I think I see their situation as similar to us with Mike Ashley and their owner is hoodwinking their fans with what they're describing as a 'project' when actually they just want to make a profit
Our fans were excited by exciting signings from France like Cabaye, Sissoko etc possibly thinking that the owner wanted to bring some success to the club but it was all a case of buy cheap sell at a huge profit. Sunderland's strategy seems to be the same of buying young players and their fans and PR believe this will get them to the promise land of the Premier League playing great football. I've no doubt their owner's goal is to get to the PL because of the huge riches but he's trying to do it on the cheap and won't be afraid to sell their prize assets if it means he doesn;t have to put his own money into the club.
The stuff this week with the decorating of the stadium is similar to Ashley renaming SJP. Just anything to make money - they don't care about history, rivalry etc the only thing they're interested in is making money. Then the owner hides behind club statements, just like Mike Ashley
A manager who has the respect of the players/fans who refused to just be a "yes man" is sacked for someone who is desperate for a job so will bend over backwards to toe the party line. Mowbray for Beale has a lot of similarities of Hughton to Pardew. Plus anyone who has watched Sunderland under Mowbray and Beale can see that Beale hasn't changed anything in terms of style of play or personnel. It's just replacing someone who was being difficult for the owners to handle with a yes man who needed a job
I think it's obvious to get out of the Championship is you need a proven goalscorer but this costs money which their owner seems to refuse to pay for. They get loans from PL clubs or unknowns from foreign teams. He's seen his team get to the playoffs relying on wingers like Amad and Clarke and therefore thinks he doesn't need to replace the obvious elephant in the room in that they've got strikers who can score. They got rid of their best one for a profit to Southampton - he was willing to sell him to Stoke too, a club who are on a level standing with Sunderland, all to make a profit. Similarly Mike Ashley didn't break our transfer record until Almiron which was what about 11/12 years after we boguht Michael Owen? Our strikers were often loans or cheapies - Ba, Remy, Carroll, Rondon. Only the potential riches of the Champions League forced him to sign Cisse and the potential of a disastrous relegation to bring in Gouffran, Yanga Mbiwa etc
Rivalries aside, I have sympathy for their fans who may still believe in their 'project' but also those who can see what is happening to their club. Sometimes you have to be removed from the situation to see it. Plenty of our fans didn't notice until well into the Ashley era.
Thankfully we seem to have owners now who are trying to run a club to succeed rather than make a profit like the previous one. However we did suffer for years with an owner who only cared about money and there's a degree of sympathy for any club that goes through this. As fans we don't care about profit, we just want to see our team try to suceed
Any team can lose to a Premier League club in a cup match. They're obviously disappointed they didn't put up a huge fight. But the thing that seems to have irked them the most is that their owner has bent over backwards for us just to make some extra cash and those that were still behind the owner are now seeing through him.
