But they're not "release" clauses - they're drop in wages clauses so the actual cost to the club is nothing. Most relegation release clauses are "if the club receives a bid after relegation of more than £x then the player is allowed to leave" rather than players simply being allowed to leave for free. Relegation wouldn't be a "disaster" as such - I reckon Wigan may have done OK had they not lost their manager and had europe and another cup run to deal with. We don't have Europe and we're also not down yet
Will Poyet give players like Watmore and Ba a chance now, not next season, and Scoco has to start scoring, we scraped home last season but i reckon we are down now through not winning these 'winnable' matches, and Short may as well go plus about 12 players in the summer !. We need Ancelotti in. This club has been run as bad as the Murray days, Selling exellent players like Henderson, Mignolet, etc and not replacing them, and Bridcut is not different than Larsson. Big money needs spending if we stop up, or are the concerts more important ?.
As you say we are not down yet. I am more confident of staying up "then getting back up, if relegated".
Disagree, Watch bridcutt's movement on the pitch, he covers every position when others are out of position. He can already pass a ball better than larsson, he moves into space to offer an options too, completely different to larsson imo. One of our biggest struggles in adapting this style of play has been the unwillingness to move into a gap to create a passing angle. Only Ki has been doing it. In Bridcutt we have another player who likes to do this. As we can see from his heat map Vs Palace with the light blue circles where he's covered other positions either to defend or give an option in attack. He's nothing like Seb. please log in to view this image You'd have picked up on this if you watched Sunderland games instead of Newcastle matches.
Who does Mannone play for? I must admit I had doubts to start with but I reckon he`s at least as good if not better than Mig Bridcutt is ten times better than Larsson now and will get better still imo.
I agree poyet will be safe if we go down but if he starts off slow in the championship then I think he get the boot. Remember lads he couldn't get Brighton up.
Gus Poyet has contradicted suggestions that he may leave Sunderland this summer by revealing that much of his spare time is spent overseeing the club's plans for next season and beyond. "I have the contract for next year," said Sunderland's manager who is endeavouring to keep his significantly improved yet still struggling team in the Premier League and faces a key game at Norwich City on Saturday. "If we lose the next 11 games then maybe I won't be here but I don't like to say I'm only interested in this season. I care about next year. We need to make sure we are doing something for next season and the year after." Poyet has latterly been looking very closely at Sunderland's under-18 and under-21 sides. Apart from talking tactics with the club's youth coaches he is getting to know the young players and helping to determine some of their immediate futures while ensuring the establishment and implementation of a consistent pattern of play throughout the academy. "I want to pay the owner and the chief executive back," he said. "That is very important to me. Staying up can change the future of everyone at the football club and mine as well. "The focus is on that and of course you concentrate on the immediate things but, when you have time, you look beyond them. We have to believe we can build something important here. "I do feel that responsibility but I love pressure and responsibility. I want to make sure that we start to make money or not lose as much money. "It's important that we pay attention to the academy and have stability so you don't need to keep sacking managers, paying them off, starting from zero and rebuilding. And having a sporting director and then having another sporting director. That's how you lose money. We need stability." In the short term avoiding relegation would do Sunderland's accounts a power of good and Poyet's belief that survival can be secured is such that his summer plans are geared to another Premier League campaign. "We have started organising pre-season friendlies but at the moment we have not looked at the dates for the Championship programme," he said. "It's difficult but we are trying to stay very positive and believe we're going to make it." It does not help Poyet's cause that Steven Fletcher, Sunderland's important but latterly injury-prone striker, is facing the prospect of season-ending ankle surgery. "We are still assessing Steven," Poyet said. "We have not made the final decision. Yet. He is not fit for this weekend but we are trying to stay calm and assess properly. "I hope he's not out for the rest of the season but it's still quite swollen and that makes it difficult to interpret MRI scans. It depends how bad the twist is. There are no bone issues but it depends how badly the ligaments are damaged. It has been a difficult year for Steven."
