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brandon's rumours posts with other poster's replies to brandon's rumours posts
01 Sep 2015 16:12:27
See we are being linked with last minute move for McGeady- seems we can't get through a transfer window without him being mentioned. Let's hope this is just his agent touting- we already have several one paced wide men. What we need are fullbacks- LB particularly -and a solid central defender. Hope fading, but there is still 100 minutes to bring in sensible reinforcements.
1.) 01 Sep 2015 16:45:13
yedlin will probably be the only income this window now boys. doesn't look like any outgoings although hope I am wrong
2.) 01 Sep 2015 16:52:36
Lot of talk about enrique coming and buckly going to bournemouth.
3.) 01 Sep 2015 17:17:47
Yedlin in. A left back now please.
4.) 01 Sep 2015 17:28:44
Yedlin definite plus- Enrique would be real last minute bonus, and leave us with a much stronger squad than we had at the end of last season, Though even more bloated. Hope Buckley is on the way, but remember that there will be a new 'window' opening in a week's time when we will be able to offload some of the dead wood to Football League teams- if there are any takers. Truth is the likes of Bridcutt, Mavrias, Graham, Fletcher etc realistically only appeal to Football League clubs, so there may still be a chance to shift one or two, though no doubt we will have to subsidize their ridiculous wages to move them on.
03 Jun 2015 17:01:03
Bad to worse?
I see Inside Futbol reports that the club is in advanced negotiations with Bernd Schuster. Can we really be thinking of appointing someone who has had three jobs since 2008, not lasting much more than year in any of them, walking out from two and being sacked by the third?
For a club seeking stability, surely this is complete nonsense?
31 Aug 2014 10:37:07
I see the Celtic manager would like Fletcher but says he can't afford him. Maybe, but he could certainly swap him for Van Dijk. I hope one of those phone calls you plan to spend the day making Gus is to Ronny Deila!
1.) 31 Aug 2014 13:53:15
Cant understand why with us having so many wingers why Gus plays strikers ie Borini Fletcher Wickham on the wings? . as they are not going to score out there are they!
2.) 31 Aug 2014 13:58:13
Yes i'd take a swap! only problem is Fletch will be on a lot more money here than if with Celtic!
3.) Swap fletcher for van dijk.
10 Aug 2014 22:22:53
Buckley and Chadli? So in the end we are still looking to the Championship and at Premier flops to strengthen the side-not much to fire the imagination there then! And where are the centre-backs we need- surely we can't be banking on getting to January with only Brown and O'Shea?
1.) Funny how we always seem to sign players who are considered flops. but how many leave Sunderland as flops. eg. Vito Manonne. the amount of reports I saw last year referring to him as a flop was ridiculous. same with Bent, Borini, darren ward, Mignolet. funny how none of them leave as "flops".
2.) 11 Aug 2014 01:56:46
Being a Tottenham flop is one of the better recommendations I can think of!
3.) 11 Aug 2014 06:52:41
Wasn't chadli a starter in Belgium team for world cup?
4.) 11 Aug 2014 11:55:45
He did start the first World Cup game-but was subbed at half time and did not reappear. And although he averaged almost a goal every three games in Belgium his return last year was a solitary strike in 24 league appearances for Spurs- not exactly an upward trajectory. Perhaps he is a Borini or a Bent in the making, but he seems equally likely to be a Chimbonda or Tainio. If we are looking to sign a player from Spurs, it should be Dawson.
{Ed001's Note - Chadli is a midfielder, he can play central or on the wing, but goalscoring isn't the main reason you would want him.}
5.) 11 Aug 2014 12:37:04
SEE West Ham have put a £5 million bid in for Wickham?. you have to be joking Sam this isn't the summer sales!. we shouldn't accept a Penny less than the £8 million we paid for him and only after we've signed another 2 strikers!
6.) 11 Aug 2014 12:41:34
Why do we need more wingers? we have Larsson Mavaris Johnson Watmore and many others we need strikers . its pointless crossing the ball for no one to convert them . in any case we always play better with 2 strikers up front otherwise where are the goals coming from!
7.) 11 Aug 2014 15:02:03
See West Hams Bid Has been rejected!. apparently it was around £4 million . I bet the fax to West Ham just said!. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha lol!
8.) We need good quality wingers due to Poyet only playing one striker, be that Altidore, Fletcher or Wickham (though he can play on the wings with some competency) atm, they're only as good as the service they get and while I expect the younger players will get shots due to injuries/fatigue we need solid and experienced.
There really is no point getting any more out and out strikers unless Altidore or Fletcher goes & we need a replacement.
9.) 11 Aug 2014 17:33:30
Disagree Wyndrusher as everytime we've played with 2 strikers we've looked much better balanced and more likely to score and of course these wingers will have to score goals apart from Johnson alst season no other winger scored many!. Fletch will do the buisness if he's kept fit!. but I think every squad needs 4 good strikers as suspensions injuries take there toll in a season!
10.) I agree we do play better 4-4-2, however poyet doesn't like it & only resorts to it when injuries/fitness force it, so as it stands having forwards who can play on the wings & wingers who can fill in as fowards is more important due to how he plays.
11.) 11 Aug 2014 19:37:44
Darren Ward? Now there's a name from the past. Far from excelling himself when he left Sunderland AFC he actually RETIRED from the game due to a persistent back injury.
12.) Fair enough robbiegee. but did he retire a flop?
02 Aug 2014 12:34:36
Mutch to QPR? What is Congerton doing? Top six ground and support, Championship mentality and management!
1.) 02 Aug 2014 13:12:44
Is Mutch needed? a championship player at best.
2.) 02 Aug 2014 13:48:01
Do we really want or need Mutch? a championship player at best.
3.) 02 Aug 2014 14:44:24
He may well be little more than competent- though he certainly had more impact than our CM options last season- but Poyet specifically identified him as a 'target'. The point is not how good he is, but that even a relatively ordinary player targeted by the club could not be persuaded to come here. The performance of those responsible for negotiating with potential recruits has been a complete embarrassment, and every one that is botched makes it less likely the next target will want to come here.
4.) Very worrying and sends a clear signal to other potential targets, whoever they are. There is clearly something wrong with the way we are doing business. Short is determined not to have his pants pulled down anymore and this is the result. Very worried!
5.) 02 Aug 2014 16:06:26
I don't think the problem was persuading him to come I just don't think we were willing to match cardiffs valuation
6.) 02 Aug 2014 17:11:10
'No new deal for Sunderland striker Wickham . according to his dad'.and if that story is true then things really do need sorting out!
7.) Perfect!
8.) 02 Aug 2014 21:45:18
Agree with the above posts as there is something wrong with the deals going on! does Short know how much well lose if we are relegated? is he bothered? is he wanting to sell up? Agree with Gus on the Whicham saga! if he doesn't want to wear the shirt with pride sell him!. too big headed for my liking!
brandon's banter posts with other poster's replies to brandon's banter posts
10 Aug 2015 12:26:38
Continuing rumours about Rhodes and Januzaj, but signing a striker and another lightweight- albeit skillful- midfielder will not improve the organisation of a defence that parts like the Red Sea. We concede so many soft goals that even with Benteke and Costa in a front two we would struggle to win many games.
The fact is that the back four still needs radical surgery- minus Vergini plus Matthews and Kaboul does not begin to address the problem. We still have no pace-or speed of thought- at centre-back- and signing Coates only made sense if we were planning to pair him with a commanding and experienced partner to nurture his development- Curtis Davies might fit the bill. VA remains a liability when teams are free to run at us, as he does not yet have the positional sense or sufficient concentration to defend securely on the left. He is an asset going forward, but without a more mobile and secure central pairing and someone in midfield who can actually hold onto the ball when we win it his lack of positional sense will cost us.So we should still be be looking for a strong central defender and also a midfielder who is confident on the ball. Cattermole and Larsson are both too slow for the premier league and we have no-one who can retain possession and dictate play in the middle of the park. These are bigger priorities than another striker- though if Dick wanted to play a big man up front to partner Defoe in an 4 4 2 I have no idea why he sold Wickham rather than Fltetcher.
I guess no-one wants them, but we still seem to have at least half a dozen players who would not even get on the bench at Watford- and re-signing Brown was an incomprehensible decision given the number of makeweights we have in the squad.
Thanks for least year Dick, but you don't seem to have any better plan for the team than the previous incumbents; Your return began in tears and I think it will end in tears too!
03 Aug 2015 16:08:13
Sorry to see Wickham go- can't believe the nonsense posted about him. While he has not exactly fulfilled his potential here, that could be because he has mostly been played out of position and asked to function as a water carrier for the likes of Fletcher- a complete waste of money -and latterly Defoe, who has also been largely underwhelming. The reason we have sold him rather than those two is that no-one would take either of them off us even if we gave them away at the ridiculous wages we pay them. With sensible management, Wickham will develop into a better player than either of them, he never really got the chance to do that here. We certainly need to rebuild and get rid of a lot of very poor players, but Whickham was way down the list of priorities to move on, which is why he commanded such a good fee. I would much rather have seen Fletcher, Defoe and all Graham depart.
1.) 03 Aug 2015 17:15:31
You are dead right Wickham has been sold because he is the only Sunderland player who would command a good transfer fee and for Advocat to say Wickham is similar to Donkey Graham or bad hair transplant Fletcher he needs to visit the opticians.
Maybe Advocat has a soft spot for Fletcher because Advocat had a hair transplant and I think he used the same transplant company as Fletcher B&Q
2.) 03 Aug 2015 18:00:31
Dobermann give your head a wobble. ed do you even think this man is a Mackem?
3.) 03 Aug 2015 18:51:13
I really cannot believe that anyone who's watched sunderland on a regular basis home or away over the last three season's thinks that Wickham is or would have developed into a decent premier league player,no pace poor first touch,just not good enough,thank God for Mr Pardew he really is the gift that keeps on giving!
4.) 03 Aug 2015 20:36:22
chops hit the nail on the head about wickham he has no pace and he won't get any faster his first touch is so bad its hard to believe he is a professional footballer and his goal scoring record speaks for itself we were mugged off ipswich and now we have mugged palace glad to get him off the books next to go I hope is fletcher who has given exactly the same to sunderland as whickham also graham should go though I find it hard to fault him as i'm sure if he had been given the same amount of playing time as wickham and fletcher not 5 minutes and there he would have scored as many goals as the pair of them let's hope if we can get rid of fletcher and graham we can bring another forward in alongside defoe and have whatmore and mandron as cover
5.) 03 Aug 2015 22:04:36
Brandon and Dobermann,Wickham in 4years at our club has scored 15 goals.You may want to look at The Secret Footballer typed into google.It may give you insight as to why Wickham simply had to go,he was simply taking the pee,every 5 weeks this club gave him quarter of a million pounds for his services,how the hell can you defend him.This club is well rid of this pretender but there is a few more to go and the quicker the better for Sunderlands long suffering fans.
6.) 04 Aug 2015 07:17:38
I think Brandon and Dobermann are typical of the sunderland supporter that accepts survival every year, because the wickham I have watched should never be putting football boots on. I just hope we don't clear out the rubbish and replace it with more. M,villa is more known for his antics off the field and fer has been relegated these last two seasons. The bull is injury prone, mathews looks suspect defending. The sunshine is lens and hopefully coates. Dick, please sign Austin.
16 Jul 2015 06:19:09
Pity about Lombaerts- seems strange that he needed to come here to realize he wanted to stay in Russia.A little worrying to see Kaboul linked adain- after he response when we tried to bring him here previously he is unlikely to be a hit, and he did not get, many games last year. If we insist on targeting older centrebacks maybe we should make a serious bid for Curtis Davies, who was outstanding for Hull.
1.) 16 Jul 2015 12:48:52
Agree can't get the Kaboul link paticullay when Lombards failed his medical as Kaboul hasn't played since November we seem to be buying a team of crocks!! good player when he's fit but i'd go for Curtis or Evans aswell mind it looks as if AS USUAL we are doing it on the cheap.
14 Jul 2015 21:19:28
Recent transfer 'news' depressingly familiar. Jenkinson chose West Ham, Wijnaldum Newcastle, Clasie Southampton, Byram and Van Dijk stayed put, all of them aged under 25 and sensible long term investments.
Brown (35)retained, Downing (30 and really poor 2015) extensively pursued, McGeady (30 and unable to get on the pitch for much of last season) strongly rumoured. Another 30 year old (and apparently crocked) centre back discussing terms.Two young players have been signed, but between them they offer limited experience and neither have demonstrated consistent premiership quality. Is this the 'plan' we heard about? Are these really the players that were on the priority list? If so, it is hard to work out what Congerton actually does, and it is equally hard to be optimistic about the coming season. Meanwhile, once again those we expect to be stuggling against strengthen around us, with the likes of Stoke and West Brom again seeming to have no trouble attracting good players.
If we don't sign at least three players of real quality, not yet past their peak, it will be another hard slog. Time for some decisive action from the much vaunted transfer negotiator!
1.) 14 Jul 2015 22:28:28
Despite some comments on here saying we don't know what's going on behind closed doors there's something not right when everybody else seems to get the players they want with little ease and we have this long protracted transfer business which is tearing the fans hair out! surely escaping relegation by the skin of our teeth has woken up the owners of this club? Congerton?/ well either he is being instructed by Short or he is inept at his job and last season is a pointer towards that answer!
2.) 15 Jul 2015 17:56:24
why do people believe everything they read in the papers clasie, wijnaldum, byram and van dijk were we ever really interested in these players jenkinson yes but he decided to go back to West Ham United where he was last season makes sense lives in london knows the players and set up so that was always going to be a non starter. downing fits the type of players we get linked with so there could have been some truth in the interest mcgeady well we have been linked with him the last couple of seasons with no offer ever made. hopefully lens will pass the medical and put pen to paper and I don't think for one moment he will be last player to sign before the season begins. so don't worry lads and don't believe everything you read in the papers as the majority is a load of crap
06 Jul 2015 10:51:21
Fourth 'new dawn' in last two years- but somehow depressingly familiar. Sides around us with smaller support show more enterprise and sign key players, while we are linked with targets whose agents simply want to attract offers from elsewhere (this year these seem to be mainly Dutch players looking for a move to the Premier League but not to us) Meanwhile we actually bring in inexperienced, untried or ageing players that do not strengthen the squad. McGeady? Well maybe three or four years ago. Downing- as we saw in the latter half of last season, while effective in the centre he no longer has the pace to play out wide,; we have umpteen midfielders who can cross the ball from the half-way line- it is the by-line they can't get to.
Unless we sign at least one quality centre-back, a creative midfielder and someone with pace to play upfront, it will be another season of struggle and disappointments. What happened to the 'kitty' that Dick had at his disposal? Where did the list of key players he had 'identified' go- don't tell me that keeping Brown and signing the likes of Matthews were at the top of it, or that McGeady or Downing were seen as signings that would transform the club.
It is clear that signing two players of the quality needed- Fer, Wijnaldum, Lonbaerts, Van Dijk, Lens, Austin- will cost upwards of £20m, but surely a club that paid £12m for Fletcher (about four times what he was worth) and was willing to pay £14 m for Borini- again a £5m player at best- can see that van Dijk plus Wijnaldum might be wiser investments than Matthews and Gradel?
Apparently Short prefers shopping at Lidl and picking up whatever seems cheap there rather than going to Waitrose with a list, that is why we acquire so many players who have already passed their sell-by date! I had high hopes of Dick, but it seems nothing has really changed, and we will be scratching around in the bargain basement again come September.
1.) 06 Jul 2015 20:40:58
Lidls too expensive for Ellis Short its Poundland lol! aswell as lots of coupons and sale items!. and worst of all no refunds lol
01 Sep 2015 17:28:44
Yedlin definite plus- Enrique would be real last minute bonus, and leave us with a much stronger squad than we had at the end of last season, Though even more bloated. Hope Buckley is on the way, but remember that there will be a new 'window' opening in a week's time when we will be able to offload some of the dead wood to Football League teams- if there are any takers. Truth is the likes of Bridcutt, Mavrias, Graham, Fletcher etc realistically only appeal to Football League clubs, so there may still be a chance to shift one or two, though no doubt we will have to subsidize their ridiculous wages to move them on.
11 Jan 2015 16:17:27
Poyet's obsession with a style of football the players are not able to produce, complete lack of tactical or motivational skills and woeful performance in the transfer market have made an already poor squad even worse. A thoroughly miserable Christmas period yielded one point from what was a dire performance against an almost equally inept Villa, and we have now lost four times to those footballing giants Hull, in little more than a year, twice at home. Unless Poyet's miracle is an annual event, we look sunk this time.
26 Oct 2014 22:24:08
No good waiting until it is too late. It is clear that Poyet failed to assemble a squad that can compete, but worse it is clear that he is unable to get any consistency out of the players we do have. The system he favours does not suit the limited skills on the ball of our defenders, and we are still asprone to basic errors as we were when he arrived, so his coaching does not seem to be working either. I think it is time for Short to act decisively- instead of waiting till the lastminute and then doing the minimum he thinks will ensue survival. Moyes is ready to come back. I am sure that even if he can't keep this shower up we will have players who work harder and care more at the end of the season. And if we do go down, we would have a manager we can trust to re-build and bring us back stronger. Unless we get at least three defenders with pace and brains and get some confident performances out of Johnson, Rodwell, Fletcher and Wickham (who can hardly be keen to sign a contract given the current shambolic efforts) we have had it. And we will have made another managerial flop into a very rich managerial flop along the way.
23 Oct 2014 15:01:22
Couldn't agree more. The fact that we are reduced to signing a 34 year old who has been unable to find a club since being released in June reveals the 'new' approach to transfers for what it is- clueless. Poyet talked a good summer but did not match it with actions, and has delivered a very disappointing autumn so far. As I have said before, the only aspect of this club that remains Premier League quality is the fantastic (and undeserved) support loyal fans continue to give to players and management who let us down time after time, while swelling their bank accounts.
04 Sep 2014 17:40:51
While I appreciate your sentiments, I don't think anyone would deny that Hull are significantly stronger than last season. And if only we had two 31 year old CBs- actually we have one who is 33 and another who will be 35 next month!
Overall the window was a little disappointing, though we did shed a lot of dead wood, which will be important in that it will increase options in future. At the same time, if we look at who we actually put on the pitch, I don't think Gomez, VA and a 'fit again' Fletcher are as good at present as Alonso, Ki and Borini- though VA at least should improve- so our strongest eleven is weaker than it was. It is hard to be excited about that, however realistic one is.
14 Jul 2015 22:24:58
It is true that we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. But we do know what does not go on. Players who can strengthen the club are not signed. Younger players who can add speed and sharpness to an ageing squad are not brought in. Older players whose performances have often been woeful are not moved on. Bloated contracts do not seem to be related to contributions on the pitch. There is not sufficient discipline, and players lack that sense of pride in the club and responsibility for its reputation that would prevent the regular embarrassments and appalling off-field antics from some of our overpaid, under-performing primas. The level of investment needed to transform the club into a successful- and therefore profitable- premiership side is not forthcoming.
Dick aside- he has not been around long enough- I see no evidence that the rest of the 'management' have made any progress since promotion, so we know they have not been good enough. This club has an income that puts it just outside the top twenty richest in the world, yet on the pitch it struggles to stay among the top 20 teams in England. Clearly something is badly wrong.
It is not negative to notice these facts, rather it is myopic to ignore them. Fans will be positive when there are things to be positive about, and this summer has thus far yielded precious few.
28 Jun 2015 23:19:25
While I agree that we need to be realistic about players who would strengthen the side that would actually come here,
there does not seem to be any indication of real change in ambitions or expectations. The truth is that Brown is a liability who has single-handedly lost us games over the past two seasons with his poor discipline, woeful decision-making and complete lack of pace. Re-signing him was a depressing start to a supposed 'new era'- he would not be in any decent Premier starting eleven and there seems little point in retaining squad players who are no longer good enough to step up. Coates performances overall have not been inspiring either- he has shown little positional sense and is easily turned,and I suspect that he only looked more promising in the last few games because he was replacing even poorer performers. Of course, perhaps Dick has seen something in him that he can work on, but signing him is not exactly a coup. What is most worrying about this is that centre-back has been a major weakness for three seasons now and we have effectively re-signed two of the main reasons for this. So we have frittered away a rumoured £4m of the war chest and added probably £3/4m to the wage bill and still need two premier quality centre-backs. Groundhog day again in Sunderland.
It must be clear to everyone- Short, Congerton and Advocaat included, that this season will be another disappointing struggle against relegation unless something changes quite dramatically over the next month. But from what we have seen so far, it is hard to be optimistic.
13 Jun 2015 11:55:30
So that would be Brown in the bag, Coates no more in the bag than Borini was at this point last year, and a kitty we hope will stretch to three quality players- if we can find three who will come here. Hhmmm, not exactly a jackpot.
Dick's return was a positive outcome, if only because we have as much trouble attracting managers on the up as we do players, and of course all sorts of things may be happening behind the scenes. But one of the problems here is that players are reluctant to come to a side that perennially struggles. Some indication that there really has been a change in ambitions would help; Brown's re-signing simply underlines what a comfortable place this has become for those on the way down, making their pension plans.
02 Jun 2015 17:53:53
What is the basis for all this hype about Allardyce? His career peaked with Bolton, and since the 2006/7 season he has only had one top half finish (10th) while his stints at Blackburn, Newcastle and West Ham have all ended in the sack. Like his Bolton team, which was better known for the physicality of its play than footballing elegance, he has made the best of quite modest talent. He says he want a ‘break’, so let him put his feet up, and reflect on how good football has been to him. I wish him a long and happy retirement.
Similarly, I keep reading various pundits extolling the virtues of Sean Dyche. They tell us that he is overwhelmingly the fans’ choice. I am sure he is a splendid fellow, and he has shown he can get quite a lot from a very limited squad. But we are not looking forward to continuing with the threadbare outfit we have- I thought we had learnt from Dick Advocaat that we need to invest in quality, bringing in a significant number of new players? Could we not therefore look for a manager that can has experience with quality players- rather than settle in advance for another struggle with the collection ageing defenders, midfield misfits and goal-shy forwards we have? Also, I have not spoken to anyone who, given a choice, would choose Dyche- so where do these stories come from?
I can only hope that these names are a useful smokescreen allowing discussions with more inspirational characters to go on quietly in the background, and that an appointment that will excite players and fans alike is being worked on behind the scenes.
27 May 2015 21:24:16
Let us hope that for once we look for someone who can credibly manage a top half club, and keep them there. MOYES, MOYES MOYES.