With 9 players in, a few more expected to come and the N’Zogbia saga going on and on and on,am I alone in thinking what a cracking transfer team we have? Our leaders, Bruce in particular, have their critics and how many times have we sighed, “Why does it always take so long at Sunderland”. Why is it players leave in 24 hours but it seems to take weeks to bring them in, maybe, just maybe the answers to both questions revolve around our team of Short, Quinn and Bruce and the fact they are very good. Shorts involvement is simple, tell my why you want to sell/buy and if you convince me then go and do it, he then leaves them to do just that. How many times do we see Short on SSN giving his opinions and putting a spanner in the works, exactly, never. Could it be we sell very quickly because when sell is decided we sit down and decide what we want then very quickly get it, 24 for Bent and 20 for Henderson with no messing about. The buying team know it so they pay up and deal done, no need to hang about. When it comes to buying we have shown we will hang in their and get our man but only on our terms, O’Shea and Brown took forever but did sign and signed on our terms. Gibbson took forever and did not sign because we stuck by our terms and refused to be pushed about. N’Zogbia I believe could be ours now, I believe we have the cash to meet Wigans demands and the cash to meet the players wage demands. In Bruce and Quinn we have two people who don’t pay what we can afford but will only pay what they see as value. If N’Zogbia comes he will come on our terms and not a penny more, that pleases me. In Wickham and indeed Bent and Gyan we have shown we are prepared to pay good money, but only if we feel its justified and gives value, Bent was sold at a profit, Gyan if sold will be at a profit and hopefully Wickham when sold will be at a good profit, what was that, what about Jones to Stoke. The Jones fee seemed small but maybe Bruce felt we paid to much for him and 8 mil was his worth, looking at his return for Wigan its hard to argue that. I have moaned a few times about the time we take to buy but maybe those moans have been unfair because our negotiating team seem to have a much better handle on things than I do. We at times question Brucies tactics on the football pitch but its hard to question them in the transfer market. I would never buy or sell a car to any of them.
We still made a profit on KJ! Bought for 6m, sold for 8m. Also (while I was making sure I had the right numbers and therefore didn't look like an idiot) I noticed if you type 'Sunderland sign ' into Google, the first name that comes up is N'Gog!
I think our guys are doing a decent enough job - let's wait and see though 1. How those we have brought in perform - many of us have concerns re SB as a tactician and someone who can "protect" his squad (not sure if that`s the right word! but we need to stop the nose dive in form mid season as per the last 2 years) 2. What others that we bring in....we all think there is a need for a couple of signings and have a view on where they might be needed We need to see the proof of the pudding on both counts IMO
Good post Syd. I have been one of the moaners who say it takes us forever to sign someone. But when you take a step back Quinn, Short & Bruce have done all the right things i have listened to NQ many times reference what happened to portsmouth & Leeds & the last thing we want is to go through that when you spent beyond your means you end up ****ed.
