Look at what happened when SAF took over Utd... the dressing room culture Atkinson had let manifest was one of drinking and partying. There was no professionalism. Some players turned on SAF, and for a few years he was almost sacked. Im not saying PDC will become Sir Alex, but he turned a club on its knees (remind you of anyone?) and built them into one of the worlds biggest brands. Discipline will always work wonders. We've needed to quickly shift the **** out of the door, and for years managers have not had the balls to do it due to upsetting the dressing room, while players like Titus keep putting themselves into a position where he gets the rape whistle blown on him, Cattermole gets busted drinking, Bardsley photographed in a heap of cash while the fans struggle to even get work. Why don't we see players from the likes of Swansea, Wigan, Reading on the back pages? players like Bardsley know they aren't premiership footballers, and are on such an easy ride. They are upset because the gravy train is ending, and Phil knows he's gonna have to drop down a few divisions for less cash because he isnt talented enough & professional enough to put in the hard work.
Not necessarily, surprise surprise, Hull and stoke are linked with him this morning. Lazy Jurno's or just predicable? Ha ha!
Bardo is a lower half premiership player, and some club will come in for him probs one of the newly promoted ones
Maybe he was just forgotten about?!! SUNDERLAND defender Phil Bardsley has been left out of the Scotland squad for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Croatia. Bardsley has been thrust into the headlines after the full-back, together with Black Cats team-mate Matt Kilgallon, were dropped as a disciplinary measure for Sunday’s final day clash at Spurs last weekend. The 27-year-old will be absent on the international stage too for Scotland’s World Cup qualifier in Croatia next month after being unable to force his way into Gordon Strachan’s plans. Bardsley was left out of the squad for March’s qualifiers and has again been snubbed by the new Scotland boss.
A number of the pundits have been saying that Di Canio cannot treat 'premiership players' like he could 'championship players' and it set me wondering if he was going to prevent high-profile signings from being attracted to the club... and then I realised that we, in fact NE football in general, haven't been able to attract high-profile signings for years and years!! Between the influences of WaGs and the poor showing of the clubs we've had to rely on players past their sell by date, youngsters and relatively unknown foreign players. If anything Di Canio might just be able to attract some of those ultra-professionals who relish a work ethic and stop the club being an easy ride for the lazy, crocked and over self-opinionated tw*ts we sometimes seem to end up with. I only hope that Ellis Short and the fans have a strong enough stomach for the calumnies we'll see from the media in the months ahead. As far as Bardo goes... I have a question. If he was so keen on donating money to charity why did he run whining like a bitch to the PFA when all Di Canio has done, is the same thing on his behalf? And like other people have pointed out it wasn't Di Canio who put this in the public domain it was the photo Killa published and the tweet of Bardo's WaG. On purely football matters; Bardo's looked solid at times and hopelessly out of his depth at other times... I think it was time for him to move on anyway; pity (for him as much as anyone) he'll be leaving in this fashion.
And if this is the case then it is a sad state of affairs, for the amount of money they get paid then they should be at least show respect to the club and commitment to its cause whilst their wages are being paid by the said club. A player can absolutely be loyal to the club they play for whilst at that club, however they must be loyal to themselves and if a better offer comes along then of course move on and show the same loyalty & commitment to the new club............that is how I see it working, John O'Shea is a good example of a true pro as is Phil Neville, committed to their new club, respectful to their previous club.
A superb post mate. I more or less said the same thing at work today about the other PL managers backing Paolo on this.
Bri-normous "Will Paolo get the support he needs to change football for the better? Will he ****. Mark my words the PFA and FA will turn on him and sell football down the river beyond the point of no return. This sport has become a ****ing joke". Looks like most fans around the country are behind Di Canio. Take a look at the posts on here http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/may/20/sunderland-paolo-di-canio?
I would hope that, come September, Paolo will quieten down a bit and start dealing with issues behind closed doors. At the moment he is setting out his stall letting the current squad, and more importantly potential summer signings, know what he expects from them. When the transfer window closes at the end of August, I'm sure that we will not be watching the most talented players ever to pull on a red and white shirt BUT, for the first time in a long time, we will have the pleasure of watching a proper football TEAM. Even if this all goes t!ts up and we are relegated at the end of next season, I will still salute PDC for taking a stand against the overpaid prima donnas who have infested our game since the introduction of the Sky millions.
Watford fan in peace. Great post and 100% agree. Both our clubs had one such player - a certain Mr Phillips - who played for a number of different clubs and has never been anything other than a true committed professional. I hope he goes out on the razzle on Sunday night though . On the topic itself i think Di canio has done the right thing. Everyone knows he's an emotional and explosive man so the shock and awe tactic was always going to happen at some point. Far better to do it now when he has the maximum time to make the changes he wants in pre season than to have done it when the club had its back to the wall. I am really looking forward to seeing you lot play next season when the team will be more in his own identity.
I was listening to TalkSport this morning - dunno why given that it always winds me up - and Brazil was predictably saying that PDC's actions were appalling and tantamount to bullying, however caller after caller from all round the UK kept coming on and supporting PDC saying that in other walk of life you are expected to turn up on time, in all weathers and put in a proper shift. You are expected to adhere by your employers codes of practice so why do footballers think they are exempt. The only criticism aired, which I would support, is that he has made his point and it is now time to keep it behind closed doors. The players now know what is expected of them and if they don't then they are obviously pretty thick.
