Knew he would take no arm twisting, he probably wasn't that bothered about an increase in wage! Was clear after Wembley only thing that would stop him is if the club didn't want to retain him.
Great news. Even if you don't rate him as good enough for the championship like I do there's surely no denying that he's a useful utility player at the very least.
Brilliant news. What a perfect squad player. Coaches dream. Said it before but make him club captain.
Aye And on a human level. The lad has stuck with us from the Premier League and worked his arse off to get us back into the championship. Nobody deserves to step onto the pitch as a Sunderland player in the Championship more than Lyndon Gooch. Now we shouldn't be driven by sentimentality. But there's always a place for it. And I wouldn't want the club to not reward loyalty and hard work.
I'd also question what message it sends to the youngsters, that they work hard to get us promoted and then when we get to that level we say "sorry you're not quite good enough for that level you helped us get to". We want to be a club where young players come to develop. We can't then kick them out when we develop quicker than they have. I know we've done that for the U23s, but that's different. Once a player is in the first team and contributes to a promotion, they deserve to stay and fight. The only exceptions are those who haven't contributed or are on the way out (ie McGeady)
Felt sorry for him under LJ as he was often expected to play 2 or 3 different positions in a game, must have been so frustrating for him. He might not have been born here, but he is as much one of us and Embleton and Dan Neil imo
I'm pleased for the lad, he clearly loves the club and has been excellent under Neil. If LJ was still here then it was curtains for him imo
Not so sure mate. I have a suspicion some of the reason LJ bit the biullet was Speakman wanted to flog Gooch and Flannagan above LJ head. I reckon LJ went ballistic over the whole Defoe, Flanno and Gooch situation because no coach would sanction those deals, they were commercial only. I actually reckon if Speakman had his way Gooch would have been long gone in Jan, and last weekend we wouldnt have enjoyed his tears. Speakman is of course doing a wonderful job of telling us all how he has been the man this season. Bit of history rewriting going on in my opinion, but it is just my opinion.
Could well have been Speakman trying to get shot mate. But im sure there was one game last season where there was a lot of talk about Johnson blanking Gooch (or visa versa) when Gooch was subbed. Can't recall which game it was though.