Premier League: Discussion and Banter

I can't see Sunderland fans wanting a Newcastle reject as their Manager, nor will they appreciate the style of play they will be labelled with playing. I think they will go for someone more high profile than Allardyce personally.

 

Also giving Allardyce money isn't always a good thing. He didn't make his managerial career by finding expensive players to fit into his team, he made it on finding bargains, and spending small money. Give him big money and you will probably see mistakes and bad buys, much like Keane did.

 

His biggest signing was £8 million on Anelka, sold 18 months later fore £12 million. He knows how to handle cash better than Keane does.

 

Not a lot better 6m for Alan Smith?

Rozental, Cacapa, Barton, Enrique the only real good signing he made at newcastle was Habib Baye.

My choice personally would be a foreign coach. Curbishley is quoted as saying he can get a team to 10th and a lot of teams would like that at the minute. Im sorry Alan but that ruled you out the job, the board are looking for someone to build on the success keane had and start to challenge the pompeys, villas and evertons.

Big Sam i wouldnt touch personally, i dont think he could attract players and cisse and malbranque will probablys look to leave.

A long shot but Mark Hughes would be brilliant, he would be backed by the board and have total control, the man city board are probablys looking for a big name manager and hughes may wish to walk before he is pushed.

Jol but i think it would be hard to tempt him.

Wolfsburgs manager, Felix Magath would be a good call as would Van Basten who is unhappy following Huntelaars sale.

Ive heard Sven being mentioned but he would be a total disaster imo, he has lost his hunger for the game and is just looking for easy jobs and if we did get him hed do a shit job while fleecing the club out of millions.

 

IMO, some of the names you have mentioned are a little bit of a reach for Sunderland. Van Basten, Hughes, and Sven all have good jobs. Van Bastenm just got to Ajax. Hughes just got to City, and he will have a much bigger budget to work with. Sven is in Mexico, getting payed a cool couple million to coast through an easy WCQ federation.

 

Van Basten is very unhappy with the Ajax board as they sold huntelaar behind his back.

Hughes may have just got to City but whos to say the board arent looking at bigger name managers.

Sven is under huge pressure in mexico after they lost their last 4 games.

Im not saying we will attract them but they arent out of reach either.

 

Van Basten would be more unhappy at a team like Sunderland I'm sure. He could do much better.

 

I don't understand why Sunderland fans wouldn't want Big Sam.

He's a decent manager, and he's a former Black Cat.

As I understand the ultimate aspirations for Sunderland is to make it into Europe. Allardyce was able to take a Bolton side into Europe. Sunderland is the same type of situation, except with more money than Bolton and less pressure than Newcastle.

 

But he had no expectations at Bolton, every year we were favourites to go down. At Sunderland he is expected to get into Europe, there is just as much pressure as there was at Newcastle. He's a manager that needs time, he will get more time at Sunderland than he did at Newcastle, but I doubt he will get what he needs.

Think about it.. Sunderland are getting Newcastle's rejected Manager. Would you really want a Manager who wasn't good enough for your biggest rivals but apparently is good enough for you..

 

I'm hoping they leave Allardyce alone, if Ince blows it over the next 3 games we could do with him.

We should have got him in the first place. He got a lot of negative comments when he was thought to be taking over from Hughes because of the type of football he is supposed to play. Funnily enough most fans are now starting to think they would like to play that football and be in the top half than where we are now. What I never understood is that we didn't play attractive football under Hughes either, but somehow that didn't count, because of results I imagine ...

 

Not sure why Allardyce would want to go to Blackburn, unless he's just looking for a paycheck. Didn't Jack Walker's estate say they weren't going to prop up the club anymore? That means limited transfer funds. Combine with mediocre fan support and the job has limited appeal.

 

Especially since they are losing/will be losing their quality players like Bentley and Santa Cruz (he's leaving), and their good players like MGP have lost form.

They replaced consistently good Brad Friedel with consistently inconsistent Paul Robinson.

They do have a couple of decent quality youngsters like Derbeyshire, but they are in trouble.

 

The trustees supported the club again this season so they are still good to their word. But to be honest it was only ever to the tune of around £3 mil a season since Jack died so losing it would be no huge loss, and this season was the first for a few that they gave us cash. Understanding of their help is usually wide of the mark. The intention was always that they'd pull the plug on the cash when they felt we were self sufficient, which they did a few years ago. They wanted to give a small injection to attract a better manager this year, for what it was worth

As it stands Allardyce made his name at a club like ours so it seems to be his forte. Plus you're forgetting that he wanted the job at the start of the season with all the baggage you've listed above. It was a big mistake not offering him the job then, that's where we went wrong.

There's no doubt about it we are in big trouble. Strange when you look at it because we're really only short of Bentley from last year and his mind was elsewhere for the second half of last season and hasn't exactly set the world alight this year. MGP has been poor for 2 years now. Santa hasn't hit form at all this season either, so £18 mil for him would be pretty much appreciated. We'd prefer him not to go obviously but that's daft money on his form and a good profit.

Friedel was a God at Ewood but errors were slipping into his game and Robinson, contrary to popular belief has had a pretty good season but no protection from the defence. So a keeper who seems to be returning to form, which was excellent, for a keeper with limited time and making mistakes was pretty good business. Funny how Friedel's reputation means his mistakes are overlooked where Robinson's gets his crucified, but that's football. Either way we're happy with him as a replacement, he's won the crowd round.

The majority of Bentley's money is still there to spend, so financially it's OK. We've not had a lot of money to spend for years anyway so I wouldn't say that's a big portent of doom, it's nothing new and we've done OK until this season.

I think what I'm trying to say is that things aren't too much different from last year apart from the manager, so potential is there for anyone who knows what they're doing. As long as we do it quickly, we've not got a top 10 club to play 'til February so let's make the change now and hopefully get the benefit of at least a few games out of that. Our problem is this season, Ince doesn't seem to know what he's doing, simple as that.

 

^^What the heck has happened with Morten Gamst Pedersen? He's looking more and more like a Laurent Robert-esque player who's only good for the occasional brilliant set piece. For a player who was being talked of at times (how seriously is another question) as a potential successor for Giggs he really has looked poor.

 

I know for sure that 2 years ago there were many Big Four supporters talking about MGP as a good buy during the transfer window.

Now. Not so much.

What happened to Benni McCarthy?

 

MGP .... gutted. I wish someone would have made a big bid 2 years ago To be fair to him he's started to show signs of improving lately. One of the problems though is that we started playing him deeper, more in midfield adn his confidence is completely shot away. He's at his best running into the area, almost acting as a 3rd striker, when he's confident at least.

Benni got his head turned by a possible Chelsea move last year and lost interest. He's since apologised but in the mean time he got fat. Again, he's improving and looking hungry again. 3 goals in his last 5 starts and Ince still isn't playing him .... which is one of the reasons everyone's asking questions about Ince. He scored 2 goals as a sub in the cup against Man U and was dropped in the next game, no-one knows why and he'll be losing interest again soon if nothing changes.

 

I included McCarthyh and Santa Cruz in my fantasy team this, convinced thjat I'd pulled a fast one o everyone else........not to be. I've swapped them for Carlton Cole and Berbatov.............not much of an improivement in hindsight but what the heck!


On paper Blackburn are miles better than they are doing at the moment. I'm not sure sacking Ince is the right thing to do. A new manager may well keep hem up but Ince may have acheived that himself. I think a stint in the market in January may have helped him out no end. MGP has been a dead beat for about 12 months. It doesn't seem like yesterday he was shoottng down the countries best defences like nobody's business.

If they can get him, along with the two front men going, they can beat most teams on their day. But now, shorn oif a manager, I'm not so sure..................

 

Anyone see Channel 5 tonight for the Villa game?

Jol was asked if he was to be the new Sunderland boss and he was very coy in his answer saying Anything can happen in football refusing to say yes or no. Roberto Mancinis agent has also been quoted saying Mancini would be interested in the job, explains why Allardyce wasnt approached, id love either of those two as our next manager.

 

... and breathe a sigh of relief. Sanity restored, hopefully in time not to get us relegated.

Although I notice that I'm supposed to be caught in two minds because of Allardyce's Bolton connections and the huge rivalry that we apparently have.

BoltonMassiv, remind me about it will you. I know Sky tell me we're THE derby as far as we're concerned but I keep forgetting about it apart from some relatively friendly rivalry around match day, and the crap I'll get off some relatives over xmas beer.

I must remember. You are our most hated rivals, you are our most hated rivals, our season depends on our results ... Good luck for the rest of the season .... oh shit ...

 

Great move by Blackburn!

I think that Allardyce will lead you to safety and into mid-table.

He is a good manager and will build on what he does this year.

 

lol, that reminds me of how Sky try and paint Middlesbrough as Newcastle and Sunderlands hated rivals despite them being a Yorkshire club.