Sunderland

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

Right club went up. We'd have stunk the place out again

 

[UddersBlade]

Right club went up. We'd have stunk the place out again

I also fear that was our last chance for a long time to go back up. We have to pray that somehow COH & Sellés can get us through this terrible start & give us a chance of at least making the play offs.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Right club went up. We'd have stunk the place out again

Yep Robbo n Anel in "defence"

 

[54yrblade]

Bigger club and fanbase, more 'pashunat' support, more supportive and 'connected' board, better manager than us when it mattered/ matters.

Good luck to them! Hope they stay up.

 

[raul]

Last time we won 3-0 in the top flight was March 2007. Same opponents.

 

[Jimmy Fleck]

Last time we won 3-0 in the top flight was March 2007. Same opponents.

We beat Burnley 3-0 and Chelsea 3-0 in 2019/20.

 

[bruce]

Last time we won 3-0 in the top flight was March 2007. Same opponents.

We beat Burnley 3-0 in November 2019 and Chelsea 3-0 in July 2020.
Edit - Just seen Jimmy Fleck beat me to it!

 

[I should coco]

Great result for them against an established Premier League side. What a difference a playoff win makes.

A sliding doors moment.

They are just about where they belong.

Under our David Weir#2, we will end up back in L1.

Still, I'm a Wilder man, so WTFDIK.

 

[SouthStandGBlock]

Sunderland were lucky to get promoted. VAR did us. 2-0 to the Blades and they were never coming back.

Add them to the list of lucky clubs, Villa, Leeds, Notts Forest. All teams who got a lucky break and took advantage of it.

We get breaks but never seem to take advantage of them.

At the moment we are at another crossroads, not knowing whether to stick or twist.

 

[raul]

Apols, tired and emotionless

 

[bruce]

Apols, tired and emotionless

Understandable. Regardless of what anyone is posting I think most of us are probably at least a little concerned at the moment.

 

[JPBrods]

7th place finish and into Europa league with 54 pts and -6 goal difference.

My gosh they’ve had the cards the last 24 months.

 

[Greg.]

Same points total as us in 2019/20 which was crazily just 2 points behind Arsenal.

Do wonder how life would have worked out without COVID. We never looked the same team after lockdown.

Sunderland full credit - they spent big replacing their team basically but spent well, some great scouting and recruitment.

 

[raul]

I see "Sliding Doors" a lot.

Understood given relative direction of travel, but the idea we would have been that competitive is ridic.

I know , I know etc, but our club is very different to the one last decade

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

Same points total as us in 2019/20 which was crazily just 2 points behind Arsenal.

Do wonder how life would have worked out without COVID. We never looked the same team after lockdown.

Sunderland full credit - they spent big replacing their team basically but spent well, some great scouting and recruitment.

and Their Manager > Our Manager

 

[Nick Jansky]

Do wonder how life would have worked out without COVID. We never looked the same team after lockdown.

It would have played out exactly the same way. Wilder has said very recently that he thought the 19/20 team had another season in it but accepted that he was wrong. It reminds me very much of the 74/75 team that finished 6th getting relegated the following season because too many players were in decline at the same time and we didn’t recruit well. Uncanny similarities.

 

[TJ blade]

It would have played out exactly the same way. Wilder has said very recently that he thought the 19/20 team had another season in it but accepted that he was wrong. It reminds me very much of the 74/75 team that finished 6th getting relegated the following season because too many players were in decline at the same time and we didn’t recruit well. Uncanny similarities.

Always been the same, hanging on to players, hoping its going to happen, instead of making it happen with improving the team, recruitment team first out the door for me.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

I know a few of their lot ..basically their chairman looked at the stats around promoted sides staying up & knew they’d have to invest massively if they realistically wanted a chance .
They did & have virtually recruited a new staring 11 ( a very brave move ) and it’s paid off . There’s no way if we’d gone up would we have done the same .. I take my hat off to their manager & board , if it had gone the other way it could have been disastrous .

 

[UddersBlade]

Good luck to them. They rode their luck in last seasons play offs v Cov C & then us and were fortunately able to spend big & their gamble paid off. I’m actually glad they stayed up as it finally pushed a couple of poor Premier League teams through the trap door with Wolves & West Ham.

However I hope Burnley don’t go straight back up….. they have rode their luck big time & will be in serious financial trouble if they miss out & lose parachute money.

 

[Bladesman101]

I know a few of their lot ..basically their chairman looked at the stats around promoted sides staying up & knew they’d have to invest massively if they realistically wanted a chance .
They did & have virtually recruited a new staring 11 ( a very brave move ) and it’s paid off . There’s no way if we’d gone up would we have done the same .. I take my hat off to their manager & board , if it had gone the other way it could have been disastrous .

When we went up we got rid of Berge and Ndiaye. It’s just embarrassing what we’ve done. How Bettis still has a job at SUFC is beyond me, he’s been a total disaster.

 

[Wards]

Between them and Forest I think they've shown you have to make a fist of it if you go up. Certainly more than we have tried to anyway. Yes it's a gamble but eventually you recover and come back again. Has to be worth the shot rather than the treading water approach we seem to fall on.

 

[SwissBlade]

I know a few of their lot ..basically their chairman looked at the stats around promoted sides staying up & knew they’d have to invest massively if they realistically wanted a chance .
They did & have virtually recruited a new staring 11 ( a very brave move ) and it’s paid off . There’s no way if we’d gone up would we have done the same .. I take my hat off to their manager & board , if it had gone the other way it could have been disastrous .

I think they followed the models of Villa, Forest and perhaps Leeds in the spending, time will tell whether its sustainable in the long term but they've pushed others down the table, the likes of Spurs, West Ham and Wolves. I think like with Forest, its a calculated gamble to play with FFP.

To make Europe in their first season is a huge achievement and you can only play the game you're in and its all relative....



When you look at our 2019/ 20 season, we'd have finished 7th this season with exactly the same points, same wins, draws and losses as Sunderland, with a better GD, but fewer goals scored.

 

[John Street West Terrace]

I think they followed the models of Villa, Forest and perhaps Leeds in the spending, time will tell whether its sustainable in the long term but they've pushed others down the table, the likes of Spurs, West Ham and Wolves. I think like with Forest, its a calculated gamble to play with FFP.

To make Europe in their first season is a huge achievement and you can only play the game you're in and its all relative....

View attachment 237722

When you look at our 2019/ 20 season, we'd have finished 7th this season with exactly the same points, same wins, draws and losses as Sunderland, with a better GD, but fewer goals scored.

View attachment 237723

I agree SB , as it’s whether it’s long sustainable .. Wolves been the better example of that . I was only saying yesterday if the conference league would have been about at that time & we’d have qualified , we would have actually got to see the dream of us playing in Europe competitively , sadly the flip side to that was we didn’t have nowhere near enough squad depth so would probably brought about our demise even quicker .

 

[John Street West Terrace]

When we went up we got rid of Berge and Ndiaye. It’s just embarrassing what we’ve done. How Bettis still has a job at SUFC is beyond me, he’s been a total disaster.

Our last campaign was an absolute embarrassment, we never stood a chance with the total lack of investment, whether this was down to balancing the books or part of the previous owners exit strategy or possibly a combination of both we’ll probably never know , unless Hecky one day lifts the lid on events which is highly unlikely as most pay offs generally contain gagging orders nowadays ?
I wouldn’t want to go up again just to be the cannon fodder & laughing stock of our last two relegations from the top flight , but as everyone knows each year that gap gets bigger & without a large backer behind you it will be a struggle a best .

 

[Vinny Kept Us Up]

Between them and Forest I think they've shown you have to make a fist of it if you go up. Certainly more than we have tried to anyway. Yes it's a gamble but eventually you recover and come back again. Has to be worth the shot rather than the treading water approach we seem to fall on.

You make a fist of it by spending £150 million. Never gonna happen with us NEVER!

 

[Millhousesblade1889]

It would have played out exactly the same way. Wilder has said very recently that he thought the 19/20 team had another season in it but accepted that he was wrong. It reminds me very much of the 74/75 team that finished 6th getting relegated the following season because too many players were in decline at the same time and we didn’t recruit well. Uncanny similarities.

Teams just worked us out in that second season and we didn’t do anything different.

I know it’s an extreme example but you look how much Pep constantly changed the style of how City played to make sure they stayed at the top level.

We don’t & didn’t have a good enough recruitment team to sustain premier league football. We also didn’t & don’t have wealthy enough ownership

 

[UddersBlade]

When we went up we got rid of Berge and Ndiaye. It’s just embarrassing what we’ve done. How Bettis still has a job at SUFC is beyond me, he’s been a total disaster.

That was down to Prince A having no money ….. the skint Prince. He’s done very well out of us - I doubt he’s made a lot more from the sale than he ever put in.

 

[I should coco]

It would have played out exactly the same way. Wilder has said very recently that he thought the 19/20 team had another season in it but accepted that he was wrong. It reminds me very much of the 74/75 team that finished 6th getting relegated the following season because too many players were in decline at the same time and we didn’t recruit well. Uncanny similarities.

Don't forget how our record signing 'improved' the team.

Chris Bloody Guthrie!

 

[Silent Blade]

Always been the same, hanging on to players, hoping its going to happen, instead of making it happen with improving the team, recruitment team first out the door for me.

We did buy a lot of players in the Summer 2020 transfer window and Wilder called it "The best ever transfer window"

 

[TJ blade]

We did buy a lot of players in the Summer 2020 transfer window and Wilder called it "The best ever transfer window"

Correct, although its not the words I would have used