Did his family not turn Newcastle down ?? Was told by a mag friend that they were very interested and offered a good deal to the family and a good deal to the lad but family have chosen to stay at Sunderland as they can see a way to first team football. He may be wrong and it may happen but he said Sunderland had promise to match the mags offer when Rigg signed his 1st Pro contract. So it looks like KLD may well have stepped in. About a week after he told me this newcastle signed a very promising young midfielder from overseas and the Chris Rigg thing went quiet again.
Very good news if this is happening, instead of the last lots we'll what can we do guff! Also if lads a re seeing a route to the first team and deciding to stay beacsie of that too it's all good news. In all honesty the mags will offer less and less chances to the kids as they will be spending 200-300 million each season unless ffp buts a stop to it. But I assume they will find ways around that considering their owners own shares in so many other companies that could sponsor them or the stadium or training ground etc.
I have said before that a route to the first team, from the academy setup, is one of the most important things. It is why I have said our own youngsters need more patience from us than a young loan player, for example, or even buying a ready made player. Right now we have Patterson, Neil and Embleton who are establishing themselves here. This is massive when it comes to showcasing our club to parents and players of the best young talent, really massive. Gooch can be added too. At times all 4 are in the team - 40% of our first 11. That is huge when it comes to atttacting talent. I would happily guarantee that being patient with these lads, letting them play (and make mistakes) will go a long way to the future success of our club. If Rigg is staying then that is hopefully just the start.
Doyle did well for Sunderland and himself initially but faded halfway through the season due to circumstances beyond anyones control which I’m sure all concerned fully understand. City tend to send the majority of the academy out on loan abroad to teams in the City group but certainly not all as proven by Doyle and two presently at Sheffield Utd. I know I’m biased but personally I couldn’t think of a better team than Sunderland to go out on loan to considering your style of play and the undying support. You’ve also got similar weather to us - ****ing ****e! Here’s hoping.
The posters who have named the good prospects and people playing well at the minute are pretty much spot on.
When LND got injured and we knew it would be for a while, I was hopeful that the contract situation would be sorted as he had no other distractions. Over the last 2 weeks I've become less optimistic, and even TM isn't mentioning anything, where as earlier he said that LND was happy here. Unless of course they have agreed everything and are just waiting to announce it before he starts playing again for us to increase the fans optimism
A fab overview - and for me, the only thing which sometimes spoils it is some supporters, and they are supporters who clearly care, who need to understand that the club (KLD, Speakman, TM, and others) will make mistakes and get the odd thing wrong. My company manages peoples money and my stance is that if we get 7/10 things right and limit ourselves to a max of 3 things wrong we are successful. I think so far that they have got 8 or 9/10 things right. Well done them!
Thank you for your response to my post , in life we all make mistakes but they have to weighted against what is achieved and KLD and his management team he has assembled have achieved a lot in a short amount of time and should be applauded . Your assessment of their level of performance concurs with mine , we are getting a lot lot more right than wrong and long may it continue .
