I've stayed away from this site during MON's reign. Why? Cause I think the world of the bloke. He was the only one I ever wanted as manager and I couldn't stand to see him get ripped to shreds when the chips were down...And boy have the chips been down. We as a club were sleepwalking to relegation...MON I'm afraid improved nothing for SAFC in his tenure. Then he comes out with this.... âWith the experience Iâve had over the years I thoughtâ¦also perhaps coming into the football club as well, when the club was pretty much on its knees and I saved the club from relegation, that opportunity still should have been afforded to me.â It's true Martin..We were on our knees, 18 months on what has changed? We are still on our knees from what I can see. You had your chance now bugger off... I bloody hate it when hero's die.
If we are honest mate we all wanted MON to succeed as that would mean SAFC succeeding and, I was well pissed off with him toward the end. His subs, tactics and team selections baffled not only us but, footballing people in general, maybe it was his lack of an assistant which did for him or he had just lost all interest (which is my guess). Either way as you say he is gone now and hopefully he takes his payout and retires, as I can't see him managing another team again I'm not sure his heart would be in it.
Let's ask the question who has as a manager actually been successful, isn't this ground hog day, is pdc the next saviour, who have we not chased out. If pdc fails then Bruce will have been the most successful in recent years???
I read an article by Savage earlier today. Said that they were lucky to see MoN by Thursday and Robertson was the man who took the training sessions. His lack of assistant probably was what caused him to fail imo
Mon was not chased out mate, this is solely down to Ellis Short, regardless of what any of us might have thought about MON, Ellis took the bulls by the horns, and good on him too
Strange one I heard from a lad who I used to go to the matches with earlier today. He said he was sitting in the SOL and most of the time he was just numb. He wanted MON even more than I did, never rated Bruce But near the end he couldn't get enthused in the game and was sitting thinking, he could have earned another days graft if he hadn't bothered. This is a bloke who would be up shouting and cheering if we managed to pass the ball to another Sunderland player in the bad old days.
With PDC, and him being all about fitness, fitness and would you believe it... fitness - I can see a part of Keano's reign i quite enjoyed. Us scoring in the final 10mins due to us always being fitter than the other team. How many games did we win because we pressed in the final third while the legs of the opposition were waning? Quite a few. We lack some creativity (and those who are have lost it for some reason), so here's hoping us pushing on in the final 10mins gets us points on the board.
i think Robbie Savage says it all. without John Robertson on the traing ground, the MON management model didn't work. which is what we all suspected. very sad for us all, as we didn't get to benefit from the real MON effect. His Jan transfer dealings and bizarre (de-motivating) press releases were the end of him though, as were his awful, stubborn tactics. he may get another job, but any other club would have to insist on him improving his coaching staff.
It was the never say die attitude aswell as this that Keane brought, but once he lost the dressing room that was the end of it. PDC just needs to keep most players on side.
When I listened to the interview I too was a bit confused, it's like taking from Peter to give to Paul. "I kept the club up last year and thought I should be given more time". More time for what Martin? We have had no football identity, from watch us this season we have been total dross and thousands of fans think the same and we can't all be wrong. You had your chase, you failed.... You were a canny bloke and I really wanted it to work but I really think football has passed him by. In the 16 months I never once thought, wow we really are improving.... Good luck and thanks for your efforts. Viva Di Canio - "I'm not a manager, I'm a teacher of football and I will teach my players everything I know".
**** off man Yes the football has been poor and yes he made mistakes but the spine of the team and engine room (centre mid) was still very much Bruce's. From his comments i think he wanted to bring in more players but Short wouldn't let him and wanted him to get people off the wage bill leaving the squad short (pardon the pun). O'Neill said before his sacking the squad lacked true ability and again reiterated this after his sacking. He's right the squad is piss poor and arguably the players he's bought in Rose, Cuellar, Fletcher and Johnson have been our best players this season. Only Sess and Mig can hold their heads high from Bruce's leftovers. O'Neill has succeeded at every club he's been at and i think he would have kept us up and then we would have really pushed on next season maybe emulating Villa or Everton. It's typical as Cest pointed out his one 'failure' would be the club he loves and supported. We will never truly know what would have happened under O'Neill and that's a shame. If he took us down then sack him, if not then i believe we would have done big things under him. PDC reeks of Keane, a short term solution but O'Neill had all the attributes for the long term picture. I agree with him in that i think he should have been afforded the 7 games to save us. Make no mistake we are still under the very real threat of relegation under PDC and may still go down. In defence of O'Neill's team selection and tactics. I could quote many Capt Fishpaste articles about how when the fans cried for 4-4-2 he did it, cried for Wickham and he did it etc etc. He wasn't stubborn just the squad wasn't good enough but the whole unwilling to change his tactics thing is bollocks. Yes he made mistakes and yes he made some odd signings particularly Graham but the guy is a winner, and has had success everywhere, we just needed patience and we would have had good times under him. Sadly we will never know what would be under the O'Neill/Safc story. I just hope the PDC gamble pays off or Short will look like a massive fool!
Total horseshit. O'Neill is lost without Robertson & if we still go down, who will you hold responsible, PDC? O'Neill should have gone after QPR at home.
did you read any of my comments or just have a glance and choose to post some bull****? And to answer your question, no i won't I'll hold Short responsible for taking a massive gamble so late in the season and why wait until after the International break? Surely he should have done it before? It was always a fact we would lose to Man U the form they are in
I read them all. O'Neill's signings have all been **** apart from Fletcher, while Bruce made some excellent ones. A success at every club he's been at? You forgot about Norwich then, . I'll let you off with that one as he was there for half an hour before he threw the toys out. Bizarre & surreal substitutions, he tried it always & it didn't work. Like I say, he's lost without Robertson.
What do I think of MoN's reign?.....well, I've only missed 3 home games in all competitions since 1970. The SoL has had the pleasure of my attendance in every single game it has staged. I was gonna call it a day. I wasn't going to renew my season ticket, which is akin to cutting off my legs. It would have broke my heart. The reason?....well, I'd become totally disillusioned. Sick of the hope. Sick of negative football. Sick of going into the ground depressed before a ball was kicked. Sick of leaving the ground, still depressed. Above all...sick and tired of not being entertained. Then, when all seemed lost, along came PDC. My season ticket has been duly renewed. Here's hoping the magic carpet is gonna start flying high again!
So many short sighted idiot fans these days but i suppose that's what football had turned into. Usually the thick headed dole council estate wallers with little or no opinion to call their own. 'The sheep are saying O'Neill should be sacked so i'll join in' mentality......****ing jokes man! To say Johnson isn't a good signing is foolish. He still still has the highest assist tally of any of any midfielder's and is involved in most of our goals. I suppose his problem is he doesn't run himself into the ground, like a headless chicken ala Colback so the so called 'expert' fans criticise him. Another example of the **** fans we have giving good players abuse because they are too short sighted to see the bigger picture.! Rose also has been excellent and when Cuellar had a run in a the team our defence was solid. I want PDC to succeed but as usual it just seems so short sighted. I want this club to be in Europe, regularly finish above the mags, win an odd cup. Without foundation we won't do this and that's why sacking O'Neill could be one of our biggest mistakes.
So because some poor bastard has been made redundant or lives on a council estate you think they have no opinions of their own? You are the thick one chum. Will PDC keep us up? I have no idea tbh but at least I'm now looking forward to game to see what effects he has on a poor squad. O'Neill has gone. Just move on like the rest of us have.
