Greeting friends first thread in our new home! Previously I-am-Blackat on 606. Just reflecting on the anticipated new signings, the league position, owner/chairman/manager, and club finances and concluded that this is the strongest position we have ever occupied in the history of the Premier League. I know we have to consolidate this between now and the end of the season, but wondered if anyone disagreed? Ha'way The Lads!
Agreed, never been better in the epl. With all due respect Cyprus, I think 6th is definitely the high water mark for some time. The next 7 games alone will be a big challenge.
I tend to agree. To make in roads into the top 5 is some way off. The task in the medium term is to cement our position as best of the rest, which to be fair to Cypruss would continue to represent further progress from our current level of expectation. But anyway you cut it we are enjoying unprecedented progress this season and long may it continue.
Doesn`t anyone else share the sense (well deserved over the years as a Sunderland fan) that it will all go horribly wrong somewhere - it still seems to me that we need 4 or 5 points more to avoid relegation!!!
6th is ours to lose. From the start of the season I said top ten that will do nicely then onward and upward. Over the years I've had some pretty big disappointments following SAFC, but falling like we did last season would break me. Even with the "B" git leaving I was still positive. I still think top ten will be good but I can see no reason for us to lose 6th we are more than capable of holding onto it. Liverpool are only into 7th by luck, we are only 6th because of bad luck.
For once, and after many years of sharing your mindset Yellow, I honestly don't think like that now. We may fail to secure our current league position this season, but, i believe the momentum and foundations have been laid and should provide a platform for further progression over the next few seasons. As long as we can keep the infrastructure of the club and the management hierarchy in situ. Players will come and go, but we are the continuity and the longer the management team are held together i think it provides us with areally unprecedented opportunity to make a mark for the long-term.
I think as Blackcat mentions, as long as we have Quinn, Short and Bruce we will progress nicely. Disrupting the management will have more impact on the occasional player sale. It would not surprise me if both Sess and Muntari see SAFC as putting themselves in the shop window for supposedly bigger clubs and to be honest I don't mind as long as we sell them on for massive profit (e.g Bent) However as long as they are with us I will enjoy it and who knows if we keep pushing on up the league and keep the apparent great team spirit, more and more quality players will want to join and get on board the Quinny magic carpet.
what really intrigues me is if were are going for players of Sess, Muntari and the ilk now, what kind of players will we be looking at in the summer, i can only see it getting better from here
We are definitely on an upward curve. Success definitely breeding success. I view players in the modern game at the highest level as self employed specialists. They will contract with clubs but ultimately will move on when it is right for them to do so. It is a very old fashioned notion to look for long-term 'loyalty' it simply doesn't enter the minds of the modern top level players who are prepared to ply their trade right across the globe to add to their CV and their personal value. The best a club can hope to achieve is to get the best out of a player when he is employed and not to loose too much on the deal. If you can turn a healthy profit as we did with Bent ...that's as good as it gets. Although i accept with Bent timing wasn't on our side. Key to successs for me in the long term are the underpinning foundations of the club; Owner/Chariman, Manager, Finances, Stadium, fan base, current squad; all of which are in good nick for SAFC
Not sure i fully agree, if we get the 2 we are expecting (Muntari & Sess) and if we can hang on to the rest of our squad we will have a pretty formidable squad and maybe with the addition of a couple more in the summer, who know's? In 6 weeks time we will have a hell of a decent squad to chose from, Campbell, Wellbeck, Turner & Meyler will all be back to fitness by then, the future is bright, it's Red & White
Welder i applaud your optimism. . .who knows you could be right, i actually hope you are, but I'd be well pleased with making 6th spot our own this season and next and then look to push on from there. At the end of the day the EPL is in a constant state of flux with squads constantly shifting in the pecking order. What strikes me clearly though is the strength of the squads in the top 5 teams although Chelsea are definitely ageing as a unit. But, as you say, our squad is definitely moving in the right direction providing we get Sessegnon and Muntari over the line.
Its how I've been brought up!!! Lets avoid relegation before we start looking up at the dizzy heights of Europe!!! Its a mindset I struggle to shake off.......
How many times have we been able to say "We are unbeaten against any team from the Capital home or away"
I agree with the signings of Sess and Muntari.... but it is still worrying that we have a number of "loanees" who we are dependant on as our first 11 and bench. Think Zog would still be an asset. But who would have thought we would be saying this two seasons ago when the likes of whitehead and connelly were our topics of concern
As a united fan i have a little soft spot for sunderland, and it seems like your heading in the right direction and have a good bit of money to spend.
