I remember that vividly and saying to my dad in real time...'oh my god, that's the best save I've ever seen'.
Posted April 12th, 2009 I was down at the Sunderland v Man Utd yesterday and spoke to dozens of mackem fans and not one of them had a good word to say about Craig. I wasn't expecting them to be gushing in their praise but some of the stuff was pretty poor. Ranging from the 9m fee has strangled him, to he's a nervous keeper, he doesn't command his area, he's dropped plenty clangers to even one group of lads asking me if he was gay cos lots of mackems reckon he is! Is this right? I know we've got one mackem poster so i'll be interested to see if he posts on this thread. Basically they dont rate him at all and they weren't happy that Fulop has been dropped either and most of them were asking if we wanted him back cos he's just not got it. I know he's not had the best of times and even myself i've thought he's made a few mistakes but it just shows you. Looking from the outside he's got a struggle on his hands and maybe a move would be best for all parties but like the mackems were saying they'll have to take a big hit to shift him. Amazing when you see him playing for Scotland he looks so assured but for whatever reason he cant find his feet down there. There you go its all about opinions.
I thought he was class and was gutted that injury ended his time with us! But aye matter of opinions.
Please, tell us more, if you know of course. I just believed the line that he couldn’t settle so left. Even his wiki page says that. Be interesting to know the real reasons!!
Re Craig Gordon, I remember reading an interview with him towards the end of his time here, with a Scottish publication I think, where he talked about the differences between the Premiership and Scottish Premiership and he said the players down here shoot earlier, harder and are more accurate, earlier being the key and more interesting one. I think he was weighed down by the fee and we only got to see his best in flashes, it's important to remember he came from Hearts, not Rangers or Celtic, so the jump between Tynecastle and Sunderland under Keano in the Premiership was a big jump at that time, especially if you're the introspective type and I think he is. I imagine the average Sunderland fan looks back at him as a talented keeper, who was prevented from flourishing by injuries and the fact he was a British transfer record for a keeper didn't help him either. You can't say he was an outright success, but he was a big talent and he showed it, just not often enough.
Gordon was a talented keeper. He probably didn't quite give us our money's worth in the end, though, although that is down to the relatively massive fee we paid. In hindsight it was a deal we didn't need to do and felt like it was Keane making a point ('something something, Brian Clough says.....' etc). Alvarez gets a mention on this page but that is entirely about SAFC as a club. If we hadn't pandered to Advocaat and just paid the money we owed, we'd have probably shifted him for an acceptable loss the following summer. Given the way the second half of that season worked out, Allardyce may have even gotten a tune out of him. He managed it with Lens.
Emanuele Giaccherini Didn’t feature much. He was decent in spells and showed a touch of class at times but I expected a lot more. Came here very highly rated from Juventus
I honestly think that we could have signed the best players the world had ever seen back then and still coach them down to a pub team standard within three months.
Steven Fletcher? He did score some vital goals but we paid over 12 million quid for him and he left on a free transfer. Cost us a hell of a lot of money with wages included…
Looked really good when he first arrived but seemed to by the end be going through the motions if even that! Not sure if that was always his way or the way the club was rubbed off on him?
The video of him drunk, spitting on the back of the head of a rickshaw driver when he was out injured suggests it was always in him.
Yeh I sort of acknowledged that in my post. But generally I thought he was an overgrown fanny and not worth what we paid for him
Wasted his career for me, he should've went on and played for England. Was a great young prospect at the time we bought him but probably surrounded himself with the wrong people. One story of him spending thousands of pounds on champagne whilst in a swimming pool with his mates on holiday sticks in my mind
Sebastian Coates. Was a weird signing in some respects. Paid about £2m from Liverpool if memory serves, then loan him out in January. Mind you I think we doubles our money. Moneyball... What about Thomas Helmer. He was an unreal player for Germany. Not sure he was ready for Reid and Sacko though
Remember watching training once and the players all turned up in fancy cars but Helmer cycled to training!!
