Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
What I thought happened was that the club found out from the media that Maja had refused a contract extension and were understandably a bit peeved that they heard the news from Sky rather than from the player or his agent. When you have six months or less on your contract you are free to talk
to other clubs, his agent deliberately ran the clock down in the run-up the transfer
window opening and was then free to start negotiating.
As for Charlie Methven - he's an Old Etonian, ex-Telegraph journalist born to rule type who's out of his depth the moment he has to actually run something. I can't think who he reminds me of...
Enjoyed it. As much as Methven is, as mentioned any number of times on here already, a bully as well as being an idiot, the owner, Stewart Donald, is culpable, along with their Manager, Ross, for them not being promoted.
Sunderland failed to go up last season because they didn't keep Maja, then tried to replace him with Grigg who the Manager didn't want in the first place because he didn't suit the way Ross set up his team to play. And he wasn't in great form when he joined them anyway having netted just 4 times prior for Wigan up until January.
Sunderland picked up 57/78 points with Maja in the side but just 31/60 points without him. They sold Maja for £1.5m but paid £4m for Grigg. They should have stood firm and made Maja see out his contract and then let him go on a free at the end of the season. Yes he might have refused to play but that would have shown him in a very poor light and his stock would have gone down rather than up had he done so.
There are, of course, parallels with how Grant left us in January. It is arguable whether we could/should have stood firm but the fact that Sunderland were getting an average of 32,000 whereas ours was nearer 12,000 would have made it easier for them to make Maja sit out his contract.
The main difference is that we still had Taylor and he went on to score 10 in the final 13 games of the season. Sunderland had Charlie Wyke and Grigg who managed, between them, just 8 league goals in 47 appearances. And Grigg has only scored 3 in 27 this season which rather re-affirms the folly of the impetuous Stewart.
Agree that it is not quite as good as the first series, love the way that at their first press conference Methven makes it clear that the days of teams taking the piss out of Sunderland are gone for good, and there is a new sheriff in town.
Six months later they pay $3Million for a guy that couldn't get a game at Wigan, and whom they had to virtually beg to play for them!
As one of my old bosses would never tire of saying "Mean what you say, and say what you mean, otherwise folk just stop listening to you!"
Unless he is a brilliant actor, I think that Stewart Donald comes out of it looking like a decent bloke, who genuinely wants the best for the club and it's supporters.
However he also appeared miles out of his depth in the murky and machieveillian world of professional football, and I would also make the observation that for a club that was supposedly cutting costs, there was a hell of a lot of people at the top taking a salary out of it.
As well as the two owners, I also noted a COO, a CFO, a head of recruitment (Tony Coton) and then whatever role Richard Hill (whom we almost signed many years ago) was doing.
Also am I alone in wondering exactly what it is the 10-12 people (not the subs) on the bench do for the club, how many support staff do you really need?
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
I'm really enjoying it too, it's a much better watch than the Man City doc.
Definitely better . I gave up on the city one after two episodes.
Sorry to quote an old quote but from what I heard it was a bit of a PR show for City - and unlike Sunderland for example they were pretty successful!
Was clearly supposed to be a celebration season type video!
We were meant to be involved in one of these on the BBC but it got scrapped and only aired in the USA for some reason.
TBH They probably didn't get much content - the Pozzos are pretty private people and at the time Deeney was the only one who spoke to the media (still is apart from Foster)
Think it was when we mad Walter Mazzarri who did't speak English so there would have been no involvement from him.
Allegedly the consortium paid £40m for Sunderland ca 18 months ago. Probably roughly what Roland would have sold out for at that point, I'm curious whether Donald and his team ever looked at Charlton as an alternative to Sunderland, or even why he didn't buy a bigger stake in Oxford (he owned 10% of Oxford at one point).
Anyway since S2 ended Donald has sold his insurance company (Bridle Insurance) and has more or less put Sunderland up for sale again. Clearly he loves the game and probably owning a league club was about fulfulling an ambition, he sold Eastleigh FC to buy Sunderland so it's not as though he had no knowledge of the football business. Sadly I saw another well intentioned and good bloke at heart diving in and taking on a job that was just too big for him. Charlie Methven although he comes across as a bit of a dick made some good points about the culture of failure at the club and that passing the bills on to Ellis Short to pay was no longer sustainable. As others pointed out the big mistake was selling Josh Maja and paying well over the odds for Will Grigg - Wigan saw Sunderland coming. There was a quote in there somewhere to the effect that he wasn't worth £1.25m yet they ended up paying £3m rising to £4m.
Am 5 episodes in and will watch last one tomorrow (no spoilers about the playoff result please)
Feel a weird sense of survivor guilt watching it knowing what's coming in the finale.
Bloody love our club and always will but for those fans and for that city it is their lives.
Something quite appealing about one club towns and cities where all of you, your mates, family and colleagues all support the same club. A different world to what we're used to down here.
Got a massive soft spot for Sunderland after 98 and even more so after May. Really hope they do well. Proper club with proper diehard supporters.
Still have an episode left but I actually warmed to the owners having started the series thinking I would instantly dislike them after seeing their arrival at last series's finale.
But for all their Brentisms they genuinely seemed to care and were invested in the project and what it means to the people up there. There's a brief shot of Donald at the full time whistle of the checkatrade in the stands and he looked like a little boy lost which was quite poignant I thought.
Compared to the revolving door sack of unscrupulous, festering pricks that have been involved in the clusterfuck mismanagement and abuse of our great club over the past decade the Sunderland blokes (particularly Donald)seemed to really want the best for the club and its fans.
Think this was even better than the first series.
That O' Nien came across as a really nice young lad too and reckon would be the sort of player Curbs might have signed.
Actually finding it painful to watch on account of Methven. That he got to where he did was an absolute triumph of self-belief over ability. You can tell that he thinks he's the greatest living Englishman. These people always rise to the top.
From afar (and from observing working alongside many over the years) one of the things an English public school education appears to give is an unwavering sense of self belief and confidence.
Must make it easy to go through life like that but of course does give rise to the lions led by donkeys scenario throughout our society.
The Maja decision absolutely killed them - complete madness.
As someone pointed out above they were winning games for fun with him in the team and without him they turned into draw specialists.
You can't compare it with Charlton with KAG because RD wanted the cash and obviously was never going to spend money on bringing in a replacement.
Sunderland? Dear me, if you can afford to spend 3 million on Grigg then you can afford to lose 1 million Euros by not selling Maja.
The conversation is very simple, "OK mate, you're staying here till the end of the season. The more goals you score for us the bigger the move you will get at the end of the season. No hard feelings."
I fully expect this season to be cancelled so Sunderland will be in League One again next year and the longer they are there then the harder it is to get out.
The narrative was poorly told, possibly becuase not a lot really happened. Start/Marketing/Maja/Grigg/Wembley/End. I didnt like the first series because it was poorly made, but at least it had some content.
Not yet watched it but going from posts on here and my own completely disrespectful and snobbish view I hope we go out at the first opportunity every time we enter that Micky Mouse Football League Trophy with u-21 sides in it fffs its truly meaningless to a footballing snob like me . I’m so glad we didn’t get to Wembley for the first time since 98 to watch that shit and went to a real game instead . Personally nigh on zero interest in it , yes it’s good for youngsters and reserves but I choose not to go to watch their fixtures . Each to their own but I don’t want our next opportunity to play palace,Chelsea whoever to be an official fixture for allegedly our first team against their u-21s . Imagine a final against them , shameful . of course if we get there I’ll take the kids but we’re not going down anyway cos when the injured players come back we’ll rise up the table and finish mid table comfortably. fuck League One , fuck the FL Trophy , fuck all our wanky owners and chancers who continually take the piss and fuck Cadbury’s for kicking my IBS in there’s a toilet roll shortage dontcha know aaaaah nurse nurse put me to bed .
One thing I found a bit odd was the way, in the final episode, they seemed to just stop filming the behind the scenes stuff. It was all about the fans, which is fair enough, but it seemed to me like the film crew were suddenly denied access or something. The only bits I remember seeing of RedTrousers or Donald was Methven at halftime (speaking his one piece of wisdom all series) and Donald standing behind the Charlton lads as they lifted the trophy and later nearly getting into a row with the fan outside. All through the series it was mainly focused on how they dealt with day to day stuff, then they just stopped.
Also, with the 1998 playoff link, they spoke to the kit man. Why didn’t they talk to Kevin Ball? He was visible all series, but never spoke. Surely they could’ve asked him his thoughts? I’d have been interested to see how he felt in the lead up to the match.
One thing I found a bit odd was the way, in the final episode, they seemed to just stop filming the behind the scenes stuff. It was all about the fans, which is fair enough, but it seemed to me like the film crew were suddenly denied access or something. The only bits I remember seeing of RedTrousers or Donald was Methven at halftime (speaking his one piece of wisdom all series) and Donald standing behind the Charlton lads as they lifted the trophy and later nearly getting into a row with the fan outside. All through the series it was mainly focused on how they dealt with day to day stuff, then they just stopped.
Also, with the 1998 playoff link, they spoke to the kit man. Why didn’t they talk to Kevin Ball? He was visible all series, but never spoke. Surely they could’ve asked him his thoughts? I’d have been interested to see how he felt in the lead up to the match.
I couldn’t understand what the guy was saying to Donald outside at the end, was he having a pop?
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
What I thought happened was that the club found out from the media that Maja had refused a contract extension and were understandably a bit peeved that they heard the news from Sky rather than from the player or his agent. When you have six months or less on your contract you are free to talk
to other clubs, his agent deliberately ran the clock down in the run-up the transfer
window opening and was then free to start negotiating.
Right, you can talk to other clubs with six months left on your deal, you can’t bloody sign for them without your current club accepting an offer. They seemed to make out that they woke up one day and Maja had signed for Bordeaux without them knowing - that can’t possibly be true.
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
You can see why he signed Grigg. In his mind he needed to replace Maja's goals to secure promotion and there were no other options. But what he did was what the previous owners probably did. Chasing his losses.
There were some similarities with our position. We lost Grant who was scoring goals to the Premier League. Bowyer wasn't in a position to pay for anybody but when the loan he was working on fell through at the death, he had covered us as much as he could signing Parker the day before. Now Parker wasn't the greatest player to put on a Charlton shirt, but he definitely played his part. Look at our winning goal and him winning the free kick that directly led to it for starters.
One thing I found a bit odd was the way, in the final episode, they seemed to just stop filming the behind the scenes stuff. It was all about the fans, which is fair enough, but it seemed to me like the film crew were suddenly denied access or something. The only bits I remember seeing of RedTrousers or Donald was Methven at halftime (speaking his one piece of wisdom all series) and Donald standing behind the Charlton lads as they lifted the trophy and later nearly getting into a row with the fan outside. All through the series it was mainly focused on how they dealt with day to day stuff, then they just stopped.
Also, with the 1998 playoff link, they spoke to the kit man. Why didn’t they talk to Kevin Ball? He was visible all series, but never spoke. Surely they could’ve asked him his thoughts? I’d have been interested to see how he felt in the lead up to the match.
I couldn’t understand what the guy was saying to Donald outside at the end, was he having a pop?
I didn't read it as him having a go as such - he was a fan who was just desperate for an assurance from the owner that they would get out of the division sooner rather than later.
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
I was surprised Ross went home at 6pm on deadline day to be honest. Would have thought the manager stays in the building right to the end.
One thing I found a bit odd was the way, in the final episode, they seemed to just stop filming the behind the scenes stuff. It was all about the fans, which is fair enough, but it seemed to me like the film crew were suddenly denied access or something. The only bits I remember seeing of RedTrousers or Donald was Methven at halftime (speaking his one piece of wisdom all series) and Donald standing behind the Charlton lads as they lifted the trophy and later nearly getting into a row with the fan outside. All through the series it was mainly focused on how they dealt with day to day stuff, then they just stopped.
Also, with the 1998 playoff link, they spoke to the kit man. Why didn’t they talk to Kevin Ball? He was visible all series, but never spoke. Surely they could’ve asked him his thoughts? I’d have been interested to see how he felt in the lead up to the match.
I couldn’t understand what the guy was saying to Donald outside at the end, was he having a pop?
I didn't read it as him having a go as such - he was a fan who was just desperate for an assurance from the owner that they would get out of the division sooner rather than later.
No, I mean I literally couldn’t understand him! They focused on him gripping Donald’s hand for an uncomfortably long time so I assumed it was aggy.
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
I was surprised Ross went home at 6pm on deadline day to be honest. Would have thought the manager stays in the building right to the end.
That is a point - maybe shows managers have no real control over signings even at that level.
I wondered how he felt having been ignored though.
Watched all episodes, it’s not as good as the first series, even with our inclusion.
That Charlie guy is a complete twat, either he’s on some Charlie himself or he really is a prick. The Irish girl, think after the way he spoke to her pitch side would’ve made anyone walk. No one deserves that. Glad he has been shown to the whole nation who he is and what he’s like. Lots will turn on him now.
Taylor spoke to Sunderland before he did us, can you imagine what was going through Lyle’s mind after speaking to Charlie Methven, now compare that to after speaking with Bowyer and Gallen, there was no way he was ever going to Sunderland.
Steward Donald is someone who gets swept away with the emotions of being a club owner. Never should’ve spent anything like they did on Grigg, but he’s desperate for success and includes the fans. You can’t fault him too much.
McGeady and O’Nien come across really well throughout.
Maja is a prick and can see that with having the same agent as Aribo, it’s clear neither were ever going to stay at Sunderland or with us. Got nothing but love for Aribo, but he should do the right thing and find himself a better and more decent agent.
Jack Ross came across tactically naive at times. You’re a manager of the biggest club in the league, with enormous amount of talent and attacking talent, use it. Use their strengths, use the crowd, show intent and let the crowd get behind the players. Goes to show the difference with Bowyer to other managers. We’re lucky to have Bow.
Overall, Sunderland fans have been through it like us but in different ways. But that’s the nature of the sport. Things work in cycles and when there are so many things wrong throughout a club, the correlation is there for all to see of how they do on the pitch. They have a lot of die hard fans and will eventually go back up, but they’ve got to be careful that they don’t start to feel entitled and well above everyone else.
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
I was surprised Ross went home at 6pm on deadline day to be honest. Would have thought the manager stays in the building right to the end.
That is a point - maybe shows managers have no real control over signings even at that level.
I wondered how he felt having been ignored though.
I think managers do have limited control. However, perhaps it was Ross's way of conveying that he just didn't want Grigg.
Wyke wasn't a prolific scorer. However, Sunderland would have had a way of playing with him playing up top with runners such as O'Nien, McGeady, Maguire, Power, Gooch and Honeyman. With Grigg's arrival he either had to change effectively to two up top or use Grigg as a lone striker but he simply isn't good enough with his back to goal and wouldn't help them defensively at set pieces in the way that Wyke would.
Don’t see how Ross can take much of the blame tbh, he had no control or say in what the club offered or tried to negotiate with Maja or his agent, out of his hands, and when asked by Donald about Grigg he is now on record for all to see and hear that he didn’t rate him at 1.5M, let alone the 3-4M eventual cost, and he stated wouldn’t fit into his system anyway. Maja leaving, and a gamble by Donald on Grigg, who was clearly not 100% fit or out of form cost them their season imo
Comments
Sunderland failed to go up last season because they didn't keep Maja, then tried to replace him with Grigg who the Manager didn't want in the first place because he didn't suit the way Ross set up his team to play. And he wasn't in great form when he joined them anyway having netted just 4 times prior for Wigan up until January.
Sunderland picked up 57/78 points with Maja in the side but just 31/60 points without him. They sold Maja for £1.5m but paid £4m for Grigg. They should have stood firm and made Maja see out his contract and then let him go on a free at the end of the season. Yes he might have refused to play but that would have shown him in a very poor light and his stock would have gone down rather than up had he done so.
There are, of course, parallels with how Grant left us in January. It is arguable whether we could/should have stood firm but the fact that Sunderland were getting an average of 32,000 whereas ours was nearer 12,000 would have made it easier for them to make Maja sit out his contract.
The main difference is that we still had Taylor and he went on to score 10 in the final 13 games of the season. Sunderland had Charlie Wyke and Grigg who managed, between them, just 8 league goals in 47 appearances. And Grigg has only scored 3 in 27 this season which rather re-affirms the folly of the impetuous Stewart.
Six months later they pay $3Million for a guy that couldn't get a game at Wigan, and whom they had to virtually beg to play for them!
As one of my old bosses would never tire of saying "Mean what you say, and say what you mean, otherwise folk just stop listening to you!"
However he also appeared miles out of his depth in the murky and machieveillian world of professional football, and I would also make the observation that for a club that was supposedly cutting costs, there was a hell of a lot of people at the top taking a salary out of it.
As well as the two owners, I also noted a COO, a CFO, a head of recruitment (Tony Coton) and then whatever role Richard Hill (whom we almost signed many years ago) was doing.
Also am I alone in wondering exactly what it is the 10-12 people (not the subs) on the bench do for the club, how many support staff do you really need?
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
Was clearly supposed to be a celebration season type video!
We were meant to be involved in one of these on the BBC but it got scrapped and only aired in the USA for some reason.
TBH They probably didn't get much content - the Pozzos are pretty private people and at the time Deeney was the only one who spoke to the media (still is apart from Foster)
Think it was when we mad Walter Mazzarri who did't speak English so there would have been no involvement from him.
Feel a weird sense of survivor guilt watching it knowing what's coming in the finale.
Bloody love our club and always will but for those fans and for that city it is their lives.
Something quite appealing about one club towns and cities where all of you, your mates, family and colleagues all support the same club. A different world to what we're used to down here.
Got a massive soft spot for Sunderland after 98 and even more so after May. Really hope they do well. Proper club with proper diehard supporters.
Still have an episode left but I actually warmed to the owners having started the series thinking I would instantly dislike them after seeing their arrival at last series's finale.
But for all their Brentisms they genuinely seemed to care and were invested in the project and what it means to the people up there. There's a brief shot of Donald at the full time whistle of the checkatrade in the stands and he looked like a little boy lost which was quite poignant I thought.
Compared to the revolving door sack of unscrupulous, festering pricks that have been involved in the clusterfuck mismanagement and abuse of our great club over the past decade the Sunderland blokes (particularly Donald)seemed to really want the best for the club and its fans.
Think this was even better than the first series.
That O' Nien came across as a really nice young lad too and reckon would be the sort of player Curbs might have signed.
Must make it easy to go through life like that but of course does give rise to the lions led by donkeys scenario throughout our society.
As someone pointed out above they were winning games for fun with him in the team and without him they turned into draw specialists.
You can't compare it with Charlton with KAG because RD wanted the cash and obviously was never going to spend money on bringing in a replacement.
Sunderland? Dear me, if you can afford to spend 3 million on Grigg then you can afford to lose 1 million Euros by not selling Maja.
The conversation is very simple, "OK mate, you're staying here till the end of the season. The more goals you score for us the bigger the move you will get at the end of the season. No hard feelings."
I fully expect this season to be cancelled so Sunderland will be in League One again next year and the longer they are there then the harder it is to get out.
I didnt like the first series because it was poorly made, but at least it had some content.
I’m so glad we didn’t get to Wembley for the first time since 98 to watch that shit and went to a real game instead .
Personally nigh on zero interest in it , yes it’s good for youngsters and reserves but I choose not to go to watch their fixtures .
Each to their own but I don’t want our next opportunity to play palace,Chelsea whoever to be an official fixture for allegedly our first team against their u-21s .
Imagine a final against them , shameful .
of course if we get there I’ll take the kids but we’re not going down anyway cos when the injured players come back we’ll rise up the table and finish mid table comfortably.
fuck League One , fuck the FL Trophy , fuck all our wanky owners and chancers who continually take the piss and fuck Cadbury’s for kicking my IBS in there’s a toilet roll shortage dontcha know aaaaah nurse nurse put me to bed .
All through the series it was mainly focused on how they dealt with day to day stuff, then they just stopped.
Also, with the 1998 playoff link, they spoke to the kit man. Why didn’t they talk to Kevin Ball? He was visible all series, but never spoke. Surely they could’ve asked him his thoughts? I’d have been interested to see how he felt in the lead up to the match.
There were some similarities with our position. We lost Grant who was scoring goals to the Premier League. Bowyer wasn't in a position to pay for anybody but when the loan he was working on fell through at the death, he had covered us as much as he could signing Parker the day before. Now Parker wasn't the greatest player to put on a Charlton shirt, but he definitely played his part. Look at our winning goal and him winning the free kick that directly led to it for starters.
I wondered how he felt having been ignored though.
That Charlie guy is a complete twat, either he’s on some Charlie himself or he really is a prick. The Irish girl, think after the way he spoke to her pitch side would’ve made anyone walk. No one deserves that. Glad he has been shown to the whole nation who he is and what he’s like. Lots will turn on him now.
Taylor spoke to Sunderland before he did us, can you imagine what was going through Lyle’s mind after speaking to Charlie Methven, now compare that to after speaking with Bowyer and Gallen, there was no way he was ever going to Sunderland.
Steward Donald is someone who gets swept away with the emotions of being a club owner. Never should’ve spent anything like they did on Grigg, but he’s desperate for success and includes the fans. You can’t fault him too much.
McGeady and O’Nien come across really well throughout.
Maja is a prick and can see that with having the same agent as Aribo, it’s clear neither were ever going to stay at Sunderland or with us. Got nothing but love for Aribo, but he should do the right thing and find himself a better and more decent agent.
Jack Ross came across tactically naive at times. You’re a manager of the biggest club in the league, with enormous amount of talent and attacking talent, use it. Use their strengths, use the crowd, show intent and let the crowd get behind the players. Goes to show the difference with Bowyer to other managers. We’re lucky to have Bow.
Overall, Sunderland fans have been through it like us but in different ways. But that’s the nature of the sport. Things work in cycles and when there are so many things wrong throughout a club, the correlation is there for all to see of how they do on the pitch. They have a lot of die hard fans and will eventually go back up, but they’ve got to be careful that they don’t start to feel entitled and well above everyone else.
Wyke wasn't a prolific scorer. However, Sunderland would have had a way of playing with him playing up top with runners such as O'Nien, McGeady, Maguire, Power, Gooch and Honeyman. With Grigg's arrival he either had to change effectively to two up top or use Grigg as a lone striker but he simply isn't good enough with his back to goal and wouldn't help them defensively at set pieces in the way that Wyke would.
Maja leaving, and a gamble by Donald on Grigg, who was clearly not 100% fit or out of form cost them their season imo
Both players were picked up based on their scoring records within the Division rather than whether they'd fit into the system that they were playing