David Moyes has admitted he did not want to join Sunderland in October because he thought they would get relegated last season. And although the squad is arguably weaker now, the Black Cat’ new manager is confident he can achieve his goals there having had a bid for a player accepted by the time he addressed the media for the first time on Monday morning. Sunderland have been pursuing Moyes for years, with owner Ellis Short claiming: “He was my number one managerial target for the last five appointments,” but he has kept them at arm’s length. That he has now decided to say yes is a vote of confidence. “I was considering it when I was in Spain (as manager of Real Sociedad) but I wanted to stay the journey in Spain and finish the thing off,” he revealed. “I didn’t want to go to Spain for just six months and at the time I had been offered jobs by three or four other Premier League clubs and chose not to take them. “The main reason was because I didn’t think they (Sunderland) could stay up, so what Sam (Allardyce) did was amazing.” To build on that, Moyes needs to be busy in the transfer market between now and August 31. Although his predecessor added quality in Lamine Kone, Jan Kirchhoff and Wahbi Khazri in January, the Black Cats have lost quantity with Yann M’Vila, DeAndre Yedlin, Adam Johnson, Emanuele Giaccherini, Santiago Vergini, Sebastian Coates, Wes Brown, Costel Pantilimon, Steven Fletcher, Danny Graham, Dame N’Doye and Ola Toivonnen leaving on Allardyce’s watch. Moyes is considering trying to bring back loanees Yedlin and M’Vila. “I think Sam did brilliantly to keep them up, an incredible job, and I think we need to remember we are a couple of players down on where we were in May with players going back from loans,” Moyes pointed out. “We need to get some players in to improve. “We have some talent, we have some good players and we need to add to it. I need competition because everybody has to realise that if you’re not playing well, you’re not going to be in the team. At the moment we don’t have that. When David Moyes was offered the Sunderland job in October he thought they were heading to the Championship - now he thinks he can work with them “I think it’s well documented that we’ve been short of a right-back, definitely, and we’ve only got one centre-forward really in Jermain Defoe – we’ve got others who can do the job at other times. But I would like to strengthen in most areas if it comes up. “The truth is I won’t get it all done. But I’ll try and get good bits of it done if I can. “It’s good that I’m taking over the club now. You can take over like Sam did in October and find you’re firefighting the whole way through. At least I’ve got the start of the season but the truth is I’m halfway through pre-season and I’m trying to get to know players – I’ve only really worked with Jack Rodwell. “There’ll be differences to Sam so I’ve got to try and implement that in a short time. But the biggest thing is the squad’s short of numbers. There’s no doubt we have to make signings and I believe we definitely will do. “We might do something today (Monday), the offer has been accepted, but it’s not done. We’ve not spoken to the boy yet.” Moyes went on to say that: “We’ve got a couple of offers in for players just now, written offers.” He has been linked with his former Manchester United players Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini, and whilst not explicitly admitting his interest did little to dampen the speculation. “I’d love to get that level of player to this football club and that is my aim,” he said. “If any of those players want to come to the North East I will drive down there and pick them up.” Meanwhile, Moyes has confirmed coaches Robbie Stockdale and Paul Bracewell will stay at the club. Sounds like it could be Januzaj
This is more like it, with articles like that feels like pre=season has started. Before Sam got announced as England manager and Moyes in for us all we heard was speculation about these two and nothing about the team and potential new players. I believe we have a basis of a decent team, yes lacking in numbers which obvious to us all. All of a sudden I'm excited again with wishful thinking so if we get the Man Utd pair. Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellain or just one. ?? Bring back Yann M’Vila, and DeAndre Yedlin on permanent deals, Finally Moyes does have a good record in the transfer market when at Everton. So you never know, maybe a little surprise or two. Time to look forward and hope the next 3- 4 weeks brings us all some good news.
Can't get overly excited about Januzaj as our immediate needs team wise are for other positions which is our greater need. Nothing against the lad but in our situation I think he is a luxury we don't need at present.
David Moyes eager to buy British, as Sunderland make transfer progress please log in to view this image David Moyes Email 07:56Tuesday 02 August 2016 0HAVE YOUR SAY David Moyes is eager to buy British to give Sunderland’s new signings the best possible chance of hitting the ground running. Moyes faced his first press conference as Sunderland manager yesterday and confirmed that the Black Cats have formal bids on the table for two players - one of which is understood to be at an advanced stage and could be completed in time for this Friday’s final pre-season friendly against Borussia Dortmund. Sunderland are also thought to be in talks over a further half a dozen targets, with Moyes keen to strengthen his squad with around five additions before the end of the transfer window. After succeeding Sam Allardyce midway through the pre-season campaign, Moyes admits time restraints have left him with little chance to see all of his potential new recruits in the flesh, with less than a fortnight until the Premier League gets underway. But the ex-Manchester United boss hopes to counter that obstacle by bringing in homegrown players, or at least those who have experience of competing in English football. Moyes said: “We want to get it right, so it’s important that we get people who know the Premier League and how it works. “I would always go and watch the players, see them live, but that’s impossible. “My style wouldn’t be to take anything off a video, but unfortunately with some of them at the moment, I’m having to do that. “I’m trying to avoid that situation as much as possible, because if you get into it too much, you can make mistakes. “I’ve never been off the telephone, I’ve done an awful lot of work just trying to find out who could be available and what could happen. “We’ve got a couple of offers in for players just now, written offers, and we are just waiting for them to come back.” Moyes was a spectator at games throughout Europe for two-thirds of last season after he was dismissed by La Liga outfit Real Sociedad in November. That left him with several players in mind when he agreed to take charge at the Stadium of Light, albeit he still needed to assess the squad he inherited from Allardyce. “Yes, I was watching games all the time, watching players in different leagues to see who would be available,” he added. “But I would say that when you’re out of work, you don’t have a gauge. “For example, you don’t know that you’re going to watch the right-back because you need a right-back. “You don’t know what you’re judging it against either. “I’ve got three or four people in my head that I’ve seen through the year. “But until you see what you’ve got yourself, it’s difficult to know if they’re better than what you’ve got.”
Good post but hope he gets up to speed asap as we don"t have time for him to have a honeymoon period with our opening 3 matches. Otherwise, Everton game could end up a real make or break game -almost a must not lose. But gloomy post over - these pre season jitters are nothing new - onwards
Doesn't matter what happens in the rest - our 4th game in wouldn't be a "must not lose" (even almost) IMO. I hope we can see some headway in the transfer market soon - as has been said on another thread - we have an OK team but a squad thinner than a cigarette paper!
Agree about quality but can Moyes get the BSA recruits motivated as much as last season - I have my hopefully unfounded doubts. I really see Moyes and McClaren very similar personality wise Can't see him getting that long to get us playing winning football as he had at Everton
