JoeMercer'sWay
Well-Known Member
Said to my Sunderland mate that I could run your club better than those in charge, saying that an amoeba could. To be honest, any club that thinks Kaboul and Coates is a suitable CB pairing deserves automatic relegation as punishment. Sunderland should have ditched the lot, O'Shea, Cattermole, Larsson etc. You've wasted money on countless players, most recently Defoe, who was a ridiculous signing. Mid-table clubs in particular have to be careful, because I feel a lot of their success is based around having a hungry core of players who want to play for the club and prove their point, players who to start with at least may not otherwise be in the Premier League. I think you have to be careful in buying too many bigger name players who are there for the paycheck and not to prove a point, I think you need a really strong manager to elicit a response. If you look at Stoke and Swansea, they largely mix a strong core with talented players who have a point to prove. Afellay, Shaqiri, Sigurdsson etc. all had a point to prove from their previous clubs, and Hughes in particular has that experience from making it work with the likes of Bellamy and Santa Cruz.
Sunderland don't have that, you have a core of Liverpool, United and City cast-offs who want the £40/50k a week more than they want to play. They turn up in March precisely to stay up and ensure they get that wage packet the following season. If Sunderland go down, they need to sack the lot of, and bring in a young, hungry, attack minded manager, and stack the deck by using their increased resources to create an expansive, attacking side. The last time we went down, we came back up by scoring 100 goals and conceding 50, we had an average away record but were lethal at home. You need to get back to basics, sack off most of the squad and bring in players who want to step up to Sunderland, or have a point to prove, and a manager of similar ilk. Advocaat has nothing to prove, and wanted to leave last summer, he's not really arsed, neither are your players.
Clear the wage bill, clear the squad, build an expansive team of players who consider it a step up to play for Sunderland, and bring in a manager with ambition and a point to prove, and you'll be back on track. With only 2 clubs in the North East, it's ridiculous Sunderland are struggling in relation to the likes of Swansea, and are failing to produce any real young talent as well with the lack of real rivals in the area. You're badly managed, and it's seeped over many years throughout the club.