Summer window

[Prehab26]

There’s been significant investment from KLD since he came in. I honestly have no idea where this narrative has come from that he’s tight/not engaged etc. Unless it’s just those enviously pining for oil riches to come in and be indiscriminately spent?

Regardless of financial investment, the transformation to the club in his short tenure is phenomenal. We’re an infinitely smarter outfit now and on so much of a better foundation for the future. The club’s in such a good place relative to just a couple of years ago. It’s sad to see how quickly any goodwill disappears from much of our fanbase at the first sign of a ‘challenge’.

Simple way of looking at it all

Our new approach has seen investment but into infrastructure, staffing and data analytics. Player recruitment has seen some too.

However, the one that some are making reference to is the olden days, big fees, for ready made players with hefty agent surcharges.

The latter approach is a thing of the past and some won't be able to accept it as they are familiar with the former approach.

We have moved on. For the better.

 

[Charley Farley]

If Stewart was to stay here I would be really worried every time he was tackled and needed a bit of attention.
I think it would only be a matter of time before he was missing again.

Whoever is buying him at Southampton will be either a genius or a fool depending on how Ross turns out.

I’d love it if he was to sign a new contract and return playing as he was before the injury but I really can’t see it and getting a good striker in who will play every week would be the better solution.

 

[Brainy Dose]

There’s been significant investment from KLD since he came in. I honestly have no idea where this narrative has come from that he’s tight/not engaged etc. Unless it’s just those enviously pining for oil riches to come in and be indiscriminately spent?

Regardless of financial investment, the transformation to the club in his short tenure is phenomenal. We’re an infinitely smarter outfit now and on so much of a better foundation for the future. The club’s in such a good place relative to just a couple of years ago. It’s sad to see how quickly any goodwill disappears from much of our fanbase at the first sign of a ‘challenge’.

Good post mate. It comes from ill-thought and unnecessary comments.
I'm taking no notice of mischievous nonsense that has no basis in fact,substance or significance,and desperately hoping we can get a couple more decent deals across the line today, so we can avoid the inevitable,unfounded criticism, which is bound to follow post-haste if we don't, from those who look for every opportunity to call the club out.

 

[Smug in Boots]

That's a bit contradictory. It's not self destruction on the clubs part to say two years given the player's injury and previous reticence to commit.


Fair enough that. It's no secret really, it's been said repeatedly.

It'll be interesting to see how many years Southampton give him.

He arrived here injured, has had two more and there's no guarantee he'll totally recover ...

... I can only imagine some of the comments if we were paying £8/9m and giving a 3/4 year deal.

I'm a little removed from the admiration of Stewart because I've always had concerns of how he strikes the ball, including penalties, and his finishing with one on ones. I always see the Sheff Wed first leg fluff for his goal which, fortunately, the keeper spilled.

I'll take the money and move on, we're making progress for a change and Stewart isn't the key to it all imo.

 

[TopCat.]

It'll be interesting to see how many years Southampton give him.

He arrived here injured, has had two more and there's no guarantee he'll totally recover ...

... I can only imagine some of the comments if we were paying £8/9m and giving a 3/4 year deal.

I'm a little removed from the admiration of Stewart because I've always had concerns of how he strikes the ball, including penalties, and his finishing with one on ones. I always see the Sheff Wed first leg fluff for his goal which, fortunately, the keeper spilled.

I'll take the money and move on, we're making progress for a change and Stewart isn't the key to it all imo.

At the end of the day, all players move on eventually. Even Bally and Quinny

£8m is an excellent bit of business, although I'd imagine a lot of fans are nervous about how it will get spent as we don't have a great deal of time to line up a replacement - we haven't even announced Rusyn yet and that deal was supposedly "done" last week.

The fear (for me anyway) has always been that we sell one of our "big" players on Deadline Day and KS comes out with usual "we couldn't get deals over the line" crap, before telling us all something about how we "align differently" to other clubs and that Dack is considered the main striker or some other BS

 

[Brainy Dose]

Honestly none, we get on fine, it just seemed he was going to do an Ellis but with tighter control.
As I said I got a bollocking 2 weeks ago over 1 bit I posted, so it's all I'm gonna say mate.
I'm off to graft so chat later.
You look after yourself.

How can you say " do an Ellis,but with tighter control"? Ellis had absolutely no control,which is why we ended up in a mess. The best thing KLD has done is to impose control to absolutely ensure he doesn't do an Ellis! They're as different in their approach to running the club as night and day!

 

[Billy Batts]

It'll be interesting to see how many years Southampton give him.

He arrived here injured, has had two more and there's no guarantee he'll totally recover ...

... I can only imagine some of the comments if we were paying £8/9m and giving a 3/4 year deal.

I'm a little removed from the admiration of Stewart because I've always had concerns of how he strikes the ball, including penalties, and his finishing with one on ones. I always see the Sheff Wed first leg fluff for his goal which, fortunately, the keeper spilled.

I'll take the money and move on, we're making progress for a change and Stewart isn't the key to it all imo.

Bit harsh that imo. Stewart is a quality player. Not just his goalscoring record, which can't be argued with tbh, it's his overall contribution to the team, his workrate, hold up play, hes also a massive asset in our own box when we're defending set pieces. Easy to be critical when it looks like somebody might be leaving. We'll find it very hard, imo, to replace all of that. I know folk will say well we did ok without him last season but I reckon if he'd have stayed fit for the whole season we'd have been in the premier league now.

 

[Smug in Boots]

At the end of the day, all players move on eventually. Even Bally and Quinny

£8m is an excellent bit of business, although I'd imagine a lot of fans are nervous about how it will get spent as we don't have a great deal of time to line up a replacement - we haven't even announced Rusyn yet and that deal was supposedly "done" last week.

The fear (for me anyway) has always been that we sell one of our "big" players on Deadline Day and KS comes out with usual "we couldn't get deals over the line" crap, before telling us all something about how we "align differently" to other clubs and that Dack is considered the main striker or some other BS

You see it as crap and BS from Speakman, fair enough.

I see it as building a squad carefully and not panicking as we've done before. Sunderland has, in a very short time, become an attractive club for signings and PL loans, good ambitious players actually want to be here ... it's marvellous tbh.

I don't think we should throw that away by suddenly becoming just another Stoke and bringing in jaded/established players who've trudged around the Championship. We've just come up from L1 and making progress, the football football we play is often superb and the team spirit seems top class.

It seems to boil down to whether or not you trust the club to run things properly and whether or not you think you know better ...

... I've thought that for years but no longer, I'm enjoying Sunderland and excited at what happens next.

 

[Smug in Boots]

Bit harsh that imo. Stewart is a quality player. Not just his goalscoring record, which can't be argued with tbh, it's his overall contribution to the team, his workrate, hold up play, hes also a massive asset in our own box when we're defending set pieces. Easy to be critical when it looks like somebody might be leaving. We'll find it very hard, imo, to replace all of that. I know folk will say well we did ok without him last season but I reckon if he'd have stayed fit for the whole season we'd have been in the premier league now.

I've been critical, at times, throughout his stay here tbf.

Do you remember how he failed to score in eight games, against L1 opposition, at a critical stage when we were chasing promotion. He didn't score again until we played Cambridge who were rotten tbh.

 

[TopCat.]

You see it as crap and BS from Speakman, fair enough.

I see it as building a squad carefully and not panicking as we've done before. Sunderland has, in a very short time, become an attractive club for signings and PL loans, good ambitious players actually want to be here ... it's marvellous tbh.

I don't think we should throw that away by suddenly becoming just another Stoke and bringing in jaded/established players who've trudged around the Championship. We've just come up from L1 and making progress, the football football we play is often superb and the team spirit seems top class.

It seems to boil down to whether or not you trust thev club to run things properly and whether or not you think you know better ...

... I've thought that for years but no longer, I'm enjoying Sunderland and excited at what happens next.

I trust the club and I take your points re recruitment etc, but if we fail to replace Stewart that will be 3 transfer windows in a row where we've left ourselves short in the squad.
Building for the future is all well and good, but the here and now is just as important. Sustainability is an excellent model, but not when you don't use the money you've earned

£2m for Lihadji
£8m for Stewart

Surely that has to grease the wheels to get in a couple of players capable of hitting the ground running?

I'm a KS/LD supporter, but a lot of people might turn if we are playing Dack/Jobe up front v QPR

 

[The Redbaron]

I saw Keith Lemon in Zara, Covent Garden a couple weeks back like. He actually walks around wearing that oversized cowboy hat in his spare time. Must be absolutely desperate for attention.

A very untalented thespian imo

 

[Smug in Boots]

I trust the club and I take your points re recruitment etc, but if we fail to replace Stewart that will be 3 transfer windows in a row where we've left ourselves short in the squad.
Building for the future is all well and good, but the here and now is just as important. Sustainability is an excellent model, but not when you don't use the money you've earned

£2m for Lihadji
£8m for Stewart

Surely that has to grease the wheels to get in a couple of players capable of hitting the ground running?

I'm a KS/LD supporter, but a lot of people might turn if we are playing Dack/Jobe up front v QPR

If people turn because of that, then fair enough ...

... we were in a much worse state last season, the team played their hearts out and the supporters responded.

If some supporters turn I won't give a shiny, f**k them.

Not one of the people I go with will turn.

 

[smithy in nl]

I trust the club and I take your points re recruitment etc, but if we fail to replace Stewart that will be 3 transfer windows in a row where we've left ourselves short in the squad.
Building for the future is all well and good, but the here and now is just as important. Sustainability is an excellent model, but not when you don't use the money you've earned

£2m for Lihadji
£8m for Stewart

Surely that has to grease the wheels to get in a couple of players capable of hitting the ground running?

I'm a KS/LD supporter, but a lot of people might turn if we are playing Dack/Jobe up front v QPR

Stewart hasn’t gone yet and you don’t know how much we got for lihadji.

 

[Culinary]

If people turn because of that, then fair enough ...

... we were in a much worse state last season, the team played their hearts out and the supporters responded.

If some supporters turn I won't give a shiny, f**k them.

Unless that permeates into the match day atmosphere which, regardless of what people say, will affect the players and performances, particularly with such a young group. Then I’d give a shiny, I’d have a huge problem with it. We, as fans are our own worst enemy a lot of the time.

 

[Nads]

Funnily enough, had Ellis had Speakman I’d wager things would have been very different.

I don’t want anyone ‘bankrolling’ the club, to rely on a single stream can bite your arse, Drumaville we’re actually great owners then the property market crashes and they had to bail.

We have a big enough fan base to make money, we have League 1 commercial deals ending, so the next year or 2 I u sweat and we remain a wee bit handicapped without selling.

When folk are having a pop they simply do not give enough credit to the owners and their advisory employees for retaining Jacky, Roberts, Cirkin, Ballard, Patto and Trai, plus more, who we could easily sold for profit.

 

[Smug in Boots]

Unless that permeates into the match day atmosphere which, regardless of what people say, will affect the players and performances, particularly with such a young group. Then I’d give a shiny, I’d have a huge problem with it. We’re our own worst enemy a lot of the time.

The players we put on the pitch deserve our support if they're doing their best ...

... and they kept doing that for probably the longest time I can remember.

 

[Billy Batts]

I've been critical, at times, throughout his stay here tbf.

Do you remember how he failed to score in eight games, against L1 opposition, at a critical stage when we were chasing promotion. He didn't score again until we played Cambridge who were rotten tbh.

Yes but I'm not just talking about his goals return, he still scored 26 that season and 10 in 13 games last season, it's his overall game, his contribution to the team.
We'll be hard pushed to replace all that, imo.

 

[Prehab26]

Yes but I'm not just talking about his goals return, he still scored 26 that season and 10 in 13 games last season, it's his overall game, his contribution to the team.
We'll be hard pushed to replace all that, imo.

We will. It's a perfect storm for him to leave and it's simply time to maximise the cash return and try to reinvest at short notice.

Let's get it right, if Stewart comes back to his former golden days he will be quality and probably gets Southampton over the line and back to the PL.

 

[Rade Prica]

We will. It's a perfect storm for him to leave and it's simply time to maximise the cash return and try to reinvest at short notice.

Let's get it right, if Stewart comes back to his former golden days he will be quality and probably gets Southampton over the line and back to the PL.

Think if we can get close to £10m then it makes sense for us. The challenge will be the quick turnaround between him leaving and the window closing. Would make things interesting.
Think it’s certainly worth the ‘gamble’ from Southampton’s end. There was no doubt in my mind that he was the best striker in the league pre-injury.

 

[Milton Nunez's Thong]

My concern is that if he is sold 'subject to a medical' when his injury is likely to be very complex, we could be in a position where the club are gambling on him being sold (in which case we may end up with too many on the books), or being reticent about signing a replacement knowing it could fall through.

Hopefully - if he is likely to leave - the medical is taking place with plenty of time before the deadline