I see stories of Sess moving on, not sure who may be coming in, maybe Richardson could be on the move, what about Bendy. I want to get stuck in, give my opinion, call the manager and club for daring to think of these things, if indeed they are, but I cant. The plain truth is that MON has won me over to the point that I have total trust in him doing the right thing, even if what he may do leaves me wondering why he did it. O'Neill has shown that he knows exactly what he wants and needs to take my club forward and when I first saw a team that had Gardner and Colback at full back, Kilgallon on the bench, a strike force of Bendy and Sess, yes the same two we all knew could never work, I had a doubt. I knew this team had been forced on him so could not blame him but I also thought this could be the day it all falls apart, well me all know what happened. If Sess did go, and its still a big if, I have total faith that we would move forward not backwards. MON seems to be very focused and very clinical in what needs doing, his teams seem very focused and very clinical about what each has to do. Add to this the undoubted passion he and they share and we have a winning formula. Its a strange place for a Sunderland fan to be, its been a long, long time since this level of trust and confidence has been in my head, long may it continue.
Me too. Someone, maybe you Syd, said yesterday it is fate that has brought everyone together at this time. We needed the Quinn, Drumaville and Keane years to get our self respect back and then the Bruce years to stabilise the club. If MON had joined us any earlier it would not have been the right time for him or for us. But now with the Short/Quinn/MON triumvirate, we are not just on the magic carpet ride but the Starship Enterprise and with MON in command I have the same faith as Captain Kirk's crew did in him. We are on a journey to the stars now and we boldly go where no Sunderland fan has gone before!!!
Well said Heironymus! Agree Cypruss, it is unusual to trust the manager and not feel nervous before every single game, because now if we lose I know we will have played well and not been making stupid errors like we were at the end of Bruce's regime.
I think he could bring Heskey in, and robbie savage out of retirment and people wouldnt bat an eyelid, as if feel he knows what is needed in the short and long term.
My feeling is 'safety' for this season. 10 wins and 10 draws would see that achieved, so just another 4 wins and 4 draws from 18 games Then MON can build his own team. It won't be instantaneous - it took a couple of seasons at Villa, but they made continuous steady progress. Hopefully we will be more than ok.
Agree with all of the above posts. I was convinced it would go belly up against Wigan and look what happened. It is a strange feeling. I have more hope and expectation than ever BUT this is Sunderland and I can't help wondering what is around the corner. However, what a man manager MON is from everything I have seen and heard from him since he joined Sunderland I think I could play in any position and be a world beater.
There is so much more harmony with the players and, for the most part, in the crowd (as the 2 lads that sit behind me do nothing but complain and only seem to be at their most vocal when things aren't going well!!) - Otherwise everything has been excellent since O'Neill's arrival - he has brought the players together and given them a will that wasn't there and he has gone one further and brought the crowd together as well - the atmosphere at the City game, although I couldn't be there, sounded immense through the surround sound at home - 12th man was back - and that hasn't been there for most of the season... It is a very good time to be a Sunderland supporter IMO - Short is a very shrewd business man and O'Neill is a very good manager - We sit 10th now with only Everton having a game in hand - and we are TOP of the form table (last 6 games - thanks to Newcastle last night) with an average of 2.17 points per game. What is going on at Sunderland - win 4 from 6 and lose 1, scoring goals from all over the pitch... This isn't the Sunderland I know - but it is tremendous to be a part of it
Interestingly enough we only have 3 points less than we had at the same stage last season. When you think of the start we had last season compared to this I thought the difference would have been more.
I go away for a couple of weeks and look what happens. I have been watching the games today now I am back and I have to say we look like a different team. I think MON will only sell players that don't fit into his plans, remember he left Villa because they let Milner go, so I cannot see him letting any of our top players go lightly. As you say Syd whatever he does I am behind the man 100%. Fair play to Bruce he bought some class players, he just did not know how to get them playing as a team.
In my opinion it is a tad early to get carried away with things..So I will push the boat out and say so far so good...
Sess has said he is now happy here - something to do with winning some games since MON came in. So far so good as Mr RAW says, but lets keep our feet on the ground - we might hit a sticky patch again this season or next. However, I must say that I trust MON to get us out of it if we do he has much more nouce about him.
