I fully expect this piece to go down as well as a Mick McCarthy Premier League side with some but I am going to carry on regardless. It is the English thing to do. We, as a nation, have always been trailblazers and been proud to die trying. I am thankful that an American, Ellis Short, and Paolo Di Canioâs band of Italians are now sweeping through Sunderland reminding us all of what we used to be and still should be like. I have read with despair some of the comments and reactions to the mass changes that are being attempted at SAFC. What has happened to these people? Has the part of their brain that handles excitement been totally turned off? Have the years and years of utter dross made them scared of and immune to trying something different? Letâs be honest, there was only one way that we were going if we carried on with same old method and players that we have done for the last few seasons. How can any fan that has watched Sunderland play over the last 3 campaigns be happy to continue along a similar path? Or how can they be so averse to changing it completely? It was rubbish. Absolute, 100% rubbish. OâNeill tried to inject a bit of quality last summer with Johnson and Fletcher but it was just not enough. With very few exceptions the rest of the playing squad are so bereft of any real quality that we should be suing them under the Trade Descriptions Act as they certainly are not what I class as footballers. Now things are getting turned on their heads we hear things like:- "Oh, but too many foreigners might not gel." "You canât make so many changes in one summer." "They donât have enough Premier League experience." According to whom? In football you get so many lines trotted out that just donât mean anything. The media, TV especially, is full of so called experts that I am amazed can even dress themselves let alone comment on what is going on in football. I would be dubious if Iain Dowie or Paul Merson told me that their farts stink. But, remarkably, people swallow everything they say. Remember, you can never win anything with kids. Gary Neville is probably the best pundit going at the minute and you will be hard pressed to find him peddling some of these one-liners that people are more than happy to wheel out. Coincidence? Nope. Foreigners might not gel? Well, our attempt at gelling British and Irish stalwarts has been a marvellous success. That Arsenal team, the âInvinciblesâ was packed to the rafters with those native to our little Island (thatâs sarcasm â it had 2)⦠The fact is that it does not make a blind bit of difference. Itâs down to the manager to gel the players regardless of them being born in Seaton Carew or Mogadishu. The point about not making too many changes in one summer is the one that really astounds me. Where is the proof? Where is the evidence? I accept that it is not ideal. It is not something that you should aim to be doing every summer. But, in our situation it is the bare minimum. If there was a straw poll the end of the season that asked our fans how many players that they would definitely keep and were without doubt good enough to be in our starting XI to take us forward then you would probably get back 4 or 5 recurring names. Mignolet, Johnson, Sessegnon and Fletcher would be on the majority of lists whilst Cattermole and OâShea might creep onto maybe half of the lists. Does that not tell people everything that they need to know about our team and squad? You cannot make too many changes at once? Open your eyes, take off the blinkers, we HAVE to make so many changes. Does Premier League experience really matter? Gardner had it. Larsson had it. Vaughan had it. Graham had it. Cuellar had it. They are all pretty much hopeless. Yes, the Premier League is faster than other leagues but if the player is good enough then they will adapt and adapt quickly. Itâs just a line often used that means nothing. Get your scouting, training and management right and there is no issue. Look at Swansea â Michu and De Guzman had a right mare trying to adapt, didn't they? So, when did so many of us become so wet? So un-English? We should be proud of and excited by what the club is doing. No longer limping along towards another relegation, we are ripping up the blueprint and trying to do something proactive. It may well go horribly tits up but thatâs the point. Captain Scott is famous for going to the Antarctic and dying on the way back rather than just sitting on the River Taff for a few years waiting to sink because of a continuous leak. We should be happy about whatever the end result is because we done it our way and by trying to better ourselves. Sod plodding along and being happy just to exist â thatâs not me, thatâs not the Sunderland I want and thatâs not English. If we are going to die then let it be by our own sword and in the knowledge that we had a right bloody good go at bettering ourselves. I'm not advocating that we do a Leeds or Portsmouth but we can do something to drastically change our fortunes and outlook. By being smart, by scouting correctly, by selling players at the right time (see Mignolet - he had no intention of signing a new deal so we got shot at his maximum value) then we can transform the team and the club. Embrace what Short, Di Canio and co are doing. Enjoy it, get excited by it, back them and be proud.One American And A Handful Of Italians To Remind Us How To Be English
I dont think anyone here is going to argue about the need for change mate and we ALL welcome a fresh approach but its the pace and severity of the change that scares some of us. You mention Swansea and the likes of Michu but you dont mention that there was a solid core of players like Monk, DAvies, Richards, Britton, Dyer, Moore and Routledge - all solid good British lads who allowed the likes of Michu to settle quicker. Catts and Bardsley in particular are lads who would help ease in the foreign contingent but they are being squeezed out totally now. We are likely to have maybe 6 or 7 new foreign faces in for the game against Fulham and whilst that may excite some it worries me greatly. Without the solid core you cannot build and I for one would rather have seen 4 or 5 new faces to blend in over a few months not from day one. I dont know of any other club that has transformed so quickly and so brutally and still actually been a success that same season. Bringing in 3 or 4 new faces did for the mags this January and they still had their core of players with experience of the EPL and the culture there to help. I'd be far happier if we were adding to some of the good players we do have here to build a tight competitive squad but we will be asking a helluva lot from a bunch of kids and unknown foreigners by the looks of it. Not a good start for my money and I reckon the bookies will recognise that when they announce their favs for the drop this year. We will not be very long odds at all imo.
best speech i've read for ages about our club, reminds me of King Harry and AGINCOURT. well done mate i for one am behind you.
Brilliant post mate and one I totally agree with. Anything but another season last the last. Lets not forget that the signings we've had will not be automatic first team players and the ones we're linked with are still mere speculation until the deed is done. There could well be a mix of old and new. Cest - would you really want to keep Bardsley after what he did? I've always been a supporter of him, but I think he should go. Catts may come good if he gets in a good pre-season. As for the solid core, do we have one at SAFC? Whatever happens, I think we'll see a bunch of lads playing as a team and for each other under PDC. Something we've sadly missed for too long.
Great post PDC. Sorry Cest, but the likes of Bardsley and Catts have had their try and failed miserably. The amount of fans I have spoken to who said they were not renewing their season card prior to Di Canio was unbelievable. I appreciate that the speed of change would make you feel uncomfortable but as the squad was so thin and so lacking in quality things had to change, and fast. Unlike previous close seasons, (remember we were two or three games into the season when Fletcher arrived for example), we have not dithered but have acted. It seems Ellis Short wants value for money and who can blame him after some of the dross we have squandered cash on recently, so what is the alternative? Sign some good Championship players?
I'm with Cest on this one. I'm not saying it's wrong but I am saying it greatly concerns me, that a new team is seemingly being put together to go and play in the fastest, roughest league in the world and they not only have no Premier league experience, but also few seem to still be maturing with their age. We should keep the spine there for the start of this season, to help the new lads coming into the team with their knowledge and experience of England and the Premier league. If he really wants to get rid of the rest then do it next season when his players have had time to bed in properly, or at the very earliest January. For me, I would like these players in the team with new players put in around them. -------- Westwood ---------- --.--- O'Shea --- . -----Hopefully Rose ----------- N'Diaye ----------- Johnson ---------- Sessegnon ------ ------- Fletcher (although i'm not his biggest fan) Build around these first and then as the season progresses then start to blend the rest of the new players in, as we go. Like I say, i'm not saying it is the right thing to do, just that I have reservations about it. I think this could blow up in our faces, just as easily as the people think that we are now all of a sudden gunna be successful.
great post pdc and good on yer. i understand why some/many are worried.....but what's the point in worrying about something we can do **** all about, or quite frankly know how it will end up. everyone knows we need 6 or 7 new first teamers...and by the looks of things we have some very talented people building a fresh, young, talented and hungry squad. i'd rather die trying than lurch along like some wounded animal.
Cracking article. There's no proof at all the Catts is being ousted Same for Sess. Nothing more than hearsay at the moment. Serves bardo right, he won't be missed. But do you not think Fletch, Johnson, O'Shea, Westwood, Sess, Catts and Alfie to an extent not be a core to add to or even better? Even if sess and catts do go I think it would be still ok provided they're replaced adequately. What would you do cest? Surly you're not up for having the likes of Vaughan or Graham lurking around the team sheet? Or would you settle for another year with a thread bare squad, risk injuries and guarantee another relegation scrap? Really want to know your views on a solution cause you're really good at pointing out the problems.
I think people are sceptical (me included) cos we have had so may false dawns its ridiculous!!! However, after last season, I'm happy about this new direction! What direction it will take us??? God knows! But it might be a giggle finding out!
Ease them in where? the local casino? or magistrates court? The whole point in this is to get rid of the players that cannot be ultimate professionals.
Whilst the 3 lads we have signed on bosmans may not have PL experience, they do possess European experience. For me that's a step up already
