I have previously posted on this forum regarding how lucky we are to have Martin OâNeil at this club AND I still feel this way, please hear me outâ¦â¦ I do read comments from time to time and sometimes I agree with them, Martins mystery substitutions, his strange signings. But he is little to blame in this situation we find ourselves in. First off I hate rumours I think they can be made up and be exaggerated as it gets passed round. But believe me when I say this has come from the horseâs mouth. I have a good friend who plays football in Scotland who used to play for Sunderland a few years ago and one of our players who we has recently been released in January has recently signed for his team ( Iâm not going to mention any names because itâs not fair even though you can probably work it out). When my friend asked the question what is happening at Sunderland his reply was âIn all my long time in football Iâve never seen a drinking culture like it beforeâ he mentioned a few names like âJohnson, bramble Mccleanâ he said âthey are out most nights with some of the youth ladsâ Now some might say itâs the partly the managers fault for not have discipline with the players. But I feel Martin is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He canât drop these players as he has no one to replace them. The guy must be going through HELL. I just hope to God he is waiting till the summer for to have a major clear out and he doesnât lose heart and walk from this club while everyone is one his back as we are still LUCKY enough to have a manager of his calibre. You may disagree but I invest an awful lot of money into this club and to know half the players are doing this makes me feel really really sick. It is simply not acceptable. I will get behind every last player in red and white whatever the performance or result but some the end of the season something needs to change drastically; over the summer. But too sack Martin would be a massive mistake even if we are relegated. He is the man that will lead this club to glory. Martin OâNeilâs Red and White Army
Trouble is, they are young men with shed loads of cash. I don't see how any gaffer can tell any of his employees what to do after they've finished work. That said, maybe it's this that's a contributory factor to our poor performances.
you two really got me thinking there lads, i agree it may well be a contributory factor and i read an article about it somewhere (which i will find in a bit) You could manage it as all players have to be insured (if possible, the likes of bemba ba excluded as he cant pass a medical in the first place) and insurance is based on health, most insurers right in a clause of average alcohol intake (abuse) and recreational drug use, so if a footballer were to contravene these guidelines then he would potentially void his insurance (as any of us could with life and critical illness) therefore placing the club at risk. They tend to insure body parts, like smecheal had his hands insured for £1m at one point, underwriting is just the same. This could and should be written into players contracts, and should be tested at anytime, yes everybody goes on a bender, but sustained abuse over a period of time by an employee of a football club should be subject to disciplinary action by the club/manager or even dissmissal, then i suppose the FA would potentially have to sanction emergency loan deals. and great post OP
http://www.journallive.co.uk/safc/s...-not-averse-to-the-odd-tipple-61634-32952935/ this was it but doesn't read how i remembered it
A little tale. There we were in the Gardeners one Thursday night, hoying the pints back, (No smoking ban so it was pretty full.) when in romps a certain local lad who was our LB at the time. Who proceeded to make a right tit of himself throwing the drinks back and running about topless swinging his shirt around his head! Thought he was the bees knees until he got in ear shot of my mate a big lad with a skinhead he has had since puberty, who shouted...... "Oy! dickhead you better not be playing the weekend!" Exit our LB and his entourage with tails firmly between legs.
we all know it goes on, pickford for example, who is a sound kid but needs guidance, is forever needing help, losing things, mis-placing things, forgetting stuff. ****in good keeper mind! And in jest i've said "been on the piss again with the lads" "i wish, i'm not allowed, they are always on it, in dubai at the minute" was the last conflab
Sorry but I am afraid MON has to take most of the blame , a decent manager can look at a game and see what he set up isn't working and make changes MON dosn't it is as if he dosn't want to see what he has done is wrong and isn't working. His substitution are at times bizarre , chasing a game where we must score he replaces a centre forward with a left back so he can push a below average grafter, into midfield. None of his signings in January has strengthend our first 11, he continues to play a makeshift fullback in Gardner when he has a fit fullback who has never let the club down sitting on the bench. Sorry but the MON we are seeing now is not the one we remember from 3 years back, and as for leading us to glory , I wouldn't hold your breath
I'm still with MON mate. But I too am dumbfounded we aren't seeing the passion I WAS expecting. Where the ****s the footballing nous he used so easily to outwit Shearer Hanson and Lawro with so much ease? When I see him interviewed he just doesn't look or sound the same man. I just hope he is bottling it up to rip into the players in private!
I remember the "We'd run through a brick wall for Martin O'Neill" thing but for whatever reason the plpayers aren't doing it for him. Whether we stay up whether he's still here there needs to be an overhaul. i don't think a drinking culture is to blame though. Is Kevin Kyle that lad in the op though? I often saw him out in town
When MON first joined he got sunderland playing well, and took you away from the chance relegation. but then maybe the last 10 games (last season) you got one win ?. Just seems strange he got Bruce's team playing well , then its all fallen apart since then even with his new signings.
