Listening to Radio 5 live this morning there was a sports(football) journalist from the Telegraph on discussing the EPL games from yesterday and looking forward to today's and tomorrows games. When it came to today's game his opinion of us was one of a club that just changes its managers at the drop of a hat. We are fast becoming the poor mans version of Chelsea and that's absolutely embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as the constant calls from some quarters that MoN should be sacked now after less than 50 games at the club? We don't need another friggin change of manager, we simply need better football players on the pitch than those which Bruce has left us. I trust MoN to effect that change in the next 2 transfer windows and succeed. In Marty I definitely trust.
We gave Bruce 3 years, Keane walked, others were interim managers who were never really going to get it full time, I really cant see where this revolving door of managers is and how we may be getting a bad name for it (and even if we are getting a bad name and we were like chelsea who cares, but we are not). and lets be honest, Bruce had it coming yes I stuck by him on here, but even I could see he had his last rights. problem is the PL is big money, dont get results, you get the sack, is it right, probably not, but its the nature of the beast these days im afraid. also fans pay £30 min for 90 minutes, they want to be entertained, if they are not, then they will let the manager and players know about it (which should be done at the end of the game, not 5 minutes into it). answers on the back of a stamp, as i dont know what the answer is, but this always seems to happen to us. year on year infighting over the manager, winning we are fine, languishing at the bottom and lets be brutefully honest here not playing the nicest football we tear each others throats out, and for what its not going to sway Short, its not going to help one iota, its just getting a lot of fans who use this forum pissed off with it but it will never change so meh.
I agree with some parts but not the following. Still, after a year Bruce get's the blame... Johnson, Rose, Cuellar, Saha, McFadden...all Mon's As for the Bruce players, Mig Catts Sess being the pick.. Let's see what, if any changes he makes in Jan, that should give us a better idea...
Fair points Steve, In reality, we have sacked ONE manager in SIX years. That's actually admirable in the current modern game, Keane walked, Sbragia was end of contract, Quinn doesn't count (unless it's press trying to falsify figures...). You could go even further back and discount Bally's tenure at the end of the season.
Mick McCarthy was sacked in March 2006. Keane took over that September but then was effectively sacked (constructive dismissal was the claim from him as Short just didn't value him and questioned his every move); Sbragia took over but then 'stood down' as he was given a golden handshake for effectively putting himself in the firing line and it was obvious to a blind man locked in a dark room he was a hapless appointment at the time; Bruce was Sacked after 2 and a half years and MoN appointed. My point is to sack him now and to have our 6th manager in 6 years and 9 months is absolutely friggin crazy. We are a laughing stock outside SR5 as far as managers go and for once we have a manager with massive pedigree and experience and yet some are willing to ditch that in the blink of an eye, after a mere 37 league games and replace him from a selected handful of complete muppets as suggested? ****ing ridiculous.
It's a non concern to me Cest, he won't be sacked, and we will improve. I think we just all need to stop discussing it, and get back to focusing on positives. There ARE positives, it's for us to support now and try and help the lads, the chronic lack of confidence was apparent more than ever on Tuesday, that is something we, the match-goers, can influence.
Brown, Larsson, McClean, Bramble, Vaughan, Gardener, Ji, Wickham, Elmo? Are any of these really going to improve us going forward? Nope. Catts, Mig and Sess (although my thoughts on Sess are well documented and he is more of our huge problem now rather than any solution) are decent players but is that his total legacy after 2 and a half years? Also, from the list of Johnson (about 7 or 8 clubs all wanted him and so did EVERY SAFC fan back in August), Rose ( player of the season so far with Fletcher), Cuellar (steady player) , Saha & McFadden...all Mon's - Saha is a 12 month deal and McFadden a 3 month deal so hardly long term investments anyway - I notice you omitted Fletcher's name (maybe as it undermines your argument totally?) and all of these in just his first proper window. Also (not aimed at you Fu King) but MoN surely deserves more than 37 games to prove his worth at this under-performing, under-achieving and largely anonymous football club for the past 40 years. You'd think we had had 4 decades of glory and silverware the way some fans are going on at the minute. The first hurdle we come across from the best set of credentials of any manager since the war and some want to chuck him down the pan. I ****ing despair at times I really do.
Nah Fletchers ommission wasn't intentional,, as it seems like he's been here for ages.. I'm still in favour of MoN, at the moment. Also i fully understand those who are not, as everyone has a different braking point and tolerance to what is somewhat of a failure so far. But i do find an interesting point, which you often make.. MoN has had only 37 games...which you repeat over and over.. Look a the other side of the coin...37 games, 38 today, a whole season..A whole calendar year, and zero progress so far.. Now i'm sure you will bring up the fact that he has only had 2 transfer windows....yes 2 not 1. But if these players that Bruce left O'Neill are really so bad, can you explain the results, when he first took over..
One of the problems for me is (why the fans are getting on his back) He came in, and got 23 points from his first 13 games, that would have us sitting in 4th (if all teams were on 13 games this season so a couple of weeks back) but at the time we were top of the form guide for weeks i seem to recall. Then it went downhill once we were safe, "players going on holiday" was the cry, come back and the the players are still on a beach somewhere. and as Comm pointed out this was with the same team Bruce left him (when we were flying) so... I just hope Bruces poor 2nd half of the season doesnt rear its ugly head again with this team, or we are totaly in the ****.
I said on another post that mon maybe hasn't done aswell as we want but it's still better than we've had in the past decade give the man a chance
This is it Vince, facts are we haven't had a manager with a track record for as long as I can recall. We, the Sunderland fans, know the POTENTIAL of the club, but we haven't been close to realizing that bar 2 years under Reid. We've got a massive 2 games here, if we pick up 4 points we are looking up, 3 we are looking mid, less, we are in the ****. Let's get through the next 7 days and take stock.
just to get back to the manager merry go round. we have had 19 managers in 30 years, 4 of those were interim managers for me thats not that bad with the crap we have had to put up with baring 2-3 seasons. Newcastle have had 24 but with 11 interim managers, even 1 game managers I counted like Steve Clarke and look at the success they have had over the years compared to us.
The players we have got can do it and have to do it, they have to get their fingers out get to the ball quicker and dont give 20 ft of space to an opposing player. And Gardener says in the football echo MON is a great manager, but it is THEM players who go out there on the pitch and he must feel embarrased sometimes. We were set for european football 15 years ago and now championship if they do not realise the situation, as we have seen it all before. WHU have come up and look at them, Swansea league 2 a few seasons ago, but here it is just one vicious circle after another.
