I say let's just go with the lads who show respect.
Crouch showed respect in coming up, seeing what we offered and then said no. I'll respect that. If he wants to come up again, irrespective of the silly mind games 'Arry is playing, he'll be very welcome.
Henderson has shown a lot of respect for his club. As a Sunderland lad, you might say that's more understandable, but even so, good luck to the lad (well, 36 times per season).
Gibson and N'Gog seem to be looking at us respectfully so I will look favourably upon them. (Is it pure coincidence that I think they're good players too?)
It's when the players start playing the field, seeing what else is on the table, generally following their agents' advice to up their value, that I think they can stuff it. Brown and O'Shea seem to be in this latter category.
Thought Hutton had a lot of respect for us too.
You can see on the field too that players like Bardsley, Bramble, Welbeck, Sessegnon and no doubt others I forget have this sort of respect and humility, the idea that Sunderland AFC are offering them something and those players are ready to give something back. These are the players I want to see in Sunderland shirts. These are the ones you look back on and say that they were great players: I go back to the Hurley era and would put all of the team in that category, most of the lads who played in 73. When you get a lot of those players together, they're not necessarily the best players but you get extra return on them because of this respect and humility they have. Kevin Ball springs to mind. Yoo see what I mean. These are the players I want to see here.