Sunderland AFC Transfer Rumours/Discussion 2008/2009

Flamed Diving

Good result, fair play. I cant stand Spurs anyway.

~Rebel~

SectionF wrote: »

Sunderland football fans proudly support their local sporting hero, Tony Jeffreys, against Irish opposition in yesterday's Olympic Light Heavyweight semi-final. Sadly for Sunderland folk, the Irishman went on to win 10-3.

was it not James Degale was the sunderland chap? beat sutherland in the semi and won the gold. Or are both he and jeffreys from the area?

fullstop

~Rebel~ wrote: »

was it not James Degale was the sunderland chap? beat sutherland in the semi and won the gold. Or are both he and jeffreys from the area?

No Jeffries is from Sunderland

eirebhoy

SectionF wrote: »

Many. For starters, the club has its very own column every Saturday in The Irish Times.

Correction: had its own column, last season. For the whole season. They've dropped it now... maybe things didn't go as well as planned, or maybe Micheal Walker just begged to be let write about something else.

That doesn't tell me Sunderland are promoted as Irish. That tells me that Irish people are interested in them, probably because they've got a famous Irish chairman, a manager who would probably sell more papers than any other Irish person and a captain who is probably Ireland's best player at the moment. The last one would be the biggest reason I'd watch them. I couldn't wait for the Liverpool match because of Reid. Even if they had no Irish players I'd love to see them do well because I think of the foreigners looking at that famous Irish guy Roy Keane and it brings the patriotism out of me.

btw, I'm sure any example you throw at me could be dismissed by comparing the Japanese with Nakamura. Obviously they don't think Celtic are Japanese but they've a big interest in Celtic now. You're really a paranoid bunch. You have to remember the reason you're all fans of Irish clubs. 95% because of family or friends bringing you along at a young age. Get off the high chair.

Fanny Cradock

It looks like Ferdinand is undergoing a medical. Reposts suggest that he'll cost somewhere around the 8 million mark. What do people think?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7580244.stm

I think it's a good enough signing. One who will get better over time. He's still young and if he plays anywhere near as good as Rio has in the few seasons he'll be an excellent purchase.

spav

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

It looks like Ferdinand is undergoing a medical. Reposts suggest that he'll cost somewhere around the 8 million mark. What do people think?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sunderland/7580244.stm

I think it's a good enough signing. One who will get better over time. He's still young and if he plays anywhere near as good as Rio has in the few seasons he'll be an excellent purchase.

Apparently we tabled a £12m bid for Jonny Evans which was rejected. If that's true, then £8m isn't too bad a price for Ferdinand.

The jury is still out for me, but I'd sooner see us get a prospect like Anton than no one at all.

King John V

I think he'll be a good signing but he'll probably struggle at first to break the Collins-Nosworthy pairing in the centre. I suppose this means Collins will be going back to LB.

Keano definitely needs to start selling some of the fringe players now. I don't get why he keeps loaning players that aren't realistically going to make the squad down the line? The wages must be too high for championship clubs or something.

spav

King John V wrote: »

I think he'll be a good signing but he'll probably struggle at first to break the Collins-Nosworthy pairing in the centre. I suppose this means Collins will be going back to LB.

Keano definitely needs to start selling some of the fringe players now. I don't get why he keeps loaning players that aren't realistically going to make the squad down the line? The wages must be too high for championship clubs or something.

He was quoted earlier in the week as saying that a few of his fringe players have turned down permanent moves away that they see as being beneath them. I suppose you can't force under-contract players to leave if they don't want to. It's just a shame that they're happy to sit in the reserves and take the money.

SectionF

eirebhoy wrote: »

That doesn't tell me Sunderland are promoted as Irish.

There was a planeload of Irish hacks flown to Sunderland. Do you think that was just to share the love?

Celtic are on the record saying they have signed Irish players in order to boost their brands' visibility here. Are you saying that Sunderland haven't?

Funny how fans of British clubs are allowed slag off British clubs, but when fans of Irish clubs do it, it's taboo, and we're paranoid.

King John V

I wonder who the possible new LB could be? The main rumours seem to suggest Michael Ball with Leighton Baines as the less reported option. In any case they've definitely gained alot of ground on the teams just above them last season...a 10-12 finish should be on the cards this season.

spav

SectionF wrote: »

There was a planeload of Irish hacks flown to Sunderland. Do you think that was just to share the love?

Celtic are on the record saying they have signed Irish players in order to boost their brands' visibility here. Are you saying that Sunderland haven't?

Funny how fans of British clubs are allowed slag off British clubs, but when fans of Irish clubs do it, it's taboo, and we're paranoid.

That's Sunderland promoting themselves in Ireland, not as Irish. An important and pretty huge distinction.

jaykay74

SectionF wrote: »

Celtic are on the record saying they have signed Irish players in order to boost their brands' visibility here. Are you saying that Sunderland haven't?

Are you saying Roy Keane bought some of the Irish lads for brand visibility reasons. Roy Keane as marketing man, nice twist

I think you'll find that most of his 1st set of transfers were lads he knew personally and trusted to some extent, ex Man Utd, Celtic and irish lads. Don't think Harte was brought in to corner the Drogheda market.

You did make me laugh though so marks for that I suppose

SectionF

jaykay74 wrote: »

Are you saying Roy Keane bought some of the Irish lads for brand visibility reasons. Roy Keane as marketing man, nice twist

I think there's a strong element of that, yes. Given a choice, he'd have preferred an Irish player. Sunderland didn't have very much going for it when it was taken over, and I am quite sure that the idea to make it Mick Central in the EPL would have been in Quinn and Co's business plan.

King John V

Yes, the Irish market is very important for Sunderland because outside the UK the Irish are probably the best for buying season tickets and going to games. I think the Irish interest would be more down to Keano than the playing staff though. He said last year the scouting infastructures weren't in place so he went with what he knew. But I'd expect alot of them to be transfered out in the next few windows as the team really becomes established in the top flight.

I see the Ireland-Sunderland link as one of mutual benefit. Playing teams like Athlone town or Galway United naturally helps promote Sunderland AFC in Ireland and build up a strong Irish fan base. The ticket sales help the home sides and if people have an enjoyable time they'll probably visit again for eircom league games. While recruiting promising young Irish talent and having them as understudies to Cisse, Malbranque and co. isn't such a bad thing.

eirebhoy

SectionF wrote: »

There was a planeload of Irish hacks flown to Sunderland. Do you think that was just to share the love?

Loads of Japanese reporters in Glasgow now too. The Japanese still know Celtic aren't Japanese. You're paranoid mate. Roy Keane is the reason why there's such a big interest in Sunderland in this country. Nakamura is the reason there's an interest in Celtic in Japan. There's no difference. Both the arguably best and most famous footballers to come from their country.

jaykay74

SectionF wrote: »

I think there's a strong element of that, yes. Given a choice, he'd have preferred an Irish player. Sunderland didn't have very much going for it when it was taken over, and I am quite sure that the idea to make it Mick Central in the EPL would have been in Quinn and Co's business plan.

Mick Central in the EPL

Pretty far fetched business plan seeing they were bottom of the championship when Keane took over (would have been nice to see them sell the club to Roy with the Mick Central idea). If you remember that was 1 day or so before the transfer window closed. In that 1 day he signed 6 players, he had played with them all. If you think the 3 paddies he bought were bought because he wanted to keep it irish rather than get lads in he knows quick then fair enough thats your opinion but hard to see what you are basing it on

Stanislav Varga Celtic Signed 31-08-2006
Ross Wallace Celtic Signed 31-08-2006
Dwight Yorke Sydney FC £ 200000 31-08-2006
Liam Miller Man Utd Free 31-08-2006
Graham Kavanagh Wigan £ 500000 31-08-2006
David Connolly Wigan £ 1400000 31-08-2006

They are not exactly following the business plan through this Summer either unless you think an irish reserve keeper will raise interest over here.

This Summers transfers
Teemu Tainio
Nick Colgan
Pascal Chimbonda
El Hadji Diouf
Steed Malbranque
David Healy
Djibril Cisse (loan)

Roy Keane would have rightly laughed Quinn out the door if anything like this was suggested at any point. Keane is his own man.

I'm sure your theory plays well with some of those who enjoy the LoI fans v couchpotato EPL fans argument that been done to death a million times over. Facts are better than a good story though.

Over to you for a few examples maybe

shane86

SectionF wrote: »

Sunderland football fans proudly support their local sporting hero, Tony Jeffreys, against Irish opposition in yesterday's Olympic Light Heavyweight semi-final. Sadly for Sunderland folk, the Irishman went on to win 10-3.

Good god. Tbh Jeffreys should have just forfeited pre match in recognition of Keane narrowly keeping them up last season :rolleyes:

If they were burning tricolours and singing No Surrender to the IRA this photo might actually have a point to it.

Petty vendettas aside, I wouldnt have believed it even a month ago but Roy has built himself a decent squad. Wouldnt doubt they will be fighting with Man City, Villa and one or two others for the 6-8th places. Doubt they will overtake Everton this season, however I would bet my house that a big 4 team will concede valuable points against them this year, no question.

However, the fact Roy barely survived with his mediocre squad last season should surely make those who think he is already a contender for the Irish job to rethink.

OPENROAD

SectionF wrote: »

Aw... Not even a little bit Irish? :P
That's not how they're being promoted here...

Not a bit imo.

spav

OPENROAD wrote: »

Not a bit imo.

We've more French players in the team than Irish.

In fact, we've more French than English - only Richardson, Whitehead and Chopra are anywhere near the first team really, Collins is Welsh and Noz is Jamaican (in the same way as Cascarino is Irish).

Am I missing something about the Jeffries comment above? Of course Sunderland fans are going to support a Sunderland lad, especially one who's quite well known as he works in a burger van outside the ground. Don't really get that point tbh. The generally feeling amongst Sunderland fans seemed to be that if Jeffries had to lose, then it's good that he lost to an Irishman.

Wearsiders have very much taken the Irish to their hearts, and hopefully vice-versa. Sunderland is not a big or glamourous place, we know full well how important Irish interest is to our club and to our city. Speaking personally, I get a real kick from people over here knowing about Sunderland. It's not that long ago that I lived in Leeds, 100 miles down the road from home, and people there couldn't find Sunderland on a map, let alone name a single Sunderland player.

There's a Sunderland fanzine called A Love Supreme, pretty sure Easons stock it. Anyway, the current issue has a lot of articles based on people's experiences of the pre season tour over here. Well worth a read. And I'm not just saying that cos I've got an article in it.

King John V

Anton Ferdinand officially signed for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £8m.

SectionF

spav wrote: »

There's a Sunderland fanzine called A Love Supreme, pretty sure Easons stock it. Anyway, the current issue has a lot of articles based on people's experiences of the pre season tour over here. Well worth a read. And I'm not just saying that cos I've got an article in it.

Somebody asked for an example...
If this SundIreland phenomenon is just a happy accident, how come it's not happening with Aston Villa (which has an Irish manager) or other worty EPL clubs, such as Portsmouth?
Of course it is convenient to hold on to the notion the Sunderland link has some intrinsic worth and is not contrived, but it is delusional to think that this wasn't planned by the suits.
When I were a lad, Sunderland were, in Ireland, English football's biggest nobodies (as has been pointed out above). You couldn't give away a Sunderland player card in a school yard, and no matter how much attention you paid in geography lessons no one had a clue where the place was.
Now, all of a sudden, you can't move in a Champions Sports for their shirts. If you're wearing one, of course, you don't really want to hear any of that.

jaykay74

King John V wrote: »

Anton Ferdinand officially signed for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £8m.

Should prove to be a good buy. Keane needs to move on some of the deadwood now though.

spav

SectionF wrote: »

Somebody asked for an example...
If this SundIreland phenomenon is just a happy accident, how come it's not happening with Aston Villa (which has an Irish manager) or other worty EPL clubs, such as Portsmouth?
Of course it is convenient to hold on to the notion the Sunderland link has some intrinsic worth and is not contrived, but it is delusional to think that this wasn't planned by the suits.
When I were a lad, Sunderland were, in Ireland, English football's biggest nobodies (as has been pointed out above). You couldn't give away a Sunderland player card in a school yard, and no matter how much attention you paid in geography lessons no one had a clue where the place was.
Now, all of a sudden, you can't move in a Champions Sports for their shirts. If you're wearing one, of course, you don't really want to hear any of that.

Maybe - none of that supports your argument that Sunderland is being presented as an Irish club though.

It's really very simple. Many Irish people became interested in Sunderland in the Summer of 2006. There were 4 reasons for this, listed below in order of importance;
- Roy Keane
- Niall Quinn
- Irish backers
- Irish players

Keane then bought a few players that he had personally worked with or played against. Some were Irish, most weren't. 3 were from Trinidad. Indeed, a group of Trinidadian fans (the Soccer Warriors) came to a match last season to watch Edwards, Jones and Yorke.

Keane has since strengthened the team further in the current window. The majority nationality happened to be French this time around. Also included were 2 irish squad players, an English defender, a Finnish midfielder, a Northern Irish striker and a Spanish fitness coach, amongst others.

Sunderland now an English a club with strong Irish associations and an international squad. As Sunderland is a small city (about half the size of Cork), the club has set about capitalising on Irish interest in the club to help fill a stadium that required 1/3rd of the entire city's population to fill it. Based on statistics from Cork City's own website, that would be like Cork having a stadium with a capacity of around 115,000.

When Irish fans go and watch Sunderland, they are going to watch a northern English team playing in the English Premier League. If people want to support an Irish team then there's plenty of them in, you know, Ireland.

Draupnir

SectionF wrote: »

When I were a lad, Sunderland were, in Ireland, English football's biggest nobodies (as has been pointed out above). You couldn't give away a Sunderland player card in a school yard, and no matter how much attention you paid in geography lessons no one had a clue where the place was.
Now, all of a sudden, you can't move in a Champions Sports for their shirts. If you're wearing one, of course, you don't really want to hear any of that.

Are you about 70? When I was a lad playing schoolboy football, Sunderland got to the FA Cup Final against Liverpool (91 I believe?) and the entire bar of Tolka Rovers on Griffith Avenue was jampacked with my team and our fathers watching the match.

Why? Because an Irish guy, John Byrne, had scored in every round up to the final and we were hoping he would score in the final and join an elite band of people to score in every round. Wasn't to be, they got beaten, but there was still a fair amount of interest.

Also, did your teacher often ask you to find Sunderland on the map? How does that fall into the Irish curriculum? Champion Sports in Dublin sells Cork City jerseys, does that bother you too? Champion Sports on the Northside sells Rovers jerseys and the ones on the Southside have Bohs jersey, lord forbid!

jaykay74

SectionF wrote: »

When I were a lad, Sunderland were, in Ireland, English football's biggest nobodies (as has been pointed out above). You couldn't give away a Sunderland player card in a school yard, and no matter how much attention you paid in geography lessons no one had a clue where the place was.

you are good at rambling on, I'II give you that much Theres a touch of Grampa Simpson there I think.

SectionF

Draupnir wrote: »

Are you about 70? When I was a lad playing schoolboy football, Sunderland got to the FA Cup Final against Liverpool (91 I believe?) and the entire bar of Tolka Rovers on Griffith Avenue was jampacked with my team and our fathers watching the match.

Why? Because an Irish guy, John Byrne, had scored in every round up to the final and we were hoping he would score in the final and join an elite band of people to score in every round. Wasn't to be, they got beaten, but there was still a fair amount of interest.

Also, did your teacher often ask you to find Sunderland on the map? How does that fall into the Irish curriculum? Champion Sports in Dublin sells Cork City jerseys, does that bother you too? Champion Sports on the Northside sells Rovers jerseys and the ones on the Southside have Bohs jersey, lord forbid!

Very happy for you and your 91 memories, but surely everyone knows that Sunderland before Quinn/Keane were nobodies in Ireland compared with the usual suspects, which are from places on the map such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
Good on Champion Sports selling Irish jerseys in Ireland (although a northsider wanting to buy a Sham jersey is just plain wrong :P). That's sound and natural, in the same way that people from Sunderland supporting Sunderland is sound and natural, and not part of a manufactured buzz.

MIN2511

King John V wrote: »

Anton Ferdinand officially signed for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £8m.

Just saw that now... 9th player moved to Sunderland:)


Hmm...

BEWARE SUNDERLAND IS HERE TO STAY!

It would be interesting to see if they do better than last year(12th i think?)

Draupnir

SectionF wrote: »

Very happy for you and your 91 memories, but surely everyone knows that Sunderland before Quinn/Keane were nobodies in Ireland compared with the usual suspects, which are from places on the map such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
Good on Champion Sports selling Irish jerseys in Ireland (although a northsider wanting to buy a Sham jersey is just plain wrong :P). That's sound and natural, in the same way that people from Sunderland supporting Sunderland is sound and natural, and not part of a manufactured buzz.

Did I not just give a historical example that Sunderland weren't nobodies in Ireland before Quinn/Keane, whereas you just responded with personal opinion?

King John V

MIN2511 wrote: »

Just saw that now... 9th player moved to Sunderland:)


Hmm...

BEWARE SUNDERLAND IS HERE TO STAY!

It would be interesting to see if they do better than last year(12th i think?)

I wouldn't be surprised to see them move up a few places this season at the expense of Wigan, Middlesborough, West Ham etc. The additions are already making a big difference and players like Nosworthy and Collins have improved. Richardson seems to have gained alot of fitness and if consistencey can be brought to his game could make a much bigger impact this season too.

spav

SectionF wrote: »

Very happy for you and your 91 memories, but surely everyone knows that Sunderland before Quinn/Keane were nobodies in Ireland compared with the usual suspects, which are from places on the map such as Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds.
Good on Champion Sports selling Irish jerseys in Ireland (although a northsider wanting to buy a Sham jersey is just plain wrong :P). That's sound and natural, in the same way that people from Sunderland supporting Sunderland is sound and natural, and not part of a manufactured buzz.

It was 1992.

We were an old second division team then, our first ever season in the Premier League was 1996/97. We've yo-yo'd ever since, including breaking the lowest ever Premier League points on no less than two occasions.

Of course we were nobodies in Ireland - we were nobodies in everywhere other than Sunderland too.

During the 50s and 60s it was a different story though. We had some excellent times then, thanks to players that include Cork man Charlie Hurley. Possibly our greatest ever player, and the reason why a lot of Cork folk of a certain age have a lot of fondness for Sunderland.

You may also be aware that we beat Leeds in the 1973 FA Cup final. They were league champions, we were a second division strugglers. I hear many Irish fans followed Sunderland that day, probably because Leeds had a lot of Irish fans.

Sunderland's nobody status in Ireland is fleeting and sporadic.

SectionF

Draupnir wrote: »

Did I not just give a historical example that Sunderland weren't nobodies in Ireland before Quinn/Keane, whereas you just responded with personal opinion?

You gave an example of an isolated outbreak of Sunderland-loving the year of which you couldn't provide accurately. I put it in context.
I presume you are not suggesting that the club's support was of the order of that for the old reliables. That just doesn't wash.

LuckyLloyd

I think Ferdinand is a good signing for ye. He's not a superstar by any stretch of the imagination - but is solid at that level and significantly upgrades you in the weakest area of the squad.

With regards to the earlier comment about reserve players turning down moves elsewhere - this is a recurring point of irritation for me. Simply put, if as fans we always cry when a player shows little respect for a recently signed long term deal by agitating for a move elsewhere once a club he likes comes in for him - then I don't think we can or should complain when players do decide to stick around for the duration of their deal. It seems to me that football fans just want it their own way all the time and fail to think about things all that much.

spav

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I think Ferdinand is a good signing for ye. He's not a superstar by any stretch of the imagination - but is solid at that level and significantly upgrades you in the weakest area of the squad.

With regards to the earlier comment about reserve players turning down moves elsewhere - this is a recurring point of irritation for me. Simply put, if as fans we always cry when a player shows little respect for a recently signed long term deal by agitating for a move elsewhere once a club he likes comes in for him - then I don't think we can or should complain when players do decide to stick around for the duration of their deal. It seems to me that football fans just want it their own way all the time and fail to think about things all that much.

That's a good point.

Here's what I don't like though. James Milner signed a new contract at Newcastle recently. Today he puts in a transfer request. The club have therefore resign themselves to having to sell him, at a point that's way to close to the window closing to sign a replacement. Keane has presumably intimated a something of a reverse transfer request to certain players, but the club is powerless to force the players to move if they don't fancy it.

I'm all for contracts meaning something, but it seems the players (and their agents) hold all the power in that regard.

LuckyLloyd

spav wrote: »

That's a good point.

Here's what I don't like though. James Milner signed a new contract at Newcastle recently. Today he puts in a transfer request. The club have therefore resign themselves to having to sell him, at a point that's way to close to the window closing to sign a replacement. Keane has presumably intimated a something of a reverse transfer request to certain players, but the club is powerless to force the players to move if they don't fancy it.

I'm all for contracts meaning something, but it seems the players (and their agents) hold all the power in that regard.

Agree that either side of the coin on the matter is frustrating.

But if you would like the Milner / Ronaldo player power stuff to be negated to a large extent through greater enforcement of contract lengths - then one would have to respect players rights in choosing to stay even when the club tells them they are surplus to requirements.

I think the real problem these days is that the signing of contracts is kind of irrelevant in people's minds. Just as players believe they will be able to move when it suits them - clubs believe they will be able to move players on when they want to overhaul the club. Either side will have no problem disrespecting the signed document when they feel it is in their best interest.

King John V

According to the official website Paul McShane has officially joined Hull City on a season long loan. It'll be good for him to get regular game time especially with Anton Ferdinand likely to limit his chances on Wearside.

Fanny Cradock

Good stuff, I just hope it's in his contract that he has to play against Sunderland. They should be guaranteed a goal or two then.

King John V

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

They should be guaranteed a goal or two then.

Nope, he won't be able to play against them though.

Fanny Cradock

It looks as if Sunderland are to make their second signing from West Ham in a week and gain the services of George McCartney. Apparently they will be paying in and around the region of £6 million for a guy who left their club for West Ham in a deal worth £1 million and Clive Clarke (the guy who had a some manner of heart problems) in 2006. Not sure what to make of that. Still, if he shores up the defence it's a good move.

King John V

I think he'll be a good solid addition. They don't have any true LB at the club so he should be an upgrade on Collins and Bardsley (who struggled in that position against city). The posters on the West Ham fan forum rate him highly and he was runner up Hammer of the year last season (after Green). It seems the deal will be part-funded by Higginbotham going to Stoke for about £2m earlier this evening. I'm looking forward to to seeing the partnership with Anton.

Fanny Cradock

King John V wrote: »

I think he'll be a good solid addition. They don't have any true LB at the club so he should be an upgrade on Collins and Bardsley (who struggled in that position against city). The posters on the West Ham fan forum rate him highly and he was runner up Hammer of the year last season (after Green). It seems the deal will be part-funded by Higginbotham going to Stoke for about £2m earlier this evening. I'm looking forward to to seeing the partnership with Anton.

Yes, you would imagine that they would already have a good rapport.

King John V

I think a practice match is being arranged to help Anton regain fitness before Wigan in 2 weeks. There's a good depth forming in defence (although some will disagree after Sunday ):

Bardsley/Chimbonda....2 from Ferdinand/Collins/Nosworthy....McCartney

They need a good holding midfielder in the starting 11. Tainio was sorely missed for them against city. Whitehead also brings that more defensive balance to complement the more attacking players...Malbranque, Diouf etc. Evans would have added another level of organisation to the defence. It was a bad day for them when Pique went back to Barca. Still, there's plenty to look forward to after this window.

jaykay74

Keane quotes after last night. He doesn't do dull interviews :pac::pac:



A furious Keane said: 'I think everyone, players and supporters, just thought tonight we were going to win the game without trying, without sprinting.
'It's not like we are like Real Madrid where we can produce one bit of magic.


'The big plus for me since I have been here is our team works its socks off, but tonight, we started the game like it was going to be a walk in the park.
'It backfired, and it should have backfired a bit more. How we are in the next round, I will never, ever know.'
Asked where the night ranked in his career, Keane said: 'It is probably one of the worst.


'I have had some bad nights, bad days - doing my cruciate, sendings off, losing titles, losing cup games.
'This is certainly up there with them. I couldn't wait to see the back of tonight. It was a bad, bad night.


'Nobody could celebrate, even at the end of the penalty shoot-out. We should be praising Northampton tonight, not Sunderland.'

spav

This is Keane's full time email - I don't think he's best pleased!;

Dear Sunderland supporter,

It was a shambles of a night from start to finish.

The players and the fans just thought they could turn up and win a game of football, it doesn't happen, you have to run around, work hard.

I feel anger, frustration, disappointment - I could think of a few harsher words but you couldn't print them.

It was walking pace, the passing was awful, there was no running off the ball.

It was one of the longest nights I've ever had in my football career. I've done my cruciate, been sent off, lost titles, lost cups, but this is up there with them. I couldn't wait to see the back of it; it was a bad, bad night.

We started the game like it was going to be a walk in the park, we thought we could win the game without trying. My team normally works its socks off, not tonight.

How we are in the next round, I'll never know. It took us 86 minutes to get going. We can't keep getting out of jail like this. I can't think of any positives, non whatsoever, but credit to Northampton.

You look at my starting eleven - they should have been good enough to win it comfortably.

I regret not playing one or two of the younger players now, they would have done themselves no harm at all. But I brought in some international players and they should have been good enough.

One or two of them came to see me last week, saying they need to play games. Well, there you go, have a game, show me something. I don't think they will be coming to see me this week.

We should be praising Northampton tonight, not Sunderland.

I think Nyron [Nosworthy] has torn his hamstring.

Thanks for your support,

Roy Keane

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Steed Malbranque must be the most underrated player in the Premier League, can't believe Ramos let him go. Excellent piece of business by Royston. :cool:

Tyne-Wear derby is coming up. Can't wait!

Roddy23

Stokes is on the move, albeit on a 3 month loan to the Blades

spav

Roddy23 wrote: »

Stokes is on the move, albeit on a 3 month loan to the Blades

Good move for all concerned. If he discovers something close to his Falkirk form it'd be great to have him back firing on all cylinders for the second half of the season. If not, we'll have a much clearer view as to his limitations. It'll be an interesting few months regardless.

I personally don't think he'll make t at the top level, he has reasonable skill and good physical attributes, but no football brain. I'd love for him to prove me wrong though.

everdead.ie

spav wrote: »

I personally don't think he'll make t at the top level, he has reasonable skill and good physical attributes, but no football brain. I'd love for him to prove me wrong though.

Thats something you develop with experience look at all the players who only half a decade ago we're worth peanuts eg gareth barry, reo-coker or players bought before they had that experience that then struggled at big teams like brown and hargreaves it's only relatively recently these players have come to the fore. Give him a few more years and he could be a very exciting player.

leninbenjamin

*bump*

thought i'd revive this thread seeing as people are talking about Sunderland a lot these days, between the buyout, Bruce possibly taking over and where they'll spend their millions (maybe a mod could clean the titleto make it a general discussion thread ?).

anyway, the news of the day is: Short has completed his takeover, so he now has a 100% majority share. haven't heard how much he's forked over for this

United States businessman Ellis Short has taken total control of Sunderland.

Short has increased his 30% majority stake to 100% and bought out the Niall Quinn consortium which had taken over the Black Cats in 2006.

Quinn, who will continue as chairman, told the Sunderland website: "This is fantastic news for the club.

"As long as we invest the funds wisely, he will continue to provide the financial muscle necessary to compete at the highest level."

Short, a Texas-based private equity tycoon, became the biggest investor in the Black Cats in September 2008.

Quinn, a former Black Cats striker, said: "I first met Ellis at the Ryder Cup in 2006 and he was immediately interested in the Sunderland story. He caught the football bug following his move to the UK 10 years ago.

"Even before today he has personally invested more in Sunderland than all previous chairmen, directors and owners combined."

The move by Short makes Sunderland the fourth Premier League club to have US owners, joining Manchester United, Liverpool and Aston Villa.

at face value anyway he's certainly seemed like some with good intentions for the club. we'll get to see over the summer to what degree that is true.