Not mine....... Dick Advocaat is growing frustrated by the stop-start nature of Sunderland’s bid to add to their squad before the end of the transfer window.Advocaat has made it crystal clear that Sunderland must make a couple of “quality” signings over the remaining 16 days of the window, particularly after the news that Adam Johnson faces six weeks on the sidelines, albeit the diagnosis is better than first feared on the winger. Sunderland made an enquiry for former loanee Fabio Borini this week after learning of the lay-off facing Johnson. But the move for Borini remains in the early stages, while the Black Cats’ pursuit of Adnan Januzaj on loan has dragged on for more than a fortnight, with Manchester United dragging their heels until they can complete the £20million signing of Barcelona’s Pedro. Head coach Advocaat is weary of the daily rollercoaster in the transfer market and is longing for the conclusion of the window, when he hopes to be able to oversee a more balanced squad. Advocaat said: “I still think we desperately need another couple of players in. “We’ll be so happy on September 1, because things here change every day. “(At the moment) it’s a ‘yes’, a ‘no’, another ‘no’ and then a ‘maybe’ every day.” Advocaat was coy on the current state of play regarding Sunderland’s targets at his pre-match press conference yesterday, and would not be drawn on either Januzaj or Borini. But the implication was clear that Sunderland owner Ellis Short needs to sanction a couple of signings after the club’s spending has been modest so far this summer. Sunderland have splashed out more than £15m to bring five new signings to the Stadium of Light, yet they recouped £9m from the sale of striker Connor Wickham. The majority of the squad being presided over by Advocaat is the one which narrowly avoided relegation last season and the former Holland manager doesn’t want to experience similar this time around after last weekend’s opening day drubbing at Leicester. “Last season, Leicester finished the season with eight wins, one draw and one defeat from the last 10 games,” said Advocaat. “We couldn’t do that. We are starting from a lower level. “And everyone, including the owner, has to understand that. “If we have a good team, you only have to buy one or two good players. “And that’s the biggest problem.”
One way to stop being weary about the rollercoaster of the transfer window is to stop trying to do everything on the cheap. If we would only pay the going rate for players things would move a lot faster. The Borini deal is typical - we are trying to do a loan when L'pool only want to sell. The only way this deal will be done is if we get close to 31 Aug and they realise that nobody is going to pay in full, only then are they likely to entertain a loan deal. Meanwhile we will have f****ed up 4 winnable games at the start of the season.
I wonder if Dick would have came back if they told him he would have £6 million to spend, the same amount Mick McCarthy had on our premier league record (low points) breaking season. Buy quality, maybe 2 x £15 million players each season and then you don't need to hunt around for scraps on the cheap and end up getting half a dozen no better than we already have who then need time to bed in and adapt to our team. It seems we end up getting half a new team every season. Time to go for quality not quantity and NO loans.
If that is the case Juan (and I agree it does seem this way) Then I can see Dick walking if something is not done about incoming transfers before then end of this window..As Keegan once said, "Its not like it read in the Brochure" when he got the job.
It would seem that a few more are now coming to realize the problems at our club. I was pelted 2 weeks ago for predicting this but take no joy in seeing it come true. Januzaj looks like turning us down and Borini snacks of desperation. I don't think we have ANY transfer policy other than who is cheap and available. Darts on a dartboard list. I don't think Dick signed up to this shambles at all.
It's still a bit too early for "I told you so's" just yet Cest. Everything is just rumour and speculation. No one on here has the faintest bloody clue to what's going on behind closed doors
You all mock Newcastle fans for the banners and their "boycoutts" however at least we have taken a stand for our club and have made, albeit small, steps forward. It seems a lot of Sunderland fans are actually happy with the status quo, saying things like "ooooh I remember what it was like 30 years ago, this is paradise in comparison". Big deal. This is now, if you want better, you have to go out and demand it. Fan power is a lot less than it was but it still can have some sway.
This season is huge for us as a premiership club, it is, or was a chance to put down solid foundations for our next manager, I think that is what DA thought, but it looks like another patch up job to me so far.
I don't think any of the banners or protests made any difference to be honest, Ashley couldn't care less what the fans think. The only reason he's spent this time around is because he bricked it when you plummeted down the table and he wants those prem millions to keep rolling in.
That too. I'd attribute that more than what the fans did however I do think it helped. However given that you are just as likely (if not more) to go down why doesn't Ellis do an Ashley and spend some moola? Could it be, he does the minimum because he gets away with it?
Seems to be the case yeah, I'm starting to get frustrated with it and I'm clearly not the only one. If only we hadn't bought vast quantities of average players over the last few years then we wouldn't be in this situation. I do think we are going to spend significantly before the window shuts though, it's just waiting for it to happen is painful.
Y can't we just terminate the contracts of the players we want rid of like in the real world? If I'm crap at my job I will be sacked, so y can't we do that to our crap we don't need or want, make them redundant and give them a pay off.
We can do that but we would be paying out millions of pounds to do so. Why would we do it when we could sell them or even loan them to get them off the wage bill?
If we could have sold them they would have gone by now, only option is to maybe loan them but that looks highly improbable now as well. We may as well pay them off and start fresh, having said that, its not my money unfortunately.
