Transfer policy for next season?

Like many of you, I too love the thought that we could compete for the signatures of the glamour players or international quality we so crave to see each week. It would be the wish of EVERY football fan from EVERY club to see the very best attracted to play in their colour's.

However, sometimes you have to be honest and admit that this will never happen. For us in Sunderland, even when we do sign the very best, it doesn’t work. Gyan (very hit & miss this season), Muntari (European champion at Inter to complete waste of space for us), Bent (1.5 season wonder then off as quick as a flash at the first sign of trouble) and there are others. We will all have a wish list for players to come in the close season no doubts and most of the names will be from European clubs with huge pedigrees.

My wish list is different.

My list comprises of players from much more modest and down to earth backgrounds as for me; the big names just don’t work at SAFC for some bizarre reason. Instead of foreign mercenaries just looking for a large wedge of cash without any moral obligation to actually perform, I propose that the club look to our past for guidance.

Marco, SKP, Quinny, Bally, Benno, Kaysie and many others didn’t come for big money or for a holiday. They came and delivered because they were hungry home county or home grown players who gave their all for the club. If we can develop some home grown players to supplement and compliment Henderson, Catts etc, then even better.

There are players available from lower division who could do a job as well and I have been banging on about Danny Graham at Watford for the last 18 months for instance. Adam at Blackpool is another and the lad Vaughan (we are linked today with him) are all lads with a bee in their bonnet and fire in their bellies. They won’t cost the earth and will be rewarded handsomely anyway. These are the players I would like to see.

I'd keep Onouha and Welbeck but Muntari, Muhammady & Mensah can all go. If Bayern Munich or Spurs offer 20m for Gyan, he can go too.

Let’s get back to basics at SAFC and recruit some lads who will see out the season with some passion and desire. It may be a little too controversial for some fans but I'm one who hopes desperately we are not going to look at some foreign unknown players that mean another season of treading water.

Go British/Irish and recruit as clubs used to 30 years ago from lower leagues. After all, some of the very best players came form the championship/second division over the decades.

Any agreement?

 

I disagree

football has moved on, premier league sides rarely look at the lower leagues because the players just aint there.

I want to see the best players playing for Sunderland if that gives us a squad 80% foreign imports 20% british then so be it or whatever aslong as we get the results makes no difference to me.

 

With all due respect, Gyan and Muntari aren't really big names. They're just bigger than what you're used to signing. Gyan was £13mill from Rennes, and Muntari is (and probably always will be) a fringe squad player at Inter Milan (just because he's in their squad, it doesn't mean that he's particularly brilliant).

If you want to buy known quality, proven quality, then you need to cough up the cash. Unless you can find a bargain (like we did with Ben Arfa and Tiote) then you can often be looking at well over £10mill.

You always get flops. Always. However, it's down to the manager and scouting team to ensure that the players have the attributes to succeed in the EPL. If they don't do their research properly, then the risk of buying yet another flop is very high. This appears to be another problem of Bruce's.

Anyway, I don't see the point in really focusing on how much a player is valued at. Just find out what you need to buy, scout the UK/Europe/The World and look hard to find the players who match the quality and attributes you need. If one of them is fairly unknown and only costs £2mill, brilliant, snap him up. If one of them costs £12mill+, then so be it.

 

Great post Cest.

Since Ellis Short arrived with the cash it has undeniably been exciting as we go into each transfer window wondering who we might buy. Personnally, as the likes of Bent, Gyan and others have arrived, the feeling of SAFC being 'my team' has lessened a bit. I don't for a moment think that such players join us because we're Sunderland nor that they're particularly motivated when they pull on the shirt and go out into the sol. As we saw with Bent, the minute a better offer comes along off they'll go.

Don't get me wrong. I want success as much as any of us but I feel that there is much more satisfaction in gaining such success (even if more modest than through the chequbook) by bringing through young ,preferably local, lads or by signing so-called lesser players and developing them - (excellent shout for Danny Graham).

From my own point of view I feel that nostalgia for how football used to be is probably a major influence and that, as poolie says, football's moved on and you must either buy mercenaries or perish as far as the major leagues are concerned.

 

When the world collapsed (financially) we were very fortunate that Mr Short’s chequebook was there to cover the debts and millions of pounds losses. Without him I suspect we would be discussing the club’s survival and not the nationality of our players.

In an ideal world many may well prefer to have a local Owner, local Chairman, and a squad of 25 local players. It’s not an ideal world!

 

The problem is, our foreign imports have been a failure and why do you think there are no players from the lower leagues?

 

First things first cest, good to see you posting articles, the board is better with you.

I would like to see a mix of both, think the heart on sleeve type is missing so for me I would like a spine of these with a few of the Gyans around them.

Could you imagine a second half like Saturday with Mr Ball in midfield?

 

And what all of the british players we have signed have turned out to be value for money? It doesn't matter if you are Steve Bruce, Arsene Wenger, Pep Guardiola etc. you aint going to get every transfer right and the fact that Angeleri, Riveros and Da Silva didn't work out means we should we just stop buying players from abroad because a few before them have flopped

The foreign players have improved our league massively but you need a mix of British and foreign IMO, you need your Gyan's and Sessegnon's but you also need your Cattermole's we just need to get the balance right

I aint saying there is no players from the lower league's but there cannot be many or there would be more players making the step up.

Football has changed, its all about money nowadays and you cannot just say its the foreigners as Benty left us for the money

 

The issue is coaching! A good tactical coach like Van Ghaal etc can work wonders with average/good players and the team can then challenge for honours or europe (not the league title that would take time) but we need to have that tactically astute coach/manager. Whether we could attract someone of that pedigree is a different matter. This is where I think Bruce just does not cut the mustard (if he stays I hope he proves me wrong). Also I think the players need to get their fingers out from up their backsides. Is professional football about the pay packet or winning honours!

 

for once i'm agreeing witn cest, apart from his championing of MoN, he speaks sense,

all the foreign imports don't mean you buy a better player, how many times have we heard,

he needs time to adjust, he needs a full pre season, he's not used to playingin that position, blah blah ****ing blah,

maybe it is time to look closer to home, and fully in agreement with cest about adam, but there are numerous others to choose from, then we all don't have to make excuses for them.....

we have some decent imports, but here's a puzzle. wouls lionel ****ing messi, need time to adjust?

 

It looks like in more and more cases its the pay packet

 

I think all of us would agree we want the better players arriving to the club regardless of there nationality aslong as the results are going the right way we will all be happy.

Brucie is going to be busy this summer aslong as he gets the right players in that is good enough for me.

 

The value of coaching/tactics is overestimated in my view. Football is essentially a fairly simple game and the team with the better players usually wins(unless as you rightly point out some have there fingers permanently stuck up there arse.

 

Its a difficult one.

SKP just was not as prolific without Quinn and his knock downs/assists, we also had good wingers who could cross the ball for Quinns knockdowns/assists to SKP.

Who is there that has made the jump up in recent years, not many, and a lot more that have bombed drastically. (and when they do succeed, its not instant see my point below)

The Gap from Championship to league 1 isnt all that great (look at Norwich), but the gap from Championship to the PL is massive, just look at Hull and Blackpool to see that, Ok you could say look at the toon and WBA, but they have the nucleus of the teams that went down, so still have Premiership experience, and are better for going down, a wake up call if you will.

I also dont think paying silly money for promising foreigners is the way to go either, as they have no PL experience, a mix of the 2 is what is probably needed, but any up and coming starlet in the lower leagues is usually picked up by the big boys (Ramsey/Beckford/Young/Wallcot to name but 4) and that other one from Southampton (name has gone now) who is going to Arsenal/Man U but wont get a look in for 2-3 years if we are honest.

A mixture of the 2, but its just finding them, and what if Bruce does go and get 5-8 from the lower leagues, most on here would be saying "where has harrods gone", "is that the best we can do, same old Sunderland" and if the Bombed, Bruce is useless, lets sack him lol

 

A bit off topic but earlier in the season Liverpool were awful, candidates for relegation even. Along comes Kenny Dagleish who alters their style of play without greatly changing the team and they are up and running. Tactics and coaching are massively important and a manager who has the nous to identify the strengths of the players and devise a style of play to maximise those strengths and minimise weaknesses can do great things.
My question is whether we are making the best use of the players currently at our disposal.

 

Fair point.Daglish has changed the tactics but there revival has a lot more to do with the
change in attitude of the players.

 

Spot on. My thoughts exactly about Dalglish since he’s come back. Let's hope that whoever’s in charge next season gives each player a job that suits their individual strengths so that when combined with their teammates we’ll have a stable team playing to the best of its potential.

 

Liverpool’s revival under Daglish is only marginally down to his coaching/tactics. It’s all about the players.Coaching cannot clone “lionel Messi“ and tactics rarely if ever wins matches.

Hodgson failure at Liverpool and now relative success with WBA with the same tactics seems to indicate this.

Getting the right players and keeping them happy is the true art of Management,

 

Getting the right players and keeping them happy is the true art of Management,

Wrong. They must be ecstaticly happy considering their lifestyle and wages they get.

Getting the right players and keeping them motivated is the true art of management.

Unfortunately Bruce appears to lack the ability to provide the motivation, and if you don't have it things won't change