"Every time I see a sold out away end or a loud, vibrant and passionate big home crowd I feel tremendous pride in our club." Sunderland chairman Ellis Short has thanked the clubâs supporters for their continued backing. Almost 42,000 fans attended the 1-1 draw with West Ham in the final home game before Christmas â the countryâs second-biggest crowd of the day. The current Stadium of Light average of 42,795 is the sixth best in the top flight, while an incredible seven away games have been sold out this season. Writing in his programme notes ahead of the draw with the Hammers, Mr Short said: âThe festive period is very busy in football. âThe frequency of games in such a short space of time provides a significant challenge to teams. It also provides a challenge for supporters. âChristmas is an expensive time and that makes it all the more incredible to see our attendances increasing, both here at the Stadium of Light and at away games. âEvery time I see a sold out away end or a loud, vibrant and passionate big home crowd I feel tremendous pride in our club; thank you for the amazing support you give us.â Champion now get your purse out please
He's the man in charge with the final shout mate, he has to shoulder some of the blame for bad transfer dealings. That said, every club does it and we're no worse than others. So Mr Short, i've been a good boy all year (honestly) and i've asked Santa for a new centre forward who knows how to score goals so if he comes knocking and wanting money, please give generously.
Looking at it from Shorts point of view he`s seen Bruces system of bringing in players 10 at a time on top wages fail. O`Neil buying poor players, fail. DiCanio & Co, his mistake but rectified at the earliest opportunity, another fail. I think it`s a question of when will he trust Gus enough to spend higher (by our standards) in the transfer market. When that will be is anyones guess but I would suggest next summer with possibly a little bit in January. Honestly can`t see him parting with much cash until then.
Agree with all of that, must say though I do miss us scoring goals & being hard to best at home! I would've loved to of seen GP given a go like previous managers where he can bring his own players in! DOF standing in his way to me is making it complicated.
We're only a couple of players from a comfortable mid table team. As we've got another massive tv deal this summer, would it not be best for Ellis to stump up some cash rather than flirt with relegation again. Both ourselves and the Mags have proved in the past that a team 'too good to go down' can still go if goals are scarce. 20-25m in January to inject some real quality please.
He has been given some support though hasn`t he? Although Borini didn`t happen the money was there. Not sure about DOFs tbh. Undecided as to whether they`re a hindrance or a help. Can`t see it being that much mate really. A decent striker maybe but not much more than that. Would love to be wrong though.
Money for borini was ridiculous, spending all summer going for him and having no plan b was even more ridiculous.. Our DOfs background was Chelsea and hamburg & coming from the latter he wasn't really doing a Stirling job tbf... What I have liked is new contracts for the younger lads, also CW tied up.. I just don't see how two heads can completely agree on a player unless it's your assistant etc.. Hope it works mate just have my doubts too
The Borini thing was a complete shambles and a total embarrassment. Lessons must have been learned. imo for the DOF to work he has to do as he`s told. Bring in the players the coach wants rather than who he thinks is best. The new contracts is good, no argument there. I also like the changes in the u21 development set up. Suggests good for the future but long term. Some of them can`t be far away from a step up now though surely. Been on the bench so got to be close. Giving them the last 20 mins would be great but we`ve never been far enough ahead in a game to risk doing it.
sorry welder but an owner is never responsible for that. They employ people to do it. The people employed have ****ed up (Di Fanti). Now Short is being more frugal which is fair enough. I'd rather that than us end up with massive wage bill a la Leeds or even Pompey. We need to strengthen and I want him to open his wallet as well but for the right player
Poyet said he gave up on Borini long before the papers said we did. Agents and the like caused the massive stir but there were far more reasons Poyet was disappointed. The papers made a refusal seem like a saga IMO.
You may well be right Marcus but I don`t recall Gus saying anything along the lines of "that`s it, no more Borini", Seems like we were chasing him even after he went to the USA. Made himself look daft imo. Anyway, that`s history now and I don`t expect him to make that mistake again. On to January now.
We only sold out 5 out of the 7 away games. Didn't sell out against Palace but we took 2,400 on a monday night & we didn't take the full allocation at Liverpool to. you talking **** sunderland. Plus, Short get your f**ing tight purse out.
Fully agreed Marcus, we want quality not quantity which is what we've been served up in the past, thats not the way to build a settled squad as you know. I still think Ellis will have the final say where his millions are going though, he's American and they're not noted reckless spending.
