I am not pretending anything of the sort and have never said so but I think you will find that I had grave reservations about his character and his suspect temperament from the very beginning if you want to check. However, of course I welcomed him to the club after his appointment, as we desperately needed stability after losing yet another manager inside 1.5 years and you're right, he may well have only been here for 8 months but they were the most destructive 8 months of any managers reign in my memory. Even McMenemy took longer to wreck the club. He ripped every sinew of trust, team ethic, togetherness and confidence from what was already a fragile dressing room and left the players bewildered, confused and unsure of their futures. It must have been a terrible atmosphere he created and Gus is still reaping that devastation now. I just hope that he (Poyet) can turn things round in the next 20 games to finish 4th bottom and go again in the summer in the EPL but I lay the blame for the haplessness of the current poor squads results firmly and squarely at PDC's door. I will bet you any amount you like he doesn't get another EPL appointment in his career and will be very fortunate to get one in the Championship. The 3rd or 4th division are the only offers he will receive and even they will be from desperate clubs not established ones. The way he has conducted himself during his tenure here and subsequently since he was sacked will have alarm bells ringing in boardrooms up and down the country. I only wish we had paid the £2m compensation when O'Neill was sacked and appointed Gus at that time. I don't think the same set of players would be here and I do think we would be a comfortable mid table team instead of the whipping boys again.
I'll always accept that PDC played his part but our mess is a collection of mistakes for five years of bad management and naive chairman decisions imo. Confidence zapped? We've had no confidence in the final 3rd since Bruce dismantled a decent team. Yes Fletch scored with his few chances under MoN but the style of play demanded a lot less from fletch, he just looks out of his depth under this philosophy for me, neither he or Jozy are getting many chances but I'd bet Jozy covers more ground and makes more touches and passes than Fletch. Merry Christmas and all the best to you and your family Cest btw.
Firstly all the best to you and your family mate. Despite the argument and disagreements you and Smug are two good posters I enjoy the banter with. I hope life treats you and your family well this Christmas and for the New Year. The biggest and most baffling thing about Fletcher is he flourished under Martin in a terrible formation and style with one striker but looks lost under Poyets formations. He is a good footballer as well as goalscorer but something isn't right with him at all. jozy is a hard working (cant understand the lazy critics tbh) but he isn't a goalscorer. What we do is a mystery mate. I love Poyet's style and ambition but he maybe needs to move some players on and recruit his own to get us to gel. Its never easy being a Sunderland fan is it? Lol
Same to you fella, It wouldn't be a debate forum without difference of opinion and will always respect a strong mind like your own or Smugs. Fletch is a mystery, Starting to think the only thing wrong with him is that he wants off. Poyets style is going to take seasons to flourish. I'd rather it be in the premiership but still believe we'd get there with a relegation. I can spot maybe 3 players in the squad who can/could play the style and be here for years to come and that's Ki, Roberge and Jozy. The rest I can't see being here for the long haul weather it be because of age or not being good enough. We need to sign Ki though, I think we'll struggle to attract that quality at that price. Always a rollercoaster mate.
Gyan has to come back if Gus tells him to in Jan but will he want to play for us ?,. And talking about players taking jinxes to other club what about sess and WBA !. The capitol one cup semi's and 4th round of the F A cup should tempt some big name players here.
On Fletch, the year Wolves went down he was often benched despite being the top scorer, I wonder if we've just overlooked a glaringly obvious flaw cos he was banging them in? We need goals, but no striker of any calibre will sign for a bottom of the league team in January, blaming PDC for the players playing **** now is frankly ridiculous. If their mentality is that frail, they'd never have made it as a pro, let alone to the Premier League.
If Fletcher gets his **** together, and scores as much as Bent, we'll stay up... Ok, i know Bents a ****, but whilst at SAFC he knew where the goal was.
When they went to Ellis Short & told him, they won't p-lay for PDC again, Short should have told them you don't play for PDC, you play for the club, get a grip & start earning your wages!
No matter what happens this season I'll not forget that this squad were willing to risk our survival with spineless performances just to oust a coach, from the sound of the working conditions they could have approached Eliss via their union and behaved like men. They could have even threatened strike action, I would have understood that. But they decided to reduce their work effort on the pitch and put us in the position we're in now and then still dare to view themselves as professionals. I know we can't get shot of everybody at once but I'm willing the day to come when Gus has his own team and not these ****ers.
PDC had a big mouth and nothing else. If my boss started going on like he did, then I and my collegues would also be up the wall. Just because they are on big wages does not mean the manager can do what he wants. To expect the best performance is acceptable, but without respect there is nothing. I am not talking about being soft here. I am talking about treating somebody in the same way as you would want to be treat yourself, setting standards through your own behavour. The mess on the pitch was PDCs fault and not the players. We do not have the quality in depth, that is also not the players fault. It was also not PDCs fault.
Most have had a boss who's made life hell. But you still do the job to the best of your ability rather than sabotage the product. If the conditions are inadequate or you're being mistreated, you contact your union, you don't break the machinery, make substandard products or be rude to customers do you? We passed the ball as well as we have under Poyet in that first game of the season against Fulham. Obviously that was around the time PDC crossed the line but so did the players when they made the protest on the pitch and stuck the fingers up to every sunderland fan that parts with their money to see their team put in a 100% professional effort.
Food for thought! The squad not being good enough is not PDCs fault, but the chaos that he caused was. The same players were losing by much greater margins than today. This he was creating. The only thing giving us a chance today is the team spirit. Would there be any team Spirit if PDC was here today? We would be a lot worse off.
I think this is where we share different opinions. I do not think the players sabotaged any game. I think the players are too professional for that. For me the performances were poor, because moral was gone. If I remeber correctly they did contact the union and then never played again. No names were mentioned but I bet one of them was Catts. Its a difficult situation when you do not agree with your boss and go against the system.
