IF Hull City can get the PL sorted and stay there Then this WILL BE THE LAST Promotion season in my lifetime. I would be very happy to watch City for the next 50 years in the PL. Trying to be a top 10 club in that time. Boyd is already signed up. He becomes a City player as soon as the loan period ends. I expect both Stockdale and Elmohamady to become City players in the summer upon PL status. I also expect somewhere between 5-10 new signings (many FATs) to be signed up in the summer.
I agree with you. Clearly we HAVE been good enough to get to second spot - after all, that's where we are - but we SHOULDN'T be. We have benefited from an extremely poor Championship. I'm not going to be complaining about promotion if we get it, but the squad needs some serious work. As strange as it sounds when we have one of the division's better defensive records, I feel we have been much poorer defensively than in previous seasons, and I have seen enough of the defensive side of our formation to know that we will be made to look stupid by most Premier League clubs. I would be looking for almost an entirely new starting-XI if we went up. The players we have now may prove to be too good for the Championship come the 4th of May, but I would bet my life that the same ones will show themselves up as too poor for the Premier League.
I disagree - I think as long as McShane continues not making critical mistakes he'll do a job, as will Chester. Think Hobbs will be okay too but would need someone with covering pace alongside - we will need some pace at the back though, regardless. Aluko, Brady, Rosie, Meyler and Elmo will do a job at that level, possibly Quinn too. Up-front I think we need to do some work, but feel Boyd and Gedo will do a job at least. I'm not saying I expect these guys to turn out better than the Gareth Bales and Wayne Rooneys in the division; but to be competitive against lower and mid-table sides with a few additions I think we can make a fist of it without a complete squad overhaul - maybe 6 or 7 . Personally I expect us to try and emulate WBA and stick to our business-plan by making shrewd signings. I don;t care too much if we come down in our first season as long as we have the financial and squad stability to make a fist of promotion again during the parachute years. What I don't want us to do is spunk a load of cash on **** or bust signings with no resale value and no wage reduction clauses in contracts should relegation occur.
A few of our players, those from Sunderland, and Faye, were deemed by their previous clubs managers, and fans in fact, to not be good enough for the PL. How much of a difference to those players does a new manager (obviously thinking Steve B) do to that situation? Good championship players don't always make good PL players and vice versa, but I guess personally, I trust Steve B to know what he's doing.
I know enough Sunderland fans who criticised O'Neil for getting rid of Meyler and Elmo. I also think as a centre back there's not a lot wrong with McShane apart from the fact he was prone to mistakes. He seems to have stopped panicking this season. Sometimes players just aren;t fancied by managers, but Elmo and Meyler were a part of Bruce's team who did well enough in the first 18 months for Bruce to be offered a contract extension. Rosie did okay in the premiership too IIRC. Yes we will need additions but different managers see different things in different players. Players perform differently in different teams. Bruce knows the division and has signed/lined up these deals with promotion in mind. I'm quite close to a Sunderland Season ticket holder and he felt that they shouldn't have let Elmo and Brady go and also reminded me that Bruce did reasonably well there in his first season, just couldn't arrest the Slide when Bent left and Campbell, Turner and Meyler all got long-term injuries.
I used to go on the Sunderland forum quite a lot, the majority thought that Meyler was a decent player, but Elmo was ****.
My pal reckons he started like a house on fire then lost confidence with everyone else. Saying that however, he doesn't tend to blindly agree with the majority and is happy to form his own opinion - like he never referred to Bruce as a "big, fat, illiterate, geordie dinner lady" when everyone else was - He felt embarassed by it. Did say that once the fans had turned to the extent they did then it was an impossible job and he should have been replaced sooner mind.
How many times do you watch Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal (against Norwich for instance) get lucky? How lucky we're Man City last year that Man U ****ed up an 8 point lead? Good teams make their own luck and ride their luck, when you're down at the bottom nothing goes for you. Incidentally not sure we've been lucky with penalties, probably one of the lowest awarded in the league
Earlier City seemed to be playing well but not scoring. Now they don't seem to be playing so well but grinding out results. Bruce seems a practical manager. He wont lose his head like Brown did.
I think like when we went up last time we have a backbone of a squad that are good enough to survive in the top flight if we go up. I'd expect Chester, Hobbs, Dudgeon, Meyler, Koren, Brady, Quinn and Elmo to be good enough for our side of our standing in the top flight. It is essential that we add to the squad with 5/6 new signings to improve our squad but I'm confident some of our current squad can hold their own in the top flight.
Aluko will be more than good enough, i just hope he comes back before pre season starts thus gaining a full pre season under his belt and at full fitness
Yeah I forgot to add Aluko to the list I made above. I think the jury is out on some of our other players but we will never know until they play in the top flight.
If he had been, he'd have been given a new deal in January and he'll definitely be offered one in the summer.
Aluko didn't want to commit to more than 1 season in the championship, and has certainly done enough to show he can make the step up to the PL - with a bottom half club at the very least. I think he had the option of a 2nd year, which I reckon he'll have only accepted already if he had concerns over his injury. It'd be interesting to know his current contractual status.
