Now, the headline maybe screams of controversy, so I'm going to say from the off that I include myself in this. Anyway, we all know the clubs history, no major honour since '73, a few Wembley outings since, but never have we been a 'top side', the highlight of this time being two 7th (yes, 7th, upper mid table) finishes under Reid. I'm not going to go back too far, so the Reidy years will serve as a great starting point on this. When Reidy walked through the gates of Roker Park, we were going down to the third tier, that season, in truth we'd not been that bad a side, but goals & fortune had evaded us, we were going and we all knew it. Crowds were around 15k, Roker at the time held 22k, the place had lost that 'fearsome' status to visitors, cue Craig Russell, a wind assisted winner with minutes to spare, survival, an unlikely promotion (and immediate relegation) and amidst it all, the move to the SOL. Johnson, Summerbee, Quinn, Phillips, Thome, Hutch, Schwarz, Rae, Sorensen, ****ing hell, we'd not seen players who could play for years. Two 7th places, then a drop, and the fans began to turn on the likeable Scouser, hindsight telling us that the failure to replace players may well have been due to the club running out of money, many of us citing his stubborness and tactical inflexibility. Losing Makin, Johnson, Hutch, all put down to Reid. Cue Wilkinson, nothing to say there, then Mick McCarthy, who did a great job with no budget, but lets fast-forward past those doldrum years, to Drumaville, and Keano. Talk about a wind of change, Keane miraculously got us promoted, brought in players like Kavanagh & Connolly, perfect players for what we needed, we actually cantered the league & we were back, Drumaville backed, we have been there ever since, the Premier League. None us of mentioned Keanes spending as we brought in the likes of Gordon , Richardson etc, we stayed in the league, for the first time since Reid, and we looked set to press on. Keane was sacked the next season, once again the fans citing stubborness & tactical inflexibility as the reasons, he was replaced by Ricky Sbragia, who was never likely to be kept on after a fortunate survival, fans unimpressed by his tactical inflexibility (you see where we're going...). Steve Bruce arrived, and no, no, no, we didn't object, we did ave a few mentions of his Geordie roots, but he was backed, very well backed, and we all saw the sense in the move, a credible record in the top division with Wigan behind him, and a very impressive press conference removed many a doubt. The calibre of player improved quite dramatically under Bruce, in patches we looked a very good team, occasionally excellent, we became tough to break down, we scored a few goals, Bent , Gyan, Welbeck, Cattermole, Cana, ****ing hell he was bringing in some talent. We started to wobble a bit, then a lot, then we did question Bruce, not his Geordie rots as he'd have you believe, but his......tactical inflexibility (the everyone back for a corner thing is honestly what I believe ****ed him, no goals on the break, often hemmed in for long periods as a result, made us look way worse than we were). Sayonara Bruce..... There were 2 contender for the job, Mark Hughes, wonderful work with the Welsh national side, built and exciting team at Blackburn, & harshly dismissed by moneybags Man City, a strong contender. MON, a manager of impeccible character & success at every club he'd managed, a Sunderland fan to boot. We plumped for MON, the correct decision, relegation fears were gone within weeks, although rarely impressive to watch, results were flying in, a new steel in the players seemed apparent, until safety was rubber stamped and they all went on their holidays 6 weeks early. That brings us to now, 7 games in, 1 defeat, but only 1 win. Still in both cups with a winnable draw offering a great chance of quarter finals in the league cup, yet uneasy is all I can describe the situation as. Many fans are questioning MON's 'TACTICAL INFLEXIBILITY' yep, that old chestnut, citing the quality of our players on the ball being overruled by a complete lack of cohesion and a counter attacking style that does not allow players to express themselves. So, back to the title of the article. 4 managers in Reid, Keane, Bruce & now MON questioned despite significant progress as a club, all the gripes centre around a common denominator, a lack of guile, an inability to change, are we right to expect more from the club, a club of no great mark on modern era football? ****ing right we are!
We can demand until we're blue in the face. It's the getting that's important and we've had **** all in nearly 40 years. I was 10 in May 1973 and I want some silverware (Prem/FA Cup/League Cup/Europe) before I die. The Prem and Europe are pie in the sky, so one of the cups right now would do nicely please.
Unrealistic perhaps is a better term. We simply cannot compete with champions league money. Or cities big bucks. So how do we compete without a mega mega rich Saudi looking to plough money in? We are really pretty much at our glass ceiling. Top 10 is all we can hope for. That is our success. To achieve this is achievable on our wage structure etc.To push top 4 would risk the club doing a Leeds etc. So do we stick with the safe predictable occasional flirt with relegation or go **** or bust. Can anyone see a third way.
Not sure about most demanding. Our expectations were raised when the Irish guys came in and spend like never before at our club. We (me for sure) thought that this might be our time but then almost every other premiership club was bought by wealthy people and invested likewise so in real terms everyone was back to square one. (Us, a lower half team) We are what we are for me. A bottom 14 side. Any 3 from 12 are possibles to go down year after year. Us one year, the Mags the next, maybe Villa this. Who knows. The same 4/5 will always be up top with the odd one (Mags, Everton) having a good season and threatening to get in. But what happens when one of the "lesser teams" almost do it? The top 4/5 go out and spend 40/50 million and move away again. How do you bridge the gap? Not sure. (maybe the answer is we can't)
Chelsea and Man city were in the 2nd division with us in the late 1980's but since then they have spent and look what they have achieved. Why have we not spent big?, our fan base is massive, a superb stadium (could be bigger). At this moment we have the weakest strike force i can remember, and that has to be rectified in January. And when you think Luton, the Boro, and Leicester have won the league cup, Coventry, Wimbledon and Portsmouth have won the F A cup, Leeds in the champions league so how have we failed since 1973?. Can we finally win the league cup next year, with luck of the draw and teams playing weakened sides we might just, and with a 3 or 4 class players added in January (1 or 2 not cup tied hopefully) we might just do it.
for a guy banned from this board in 4 guises, you certainly know how to brown nose mods now. Oh and Mush your a lovely fella , wink wink say no more
A mere youth, Rog. I approach middle age with confidence. And I'm not fifty; it's forty-ten to you, sunshine
WE DIDNT SACK SIR BOBBY ROBSON AFTER FOUR GAMES,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,So in answer to your question,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,no. work it out.
I think we got really unlucky that when the Irish guys pumped money in it seemed every team was pumping money in. Had that Irish money been applied in the 90's we could have been top 4. It's going to be interesting in January as we can all see the squad needs more building. Perhaps with MON we are only going to see 2-3 players each window and a slower building process unlike Steve Bruce and Roy Keanes mad and haphazard approach
Slowly but surely will be the way. I wish we had done this and that, but we didn't and a 'bottom 14' is about right. Domestic cup wins, a healthy league position, some great scalps and a venture into Europe would make me happy after all the ****.
Really good read, and as TTT said, can apply that almost seamlessly to Newcastle. Whilst changing managers constantly can lead to a demise (we're a prime example of that) as you say, you've not been relegated in years, so in a sense it's been the right thing to do...
