RR EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Methven discusses Sunderland’s investment, transfer window & scouting plans



The lads were joined on the Podcast by Charlie Methven and Academy of Light manager Paul Reid to answer as many of your questions as possible. You can listen for FREE on Acast, iTunes, Spotify, & YouTube - get stuck in. What are we talking about? Well... The Academy, the SAFC youth sides, roles within the club and...

More at Roker Report...
 
rocky said:
You've clearly not read what I posted.
18 month later we decide we need a scouting system. It should have been a priority from day one. Here we are now with a poor squad that has cost more than any other squad in the division. I get cost cutting needed to happen in certain areas. Scouting should not have been one of those areas. You may be happy it's happening now, I'm not. It should have been happening from day one.

Absolute nonsense that mate. We all want us doing well. I have huge concerns about the people in charge and voicing those concerns doesn't mean I hope they fail.
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I read what you posted, I just disagree.

From day one their priority was stripping everything back to bare bones. The existing scouting system needed chucking out and starting again because it was a:shit (we weren't exactly getting loads of great players in before SD/CM arrived were we?) and b: were taking the piss with their expenses.

We absolutely should not have kept those wasters in jobs just for the sake of it. They had to go.

Having got rid, and having steadied the ship at the same time, we've now got additional investment that's allowing us to put an extensive new system in place. That is a big job that has taken time to plan and is now being put into operation.

This is all positive news.

If you think it should have been there earlier, then complain about it earlier and celebrate that it has now happened. Don't wait until the problem is fixed before complaining that we had a problem.
 
stevo said:
Well why are people wailing and knashing of teeth.Facts are whether people like it or not especially now investment is here these owners will be here for a while yet.So page after page stating the same vitriolic shit is not going to change any thing at moment.Now if after 31st jan things havnt changed i will join the escapees from ryhope .
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Investment isn’t here is it? We have a loan or our holding company have a loan.
 
stevo said:
Also me,we are all sick at the moment,i feel that a number of people on here are worried they will turn it round in jan.
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Pathetic comment ! A few posters on here are more PR for this shambles than CM is !
fyl2u said:
I read what you posted, I just disagree.

From day one their priority was stripping everything back to bare bones. The existing scouting system needed chucking out and starting again because it was a:shit (we weren't exactly getting loads of great players in before SD/CM arrived were we?) and b: were taking the piss with their expenses.

We absolutely should not have kept those wasters in jobs just for the sake of it. They had to go.

Having got rid, and having steadied the ship at the same time, we've now got additional investment that's allowing us to put an extensive new system in place. That is a big job that has taken time to plan and is now being put into operation.

This is all positive news.

If you think it should have been there earlier, then complain about it earlier and celebrate that it has now happened. Don't wait until the problem is fixed before complaining that we had a problem.
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You happy with the quality of the people they've brought in to run very critical areas of the club ?
 
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sksk3021 said:
Listening to the podcast now and it’s quite difficult to assess, they don’t get any challenge on anything they are saying. A lot of which is disputable at best.
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@Cack Stottie

Why don’t you change your approach.
You knew the fans would react in this way.
Don’t get me wrong I love what you do.
But Haway!! If your going to do it - do it right!
 
Even the interviewers are so out of touch in regards to the U23s.

Charlie saying we are sending our best U23s on loan - the only one which is acceptable is jack diamond not Hackett and hunter to South Shields and whitby.


And this makes me think even more kildaremackem is Charlie with his answers.
 
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Tin Soldier said:
You happy with the quality of the people they've brought in to run very critical areas of the club ?
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As a fan who doesn't get to see anything that goes on behind the scenes, I feel I'm in no position to judge whether or not the right people are in the right jobs in these "critical areas".

As far as I'm concerned this is one aspect of the club where I just have to trust those in charge are hiring who they consider to be the right people.

I'm not there reading the CVs of those who have applied or those of people we might want to tempt away from their existing clubs. I'm not there in the interviews listening to the applicants speak, able to judge how qualified, how interested any of the people are that we're considering for these jobs, or whether their vision for the department fits what we're looking for.

When there's so much we don't know, it makes no sense to me to get angry about it. I'd just be getting angry at a situation I've invented in my own head that might bear absolutely no resemblance to reality at all.
 
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On Tour said:
@Cack Stottie

Why don’t you change your approach.
You knew the fans would react in this way.
Don’t get me wrong I love what you do.
But Haway!! If your going to do it - do it right!
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It’s not really a massive criticism it’s very difficult to do well. I still enjoy listening, just a few times I found myself being quite frustrated as they said things that I don’t think are true or required elaboration.
 
Poor really. Dont find paul reids bit but methven can seriously fuck off. Such a condecending twat.
Also yes questions were asked but nothing was challenged, just allowed charlie to control the entire interview for his pov
 
sksk3021 said:
It’s not really a massive criticism it’s very difficult to do well. I still enjoy listening, just a few times I found myself being quite frustrated as they said things that I don’t think are true or required elaboration.
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I agree. It’s positive criticism.

At the end of the day we’re all fans here.
We all want what’s best for the club.
It’s just feedback from the fans so @Cack Stottie can take note & hopefully adjust his/their interviewing methods accordingly.
 
fyl2u said:
As a fan who doesn't get to see anything that goes on behind the scenes, I feel I'm in no position to judge whether or not the right people are in the right jobs in these "critical areas".

As far as I'm concerned this is one aspect of the club where I just have to trust those in charge are hiring who they consider to be the right people.

I'm not there reading the CVs of those who have applied or those of people we might want to tempt away from their existing clubs. I'm not there in the interviews listening to the applicants speak, able to judge how qualified, how interested any of the people are that we're considering for these jobs, or whether their vision for the department fits what we're looking for.

When there's so much we don't know, it makes no sense to me to get angry about it. I'd just be getting angry at a situation I've invented in my own head that might bear absolutely no resemblance to reality at all.
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Applicants ? Mates in some cases. You believe Parkinson was an outstanding candidate ? How any fan isn't angry about what they're seeing where it matters on the pitch and the appalling attitude and application of the squad beggars belief. The board have decided to distance themselves from the majority of fans they courted when they arrived. The 'threats and abuse' weren't from the hardcore majority fan base, simply from the social media wankers who exist if you decide to use that medium of communication. It's a convenient excuse to hide now the going has got tough.
 
fyl2u said:
I read what you posted, I just disagree.

From day one their priority was stripping everything back to bare bones. The existing scouting system needed chucking out and starting again because it was a:shit (we weren't exactly getting loads of great players in before SD/CM arrived were we?) and b: were taking the piss with their expenses.

We absolutely should not have kept those wasters in jobs just for the sake of it. They had to go.

Having got rid, and having steadied the ship at the same time, we've now got additional investment that's allowing us to put an extensive new system in place. That is a big job that has taken time to plan and is now being put into operation.

This is all positive news.

If you think it should have been there earlier, then complain about it earlier and celebrate that it has now happened. Don't wait until the problem is fixed before complaining that we had a problem.
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Agree with Rocky. It shouldn’t have taken 18 months to start putting the Scouting back in place.

And this extensive overhaul? Tony Coton who has presided over 3 poor transfer windows, Hill, Reid and a Scandinavian scout who worked with Coton at Villa. He mentions one working in the Midlands (another Coton link) and someone else who might come in.

I just personally don’t have any trust that this lot are the “best we can be”. Charlie’s own words when he took over
 
HeroHurley said:
What a crock of shit this is and I'm only 10-15 minutes in. @Cack Stottie I appreciate that you take time out to do these podcasts but if you are going to do such interviews, stop letting likes of Metheven walking all over you and dictating the way the interview. When he answers a question, ask him to expand, hold him accountable. The bloke is a charlatan.
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I think that might be a bit harsh. Again, these podcasts are totally voluntary on behalf of the club, if RR go on like Jeremy Paxman the club will simply stop doing them and we'll get nowt. I did think this was a bit of a "soft" podcast, and the interviewer was a bit full of the "good point Charlie, completely agree Charlie, oh when you put it like that Charlie" but maybe the kid gloves were partly because Donald has stepped away from doing them so they didn't want this one to be confrontational or else it might be the last one they get. You can argue whether they're worth it at all if they're going to be a PR exercise but you still get some good stuff out of it.

I would say fair play to Paul Reid mind, I'm sure being asked to come on a podcast in the current situation is probably well out of his comfort zone and I thought he answered well considering and explained things as well as he could without ever sounding condescending. Most in his role probably never have to come and address the fans and likely feel they're defending their role so I have a lot of respect for him doing it.

I even thought the Methven comments about how the investment will be spent was better when listening to it than it read in the quotes. It didn't sound like he was saying that's what the investment is for, it was more about how we've had to cut things back so some other stuff has been left a bit and that this is the point we can now start addressing it all.

We'll have to see what actually happens, how we do in January, how Parkinson gets the side playing, the further details about the fan experience stuff will be interesting much though we all know what happens on the pitch is the important bit. It was a soft, slightly PR driven podcast, but I thought it was interesting enough. Being honest I prefer hearing from Methven, there's a bit more clarity there than you get from Donald
 
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I thought it was a good listen.
The only bit I didn’t like was Charlie pointing out that all Sunderland owners have been abused, rather than all owners of all clubs. You are always going to get dick heads having a go. It’s always been unacceptable but it’s now even harder to limit that voice due to social media.
Listening to the reasons for the poor results at u18s and 23s seemed reasonable.
Agreed it’s taken too long to sort out a scouting network. But I’m not if the opinion our recruitment has been a total disaster either.
 
Tin Soldier said:
Applicants ? Mates in some cases. You believe Parkinson was an outstanding candidate ? How any fan isn't angry about what they're seeing where it matters on the pitch and the appalling attitude and application of the squad beggars belief. The board have decided to distance themselves from the majority of fans they courted when they arrived. The 'threats and abuse' weren't from the hardcore majority fan base, simply from the social media wankers who exist if you decide to use that medium of communication. It's a convenient excuse to hide now the going has got tough.
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After hearing CM talk about the process that went into hiring a new manager, I'm content that they hired the person that they perceived to be the best candidate.

When it comes down to it, it doesn't matter who they hired, someone on here would be unhappy about it. Personally I would have been unhappy if they'd given it to Phillips, whereas quite a number of posters were crying out for us to hire him. The same can be said of every realistic candidate. According to CM in that podcast, not only did Parkinson have three promotions from this division under his belt as well as having kept Colchester punching two divisions above their weight in the Championship and Bolton managing to stay up despite a two year transfer embargo, but also when they spoke to people who have worked with him in various different capacities, the references were overwhelmingly positive, to the extent where CM says he's "never seen such a unanimous positive set of references for someone they were thinking of hiring for any position".

That's a good enough explanation for me for why they hired him. If all that is true, and I have no reason to suspect otherwise, then I probably would have hired him too, even though he wasn't even on my radar before we hired him.

With regard to threats and abuse, again CM explains in the podcast that it's not just the abuse and threats, it's the unpleasantness and the aggression with which people were talking to them. As he says, questioning them is absolutely fine, but if someone's asking questions in an aggressive and unpleasant manner, that's something different entirely.

I can completely relate, having found myself on the wrong end of unpleasantness and aggression on here myself. Hell, I'm no angel myself, I've been unpleasant and aggressive to people on here myself, and it's something I'm ashamed of and am trying to correct but I'm aware I haven't fully shaken the habit yet. I'd like to think that any other people on here who have also been guilty of it will at some point go through the same thought process, but I fear that for some it's a level of self-examination they're probably not capable of. Their aggression and unpleasantness is just innate.

I've also found myself wondering at times whether I should just stay off this forum, as the vast majority of the time it doesn't make me happy to be here. At the moment there are still a slack handful of posters that I enjoy engaging with, and that keeps me here, but I have to say at the moment it seems like there are quite a lot more people on here that I don't want to engage with than there are people I do want to engage with. Perhaps one day I'll reach tipping point and just stop coming here. I don't think that day is far off if things continue on here the way they have been recently.

As such, I have no problem with SD staying away from social media, and it makes me sad that SD feels like he doesn't want to be in the stadium on matchdays at the moment because of the way people have been interacting with him. Hopefully they manage to turn things around to the point where he feels comfortable coming back at some point soon. I certainly don't see it as "convenient", whatever that means. If attending means he gets grief that he wouldn't get from not attending, then maybe staying away is his best option. It doesn't exactly make me proud to be a fan when our chairman feels that way though.

With regard to the on-field performances and the squad, of course I'm not happy. Of course I want to see improvement. That can't happen until January though, and CM has stated that he and SD already planned to back Parkinson in the January window before the new investment came in, so it has no bearing on that plat whatsoever. So, if money is available to strengthen the squad in January, why get angry that money is also available to improve the facilities and scouting network? It makes no sense to me at all.
 
Sounds like it’s a matter of time before they take the academy to a cat 2 or cat 3. “We’d still have an academy and still be producing players at cat 3”. Absolutely terrifying the direction they are taking this club.
 

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