Just got back from Belgium........

having been to the Antwerp and Gent games and to be fair I have to say I was expecting it to be a laid back affair. It was anything but at the matches!!! At Antwerp I genuinely thought there was a good 90 - 95% of people who were against Reid. As far as I could here the players did not receive any stick, the only criticism was aimed at the management staff.

Everyone has heard about what happened at Gent with regards Kilbane and his fingers, and the fan running onto the pitch. Now, I believe that attending a friendly, a game when there is nothing at stake, represents as good a time as any to protest about the current state of the club. I, and me mates who went to Belgium, want Reid to go. We have had enough of the shite football we have been witnessed over the past 20 months. We believe if changes aren't made relegation is far too realistic a possibility.

We tried to remain positive going to the game, it's hard at times, but after 20 mins, Reid out, where's the money gone, and we could well be going down, songs were being sung by us. A good number of people sat near us did not like this one bit. Comments such as "Get behind the team" "Why do you come here" "go and sit somewhere else" "you shit, I've supported this team for 40 years, and this is the best it's been" amongst many others were directed towards us. A number of these people were extremely aggressive in putting their point over. I tried to reason with a couple, but they were not willing to listen.

I've heard comments that some Sunderland fans were behaving like drunken thugs and morons. If these comments were directed at us, that is something I resent greatly. Me and me mates are Sunderland daft, it kills us to see our one opportunity for something great to happen at this club being wasted. We just want what is best for our team. Can those that are pro-Reid not realise this? When we pay thousands of pounds following our team, are constantly lied to by the club, are we not allowed to voice our dissatisfaction at the people in charge of SAFC?

Evidently not. I for one will now just attend games, I'm not opening me gob if I'm going to receive the stick I got last night. If we don't sign anyone by the transfer deadline, I'm not going to complain. If the Mags and Boro stuff us 5-0 each I won't say anything, and will happily read the fantastic??? copy of the Legion of Light which will inform us that everthing is rosy at.

Another thing that upsets me is that there are a number of Sunderland fans (normally behind Reid), who have no time for anybody's opinion if they have not supported the club for at least 40 years. They are not even prepared to listen, and seemingly look down on you. I've supported Sunderland for 20 years. The football on the whole in that time has been terrible, but what I've seen recently (past season) is certainly not the best. To be honest I can't ever remember being as bored at matches as what I was last season.

Shit, this is quite long. But basically all fans of Sunderland want the best for the team, people should respect people's opinions, and lets not spend the season slagging each other off. It's our team.

FTM

A fair point You pays yer money and deserve a good product


Get ready Thursday or Friday will be your signing day

A new face a new dilemma

Excellent post and defo straight from the heart.
However I refuse to call Reid until he is giving the chance to fail at top level.
If he get's a chance and fails then I am with you.
As you are a long term fan ,and a absolute fanatic, do you think that any manager will succeed under the present boards policies?

FTM,

welcome to the bored, sorry board :wink:

I reckon pre season is the best time to voice opinions, however if Reidy uses his bag of tricks (cant believe i just said that :wink: ) then I believe he should be given a shot of whisky in the last chance saloon. whadyareckon

[cook]

ftm, if u want to voice your disproval, you voice your disproval!
and if ppl that have supported the club for 40 years arent mature enuff to listen to other opinions then thats there problem.
i admire u for goin to belgium. and ure right, if u pay shit loads to watch shit, u are damn right able to have a go at the management, i bloody kno i would! i havent supported the club as much as u lot (only a few years), but i am just as passionate as any other fan, and it hurts me to see us now. i thought wembley hurted well this is hurting more.

cook

Originally Posted by cook

ftm, if u want to voice your disproval, you voice your disproval!
and if ppl that have supported the club for 40 years arent mature enuff to listen to other opinions then thats there problem.
i admire u for goin to belgium. and ure right, if u pay shit loads to watch shit, u are damn right able to have a go at the management, i bloody kno i would! i havent supported the club as much as u lot (only a few years), but i am just as passionate as any other fan, and it hurts me to see us now. i thought wembley hurted well this is hurting more.

cook

Plenty more hurt to come for you young sir!!.
Still good to see youre gettin as wound as some of the elder talisman :wink:

[quopaul]

At a risk of sounding like a liberal, I do not agree with your views on Peter Reid leaving the club, but I will defend your right to say it. I do not like the team criticised during important matches, but having spent plenty money going to follow the team on a pre-season tour, you are entitled to make your feelings clear.

In the last 18 months performances, on the whole,have been inadequate (to say the least). Some of the blame for that lies with Peter Reid, but some of it lies with injuries. The quick answer is (I have heard several times) that it is his job to make sure we have the sqaud to cover for that. The fact is, that in the current climate it is not quite that simple.

We are not a rich club, and cannot afford to have the size of squads kept by the likes of Man. U., Arsenal, etc. But we are a sensibly run club, and have not gone into the level of debt currently being experienced by Chelsea, Leeds and Newcastle. The bottom has fallen out of football, worldwide, and it is only a matter of time before a major player goes to the wall. It will not be Manchester United, or Arsenal with their massive worldwide fan bases. It will be a club at the level below that who have outreached themselves. Newcastle almost went a few years ago. It was only the threats of certain board members to Newcastle City Council and a large bank that they would turn Newcastle fans against them that kept that club surviving.

When this SKY deal runs out, the next one will be nowhere near the 1bn paid this time around. That deal was struck at a time when there was serious competition to SKY. NTL, ITV digital, etc have now disappeared from whence they came, leaving Mr Murdochs team as the only real player in the game. With no one to outbid, will he be pulling out all the stops for the "good of the game". I don't think so.

Fiorentina have just been relegated 2 divisions for failure to manage their accounts properly. The rest of the Italian league is in turmoil. The story is the same around Europe. Clubs have got to start practising sensible accounting, or we will be following suit in a couple of years time.

I would settle for being a middle of the table club for the next couple of seasons if it means we will have a future thereafter.

Just wrote another long reply to wtdog's question, but deleted the bugger!!
Bollocks. Basically tho the frustrating thing is that nobody fully knows who is to blame. However, I look at Reid's signings last season. Terrible. I look at the farcical situation with Nunez, him insisting on playing 4-5-1 last season when it clearly wasn't working, him falling out with players and refusing to make to make up with them, then being completely incapable of replacing them, him being pissed when working for the BBC after the Argentina game last season (terrible example to set to players), him employing drinking buddies to form his backroom staff, him coming out with the same comment after every defeat last season "we'll just have to work harder on the training groun", jesus that wound me up shit-loads last season. I could go on.

I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong, and for Reid to go and get a couple of class players, and get us into Europe, but I just don't think it will happen. I just think we need a new manager in order for us to progress onto the next stage.

[NorthCountryBoy]

Brilliant post. Make it Gold, Admin.

FTM, stick to your guns. Not too many were shouting us down in the second half last night, the tide has turned. Reid Out.

Originally Posted by quopaul

At a risk of sounding like a liberal, I do not agree with your views on Peter Reid leaving the club, but I will defend your right to say it. I do not like the team criticised during important matches, but having spent plenty money going to follow the team on a pre-season tour, you are entitled to make your feelings clear.

In the last 18 months performances, on the whole,have been inadequate (to say the least). Some of the blame for that lies with Peter Reid, but some of it lies with injuries. The quick answer is (I have heard several times) that it is his job to make sure we have the sqaud to cover for that. The fact is, that in the current climate it is not quite that simple.

We are not a rich club, and cannot afford to have the size of squads kept by the likes of Man. U., Arsenal, etc. But we are a sensibly run club, and have not gone into the level of debt currently being experienced by Chelsea, Leeds and Newcastle. The bottom has fallen out of football, worldwide, and it is only a matter of time before a major player goes to the wall. It will not be Manchester United, or Arsenal with their massive worldwide fan bases. It will be a club at the level below that who have outreached themselves. Newcastle almost went a few years ago. It was only the threats of certain board members to Newcastle City Council and a large bank that they would turn Newcastle fans against them that kept that club surviving.

When this SKY deal runs out, the next one will be nowhere near the 1bn paid this time around. That deal was struck at a time when there was serious competition to SKY. NTL, ITV digital, etc have now disappeared from whence they came, leaving Mr Murdochs team as the only real player in the game. With no one to outbid, will he be pulling out all the stops for the "good of the game". I don't think so.

Fiorentina have just been relegated 2 divisions for failure to manage their accounts properly. The rest of the Italian league is in turmoil. The story is the same around Europe. Clubs have got to start practising sensible accounting, or we will be following suit in a couple of years time.

I would settle for being a middle of the table club for the next couple of seasons if it means we will have a future thereafter.

Pretty well sums up the reality facing SAFC and football in general. :|