MARTIN OâNeill had the unusual experience of seeing his efforts praised by the owner and his team booed off by the fans on the same afternoon. The manager was hailed by owner-chairman Ellis Short in Saturdayâs programme notes for producing âtop sixâ form since his arrival back in December. However, supporters showed their displeasure with the mangerâs side when they failed to reproduce that form against Premier League whipping boys Wolves, who arrived at the Stadium of Light on the back of a seven-game losing streak. âThe boos at the end?â said OâNeill. âNothing surprises me in football. âMaybe itâs because weâre playing Wolves, who are struggling and people come expecting us to win the game. âI wish it was as easy as that. âAnd I have to remind myself that the last time we played Wolves, they turned the tables around and were above us in the league. âSo Iâm pretty pleased at the way things have gone since then. âI do feel, though, that now is the time to press on. âBut perhaps this run shows we have a lot of work to do. âFans come here wanting to genuinely get behind their team and we didnât give them enough to do that. âItâs very nice of the chairman to be complimentary, but weâre getting a reality check â thatâs probably the phrase Iâm searching for, a reality check. âWe need to get a grip on things. âWeâve done fine, but we have to keep it going and against Wolves, overall, we didnât create enough in the game and that is something weâll have to consider.â When OâNeill speaks of work to do these days, you also know heâs talking about work in the transfer market. âIâm going to have to look at strengthening the squad,â he admitted. âIn the last couple of games we might be able to look at some of the younger players and see how that works out, so we have a viewpoint on them for the summertime. âBut I still feel we need to strengthen.â
I must confess to being quite taken aback when I heard the boos, it was a crap performance but boos seemed premature.
I cannot believe some fans would boo the players off the pitch. I didn't watch the game, but seriously fans booing. Maybe if we were losing every game, and still under Bruce. I think some fans seems to forget is MON has done a wonderful job, and they cannot expect to beat every team every match. Some fans are pathetic in truth, and don't understand football.
The lads that sit behind me (Well one of them) said on Saturday "We were ****ing better than this with Bruce in charge" - Deadly serious. People do forget very quickly how bad things were and I like that little comment from O'Neill: Do you think he meant "Himself" or "The fans that Booed us off the pitch"?!!!
I've been practically taught to: 1. Stay the full 90 minutes, regardless of scoreline 2. Sing your heart out 3. Never boo (especially at MON...) 4. Always Support and Love Sunderland Think some fans don't see this anymore in football, admittedly some may not stay the full 90 as they have things to do etc But you get behind the team, not boo them and say they're crap, utterly disgraceful from fans if you ask me Any fans we have like that can piss off up the road and support them as far as I'm concerned Understandably the players are more or less in party/holiday mode as we can't go up and we can't go down, but they should still be playing their hearts out with the wage packet they pick up Hopefully MON will introduce his wage scheme into the club where its a basic wage and you play for bonuses
I would never boo my team as they are better footballers than I am. These cretins who boo probably can't kick a ball in a straight line
Just pressed that "like" thingy, then thought no sod it, I will reply. I watched the game on streaming, thought it was on the box but some strange new laws have changed the way Norwegian TV2PL can show the matches. Thought the match was poor, we couldn't pass to another player in red and white. Wolves were just as bad, nearly fell asleep during the first half. Phoned a mate who was at the match, he was bored but still happy we weren't getting beat, which we would have with a previous manager. I know the game was poor, but why boo the team off at the end? some fickle supporters! But at the end of the day it's MON's fault he has given people hope, belief, and expectations. when the team doesn't live up to those expectations they boo,.......sad. just a few weeks earlier the same team gave what were the champions elect, a lesson, and a big fright. Short memories!
Idiot fans man what can you do? We weren't great but could have nicked it. If they boo that then how come they weren't hurling flaming spears at some of the stuff we've seen over the last 10 years?
Probably quite a lot of part timers in there on the fiver tickets it'll be the same against Bolton in a couple of weeks as well even if we beat them.
