GhostFJ
15 May 2007, 12:35 PM
Pretty new to the site, thought I'd take the liberty of starting a Sunderland thread.
We all know the story: the Mighty Quinn has a vision, gets some money together, buys the club, proves that he's utterly incapable of managing a football team, appoints a 'world class' manager, enter Keane, a few ups, a few downs, one defeat in 2007, then Bang! Promotion, then Bang! the Title, then a whole summer to speculate on how Sunderland will fare in the Premiership.
But what a season. Sunderland have really evolved. In spite of Keane's perpetual unwillingness to acknowledge that he's played a big part in this evolution, his presence and work ethic seems to have filtered throughout the entire club. You can see it in the approach and style of the current squad: the calmness, the determination, the never say die attitude, the lack of panic when things don't go to plan. Sunderlands title winning season is worthy of praise - just as the manager is - precisely because at the start of the season, none of these attributes were present in the squad.
And there's the football too. Anyone who's seen Sunderland play this year has seen a team playing or at least trying to play the kind of attacking football that every fan wants to see: quick passing, movement, creating lots of chances, and - of course - a lot of goals. Not only that, some of Sunderlands goals - especially towards the end of the season - were truly sublime. I challenge anyone to find a better all round goal in the championship than Carlos Edwards winner against Burnley in the 3-2 thriller at the Stadium of Light a few weeks ago. Stunning passing, slick movement, thumping finish into the top corner from outside of the box. If I said Brazil couldn't have done it better, I really wouldn't be lying.
To be honest, I'm not too concerned about next season - not yet, anyway (still revelling in the end of this one). But I am interested to know if any of you have seen much of Sunderland recently. And if so, what do you make of the kind of football that Keane's trying to get the team to play? And how come there's so few Black Cats on this site? Keane and Quinn seem to have most of Ireland supporting Sunderland now, not to mention the odd red devil (congrats on the title by the way, thoroughly deserved), where the hell is everyone?
We all know the story: the Mighty Quinn has a vision, gets some money together, buys the club, proves that he's utterly incapable of managing a football team, appoints a 'world class' manager, enter Keane, a few ups, a few downs, one defeat in 2007, then Bang! Promotion, then Bang! the Title, then a whole summer to speculate on how Sunderland will fare in the Premiership.
But what a season. Sunderland have really evolved. In spite of Keane's perpetual unwillingness to acknowledge that he's played a big part in this evolution, his presence and work ethic seems to have filtered throughout the entire club. You can see it in the approach and style of the current squad: the calmness, the determination, the never say die attitude, the lack of panic when things don't go to plan. Sunderlands title winning season is worthy of praise - just as the manager is - precisely because at the start of the season, none of these attributes were present in the squad.
And there's the football too. Anyone who's seen Sunderland play this year has seen a team playing or at least trying to play the kind of attacking football that every fan wants to see: quick passing, movement, creating lots of chances, and - of course - a lot of goals. Not only that, some of Sunderlands goals - especially towards the end of the season - were truly sublime. I challenge anyone to find a better all round goal in the championship than Carlos Edwards winner against Burnley in the 3-2 thriller at the Stadium of Light a few weeks ago. Stunning passing, slick movement, thumping finish into the top corner from outside of the box. If I said Brazil couldn't have done it better, I really wouldn't be lying.
To be honest, I'm not too concerned about next season - not yet, anyway (still revelling in the end of this one). But I am interested to know if any of you have seen much of Sunderland recently. And if so, what do you make of the kind of football that Keane's trying to get the team to play? And how come there's so few Black Cats on this site? Keane and Quinn seem to have most of Ireland supporting Sunderland now, not to mention the odd red devil (congrats on the title by the way, thoroughly deserved), where the hell is everyone?