sunderland

[Danh1]

37 minutes ago, Wallsendmag said:

Surprised at all the empty seats there today. Looked like a few thousand. Usually this time of year is where clubs get their biggest gates. Officially it was only 500 less than what they had against us, in reality nowhere near.

 

Atmosphere made our place sound like La Bombanera as well (they're complaining about that on RTG, excuses ranging from being on a Sunday, being Christmas and Dan Ballard not playing).

 

 

It’s a simple case of it being after the mayor’s show. They’ve had their big game and their fun, interest will dwindle. 
 

If they do become a permanent fixture in the league they won’t be selling out in a couple of years time. The club will want to increase ticket prices to help them with financial regulations and the appetite for that won’t be there from the fans (not a criticism btw, our ticket prices are a disgrace). 

[TeddySAFC]

Crease yous lot like 

[Stifler]

Gaps really starting to open up in the crowd again.

[Guillaume]

Another awful watch if you were a home fan last night, but get to 'celebrate' a draw with man city. 

Can see next season being not so 'entertaining' for them.

[ExiledGeordie]

11 minutes ago, Guillaume said:

Another awful watch if you were a home fan last night, but get to 'celebrate' a draw with man city. 

Can see next season being not so 'entertaining' for them.

But they still drew with them at home and they’ll definitely stay up which was the aim. The issue for them is that teams will clearly come in for players in the summer who’ve done well and you imagine people might have an eye on the manager. Therefore a second season in the league could be much harder. 

[aussiemag]

11 minutes ago, ExiledGeordie said:

But they still drew with them at home and they’ll definitely stay up which was the aim. The issue for them is that teams will clearly come in for players in the summer who’ve done well and you imagine people might have an eye on the manager. Therefore a second season in the league could be much harder. 

 

yes but they then have money to reinvest and they seem to have excellent scouting. 

[Optimistic Nut]

They're going to finish top 15 which is beyond what anyone would have imagined when they came up. Job done already.

[Whitley mag]

48 minutes ago, aussiemag said:

 

yes but they then have money to reinvest and they seem to have excellent scouting. 

More likely the case and wouldn’t be surprised to see them invest this January, they have the PSR headroom.

[MagMal]

Fair play to them they are doing well and better than expected and their good start has taken the pressureoff the team. The problem is next season when the mutants start to expect the team to be challenging for Europe, that's when things will start to go wrong.

[GWN]

1 hour ago, Optimistic Nut said:

They're going to finish top 15 which is beyond what anyone would have imagined when they came up. Job done already.

 

what a time to be alive 

[GWN]

11 minutes ago, MagMal said:

Fair play to them they are doing well and better than expected and their good start has taken the pressureoff the team. The problem is next season when the mutants start to expect the team to be challenging for Europe, that's when things will start to go wrong.

 

 

Yep 100% , its what they always do.

 

I thought they were ok last night tbh, rode their luck but a good point. I was actually heartened to see it as i know we can beat City over 2 legs if we put it in.

[GeordieDazzler]

So far so good for them, pretty much safe from the drop already and very much in the conversation for the minor European places albeit with a long way to go. 
 

Big challenge will be the change in expectations and prices next season and how they try to kick on.
 

Think they will see a general price increase for any incomings and their PSR situation is very contingent on staying in the Prem for the next couple of years.
 

Despite their strong start I’m not sure how many of their team will attract big money moves - Xhaka too old, Mukiele and Sadiki probably the most saleable? Doubt they can spend as much as in the summer again so will have to balance things from somewhere. 
 

Impressive so far but a lot of work still to do for them. 

[Whitley mag]

13 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

So far so good for them, pretty much safe from the drop already and very much in the conversation for the minor European places albeit with a long way to go. 
 

Big challenge will be the change in expectations and prices next season and how they try to kick on.
 

Think they will see a general price increase for any incomings and their PSR situation is very contingent on staying in the Prem for the next couple of years.
 

Despite their strong start I’m not sure how many of their team will attract big money moves - Xhaka too old, Mukiele and Sadiki probably the most saleable? Doubt they can spend as much as in the summer again so will have to balance things from somewhere. 
 

Impressive so far but a lot of work still to do for them. 

That Mukiele is 28 so not sure huge re-sale value with him. I think top teams will be keeping an eye on the keeper and Sadiki though.

 

[Nucasol]

16 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

So far so good for them, pretty much safe from the drop already and very much in the conversation for the minor European places albeit with a long way to go. 
 

Big challenge will be the change in expectations and prices next season and how they try to kick on.
 

Think they will see a general price increase for any incomings and their PSR situation is very contingent on staying in the Prem for the next couple of years.
 

Despite their strong start I’m not sure how many of their team will attract big money moves - Xhaka too old, Mukiele and Sadiki probably the most saleable? Doubt they can spend as much as in the summer again so will have to balance things from somewhere. 
 

Impressive so far but a lot of work still to do for them. 

Roefs definitely has a £30m+ move in him. Similar Sadiki and Ballard is fairly saleable. 

[GeordieDazzler]

Yeah Roefs has had a great season. Thought Mukiele was younger than that. 

[RodneyCisse]

They can finish above the likes of Man U which is pretty mental all being said.

[Whitley mag]

The question is do we finish above them? I’m still saying yes. I can’t see them being as good in the 2nd half of the season and us being as bad. 

Regardless I think they’ll kick on. Their recruitment set up with Speakman/Ghisolfi could net them some very good players from European markets, with the extra finances they’ll have at their disposal.

 

[Nucasol]

5 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

The question is do we finish above them? I’m still saying yes. I can’t see them being as good in the 2nd half of the season and us being as bad. 

Regardless I think they’ll kick on. Their recruitment set up with Speakman/Ghisolfi could net them some very good players from European markets, with the extra finances they’ll have at their disposal.

 

This is where all the theory about the “London pull” will go live. They’ll find themselves shopping in the same pool as Fulham, Brentford etc.

 

As much as I hate to say it, their atmosphere is far superior to the likes of Brentford, Fulham or the clappers at Brighton and Bournemouth - it’s whether players choose Darn Sarf to Oop Norf.

[Chicken Dancer]

They’ll be pushing for the European spots. Not saying they’ll get it but they’ll be flirting for sure, everyone expected them to drop off by now but they’ve held Arsenal and Man City at home, drew at Anfield and beat Chelsea away. Not to mention beating us in the game that means the most to them. 

 

That’s no fluke - they’re an efficient side that’s hard to break down. Not easy on the eye but ultimately who cares? The job was to stay up and they’d achieved that by about November.

 

An absolute dream season for them and probably the best in most of their lives. 

[Wallsendmag]

13 minutes ago, Nucasol said:

This is where all the theory about the “London pull” will go live. They’ll find themselves shopping in the same pool as Fulham, Brentford etc.

 

As much as I hate to say it, their atmosphere is far superior to the likes of Brentford, Fulham or the clappers at Brighton and Bournemouth - it’s whether players choose Darn Sarf to Oop Norf.

 

Got to say after only watching 1 of their games all season (Forest away) I watched both their home Xmas games v Leeds and Man City (2 big games for them) and thought the atmosphere sounded utter shite! At times the TV mics were even picking up the players talking to each other which you don't hear very often in PL games.

 

Also noticeable was how many empty spaces there was at both games. Assumed given that they're on a massive crest of a wave by their standards the place would have been packed out for both games but it was nowhere near full which was a surprise.

 

Can't knock their players though. They are literally giving everything they have and you can't ask for more than that. In fact the players are certainly outperforming their fans on the evidence of those 2 home games I watched.

[Gawalls]

51 minutes ago, GeordieDazzler said:

So far so good for them, pretty much safe from the drop already and very much in the conversation for the minor European places albeit with a long way to go. 
 

Big challenge will be the change in expectations and prices next season and how they try to kick on.
 

Think they will see a general price increase for any incomings and their PSR situation is very contingent on staying in the Prem for the next couple of years.
 

Despite their strong start I’m not sure how many of their team will attract big money moves - Xhaka too old, Mukiele and Sadiki probably the most saleable? Doubt they can spend as much as in the summer again so will have to balance things from somewhere. 
 

Impressive so far but a lot of work still to do for them. 

I don't know a lot about their finances just what my Sunderland supporting dad tells me but he says as they played with kids basically to come up and took a few seasons to do it they came up and had no debt whatsoever as well as selling a few of their acedemy players and Bellingham last summer I believe they brought in a bit to offset their selling last summer. He seems to think they can spend a bit and reckons they will need to as he hopes they'll be looking for a younger long term replacement for Xaha as well as a goal scorer which will cost a lot.

[SAFC L]

The narrative does change a bit as the season goes on I’ve noticed.

 

”Beat Derby’s record”

”Rock bottom.”

”Played no one good yet.”

”Momentum will run out.”

”They’ll lose all games during AFCON.”

 

Now it’s “…well, next season will be tougher.”

 

I’ve seen a few say we’ll likely lose some of the squad and manager, but it won’t be decimated. We’ll lose one, maybe two starters from our team imo (likely Sadiki & Roefs), but the money them two will bring in will be our two record sales. They were bought for around £20m and £12m retrospectively, and signed long term deals. If someone wants to whack down £45m each for the pair then they can crack on. That money will likely be reinvested and we’ve probably identified targets already.

 

The manager won’t leave until part way through next season if anytime imo. He seems very well settled and has funds here.

 

I reckon 10th for us this season and then probably 12th the season after. Become a North East Fulham for the next few years most likely.

[SAFC L]

33 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

The question is do we finish above them? I’m still saying yes. I can’t see them being as good in the 2nd half of the season and us being as bad. 

Regardless I think they’ll kick on. Their recruitment set up with Speakman/Ghisolfi could net them some very good players from European markets, with the extra finances they’ll have at their disposal.

 

Yes, you finish above us.

[Stifler]

1 hour ago, Whitley mag said:

More likely the case and wouldn’t be surprised to see them invest this January, they have the PSR headroom.

Do they?

They have a net spend of £131m. They have less allowance to spend than other clubs because of spending the previous 2 years in the Championship which allows you much less PSR headroom.

Their total commercial revenue to their last set of full accounts was only about £35m.

 

Okay they will sell players and make profits, but the money to buy replacements will now cost more and they’ll likely have more competition.

 

I’m a firm believer that the buy them cheap, sell them at a premium model doesn’t work long term, and yes I expect the likes of Brighton and Brentford to eventually see their downfall.

 

In saying this the have so far had an excellent season, far better than what anyone could have hoped for.

To keep it going I honestly think they should just keep the majority of their players for a few years, adding say only 1 or 2 key players per season.

[Whitley mag]

16 minutes ago, Stifler said:

Do they?

They have a net spend of £131m. They have less allowance to spend than other clubs because of spending the previous 2 years in the Championship which allows you much less PSR headroom.

Their total commercial revenue to their last set of full accounts was only about £35m.

 

Okay they will sell players and make profits, but the money to buy replacements will now cost more and they’ll likely have more competition.

 

I’m a firm believer that the buy them cheap, sell them at a premium model doesn’t work long term, and yes I expect the likes of Brighton and Brentford to eventually see their downfall.

 

In saying this the have so far had an excellent season, far better than what anyone could have hoped for.

To keep it going I honestly think they should just keep the majority of their players for a few years, adding say only 1 or 2 key players per season.

Think Douglas did an article which confirmed they have PSR headroom due to the way they’ve recruited and gambled on youth.

 

I think Brighton’s recruitment has gone a bit off the boil. You’re always going to have some misses with recruitment but the mackems seem to have a good set up and network/knowledge of French/Belgium markets.

 

 

Edited January 2 by Whitley mag