Sunderland's new manager Gus Poyet promises supporters a team to be proud of "The fans will die for the club. They love their club, they are mad and I love that - we need to give them something" Gus Poyet has admitted Sunderland's "mad" fans will be his motivation. The Black Cats' new head coach says the first thought he had of Sunderland as an outsider was the noise and passion generated at the Stadium of Light. Poyet now wants to harness that "fanatical" element and give the Wearside public something to be proud of. The Uruguayan said: "Looking at Sunderland from afar, the first thing that came into my head was the fans - they are mad about football and they will die for the club. "We need to give them something. "I can't promise a cup or a trophy, because it would be silly to promise, but we will try. "We will ensure that they feel proud of the team. "They go to the ground to see something nice. They pay for the tickets and need to see something. We need to make sure we give them everything. "They love their club, they are mad and I love that. That's the way I grew up - going into a stadium in Uruguay, jumping up and down in the corner. You become fanatics. "I can see myself in the same position as them." Poyet was given a Man of the Match award by Sunderland fans in December 1999, after a Chelsea side he played in was hammered 4-1 on Wearside. He recalled: "It goes down as one of my worst experiences as a player! We were 4-0 down at halftime. It was one of the worst halftimes of my career. "The Stadium of Light is not the nicest place to be when you're losing. "Then they said I was man of the match for the away team and wanted me to collect an award. I was hiding, to avoid it! How could I be Man of the Match after we lost!" Poyet, who Sunderland say had been a "keen spectator" during the last two home games, wants to build a tough foundation at home like he had at Brighton. He said: "The key to a strong home record is the connection between the players and the fans. From what I've seen, there is a great connection and great atmosphere at the Stadium of Light." I like him more and more me.
he's certainly saying all the right things, id like to think he will stay as manager for a long time even if we are relegated and im pretty sure that wont happen.
What's not to like mate? the man comes across very, very well and if his comments are sincere and not just hype to get us behind him then I see a good season ahead. We've waited years for a guy who likes to play football and not route one ****e, lets hope he can transform what PDC started.
A team we're not ashamed of would be a start, but the more he says, the more I like! The start of yet another new era!
Making all the right sounds, hope he this is the start of something, I do still seriously believe that we will avoid the drop.
PDC said all the right things as well. I do believe we have a damn good manager in the making here, just hope to god we stay up this season.
I like what I hear but I'm going to be more wary this time - mainly because I liked what I heard of Paolo too! I hope we stick with him regardless of what happens this season. We need stability and, if we go down, then we need to stick with him and let him get us back up and keep us up here next time. Hope we do stay up (and I have a little optimism about me now) and I hope that Gus gets the best out of players like Johnson.
However, to play passing football you need good players we have: o shea, cuellar, larsson, johnson and **** like that.
Every time I hear Gus speak I get a horrible, unwanted feeling of deja vu. He was and is my choice of manager. I honestly believe what he is saying but it's not the fans he needs to win around. We all know if he upsets a couple of players in training he'll be shown the door, we have history now. As such his hands are pretty much tied until he can get rid of the bad apples.
Time will tell. I really hope we have the right man for the job this time. He does seem to say all the right things but in his own words he will have to prove it.
If not to for dummy spitting players and a mental head coach we should have been on that path. We've managed to get a coach with similar principles to Paolo and better football philosophy, not to mention a calmer head. Combine that with the players having no more excuses then things should be getting done now, weather we go down or not we need to keep to the plan and build a modern foundation based on strength skill and technique instead of booting it long and giving away possession the second we've gained it, which has been our football philosophy for far too long.
The story I heard was that the previous coach upset all except 2 of the first team SQUAD. Not just the starting players but there was a lot more than "just a couple" of players - apparently (frokm my mate who works in the ticket office) the entire first team squad spoke to Ellis about Paolo's bullying techniques and not just O'Shea and Cattermole. There was only Johnson and one other in the squad (who isn;t even a first teamer) that didn't get upset - but apparently he didn't label Johnson and this other player at all - but he did the rest. My mate says he regularly speaks to staff but please don;t shoot the messenger as I can only say what I've been told. Poyet seems much more level headed and isn't claiming to be the best manager in the world - his "issues" at Brighton were not all his fault regardless of what the press says. He fought his "gross misconduct" although he lost no details were released about it which is very strange IMO. I actually wanted him when we got Di Canio so we have taken a step (which, whilst the rollercoaster with Paolo had more lows than highs, the highs were phenomenal!) ion the direction I wanted us to go in. "No management experience at the top level" - I couldn't care less. Who did we interview that HAD top level experience? Pulis? Rangnick (who ruled himself out) and McClaren (If he was even interviewed) - the rest had zilch so I'm happy with the appointment we made - except that he cost me £132 back in 1999 with the goal he scored (I had £2 on 4-0 to us at 66/1) - But I will forgive him that if he gets us to finish 17th this season!!
