Excellent post from Cest to start this off. What is worrying me with Bruce is very simple. We finished tenth in a season where even moderate (as opposed to deplorable) form in the second half of the season would have secured a European spot. The tenth place with the season barely over means **** all. It means **** all because we have lost Zenden, Henderson, Mensah, Onouha and Welbeck from last season. We still don't have a left back, and Bruce seems to lack inclination to buy one. We are more or less starting from scratch. There is precious little to build on because so little remains. That's not progress in my view and he seems to be stumbling from one transfer target to another in a drunken haze almost. Maybe that's harsh but there seems to be no master plan as such. Just the way it appears to me. He is in the middle of trying to sign two forwards for a combined total of around 15M if the sums being talked about are accurate. Neither of them (one's a Korean and the other a teengager from Ipswich) has scored a goal in the PL. Is this a wise strategy? I think not. I'm not saying that they will both be flops but I would have more confidence if we were signing even the likes of Fuller and Beattie, let alone Keane and Crouch, for the simple reason that it's horses for courses. He signed a proven striker in Bent and it worked. Since then he has refused to sign a proven marksman. Welbeck ended up having a canny season and his value has increased for Man Utd; not for us. Ferguson must think Bruce is marvellous (particularly if he wants to hand over 12M for Gibson, Brown and O'Shea). The last two are past their prime and the former is regarded as pretty poor by Man Utd fans. 12M worth of talent there according to Bruce, but he doesn't convince me. The signings of Larsson and Westwood are good ones for sure. Both will add something to the squad if not the first XI. I still don't see where the goals are going to come from in terms of the strikers. I've never seen Wickham kick a ball but as Brian Clough used to say "there's no such thing as a teenage wonderkid." He was right. He could turn out to be another David Nugent. 13M for someone that nobody else is after seems like a crazy move to me. That's my dimesworth on the subject anyway.
The one thing i dont understand is this, we have been in the PL for 5 years, we should be fighting for europe. Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool have been in it for 19 consecutive years, even Blackburn, Stoke, Wigan have been in it for longer than us, and Man City have money to burn. I just dont see how its our god given right to get top 6 or even 8, yes i would love it if we did, i am not totally pessimistic, but this 5 years in the PL and we should be top 8 stuff just makes me laugh, i really dont know what that has to do with anything at all.
Top ten for only the third time in fifty years? I say bravo. I worked in Austin and Pickersgill back in the day. At the time we all looked enviously Northward wondering if Sunderland could ever get close to Newcastle. Wondering if we could possibly get promoted and stay there. Wondering if Cowie would spend any money at all. So while top ten may not be enough for you. It is for me simply because it is far better than the **** we had when I was a Shipbuilder.
I think that Reid sat on his laurels and did not see that the squad needed freshining up. There was some complacency and probably an acceptance that things were going OK. I watched that second season with unease and after that it was pandemonium. Today is nothing like then. I am more optomistic now than I was a few weks ago. I am impressed with what Bruce has done this close season. If he can pull off all these signings and get one more top class striker and a left back, we should have a good season. I would be happy with 10th again, or better.
I can understand the lads who are appreciative of how far we've come. I understand that lads because I've seen dark days anarl. What worries me is that we finish tenth but have to start all over again. It isn't as if we are looking at signing a couple of key men who are going to complete the jigsaw is it? Is simply strikes me that Bruce doesn't really have a coherent strategy or long term team building plan in his mind. How can he when he is talking about more loans being the answer and recognising the fact that he will only have these loanees for a single season. There's not a lot between that approach and pure fire fighting in my mind.
Forget Europe and let me put another slant on this with a few questions for those of you that feel 10th place is good enough next season. Were you all happy that we managed to finish above Newcastle on the last day of last season? Yes, of course you were. Now...... Would you be happy if Newcastle finished above us next season, ending our reign as NE topdogs? Would you like to see Newcastle challenging for Europe whilst we languish behind in mid table safety? Would you be pleased to have the mags coming on our board bragging about how well they are doing? To all 3 questions the answer would have to be no, wouldn't it? Rest assured, Newcastle will like nothing more than to do the double over us next season and finish higher than us in the league. To suggest that you would be happy with 10th place next season is utter madness and shows no ambition at all. You have to aim high in this business, not just settle for mid table obscurity, because I can tell you one thing, Newcastle will not be looking to achieve 10th. They will want to finish as high as possible, which I'm quite sure is what our club want too, so why don't some of our fans? We have to have an aggressive target and that target for me is NOT 10th! Our target has to be top 6, if we fail, so be it, but at least we can say we tried, rather than just play at being a genuine PL team.
"not just settle for mid table obscurity" I love that. Not to long ago I'd (and you) would have given my right arm for mid table obscurity. Now it's not good enough. That's called progress. As for Newcastle. I don't really care what they are doing as long as we are improving. And we are.
Now we slumped mid season for the last 3 years(2 under Bruce's stewardship), Bruce must get this monkey off our back - however if the season stalls before mid season I think he has to go, taking into account all that has gone before plus the players he has signed/looks like signing, if it goes tits up then he must go and go quickly, no dilly dallying by the board. That said, I hope he succeeds, does the double over the mags and finishes 7th or 8th - if he gets the players he is pursuing plus defenders like Taylor from brum and Hutton from the spuds & can avoid the injuries then I believe this has to be our aim/fans expectation. He deserves his chance but with caveats(or cravats as I heard it referred to today). Good article and posts.
Like the pit yakkers and the shipyards those days are gone my friend. Of course I would like to see us in the Champions League but you need to be realistic. To get in the top 4 we need an Arab or Russian billionaire. Do you think lads like Henderson or Colback would ever get near the first team in that situation. Would rather see a few local lads in the team than sell our soul to the highest bidder. Sunderland football club means more to me than just league position.
We played last season with a grossly understrength squad, plus we've sold two of our better players in Bent and Henderson. Adding 8 or even 9 new faces gives us strength in depth and i believe that if we get our designated targets then we will have a much stronger squad than last season, even without Bent. I agree with your concerns that it looks like we are totally rebuilding, but i prefer to think that SB has realised our squad is thin and needs beefing up, adding quality and youth in the process.
