I hope he takes it - I like him. I'm sick to the back teeth of hearing about office and admin staff needing to "know something about football". I want to see a 'football man' who "knows something about money" instead of chucking it around like confetti for no good reason. We're eighth from top in spending and sixth from bottom in football. Short isn't responsible for where we are. Let me give you some very good suspects - Roy Keane, Steve Bruce, Martin O'Neill, Paolo di Canio (or Roberto di Fanti, depending on who you believe) and Gus Poyet. That's what we need to be looking at. A so-called 'football man' with half a brain would help.
8th from top in spending would only equate to 8th top in football if all teams started equal, in this context. It's bollocks, we had **** to get rid of, teams that spent less had established Premier League squads and not overpaid deadwood. It means nada.
.I understand the argument entirely about not just splashing cash on players to fill gaps and that it needs to be spent on quality. From what I see from this season I would retain as proven quality pre players the following: Pantillimon Coates JOS ( as an experienced player) PVA Catts Larsson Rodwell (as CB) Johnson (depending on the obvious) Giacch (as a hopeful) Defoe Connor Possibles are : Alvarez, and also Gomez Plus keep hold of the younguns The rest are up for replacement and are either too old, not good enough or on loan. Who would you replace or add?
That means 14 needed to make s premier league squad. There is quite a job to be done, I think DA could do it
Swansea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Leicester &co. had established Premier League squads ? Ffs, Swansea haven't been up for five minutes yet and Leicester for even less. And what would you say Stoke had to get rid of - a class act or something? Bollox.
So, your saying we are 8th highest spenders of the last 5 years and then including all these clubs that have been in 3 years or less? Nice comparison mate. Either way you look at it, there is absolutely no logic in it. For 8th spend to make 8th place, all spending on equal quality, all would have to start equal, simple as that. Teams have found players for a couple million worth far more, that immediately makes financial comparison irrelevant.
Remind me how long Stoke have been in the EPL please. "Teams have found players for a couple million worth far more". Yes, they have - why haven't our bunch of tossers? It's no good making lame excuses for people who have, quite simply, let us down mate. We'll never improve that way.
My point is, it's not WHAT we've spent, it's HOW. We need Ellis to invest, but we need it to be done on the right lads in the right areas. I understand you saying 'stop spending on ****e' but if we stop spending altogether, we are gone. I'm confident we will recruit well this summer.
I never once said stop spending altogether, and I'm sure Ellis Short wouldn't either. I said we needed a so-called 'football man' with half a brain. We can't go on spending £50m when we've only got £30m and we've had far too many 'football men' who couldn't get that between their ears. I agree with you about Advocaat - I think he might just have some idea of the real world. I do like him.
Yeah, we probably do need to spend £30million, we need a £15million CM for a start, that's ****ed us for years, no creative CM. One of those makes your wingers better, your full backs more dangerous, and your strikers goalscorers. We should have offered Banega daft money, he genuinely considered us.
Gonads, that's straight under the belt and you know it. I used the figures £30m and £50m straight off the top of my head as examples. And incidentally, I do know what a creative CM is for - I did watch Shackleton and Broadis y'know
No mate, I wasn't quoting your numbers, I was saying I feel we need to spend around that, maybe more if we sell. I wasn't suggesting you didn't know what a CM is, I was passing my view of our most desperate need
O'k. pure misunderstanding mate. At the end of the day, I think we agree that Advocaat lives in - and can use - the real world better than what we've had. But I hope all Sunderland fans will stop blaming Short. We have to get this balance right.
the pros and cons of this thread have been great reading but it only indicates that we have the answers but do we understand the problems? Honouring contracts, recruitment , injuries etc are all part of football but in the end they cost and long term judgment is the key but this is too easily wrecked through force of circumstance.. We have a weak midfield but could have signed Charlie Austin, we took Alvarez and Gomez instead because it suited the style GP was planning and we know how that turned out. DA rectified that in the blink of an eye and Gomez benefited from it. He can hopefully carry that on next season or DA may want a more combative player. Patience is needed now, especially from the supporters (admittedly again) - but after all it is its own virtue. For what it is worth I was talking with the son of a long time mate and they are both Gooners but the son was at the game and he reckoned that Rodwell keeping Cazorla quiet was the biggest defensive achievement on the night. Yet he got hardly a mention and by forcing more service to Ozill it diminished Arsenal's attacking capabilities.
He wants the job, I believe the experience has blown him away. He loves the fans and with the squad he had at hand (and managed to keep us up) He is relishing the chance to succeed in this league, he's just asking for reassurances. Over to you Ellis
Funny how we see things so differently. Sometimes the most 'invisible players' are the ones doing the most. Cazorla was completely nullified, i don't remember him from that game at all.
Ellis Shorts heart is in the right place. He is a businessman who has a genuine love for the club. He depends on experts to advise him and he took some risks with DiCanio and Poyet but we are still in the Premier League. In contrast, Ashley thought he was OK When Pardew left, took the money and thought"stuff the club and fans, just let Carver run it and scrape through". I wonder how he will be tomorrow. Anyway, onwards and upwards for SAFC, still buzzing after Wednesday
