Bruce was never going to get the fans on side because he is a mag MON was never going to to the fans on side because he played negative counter attack football PDC was a nutter and no one quite knew how to take him. Poyet on the other hand has got the team actually playing football and seems to have tactical awareness. You could really hear the fans today like the old days when Reid was in charge. I do wonder if now the fans are on side we might make the SOL a fortrus which it has not been for a very long time. When you think about it we could have got something at Hull on another day and the performance was still there. Under Gus our record has been very good so far.
PDC had us playing like a team and fitter. Let down by individuals that actually cost us games we played well in. Do I think Poyet could be the better manager long term? Yep!
Its still early days to call him a legend or the best but he certainly is a breath fo fresh air in what has been 2 or 3 seasons of utter garbage football under the last 3 previous mangers. However, if he keeps us up after the hand the hand we dealt him then he should be given a God-like status. Lol
Still Reidy for me. The early days at the SOL will take some beating but Gus is off to a flyer. Then again so was MON so was PDC. The trick is keeping it going.
I'm still wary about homeymoon periods etc, but the signs are good. There seems to be a renewed positivity. Seems I've just paraphrased.
3 weeks ago I was disconsolate. We were going down. Now I think we can stay up. Adamson gave me the same feeling, but that year it wasn't until the Easter. Poyet is the real deal x
He likes proper football and he's going to make sure we play it. I can't tell you how happy that makes me feel.
With you there Bri! I just hope the Dan's don't get too impatient when we play the lesser teams. We also need to get better away from home. I'm liking Gus though.
Loggerheads, and i don't mean them ****ing turtles. Martin O'Neill has launched a stinging attack on Paolo Di Canio, the man who succeeded him at Sunderland, branding the Italian a "managerial charlatan". Di Canio was appointed after O'Neill's sacking in March but lasted only 11 games before suffering the same fate. Di Canio was critical of O'Neill's tenure and, specifically, the fitness level of the players he inherited from the Northern Irishman. O'Neill has now taken charge of the Republic of Ireland in a controversial partnership with Roy Keane. When asked if he was disappointed by comments made about his Sunderland regime by Di Canio, O'Neill replied: "Paolo Di Canio? That managerial charlatan – absolutely, yes. "Paolo stepped in there and basically, as weeks ran on, he ran out of excuses. I had a wry smile to myself." O'Neill clearly took particular exception to allegations that his players were not fit. The 61-year-old said: "It's like a 27-year-old manager stepping in and the first thing you do is criticise the fitness of the team beforehand. If you've ever seen Aston Villa play, you'll see the one thing I pride myself on is teams being fit. "What you'll find interesting is that when he started the team wasn't fit for the Chelsea game. Then the following week when he won at Newcastle, not being fit wasn't mentioned. "Then about two weeks later they got mauled by Aston Villa, someone asked him about the fitness. Suddenly, he didn't know where to go. Because the team, as it progresses, should be getting more fit. "And then, at the start of the season, when he lost by a late goal at Southampton, he was asked about the fitness regime, that he was going to have them the fittest team in the league. Suddenly, the fitness wasn't for that game but for Christmas, when the winter months set in. You know, I did have a wry smile at that one." O'Neill garnered similar amusement from Di Canio's decision to ban various foodstuffs. When in charge of Sunderland, Di Canio explained: "We need to have lectures about why we can't have every day things like mayonnaise, ketchup and Coke." Speaking after he was officially introduced as Ireland's manager on Saturday afternoon, O'Neill said: "I'm hoping at some stage or another [Sunderland's captain] John O'Shea asks me at dinner table to pass him the tomato sauce and I will dispose of it immediately. But then if I feel you can't win games without tomato sauce I will empty it on his plate, with the chips. "John Robertson [O'Neill's former assistant] once said that if every team in Italy has pre-match pasta for their meals, how come three get relegated each year? It's an interesting point. Ability might come into it. I'd have loved the opportunity to sign 15 players like Paolo did. I never got that opportunity. "I was very disappointed at the outcome. I think I would have garnered the five points necessary to have stayed up and [had] the chance maybe to have changed the side." The phone of Di Canio's agent Phil Spencer was ringing out yesterday. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/nov/10/paolo-di-canio-martin-oneill-sunderland
I said at the game on Sunday - I think Di Canio had the right attitude towards the way he wanted us playing but the wrong attitude in talking to the puiblicised media about the players and what's happening. Poyet appears to have the exact balance - the other thing about his is he leaves the players to accept the plaudits without waiting till the pitch is empty to bask in his own forth riteousness like Di Canio did - I HATED that after the Everton game - him coming on the field with the music blaring to take the gloss away from the players - be a manager by all means, be responsible for the win, but let the lads take their plaudits.
I think Bruce had more friends than many think. I for one still like the guy, but its a results business. For most Sunderland supporters the geordie thing was not that big a problem. I don't like Newcastle but Bruce came to Sunderland and showed he respected the club and was up for the challenge. Even when he left, he kept calm and still showed respect. He handled the abuse with professionalism. I hope he gets an applause when he visits with Hull. At least this would be some form of an apology, which I think we owe him (Sunderland fans also need to show respect). Mon had all the fans behind him at the beginning. Many many of us thought we had, at long last, our saviour. Unfortunately the results and poor football caused his downfall. Di Canio was not the man for Sunderland. I know many liked the idea of the big earners getting their comeupance and that the star players were all too big for their boots etc. etc. etc., but I think this is mostly driven by jealousy and disappointment of the results. The big earners were made the scape goats. I do not agree with how Di Canio managed our club. The boss needs to be respected from the players, but insulting players and openly discussing in the extreme way Di Canio did, was wrong and It all self destructed. A manager needs to manage people and this has to be done in a professional manner. Strong is ok, but keep the emotions out of it, or the wrong things will be said (look at Ferguson, he was strong but you never saw the emotions take over). Now for Poyet; I am quietly excited. The man has shown every one respect (including the scape goats of the past). He is slowly rebuilding the confidence that Di Canio caused to be missing. He is holding his emotions in place and seems cool and tactical. His football style reminds me of how Peter Reid did it (the best Sunderland football that I'v seen in my life time). Its the hope I can't stand!
Have to say, the person with the biggest problem about Bruce being a Mag when he managed us was Steve Bruce! A small minority of the fans disliked it but he seems to be the one with a chip on his shoulder about it - and still, to this day, goes on about it. For me he can **** off the Geordie dickhead (But no cos he's a Geordie!)
