This is definitely not a negative post far from it but after the great transfer window for us this summer I hope in the future as a club we are a little more adventurous with regards to scouring the world looking for the next bargain. This transfer window was not the time to do that and we needed to go out and get tried and tested players who would come in and improve us. Don't forget this was MoN's first proper transfer window to stamp his authority on the team and improve us which we certainly needed to do and proven players were certainly the way to go and MoN has done that, maybe predictable as I bet looking at the posts from the end of the season when we were talking about who we would like there would of been plenty with Fletcher, Johnson, Cuellar and Saha on but thats not a dig far from it as these players are very good players. MoN is not renowned for shopping abroad but with the price of players in the english league and with the squad we now have from now on we will be only looking at 2 or 3 max each window I hope we can get the scouting network up and running properly to find the next bargain, there is players out there, Michu who will play against us today for example cost Swansea what 2-3m? Thats not to say every window we solely target 2 or 3 from abroad but get the scouts out there and maybe even if we spot 1 player a season from abroad who is worth gambling 2 or 3m on then so be it like Swansea have with Michu, no more squad overhauls are in order so we have a squad good enough to take a risk and if it pays off it would save the club a good few million.
Seems some journo's agree. Martin O’Neill has to be one of the most popular football managers in Britain. Fans of the clubs he manages revere him, while everyone else admires his enthusiasm for the game and his ability to motivate his players. Right? Well, it seems not everyone is completely taken with the Sunderland boss’ qualities, as the Life’s a Pitch team reveals. “He’s good at taking a club so far, but he can’t take them to the next level,” explains the Daily Mirror’s John Cross. ”He’s set himself high targets and expectations again with the big-money signings of Adam Johnson and Steven Fletcher, who are good players, but I worry about the quality of the rest of the team. I just think that Sunderland will be a mid-table team. And can you justify that after spending well over £20m this summer? I’m not sure you can.” The Sunday Telegraph’s Jason Burt is equally sceptical of the idea that O’Neill is a top manager. ”I do worry about O’Neill and the money he spends. He spends an awful lot of money, he pays an awful lot of money in wages. I think Fletcher and Johnson will do fine, but he’s paid a big premium for them both. There’s a complete lack of imagination in the transfer market from O’Neill at times. He goes for the tried and tested, the British players. He doesn’t seem to have much of an imagination in terms of scouting abroad, he picks up very few bargains. He’s good at developing certain players, but he often leaves a car crash behind. He is what he is, a mid-table manager.” An overly harsh assessment, reckons the Mail on Sunday’s Ian Ridley. ”To be fair to him, he had three sixth-place finishes at Villa, which they would happily take now. Jason’s right about not being imaginative in the European market. Against that, the one thing is he makes better players of some very ordinary rag-bag rejects from elsewhere.”
red - is a load of rubbish blue - only time will tell, I think Johnson is a top signing and worth the price, Fletcher 4,5m over priced but will do well for us, IF/When he gets 15 a season over the next 3 season's or so the money we spent for him will of been justified green - I probably agree with
