Going back to the Keane days the summer window was a build up of anticipation and excitement with big names, Man U players, remember Scholes at the AoL, lots saw him there. Bruce came in and we all knew about his contacts in South America so we waited for those big names and how excited did we get, Da Silva, Riveros, Angeleri and in came Bent then Gyan. Even last summer we had lost Bent but Sir Niall had assured us that the record would be broken bringing in his replacement. Bruce had a major rebuild after losing his loan players so we saw an early infux of players, the expected United players and Brum boys, the squad was looking good and we still had that big name to come. We all know he never did, we got what seemed a last minute panic loan signing in Bendtner and TBF to Bendy we got what you expect to get with panic signings. Even so we started in optimistic mood and our first game against a top team at Liverpool showed us we had an exciting and successful season ahead. At that time we had no idea that Liverpool were no longer that top team and we certainly had no idea of the future run to come. With this window about to open even the rumours are more low key, Holt and Fletcher instead of Rooney and Messi but are we being more realistic or have we just been stung once to often? In football, and here at Sunderland in particular, being built up to be knocked down goes with the role of fan and in Quinn we had a god who we all loved but maybe a god who, at times, let his dream convince us that the magic carpet was capable of flying higher than realism would allow. I find it somewhat curious that in times of decent if not spectacular managers and owners we expected and indeed demanded the best and now we have a top class manager and owner our expectations seem lower, more realistic and more achievable. Are we frightened to place to high a target for MON in case he fails and leaves us with nowhere to go? Maybe, but I feel its more that Short and O'Neil are not the in your face, tambourine bashing characters that we had in Quinn and Bruce. Both Short and O'Neill seem to be more down to earth, more business like and I get the feeling we can expect a team that reflects this. Yes we can expect flair and excitement with players like Sess, if he stays and Maclean but the spine will be solid, business like who do the job. Maybe, deliberately or not we have had our expectations lowered so that at worst we hit them but maybe will be pleased to exceed them. July will answer many questions and TBH this window I find myself looking forward to it without the hype of past years, one thing is for sure, next season is a big one, I'm not sure how many more let downs we or I can take.
In MONs past, he has never been known to sign Big Name signings or anyone with egos, he wants team players who will play with passion Difficult in this day and age but he did it at Villa, if you look at when he was there he had Richard Dunne, Stilyan Petrov and Agbonlahor were his top 3 players, none of them are really stars, however he get them to top 6 (which imo is ridiculous) Similar to cloughie in the way he likes to mould players to his way of playing and therefore I am not really expecting any marquee signings
Hmm, imho we will know Shorts ambitions by the amount we spend on forwards, if it is Fletcher and Agonblahor then we are aiming for mid-table and a flirt with relegation or with Euro qualifying, it could go either way. If he spends more on better strikers we should be pushing top 8. In other words we will know the extent of our owners ambitions by the budget he gives MoN to buy, notwithstanding the sales made. I also understand that any Gyan money is not in the bag yet.
Id say Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, James Miner, Gareth Barry and a prime John Carew and Brad Friedal were the crux of that Mon era
Well said Parker. I'd say Mon makes ordinary signing marquee ones. I am very relaxed about the managers recruitment this summer and he already highlighted our short comings within a few weeks of joining us. Mon is experienced, clever and very astute at this level. We all hoped Keane and Bruce could do it but we weren't sure. We know Martin can. That's the huge difference to me this summer.
Even so we started in optimistic mood and our first game against a top team at Liverpool showed us we had an exciting and successful season ahead. At that time we had no idea that Liverpool were no longer that top team and we certainly had no idea of the future run to come. --------------------------------- I was at this game, have to say Syd we could have been out of sight in the first half (3 or 4-0), though the second half did improve.
The reason why there is less optimism is because I think deep down we all know MON will suceed. I think when we were saying top 8 would be easy, maybe we were trying to convince our selves... Also like you said, we now don't have Bruce or Quinn saying in every interview that we will be aiming for top 8. With regards to MON signings, he is calculated and formulates what team he wants. I can garantee you that he knows who he wants and how he wants to play. Bruce seems to buy for the crack... Also, I think I'm more excited this transfer window than the previous, because IMO the calibre of players will be better.
