Chicken Dancer

Odd, given he plays primarily from the right and they have that absolute alien for the next 15 years there.

If any sunderland, or football fan in general, genuinely believes that anybody - player, coach or executive staff - would seriously choose sunderland over Newcastle in 2025 needs their head examined.

Aye I think it's still almost universally thought that the DOF/Sporting Director is the one who personally finds the specific player and signs. They'll be more likely to be identifying the profile of player, briefing the scouts and then in charge of negotiating the transfer/wages etc.

Agree with all of that. But Le Bris will be gone before even we play them imo, they're very quick to bin off managers. A few bad results and they'll be frothing at the mouth for him to fuck off and to bring in Big Sam to save them. There was a call for him to go before the playoffs on RTG, man. At best they'll finish 19th with about 26pts I reckon.

Aye, Liverpool were very much a 'cup' team in my life (36) until Klopp imo. They had the odd flirt with the title under Benitez & famously with Rodgers. The Klopp appointment changed everything there for sure & it just shows what the right appointment can do for a club. They're an absolute monster now, like they were before my day - or so me fatha tells me. But that's only really changed in the last decade I reckon, even under Rodgers in 2014 the consensus was that they were massively overachieving.

It's definitely a game you'd want to kick off a gruelling season, but as I said yesterday I wouldn't be surprised if West Ham won at a bit of a canter. The most talented 11 players on the pitch will all be West Ham players, that's a fact. Anything can happen in a one-off game, but the gulf in quality is still absolutely massive. With the exception of maybe Leeds & Burnley - and despite what the mackems might tell you - there isn't 1 sunderland player that would start for any other Premier League side. They will strengthen for sure, but as will everybody else. If anything it would be quite funny to watch them get giddy from beating West Ham & how this PL is 'easy marra', only to be sick of their lives by the time we roll into town in December. They're priced at 2/9 with Paddy Power to be relegated. I've looked for a while but can't find any odds to stay up, but I will be interested to see what they're priced as. You have to go back to 2013 to find a side that's been promoted with less points than sunderland achieved last year. I know it's all relative based on the performance of the other teams in the league, but they're a poor side who will be lucky to get anywhere near 40pts. I'm sure I read they only won 5 or so games by more than 1 goal, which is quite telling.

I also agree we are vulnerable to him leaving in the future, but I do wonder who would stump up the money. The only one that I could see potentially happening is Liverpool in a years time. They would usually like to sign someone before they got to the £100m+ level, but maybe the signing of Wirtz is a shift in mentality for them to stay at the very top for a while. City have Haaland, Real Madrid have Mbappe et al, it would take a lot for Man Utd to be able to get him, could Arsenal afford him? No idea, but the pool of clubs is quite small. If we do have a gentlemen's agreement with Isak to go, next summer would be the time to capitalise for maximum dollar. But no idea who would stump up the money, I know it sounds ludicrous but it genuinely would be in the region of £150m surely. I never want to lose him and would be mint if he could score 200+ for us, but £150m would be very difficult to turn down, now or in the future.

All I heard was how Hume was going to knack Gordon. All Gordon done was skip by him constantly and get his shirt ripped off his back...by Hume Even now loads of them are falling into that trap of completely overrating the players we have, I seen someone yesterday say their defence is sound for the Premier League. I'm sure Haaland, Salah & Isak are trembling at the thought. I, like many others, obviously fancy the likes of Wolves & Brentford to take them to the cleaners. They'll win a few games at home but it won't be enough. I'll be staggered if they get close to 40 points.

So as of right now, they are the worst team in the league, yes? Using the only metric we can - which is points tally - coupled with the fact they've lost a player that started most weeks for them. West Ham at home is as kind as it probably could have been, but I wouldn't be shocked if West Ham turned up and won at a canter. The gulf is huge, they will understand a lot more about the time the clocks go back.

The identity of that shithole of a city and especially club is built on hating the mags & everyone associated with them. They constantly bang on about Sam Fender but completely unaware that they spent a weekend in London singing about him. Hating the mags is their identity, not supporting their own team. That's why they watched their team sleepwalk to relegation from the Premier League which culminated in spending 4 divisions in the third tier of English football. As long as they beat the mags it was all good. I see social media posts, usernames, flags, tattoos, even fucking licence plates with 'FTM'. The whole '6 in a row' shite they still bang on about - how many of us are genuinely arsed by it? I know I'm not. We beat them 5 times in a row in the 00s and how many of us were aware of that fact, never mind flying a fucking plane over the Stadium of Light when it got to 5? We're just built completely different to them and we always will be. You ask any sunderland fan the pinnacle of their footballing life and the answer will be '6 in a row marra'. They've had 3 top 10 finishes in the top flight since the 1950s. They broke their own record of lowest points in a season. They racially abused their star players own mother. They knowingly harboured a nonce and gladly sang about how he 'shags who he wants' because he scored a few against the mags. They scored 3 own goals in a game TWICE - they're a nothing club. The most fickle fuckers going, the stadium will be sold out next season and they'll pat themselves on the back constantly over it because all they want is credit from each other and the wider footballing world. Let's see how many are going when the novelty has worn off by Christmas and they're getting dicked every week. I'd be willing to bet a large % of their fans would take relegation in embarrassing fashion as long as they beat the mags. I know (relatively) sound sunderland fans, but I'm still yet to meet one who doesn't support them more than they hate the mags.

Which is why the fear of ID checks and losing points, though almost universally unpopular, were a good thing imo. Plenty of games drop to lower points thresholds now, but obviously doesn't do anything for members.

I'm fortunately a season ticket holder and can get tickets for more or less any game I would like, home or away. I'm in a very, very fortunate position to have wrapped my ticket when Bruce got the job, alongside my Dad, brother (who sadly passed before we were even taken over. Terrible), and a few mates. I had over 150 loyalty points, so it stung massively as they had taken years and years to accrue. I was fortunate enough to benefit a year or two ago when a friend was leaving the country and passed on his season ticket to me - that small little window when you could, for the final time, change details on an account. As a season ticket holder, the system for members is not fair whatsoever. I've got a mate who genuinely applied for a ticket in the ballot every single game last year and the last successful one he got was actually Bournemouth or Luton at the very start of 2024. Not one success since, whilst it is a lottery, how can that be fair? The only benefit of the current system is that you can now pass on away tickets (twice I believe) to those who would find it impossible to go otherwise. I totally get that there's plenty who go away every other week and deserve their points, but as @Wallsendmag has correctly said, there are plenty who have only accrued their points by passing it on every week. I know loads myself and even the supporters coach I go on - when I go away, which is rare now I have kids - the organiser of said coach gets about 7/8 every week. Whilst this is good if you're in his circle, my son is essentially fucked as things stand for the foreseeable, at least if he wants to go with me or his Grandad. I'd definitely be in favour of a more inclusive system, and that's from somebody who can attend any game NUFC game I want. I want the next generation to be able to have a fair crack of going, without having to know someone who knows someone to sort them a ticket. At least Charlotte Robson can go every week eh.

The only 'loans' I think we will do are ones like Hall - where you want the player permanently but sign the year later for accounting purposes. I actually think signing Trafford this way wouldn't be a bad idea - £5m now and £30m next summer. They can have the Greek too.

Aye, Tonali going central changed the trajectory of the season. Even last year before his ban, he never really looked like a good fit aside from Villa at home on the first game.

Ridiculous price that. He’s a very talented player but that’s mental, but when Chelsea can sign Enzo/Mudryk for mad money, is it really that mad? They can just write it off if it doesn’t work anyway.