Cause he's a Sunderland homeboy. I'm only half-joking, because he's already 24 and went over there at 17, where they put him in digs with a local family to help him get acclimatized. Local family has a daughter. They get together and have a kid together and he seems to have a great relationship with his in-laws. Bottom line is he's pretty well settled in the area and is playing for a side that's expecting to go up this season. Why agitate for a move? The other reason is that last season he lost his starter status for a period after the kid was born and his form dipped quite a bit generally - which is not that unusual. If he was to move he had to want to leave, and to play well enough to attract bids. He didn't. Add COVID to the mix . . .
I believe he's the only player left from their last stint in the Premier League. If they make it back, he'll be a legend at the club forever.
When they went down they were a shitshow, complete and utter. He made his debut that season and made a dozen appearances, a quarter of them cameos and another quarter garbage minutes: while he wasn't brilliant by any means, the consensus was that his performances in the games where he got meaningful PT were silver linings in dark clouds. If they make it back to the EPL, they'll probably keep him on. They'll definitely keep him for the Championship
Yep, by all accounts he's incredibly settled, got to talk with him briefly when we were over at the start of 2019, just before the child arrived, and Sunderland is home for him. He signed an extension shortly after, just before the dip you mention, and I think it runs through 2022, which is an eternity in the lower leagues. I don't think he would leave unless he lost form and was pushed out, or absolutely exploded to a point where he'd see a massive pay increase. Given Sunderland's resources (prior to the League One caps being introduced), he's unlikely to get that unless he can get into the upper reaches of the Championship.
Danny Graham left and is now back, but otherwise, he's it. In fact, he's the only one left who played semi-regularly in the Championship in 2017-18. Elliot Embleton played three times, Denver Hume once. Embleton has been hurt all of this season. Hume has come along quite nicely, became a regular last year and has been excellent this season.
Very unlikely at this stage. Even we're not so desperate that we'd call up a League One player unless he was a 20 goals a season striker.* If he continues to be a starter when they're promoted, that's another story. * Glenn Whelan was called up when he was at Fleetwood, but he's a veteran and it was a friendly that we needed bodies for.
Also... Sunderland is a huge club, top 10 all time in terms of years in England's top flight. He'll never play for a bigger club in his life. That counts for something as well.
Pre-COVID Sunderland's average attendances were in the 30-32,000 range - in League One. They're what Alex Ferguson used to call "a proper football club".
Probably ignorance but how are they such a big club? Have they ever won anything of importance? In the PL years, they seemee to always battle relegation. Big fanbase for sure bjt maybe I'm missing what makes them a "huge club".
It's England. They still fancy themselves as a world power despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Sunderland has won 1 trophy in 80 years, but they were great before the war (you know, the Great War), so they're a big club.
Really big fanbase = "Huge club" As for silverware, they won the FA Cup back in 1973 and they were English champions 6 times, all before the war. But it's the massive fanbase with undying loyalty that makes them big
Somewhat related, I highly recommend the docuseries Sunderland 'Til I Die if you want to get a feel for the club's hierarchical place in the city.
Depends on Granny.Is she an antivaxxer who sells Arbonne and has Boss Babe as her status? No kid for her!
It really depends, doesn’t it! But I do think that in general this is why it’s good to get Americans to bigger clubs early. By the time soccer players are older than 22-23, they have serious relationships or marriages, kids, dogs, mortgages, etc. All power to Gooch if he’s happy. There are worse things in life than making a decent salary playing a game in a place you love. Not every American needs the ambition to play for a big club.
Sunderland is a big club though. If Gooch ended up playing his entire career with Sunderland he would most likely have a job connected to that for life if he wished, whether working for the club or finding a job with a fan's business post career. Of course that would mean he probably never plays above the championship level.
There's some truth in that, but Roker Beach is wonderful. A fair bit of the support comes from a good distance from Sunderland, because the support is loyal enough that people who move away still come back on match day. As a point of reference on the support, the first year in League One there were roughly 43,000 at the Stadium of Light on Boxing Day, 38,000 there four days later, and 8,000 away at Blackpool on New Year's. That Blackpool trip was one of the best things I've ever been a part of.
Yeah. If he can average 300k per year or so over an 8 year career and he’s responsible with his money, he could get an academy coaching job or something like that afterwards and live a very comfortable life. Not glamorous, but being a local hero would be pretty cool.