Sunderland

Plan A’s disintegrated but at least Sunderland can move on to Plan B

by
Paul Summerside sees reason and maybe even hope in the Grayson option

See club statement on Simon Grayson’s appointment as manager at this link

Paul Summerside went on strike last season, boycotting games because Sunderland were persisting with David Moyes. He senses a lot of underwhelmed reaction from supports to the approach to Simon Grayson but feels he is not only a potentially sound choice, but maybe the only one open to us …

Well it would seem Ellis Short’s Plan A to asset strip, lean down and sell on, in order to recoup the majority of his investment, is a non-starter.
Was it ever a starter?

Certainly not at £90 million.

Now to Plan B. Get the club stabilised and then promoted (in order to carry out plan A).

Read more

As talks on selling Sunderland collapse, are things at last looking rosier?

by
On sale now, June 29

So we have reached June 29, the retail launch of the new and controversial home kit (I still like the front, hate the back) and a time of the summer when all the big or ambitious clubs, and most of the ones that are neither, are well advanced in preparing for the coming season.

All except us. At least, that was the case until just now.

Talks on selling the club have collapsed, Ellis Short is staying as owner and moves are afoot to bring Simon Grayson from PNE as manager,

UPDATE:
See club statement on Simon Grayson’s appointment as manager at this link

Read more

From tumult to torpor: could Sunderland finally burst into action?

by
Jake: ‘any chance of some positive news, Ellis?’

For Sunderland supporters, the close season has been one big mess. Going down had been unpleasant, all the more so because of the passive, passionless way we embraced relegation.

Losing the manager, David Moyes, was disruptive but perhaps no huge hardship; his negative outlook had made him an unpopular figure from far too early in his reign. But since? Jordan’s gone, Jermain’s going, Borini and Kone look for ways out and others may well follow, Ellis Short wants out too and still, five weeks on, no replacement for Moyes. Things could finally start to move this week, with possible new German owners and, just maybe, a quick and exciting (Klinsmann, or is that altogether too ambitious?) managerial appointment.

Here is one neutral assessment of where we are …

Read more

Graham Noble RIP: an adopted SAFC fan who lived up to the surname

by

Monsieur Salut mourns the passing of a much-loved friend, former colleague and occasional occupant of Sunderland away ends …

It has been a rotten time as far as bereavement is concerned. My next door neighbour in France, seemingly fit as a fiddle when he came round for drinks nine months ago, fell ill soon after I returned to the UK and died a couple of weeks ago.

Vin Garbutt, one of my favourite folk singers (he was much more than that: a great wit, writer and man) died earlier this month.

And all of us, all of us who are civilised I mean, grieve for those who perish in such appalling disasters as the Grenfell Tower fire or are killed by terrorist toerags (except when they manage to kill only themselves or be killed, as in Paris and Brussels this week).

And now, my own former colleague and friend Graham Noble has passed away.

Read more

Salut! Sunderland’s ‘state of the club’ poll closes tonight

by

[polldaddy poll=9771633][polldaddy poll=9771633]

The poll has had a good run and has now closed. The final vote updates the fugures you see below and is shown in each case in brackets as well as on the poll image.

As you see, the question was whether, between them, Ellis Short and Martin Bain were – with their wretched dithering – destroying any hope of an immediate return to the Premier League.

It remains to be seen whether, with the withdrawal of the fans’ consortium, a deal is quickly struck with the German suitors who are decidedly not fans having previously wanted Hull City and, for all we know, keeping other clubs in their sights if negotiations with SAFC fall through. If they do buy us out, Monsieur Salut sincerely hopes they are not fans, either, of the latest name in the managerial hat – a certain Mr Pardew.

Read more

The Championship cometh: we start with Derby, end with Wolverhampton

by
Sixer: ‘can I just lick ice cream instead of fretting about the season ahead?’

Monsieur Salut writes: so now we know the who and the when of our Championship opponents for the coming season. We haven’t the faintest idea who will be managing Sunderland, owning Sunderland or playing for Sunderland except that – news update – it won’t apparently be Fulwell73, but the fixtures list doesn’t wait for such trivialities to be resolved. I believe we’re entitled to reproduce the full list these days and will do so in due course. For now, Pete Sixsmith casts an entertaining eye over the good, the bad and the ugly of the season to come – and it’s here in full at the Sunderland Echo site …

The fixtures have arrived. We know where we are going and when. We can start to plan our holidays (a week in Barnsley anyone?) and decide which trips are do-able (Sheffield United on Boxing Day) and which aren’t (Ipswich Town on a Tuesday night – [who are these clowns to allow such a thing – Ed?].

Read more

Already given up on SAFC promotion? Have your say in our poll

by

[polldaddy poll=9771633]

Even before the lamentable SAFC club statement on the bleak farce of the supposed attempts to sign a manager, Pete Sixsmith had – with customary eloquence and gallows humour – captured the miserable state of affairs with his piece entitled “The comic opera that is SAFC just now“.

Then came the extraordinary statement announcing that Ellis Short’s business affairs, specifically his desire to sell the club, were holding up an appointment.

“Thanks for utterly wasting my time,” Derek McInnes must have been thinking.

Read more

Sunderland AFC: truly a wretched state of affairs

by
Jake: ‘what a way to run a football club!’

Monsieur Salut writes: in case anyone wondered why Derek McInnes, and frankly any other self-respecting candidate for the long-vacant position of SAFC manager, might be tempted to run a mile …

Do we blame Ellis Short? Probably. Do we also ask whether Martin Bain is completely clueless, or a victim of corporate folly? Either way, perhaps the least welcome phone call in football is currently the one from Bain asking whether you’re interested in managing Sunderland. What in God’s name are they doing to our club?

Here is the club’s statement today. I repeat it without further comment, but invite yours:

Read more

Jordan Pickford: a fond farewell and good luck at Everton

by
Jake: ‘thanks, Jordan and good luck’


We knew it was happening and have said as much here. So let’s just record, via the two clubs’ websites, the confirmed departure of Jordan Pickford for Everton. From us? A simple message of good luck – and gratitude for what he did and tried to do for the club we – and he – love.

Read more