I'm not comparing them mate, just stating that the distance between the two is so small so picking one club over the other should have nothing to do with the City itself but to do with the club.
Disagree. Play for the Toon you can live and play in the toon, which is far better (sorry) as a cosmopolitan place than our city. Play for SAFC, don't go out in Toon. Go to Durham (!) or, er, Washington (lol). That is the top and bottom of the Henderson thing with me. He is not the greatest but perhaps can be good - a start. We need people - players who come from here because it is so hard to attract them from anywhere else. So what do we do, with this local, good player? Sell him. We cannot compete with London, Cheshire, Birmingham. We cant compete with Newcastle ffs. Leeds is a better town! I despair. Get them in from Albania for a season. Thats what we seem to be good at
I see what you are saying but any footballer worth his salt goes to a club for 1. Footballing reasons and 2. Wages to improve his standard of living for his family and himself. These people live in a completely different world to the rest of us and with the size of the country location should mean nothing to someone with the means to travel whatever the cost especailly when privacey is such a big thing to most of them! Anyway with success comes the spoils and although its tough I think we are going the right way and as we are still trying to get rid of the old stigmas of the past we may have to pay over the odds. Whats that saying "Build it and they will come" (Kevin Costner film - field of dreams I think). Keep the faith.....
Nothing lasts forever and ES will at some point move on to other things in his life but not before he has achieved something. I'll tell you all a little story. As part of the Supporters Branches BLC (branch liaison committee), the CLS branch attended a meeting last year when to everyones surprise, Short, Bruce and Quinny all attended. Apparently, Ellis came across as being very approachable and easy natured but very, very, very driven. He told everyone there that he had never failed in anything had had ever done in his life and he wasnt about to start with SAFC. He made it very clear that SB had a directive and had to deliver it. Top 10 was his remit and I guess its mission accomplished this year. He also seemed very clued up to the whole history of the club and had bought into SAFC in a big way - both financially and spiritually. The general impression was that he was there to change the face of SAFC forever and he wanted to win something. He may be here for 70 years in that case (Lol). However, joking apart, I am relaxed about ES involvement at SAFC and feel a great deal of ease at his tenure-ship. When its time to move on, I get the feeling it will be done with total professionalism and dignity and we will be a much better proposition to any potential buyers than we were at the beginning of his ownership.
New owners don't have to live in Sunderland, South Shields is up the road, that's a beautiful place to live
