Gus sends us all a letter, and there hasn’t been a game.

Man of the Moment
Man of the Moment

John McCormick writes: There have been quite a few posts forecasting doom on this site recently, and some quite critical comments relating to our manager. It’s not just his team selection, strategy and tactics which have been questioned but also his communication, with the press, the fans, maybe the players. In particular, his post match comments and e-mails have led to raised eyebrows, and now we have an open letter to the fans.

What are we to make of this? I’m not the best placed to comment.


After all, I don’t know just how much pressure is being heaped on Gus. I’m out of it by about a hundred miles. No Evening Chronicle, no Northern or Sunderland Echo, no Look North and Mike Neville. All I have to go on is second hand reports of what the manager has said, mainly through this site and ALS, direct comments from the people who post on this site, and the post match e-mail Gus sends out.

I’m inclined to disregard such sources. I don’t intend to give offence but that’s a very small constituency. On a good day we might get 1,000 hits on this site, not all from SAFC supporters. We might get a dozen comments in respect of a post, and looking at comments over time we find a small group of people generate most of them. With regard to the post-match e-mail, does anyone think this is a well-reasoned, deeply reflective analysis of the game?

My conclusion is I’m getting a distorted picture of what’s going on. Nevertheless, I can’t ignore comments from people like Pete Sixsmith and Sobs on ALS. When they say something’s wrong I have to believe them, besides which, I can read the league table.

So is the manager’s open letter symptomatic of something wrong with him, with the club, with the players? Or is the letter symptomatic of a fragmenting relations ship with the fans? To my mind they deserve a bit of credit for turning up in their thousands, week in week out, but I do note Wrinkly Pete frequently uses this site to ask them to sing their hearts out for the lads; maybe they could do better. But, and I risk repeating myself, I don’t know.

Whatever it is, I find the boss’s letter worrying. Am I right to be worried? I’ve already referred to Wrinkly Pete; his most recent post could stand as a reply to Gus. What do the other members of the Salut Community think? You might be a small constituency but you’re an important one


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3 thoughts on “Gus sends us all a letter, and there hasn’t been a game.”

  1. It’s points we need Gus . It’s welcome that you genuinely feel the need to explain yourself and galvanise support and club together but we live and die by results . If we keep out of the bottom three I think Short will give him time , if we go under the water line than Gus’ time will be up . Ellis Short isnt daft , I think he realises that Poyet has had to build a team on fumes and was Rodwell even he’s signing ? Bridcutt and Buckley most certainly were and Rodwell will come good , but 10 million worth of good , I don’t know . Defoe for Altidore was a master stroke ,but its not all about who you have or haven’t signed its about getting them to play as a team and win games . I can handle the boredom if the points are adding up but at present they’re not and that needs to change ,starting today .

  2. He’s entitled to say what he wants and given the recent comments he’s made it can hardly do any harm. I’ve never questioned Poyet’s effort, determination or sincerity, although much of his reign has been subject to scrutiny for other football related shortcomings.

    Poyet has not been backed by the owner. For a club which is apparently the 27th richest in the world our net spending on players, as a club struggling in the table is nothing short of embarrassing.

    All that said he has to do better than languishing within spitting distance of the drop zone. If he can’t then he will have to go. Lose tomorrow and gone and it’s prayers he’ll need and not letters to the Echo.

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