WHY DOES THE LAST SENTENCE OF THIS ARTICLE MAKE ME CRINGE? //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport...-will-take-chance-to-shake-up-squad-1-4571000 LEE CATTERMOLE has backed Martin OâNeill to âstamp his markâ on Sunderlandâs squad after beginning his Black Cats cull. OâNeill allowed nine players to leave the Stadium of Light for nothing last week, with Britainâs most expensive goalkeeper Craig Gordon the most high-profile of those released by the club. Sunderlandâs three loan players â Nicklas Bendtner, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Wayne Bridge â also returned to their parent clubs, while there may still be further exits from Wearside. Their replacements will stem from OâNeillâs first genuine chance to land new recruits after being in the Sunderland hotseat less than a month before the January transfer window opened. And skipper Cattermole believes it will be an intriguing summer for the Black Cats as OâNeill looks to re-shape the side he inherited from Steve Bruce. Cattermole told the Echo: âWeâve changed so many players this season and Iâm sure the manager will have ideas for his own players and what he wants to do. âIt will be an interesting time for Sunderland. âIt will be nice to see what he does and Iâm sure heâll want to improve us. âThereâs a few players weâve got on loan whoâll go back and a couple of lads whoâve come to the end of their contracts. âThe manager has got a summer now to prepare his team and Iâm sure heâs decided which players he wants to keep or let go. âIt happens every year. Players will be coming and going and Iâm sure heâll stamp his mark on the team.â Blackburn winger Junior Hoilett is known to be among OâNeillâs targets, although Arsenal are thought to be in pole position for the Canadian, whose contract at Ewood Park expires this summer. Hoilettâs agent held a series of meetings with the Gunners last week, with Spurs and Champions League runners-up Bayern Munich also monitoring the 21-year-old. Arsenal are also understood to be interested in freed Sunderland keeper Gordon, to provide competition for first-choice Wojciech Szczesny, although SPL champions Celtic are eager to land the Scotland international. Homegrown winger Jordan Cook was the only player freed from the Stadium of Light with first-team experience, with the 22-year-old expected to move permanently to Carlisle after spending the last four months of the campaign on loan at Brunton Park. OâNeill is also keen to offload those surplus to requirements on Wearside. The saga involving Asamoah Gyanâs permanent exit to the Middle East continues, while West Hamâs promotion to the Premier League is likely to see George McCartneyâs season-long loan with the Hammers converted into a permanent switch. West Ham boss Sam Allardyce is also interested in Sunderland duo Ahmed Elmohamady and Kieran Richardson, with the latter having just 12 months remaining on his Black Cats deal. OâNeill has also been linked with Norwich striker Grant Holt â player of the season for the last three years â who has had a transfer request rejected by the club. Holtâs representatives met with the Norwich hierarchy yesterday in a bid to resolve their differences. Agent Lee Payne said: âGrant has had a tremendous three years at the club and he just feels it was a decision that he had no other choice to make at this stage. Why would he not want to stay? His family is here and he is adored by the fans, but things have to be done correctly. âGrant just feels over the last couple of months some comments have been made and things have been said which have been very unfair. If they ever come out in the wash, I am sure everybody will understand why he did what he did.â âIt is not all about money. I think players like to feel like they are being valued and being respected.â
Grant Holt's been saying similar, must be contagious. Bunch of overpaid petulant ****nuts. If I was getting paid £15K+ a week I'd feel valued and respected, ****in total disconnect from reality these twats
Everything is relevant. If I was Grant Holt on £15,000 a week and I knew that there were forwards like Connor Wickham on a higher sum I wouldn't feel that well valued. Easy for us to state that they're pricks but we have to remember they live in a totally different world to us.
This. There is a general going rate in most professions. Most folk that are doing well in their jobs would want to be on a par with the others I guess.
He is a journeyman footballer who has a good season in a spirited team. He might be their leading scorer but who provided the ammo?.
Mock as we may, but a footballers world is so far from the majority of people's normal lives... £20k a week for a prem striker, and your leading scorer is pittance....Even a club like SAFC would probably double that.....sad but true.
Like I said a TOTAL disconect from reality, they want to **** off to America where they can live in gated communities and have no contact with the real world of crime, poverty and struggle. TWATS!!
An ex-Ipswich Town and England defender has been sentenced for falsely claiming benefit while working as a radio pundit. Kevin Beattie, 58, of Ipswich, admitted falsely claiming almost £9,000 by failing to declare he had begun work for BBC Radio Suffolk. Ipswich magistrates gave him a 12-week curfew. Beattie was part of Sir Bobby Robson's golden era at Ipswich Town in the 1970s. He was once described by Sir Bobby as the best England player he had ever seen. Beattie, of Wren Avenue, won nine caps for his country but his career was dogged by injury and all but ended at the age of 28, when he left Ipswich Town. Magistrates heard the FA Cup winner was now living off "extremely limited means" and acting as a full time carer for his wife who suffered from multiple sclerosis. He was ordered to stay indoors between 22:00 and 07:00.
Probably can only afford one Aston Martin a year now, to go along with his monthly holidays to the Alps.
Haway, the poor lad must be gutted, he would have probably earned more roofing than he earned playing footy in his day, this has no bearing on 'modern day' footballers. Mind he must be a thick **** claiming and working on the radio
