I'll have you and we'll squeeze you in. Keane served a purpose. Moving on to Brucie, who I would say was a step up from Keane, he had more nouse,more experience of the transfer market and so did the club. At one point Bruce was on the verge of a very good team. Sadly he IMO overused the loan system. We had Bent, Gyan Wellbeck, probably the three best strikers we've had at the club in the modern era apart from Quinn, Phillips and Dichio. It felt like something was building but it was castle in the sky with too many loan players, he lost the loan players, he lost his top strikers (greed? bad management from Bruce and the board. Bent asked for more money was he not worth it?) For me this is where Bruce slipped up. He panicked. The next summer he brought a lot of players to bulk up the squad but he went for quantity rather than quality. He seemed to sign anyone on a free or under 5 mil, in a bid to build up his squad but for me he took his eye off the ball as he went for squad players rather than build his first team. He ignored the gaping flaws in his team of full backs, left wing, goal scorers etc. We could all see that he had no idea what his best team, formation etc was. He did sign a lot of players but seemed incapable of playing a good team. In honesty I think Bruce is a decent manager but he got lost, again this could have been wirth the board aswell. Short was losing faith Quinn was about to be shipped on. Bruce did make some great signings though. He Brought Bent, Sess' Larrson, O'shea, Brown, Mclean, Cattermole. All good players some brilliant. However he ran out of time, he couldn't figure out how to play them IMHO. So now we Have MON and it happened at the same time as Short took the helm, suddenly we seem to have the makings of a very well organised club all round. The business side of the club seems to have taken off. However rather than chucking money around as we have in the past with MON and Short together, the new mantra seems to be quality not quantity but QUALITY. So my exceptionally long point is I think we are now spending Money but with purpose. MON knows how to buld a team. He is addressing the issues that we have all seen and putting round pegs in round holes. I understand the move for Fletcher, I watched us last year and for all we looked good at times you could see the need for a focal point and a link player.Now others may have wanted a bigger or foreign name but Fletcher makes sense. Larrson lacked pace on the right when we were breaking forward, so Mon brings in Johnson, this signing for me is a game changer, shows intent, shows a step up in the quality we are bringing in and I can understand the thinking behind it. I cannot lie I was panicky when we had only brought in 2 30+ year olds but I have to say thus Far O'Neill has took his time but he has got it right. I realise I'm saying this before a ball has been kicked in anger but for me O'Neill just makes sense, his signings make sense. He has took his time, assessed the squad, improved the players he had, organised the team to defend properly (Bruce for me had no clue how to organise a team how to defend which is bizarre!) and now he is BUILDING A TEAM! This is the first time this has happened since Peter Reid realised how to build a team around Quinn. So If this teams fails, I'm going down with Marty, because to me he makes sense. I feel the club is on the brink. We may well have to follow Marty all the way to where he needs to go, it could cost us, Mr Short will keep an eye on this. It may end in glorious failure, it may end up in being the golden years of Sunderland football club. He was the manager I've always wanted at Sunderland. When you see who is going to other clubs I'm very thasnkful we have him. So Marty I'm sorry for my little wobble last week, my faith is restored. I only have good thoughts. (Yes I'm drunk) night all!
Nice piece & pretty spot on Tony, wait till we announce David Villa, Moutinho, Hulk and Pele in his early 20's tomorrow!
Cheers Monsmush, if we sign all of those I will lose the ability to type!lol, I;'m sure no bad thing, micko you are so right that feeling of "safe hands" is a grea t feeling.
I'm with you 100% Tony. Lets take a deep breath, puff our chests out and march into the future with the confidence in our leaders that they deserve. At long last I feel secure in their hands.
I have to say MON has been very sensible, he has attracted quality they want to come here rather than chasing foreign players who are un-proven and paying them big wages. He has largely done what I expected apart from in Johnson he has bought in a player who I thought was out of our reach. He is perfect though as he is local so is not going to have trouble settling. Fletcher is from the North too and also not another southerner who will get home sick if he goes north of Watford. The next few weeks will be very interesting seeing how the team gels and how we set up.
Well said Tony. Here's my take on it all: Keane put us back in the right direction following our lowest of lows. He put us on the map again. Keeping us up our first season back in the EPL was nothing to be sneezed at either. Of course, he was only able to take us so far with his ability and experience. Bruce then took over and seemed to be headed in the right direction at first, but then (as you correctly pointed out) he lost his way. There was no recovering from the losses of Gyan, Bent and Wellbeck - 'replacing' them with Bendner and employing Sess as a makeshift striker was an insult to us all and an abusive misappropriation of Sess' wonderful talent. MON is definitely the next level up again for us. What he did with the remains of what Bruce left over speaks for itself. How high we can go under him remains to be seen - but I'm confident that we are no longer a middling 12-15th type of club anymore. Instead, I can see us being an entrenched Top 10 club with the possibility of a little bit more any given season (anywhere up to 6th if everything goes right). With the odd hiccup here and there (but never a full blown crisis), one thing has been common since our last promotion - there has been a long term trend of improvement. As for MON's signings to date, they are all perfect cultural fits for us, and there are likely to be more. They all have the ability and talent and, most importantly, they all want to play for our club and MON (and are less likely to want to leave after 1 or 2 years - Saha is an obvioous exception due to age, but there's always room for a little bit of short term magic!). Clubs that retain players and keep the same core squads and managers for years on end are always the most successful in the long run (e.g. Man U, the Spanish national team, Everton (smaller scale of course due to budget issues) - there are many other examples, please don't be offended if not included here). Clubs that constantly chop and change are always on the back foot. We finally have the potential to be a club that retains a strong core for years on end and it is this more than anything else that has me confident and excited about the future.
All the ingredients are in the mix, just have to see how the cake turns out. Personally I trust the chefs but how will the players respond, they all have good honest contracts with appropriate wages, I hope they suitably repay us and the backers.
I'll sum up in 3 short statements. Keane recovered the desolate wasteland left by careless and clueless previous owners and had to spent a lot of money laying completely solid new foundations but he lost the plan along the way. Bruce initially built a good house on those foundations but then had his planning permission knocked back to many times and we were left with the shell of a nice looking property but not nearly finished. Mon has come in, took a good look at the project, sat down with new architects, sorted the finances out, the planning and the long term vision. He also overseen the re-development and minor details. I expect him to start and furnish the house interior now to a high and plush standard. Life is good.
