Well, it was always going to be a huge risky strategy and now we see the beginnings of what may be the biggest battle of wits for many a generation. PDC has now gambled everything on a turn of a card and its a high risk game of wills. I have always been prepared to swim against the tide if I believe in something and I will guess that this is another occasion where I will be doing the same but I am really concerned tonight that we have a bit of a player revolt/mutiny on our hands and its down to the management style totally. I don't deny that some of what he has said needed to be said but should it have been made so public? He seems to have alienated the players now and not galvanised them. What if he can't move some of these players on this summer? What if we can't recruit all the players we want and he has to turn back to the very ones he has so publicly slated? Will they play for him with heavy hearts and will that again reflect in the performances next season? I think he is walking on thin ice and gambling with our future and I am concerned that he may have overstepped the mark. We are not about to get rid of 12 players and bring 12 players in no matter what some may think. That doesn't work as we've seen with Bruce just a couple of years ago. Evolution not revolution is the way forward and this is PDC's huge flaw imo. SAF had similar problems with Robson,McGrath and Whiteside at Utd when he took over but dealt with it in a behind closed doors fashion and sorted it without all the fuss and histrionics? Its a case of what happens on tour stays on tour mentality and the dressing room being a secret place. His hugely abrasive style has done a job for the 8 games to keep us up but I stated a few weeks ago, he has a mammoth job this summer and is totally untried at this level. I think the jury is well and truly out and although for some on here they think what he is saying a doing is great, I worry that this is going to blow up in his, and our faces next season. However, the genie is out of the bottle now and we have to move forward with the situation as it is now not what we hoped it might have been. Bardsley was wrong but shouldn't have been castigated so publicly. A player that has always shown the right stuff for us has made a mistake (although there is much more to this than meets the eye as he won the money for a charity) but should he have been so publicly humiliated? Did he deserve that really? I wonder if Ellis is privately a little concerned too and he is being backed into a corner too by PDC and has been challenged back me or sack me? I fear some very troubled waters at SAFC over the coming weeks and months and my early fears about PDC are surfacing. This might buck the trend with many of you but it has to be said as well.
All I have to say on this Cest is I back PDC. players have had far to much power over clubs and have been screwing clubs, fans, supporters, sponsors and areas for years and I'm so pleased he's named and shamed them. We were on our knee and they really couldn't have cared less. Finishing 17th and surviving the drop is no cause for a celebration especially when you can't train for 3 days after. He's not asking for much, they are adults and they are like kids. Professionals my arse. They can all do one for all I care. Bradley is a fool.
Bardsley you mean I guess? I don't deny things needed shaking up but is this media circus was avoidable imo. All the players cant be ditched and a players revolt is the last thing we need. Also, would you sign for us if you were going to be slated so publically when something went wrong? I think we are in a spot of trouble here personally but I accept I may be in the minority with my fears.
Cest,you ask the question "what if he can't move these players on?" All I can say to that,is that Bruce and MON bought the rubbish between them,and couldn't sell any player on...they could only loan them out.PDC has inherited a poor squad,IMO,and has managed to keep us in the Premier League.Paulo has got to be backed by the club to put things right.He is the Manager and the buck stops with him.I have always been a fan of Bardsley,but this time he is out of order!You are right in saying that we might have a player-revolt on our hands,but how many of them would you keep??They have under-performed all season and the vast majority of them need moved on.I am firmly behind our Manager!!
I hear what you're saying but you haven't answered the question what if they can't be moved on? Would you think Short will sanction just writing off money he has invested to give them away? Thats not going to happen. My concern is this could have been done differently and players moved on and new ones brought in correctly. Now every club knows that we have to sell or get rid and that has immediately weakened our hand. There wont be £30m spent this summer I'll guarantee you, so what happens if Bardsley says he isn't going anywhere unless he is paid off first? Its not just a simple question of moving them on, we have to have a return in order to bring new ones in. Also, would you sign for us if you thought you'd be so publically humiliated if you made a mistake on something? Fergie had a similar problem when he went to Utd but he conducted himself far better and changed it without the media circus PDC has created. I hope I'm wrong and you're right lads but I am very concerned where this may all end from here.
I will remain in PDC's corner for now, but yeah I thinks he talks too much. I've already said on another thread that he has been quoted more times in the last two months than MON in the last season. The chairman and the players have had their eyes opened with this brash attitude and I really can't predict the coming months. I would expect the captains - O'Shea and Catts to back PDC, with the mindset of, ' being a pro needs a strong discipline' and as long as they relay this to the rest of the players, we might be okay. ........I really can't call this either way though !
We,as a club,will come through this problem by sticking-together and backing the manager,with support from the owner and the club captain.
Once the main trouble causers are shipped out, either sold or loaned, then the others will sharp step back into line. I'm not too worried
I share your fears Cest as I said in the other thread. In an ideal world Paolo would have a squad of 25 players every one just as dedicated and professional as he is, but sadly that will NEVER happen. If all the stories about PDC are true, I genuinely don't think there are 25 footballers in the world right now who are as dedicated as he is. Whilst that is an admirable quality in him he needs to accept that these are pampered players who, as much as we all hate to admit it, really couldn't give a crap about SAFC. The trick is to make them perform regardless. This isn't the way to go about it imo. Whilst I agree Bardsley was out of line and possibly needed making an example of, I agree it should not have been done so publicly. All it needed was for him to be excluded from the squad and then when asked about it just confirm he is not injured, everyone would have figured it out. This public naming and shaming was unnecessary imo and as you rightly say has only weakened our hand in offloading the dead wood. Everyone now knows we are desperate to get rid and these players' values have instantly dropped by about 50%. Regardless, I still back Ellis and PDC to get it right between them. It could be this is exactly the kick up the backside the sleeping giant that is SAFC has needed for 40+ years. One thing's for sure it will be an interesting journey!
Not too convinced about Cttas mind, we all know he likes a drink. I think he might want out. Could be a real shame too, as he was starting to look a cracking player before his injuries this season. Then again, the ****er spends 90% of the time injured or suspended! The other potential casualties of this I think will be AJ and DG as they are both known to enjoy a few too many a few too often. DG I couldn't care less about - terrible player and Swansea must be laughing all the way to the bank. AJ would be a bit of a shame as we all know what he is capable of. However, if he does want out just because he's not allowed to get pissed then he will sadly never fulfil his potential, in which case we are best to get shot. Unfortunately, that's 12m down the toilet coz we won't get anywhere near that for him now...
FWIW, here in Italy I've been constantly asked by Italians what I think about PDC, as, logically enough, Italian managers in the Premiership are constantly shown on TV over here. I've said that PDC has kept us up, never would we have got 6 points against the Mags and Everton under MoN (even though I didn't want MoN sacked and think time should be given to managers). The answer from 99% of Italians who are not plastics is "PDC is bonkers and after 10 games next season it'll all implode ..." I hope they're wrong, but Cest is not wrong in his concerns.
Catts and Bardo are best mates, so he could quite possibly back him. I wouldn't lose any sleep if he was shipped out aswell though, how many games has he played in the last 2 years?
really ask , yap stam, roy keane ,paul mcgrath and david beckham how this works. the club carries on , the club is bigger than anybody
AJ backs Di Canio on this (at least publicly). If a few more key players back him, then I don't see this becoming a major issue. Di Canio needs to be cautious about he public naming of players, but apart from Bards and Killa (who were in the pics and identified anyway) has he actually named anyone? If, as i suspect, it was Bards and Killa who have phoned the PFA, then they have just sealed their fate and will be playing the championship next season. AJs backing of PDC http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/10431571._/? Johnson has defended the Italian's brutally honest approach and admitted this season's failings mean some shock therapy is required. "He's come in, and managers have new things that they want to do," said the Sunderland winger. "The gaffer is big on discipline and if it means us getting more wins, I'm all for it. "There's nothing worse than losing game after game after game after game all season. I haven't been used to that in my career, so it's been difficult. "It's been poor, very poor, I think. The table doesn't lie. I think the only thing that we can say is that the only way is up for us now. We can't get any lower to be honest. We survived, and now next season all we can do is progress. That's the positive way of looking at it." After admitting that Phil Bardsley and Matt Kilgallon's casino misdemeanours were representative of a deeper malaise, Di Canio is determined to oversee a major overhaul of his squad this summer. More than half a dozen players are expected to leave before the end of August, with perhaps as many as ten arriving to bolster a squad that has been found wanting on a number of occasions this season. Johnson is one of the players likely to be linked with a possible departure, but having only joined the Black Cats in a £10m move from Manchester City last August, the 25-year-old is keen to remain in the North-East. "I'm looking forward to next season and I want to improve," said Johnson, who started all bar three of Sunderland's matches this season. "As far as I'm aware, I'll be here. "Over the summer you never know, it's always up to the manager. Time will tell what happens." While the likes of Bardsley, Kilgallon and Titus Bramble do not have a future under Di Canio, Johnson is one of the players the Italian will be reluctant to lose despite his failure to live up to his billing for most of this season. The England international was touted as a proven match winner when he was signed by Martin O'Neill, but his performances were below-par for the majority of the campaign and he finished with just five goals and six assists in the Premier League. There was a slight improvement in the last couple of months, with Di Canio's arrival helping to herald a brief upturn in Johnson's fortunes, but the former Middlesbrough trainee admits there is considerable room for improvement next term. "It's been the worst season of my career as a whole, I think," he said. "I actually haven't been that bad on the stats side of things, but performances haven't been what I've wanted. "If you go through goals and assists, I haven't done that bad but performances have been sometimes. As a whole you look at yourself and you're honest with yourself. "I think in general, everything hasn't gone well. We've got to look forward to next season now. It's all we can do."
Step up from league 1 to the premier league is massive! But the game is the same - problem is, as has been said, players and agents have far too much power. How many walks of life does a manager get less money than the people he/she manages?? Only in Football! I hope it works out for him and it doesn't implode. Gordon Taylor has put his 10 pence worth in - thing is he says everything we think about the players and he IS their manager. Bardsley, this season, has been woeful, previous seasons excellent but this season terrible so I think he knows his time is up - no real surprise that a player the manager wants rid of is complaining to the PFA about being fined by the manager - I don't know the club rules so I can't say whether he's broken them but if it's him that's gone to Taylor then **** him - PDC is the manager and what he says goes
i agree that there is a worrying element to this as making it so painfully public could backfire. our club stance on discipline seems to be as cyclical as our transfer policy. keane was most similar to PDC with his views on professionalism, but by the end he was roundly slated for alienating the dressing room. i think personally that JOS could be our trump card here. he's learnt from the master what it takes to make it at the top, and i think he'll back PDC here.
