We're currently operating with a 24- man squad, one of the lowest in Efl1. Worryingly, 10 of that squad are out of contract in the Summer, including O'Nien, Maguires, McGeady, J. Mcloughlin and Watmore. Without stating the obvious the owners have an incredibly difficult job on their hands.
Hopefully a fair bit of this will be addressed in January. It would be wise for the club to look at how we're positioned before offering contracts as a few players won't be up to Championship standard. This may mean that we lose a few for nowt but to be honest most won't have any significant resale value anyway.
There's is an option on O' Nien to extend for a further year but if we're still in this league I can see him going.
I think he'll stay regardless. From what i can gather he loves it here and the majority of the fans love him.
Sorry I wont have this. Its accepted fact we have the biggest wage bill in the league even after getting shot of big earners like catts and oviedo. Yes we have injuries, but compared with most teams we have experienced cover in every position, not yts or spotty youths, in fact we could do with trimming the squad. Ross had a big squad and did diddly squat with it and theirin lies the problem. It doesnt matter how many players you have in your squad , if you are playing bland negative football you may as well put 11 paraplegics out on the park. Ross was the epitome of the definition of insanity.
What aren't you having? I've merely posted fact. It's not up for argument, but you are correct we have a big wage bill of nearly £15m. If we don't go up this season they'll vanish on free's and the wages will probably half too.
Good, gives us an opportunity ship some of the dead wood out regardless of what league we're in next year. They should be busting a gut and playing for their futures.
I suspect most players outside of the Premiership and top half of the Championship have shorter contracts. With players worth multi-millions you lock in their value with big contracts, with players of lesser value the long contracts are more of a burden to the club. I reckon this is pretty normal operating procedure for the league. Overall, players performing musical chairs within the league is likely to benefit Sunderland as a big fish in the pond as the better ones are likely to gravitate in that direction.
Those players have got November and December to prove themselves. If, when the January transfer window opens, we aren't in the top 2, to me they've proved they aren't able to take us to the next level, so should find themselves new clubs.
Yes, but as individuals, surely? If we are not in the top 2 by January, it doesn't mean we pezzle the lot of them. Some of them might be performing well, and others not pulling their weight. It's the latter group that we need to dispense of.
I have looked at just 2 teams above us. Peterborough have 23 Wycombe have 22 Doesn't seem to be a problem TBH Do you have the numbers for rest of the division's squads ? Be interesting to compare
There's only Lincoln and Peterborough with a smaller squad than ours (23) and Wycombe and Gillingham have the same as us (24) Squad depth will test all of the squads over the season with injuries and suspensions. On paper we would appear to have more depth in the squad.
