He might have done the move to help us bring a good replacement for him in, good hardworking player, got in there, maybe sometimes too strong(Colback !) but worried opposing players. Now can Jack put Ethan in his place or bring another like wise midfielder in.
Blinking heck . . . . this is like a R.I.P. thread We've lost our best outfield player and I'd love him to become 'Wednesday's next season, too . . . . I'll be following the rest of his career very closely, hoping that he'll more than prove his worth and become a 'hero' again, albeit for someone else Lee, Lee, Lee Cattermole . . . . Cattermole, Cattermo-o-ole Good luck, Catts, and cheers
Come off it. I get that he's a hero for a lot of people but you can't honestly believe he's ever been our best outfield player.
He certainly was last season . . . . McGeady has more talent, but he's often a liability, and there's only probably Onions that came close to being as good as Catts
He had a decent season and was definitely one of our better players for large parts of it. To say he was our best player is something of a stretch though. Especially earlier in the season, coincidentally when Cattermole was looking class for League 1, when we were playing good football of the type Jack Ross would want, there were several players that were much more integral to the system and who would have been/were a bigger miss.
I couldn't pick a better outfield player last season mind - not a consistently better. Not in terms of ability (not that his ability was lacking at that level) but in terms of everything he brought to the table. McGeady is undoubtedly a better footballer but often has a touch of the Julio's about him. Only better player last season for me was McLaughlin - have to wholeheartedly agree with @clockstander on that one Pick another one? Power? Leadbitter? O'Nien - possibly? Oviedo? Baldwin? Flanaghan? James? Maja left to warm a bench in France half way through or might have pipped him. Wyke? Grigg? Who, from the outfield, could you honestly say was better for the whole season than Cattermole?
I know someone who worked for SAFC under O'Neill, Paolo, Bruce and a lot of others. When Paolo was there one of our players wandered into this woman's office and literally stood with his genitals out playing with them and rubbing them on the table in front of her - and it was a player I can;t think of ANYONE disliking (only found this out the other day!!) Di Canio wasn't bothered when she told him as it was one of his more preferred players. That to me shows how amateurish he was. Every other manager can;t be wrong and only him right surely?
It's a bit alarming to think that you can make a strong case for Catts being our best outfielder last season when he was average for most of it. Better quality recruits needed so we go up.
It sums up how low we have sunk really, Catts didn't all of a sudden get better, surely people know that , he couldn't cut it in certain games when people ran at him , for me his legs went a few seasons back. Put a shift in but was never my kind of footballer. I like an Alex Rae/ Hutchinson type who can get stuck in and create a bit. Both started in the lower leagues, they are out there.
At the start of the season, when we were playing well, Honeyman and Maja were the players that were most important in the side. They dictated the way we played and the reason we declined after Christmas is certainly down to Maja leaving and the change in system that led to. So, for me, they were probably our most important players and therefore best players during the first half of the season. Cattermole, like everyone else dropped off later. He probably was our most consistent performer but that doesn't make him our best or most effective player. If that's true (and I'm not doubting you) then it doesn't tally with anything I've heard from people about di Canio who is always spoken about as being the ultimate professional with the highest standards in all aspects of life. I can't imagine him accepting that. I met him a couple of months ago and he was an absolute gent, very calm and very measured, and nothing like the madman that the papers always liked to portray him. As for his opinion on Cattermole, LBC certainly splits opinion amongst our fanbase so it's possible that he just wasn't Paolo's kind of player. In terms of his consistent selection by several managers, I'll refer you to my comfort blanket hypothesis.
Ha ha I love reading Sunderland fans comments, cats is ****, he’s past his best, hasn’t played well for years, he’s slow now got no pace, we’ve seen the best of him so he’s going to move up a league to a team about 20 places above us cos he’s not good enough for us
In the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king Lets see how he does, perhaps as well as last time ?
Bit early to knock people for their opinion when he hasn't signed for anyone let alone proved he's championship level over a season. I like him, we (almost) all do but we had very few offers for him while he was under contract.
This article from Roker Report encapsulates everything that I hate about the Lee Cattermole phenomenon. If we could all accept him for what he is, a good honest, hard working, hard tackling, unspectacular midfielder who always tried hard, then I could understand the admiration for him. But some elements of our fan base want to turn him into something he's not, to make out he's some kind of Teesside Pirlo, a Cleveland Adonis, to deify him as the supernatural embodiment of NE footballing manhood. We've had footballers who are technically far superior during his time at the club. We've had players who have been equally, if not more so, committed to the cause in living memory. We've had local lads who are far more local. So why is he mythologised unlike any other player I can remember? Even if it has been written tongue-in-cheek, the cloying, sycophantic tone of this article is embarrassing. This, and some of the stuff on Twitter about Cattermole, is reminiscent of the Mags and their breakdown over Benitez leaving. https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/2019/7/2/20678701/farewell-lee-cattermole
A few of Catts stats Appearances 261 Goals 10 Assists 11 Yellow cards 87 Double yellow 4 Straight Red 3 Minutes played 20668 Seasons 10 Managers 10 Leagues 3 Wembley Finals 3 Wins against the Mags 6 Dirtiest Premier League players 1. Gareth Barry - 745 points 2. Lee Bowyer - 595 points 3. Scott Parker - 585 points 4. Paul Scholes - 585 points 5. Patrick Vieira - 580 points 6. Richard Dunne - 570 points 7. Lee Cattermole - 565 points 8. Wayne Rooney - 560 points 9. George Boateng - 550 points 10. Kevin Davies - 545 points
Great servant to the club Loved by some (me included!) Loathed by others His passion will be missed but replaced Absolutely the right decision for both player and club
