Sunderland till I die..

Alvez_48

Well-known member
Quite a good watch (specially as spoiler... We know it doesn't work out).

First episode 'Cattermole will be difficult to shift' 🤣
He is in a way one of those signings that have over time cost them alot.
 
I've really enjoyed it and to be honest .... The ownership seem a lot more connected to the community that Gibbo has been of late.
 
I enjoyed the second series, not quite as good as the first series, because there was less interviewing of players in the second series.

The chairman (Donald) is only worth £9m according to Wikipedia when means he is probably a minority owner, unlike Steve Gibson who is worth over £250m?

Interesting how Sunderland was still attractive to people wanting to buy a football club, even though its in a unfashionable area of the country and in Division 1. I would have thought Boro would attract similar interest if ever for sale.

It sounded like their wage bill in 2018/19 was higher than ours, despite them being a league below. I guess they have a greater financial legacy from their Premiership years.

Stewart Donald seemed a genuine character, but a bit out of his depth. At times I thought it would be like a fan running a club. He didn't seem to be aware of the cunning tricks that players, agents and other clubs get up to. He also seemed a poor negotiator suddenly upping his bid for Will Grigg from Wigan from £1.25m to £4m, after being told by his manager £1.25m was what he was worth.
 
I can't help but feel for the fans. You can tell how much it means to them. They all seem like decent genuine people.
 
Hard not to empathise with the fans whilst you watch it, even if I loved their downfall from afar.

They've had some right mercenaries in the past few seasons, though I'm sure part of it is manipulated by the cameras.
 
CONTAINS SPOILERS WILL EDIT IF REQUESTED

I think both series have been very good and it most be a really painful watch for all Sunderland fans, Donald comes across as a decent bloke but way out of his depth to run a club of that size, very amateurish and naive, surely offering Maja an unbelievable deal was far better business especially given his age and potential resale than paying 3 times over what your manager is saying a player is worth.

My old fella always says self praise is no form of recommendation and anyone who says they’re great at making deals, usually isn’t.

Methven is a Curate’s Egg of a personality, I think he used to be a racing journalist back in the day, but he did seem to have the right idea in maximising revenue and trying to drive the commercial side forward even if his methods were unorthodox and love of the limelight distractingly obvious. Compared to the despicable, incompetent and ultimately narcissistic Martin Bain from series 1 he’s a massive upgrade, Bain is now a high flyer in the Indian Super League amazingly.
 
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Loved that first episode - the optimism for the start of the season, winning in the last minute of injury time, promotion an absolute imperative
And we know the ending :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
Interesting in ep 1 the first thing that Brent character Methven decides to change is the run out music. (Would Pigbag survive if ever we had a new owner or is it not the CEO's decision to choose it)

I guess because Methven was a PR man foremost he busied himself with such stuff - hence his eventual failure
 
I agree it makes me like their fans more.. they are in the main, exactly like us. Or at least the fans they choose to follow are.

Wish there was more on tactics because it was really eye opening how much Pep does pre game tactically with the players. I think most managers will be really basic and prefer rhetoric to actual tactics and I'd include their manager (and Woodgate) in that. I honestly think that absolute football manager nerds on here could do a better job than most average managers.
 
I think both series have been very good and it most be a really painful watch for all Sunderland fans, Donald comes across as a decent bloke but way out of his depth to run a club of that size, very amateurish and naive, surely offering Maja an unbelievable deal was far better business especially given his age and potential resale than paying 3 times over what your manager is saying a player is worth.

My old fella always self praise is no form of recommendation and anyone who says they’re great at making deals, usually isn’t.

Too add to this it would have made more sense to keep him and lose him for free at the end of the season than get 1.5 million and the resulting loss of promotion.

The way the grigg purchase went down showed they were just clueless when it came to actually having a plan. It was just we need a striker let's get him.
 
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