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Brighton, Fulham, Bournemouth, Brentford

Think PL mid table is our 'glass ceiling' like.

Ridiculously hard to achieve, but get there and youd like to think wed have the odd good season pushing top 8, then ofcourse the odd bad season dropping downna bit.

Most clubs in that area are only a bad transfer window or two away from battling relegation.
Maybe but they are light years ahead of us financially. It’s not about match day revenue, and to be fair we’re cheap in terms of prices and poor on corporate so probably aren’t ahead of their smaller grounds in any case, it’s about commercials. We just aren’t very good at selling the club sadly.

Ever since the Saudis took over Newcastle their clubs PR has been in overdrive, especially on social media.

If/when we get back to the prem we really need to be taking a leaf out of their book and capitilising on the extra exposure. If we cant sell tickets at top dollar then atleast expand our reach and try to increase merchandise sales, which tbf i think were making moves in that, if we can atleast get the stock in 🤣.
 
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Top 6 championship
I think that's about right.
We all like to have our bellies tickled about being a big club, it's really in the distant past.
Amazing crowds aren't getting Sunderland into the top division.
Geography has been a factor since Thatcher's realignment of the north.
It has accelerated with the arrival of foreign players who would rather be within easy distance of London than the East Durham coastline.
 
I think the later few years at Roker, low position in the 2nd Division, I think I recall about 10-12 thousand 🤔

*might have been a cold and wet Tuesday night ❄️
I think Ipswich in a cup might have been close one f***ing arctic Tuesday night under the early days or reidy. Still think it broke 12 k that night never been as cold in my life. Those who never experienced roker on a cold night and moan about the Sol being cold don’t know they’re born like.
 
I think Ipswich in a cup might have been close one f***ing arctic Tuesday night under the early days or reidy. Still think it broke 12 k that night never been as cold in my life. Those who never experienced roker on a cold night and moan about the Sol being cold don’t know they’re born like.

I can remember once, I came over from Australia for Christmas 🎄
leaving Sydney 35°c 🌞 to a bleak artic like North of England ❄️

Went to Roker and stood in the paddock, in very small crowd and can still remember how cold it was, I had three coats on and a couple of pairs of pants.... and was still freezing 🥶 😫
The brilliant green pitch under the lights was a nice memory....NFI who we were playing or the score 😞

*the good old days 🤣🤣
 
I don't think we will even become a stable bottom prem side. Years of just missing out on promotion or yo-yoing await I fear.
 
What an absolute mess the game has become, the best we're hoping for is maybes the top half of the table based upon commercial revenue, not support.

I'd rather nail my knackers to the mast of a sinking ship than think that was enjoyable.

I wish the country owned clubs will naff off to their euro-super league and let us have our game back.

I want clubs, not tourist attraction businesses.
 
I don't think location is everything except when it comes to more well known names.

The PL is basically a global league, we get into it and suddenly we can take players from bigger clubs outside the PL. Start scouting the whole world for players and very few young, ambitious players would turn down a PL club regardless of where they are.
 
I think Ipswich in a cup might have been close one f***ing arctic Tuesday night under the early days or reidy. Still think it broke 12 k that night never been as cold in my life. Those who never experienced roker on a cold night and moan about the Sol being cold don’t know they’re born like.
I was one of the 9398 when we lost our final match (Ipswich) of the 84-85 season.
 
I don't think location is everything except when it comes to more well known names.

The PL is basically a global league, we get into it and suddenly we can take players from bigger clubs outside the PL. Start scouting the whole world for players and very few young, ambitious players would turn down a PL club regardless of where they are.
It isn’t like you say it’s about money, the mags and boro have done well in modern times attracting “names” it’s only ever on here do I read it as an excuse. Obviously if Man City or Chelsea are after a player that a north east side is then you’d have thought they’d chose them but in the end players will largely go where the money is.
 
Maybe but they are light years ahead of us financially. It’s not about match day revenue, and to be fair we’re cheap in terms of prices and poor on corporate so probably aren’t ahead of their smaller grounds in any case, it’s about commercials. We just aren’t very good at selling the club sadly.

That's the thing. Despite our good crowds, the cheap tickets that drive these crowds mean that they don't really give us any sort of financial advantage.

For example our last set of accounts show we generated £11.6m in gate receipts and Middlesbrough who average around 25k generated £10.9m.
Mags spending 450 million to win a trophy shows money is important
However if you are clever and recruit well Brentford ect can be done again in a budget ?
I prefer our model
Recruitment is key and developing young talent
The huge spenders will always have an advantage but you can compete if you have a plan
It’s why their “ victory “ at our place was not the usual devastation
They bought the win and not a level playing field like the 6 in a row

I was devastated like! No Sunderland fan can't be completely gutted at getting beat off them. Especially at home.

We didn't turn up at all. Just stood back and admired them. At least if we'd had kept hold of Mowbray a bit longer he would have understood what the match meant, made sure the players did as well, and we would have at least competed. Probably would have lost anyway but we'd have made a game of it. Beale as good as threw the game.
 
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Don't think we could do it with KLD alone. He'd need huge investment from new partners or to sell the club on to someone far happier to spend big, or a consortium that would want to see some gravitas in having club that's comfortable trading blows in the league.

Sadly, even those clubs mentioned have spent the kind of money on players we've never seen at our club, even when we were in the Premier League, with a big billionaire.

Get the recruitment/scouting departments right, and they'll pull up a few gems at a low level of funding, but ultimately, you do have to pay for ready made talent to just keep you in that league, nevermind sit comfortably in it. I feel that's where our next big step would be for the owner, if we were to achieve promotion.
 
It's harder than ever now. You have got the big 5 and Spurs who are always going to be able to spend more than anyone on transfers and wages due to PSR rules, even if they have a bad season they will eventually get it right due to the PSR advantages they have over everyone .

After that you have the likes of Newcastle , Villa, Forest and Brighton who are at a huge disadvantage to them 6 clubs due to PSR but due to excellent management and recruitment they have been able to challenge the status quo recently. That's already half the league mentioned before you even get to the likes of Brentford and Bournemouth.
 
I was devastated like! No Sunderland fan can't be completely gutted at getting beat off them. Especially at home.

We didn't turn up at all. Just stood back and admired them. At least if we'd had kept hold of Mowbray a bit longer he would have understood what the match meant, made sure the players did as well, and we would have at least competed. Probably would have lost anyway but we'd have made a game of it. Beale as good as threw the game.
Maybe I’m not a Sunderland fan then !
I was about half as” devastated “as usual if that -they were streets ahead of us for the first time in a long long while -that’s what huge investment does .
The gulf is huge these days-“ it’s not about the money money money “
It really is !
 
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Maybe I’m not a Sunderland fan then !
I was about half as” devastated “as usual if that -they were streets ahead of us for the first time in a long long while -that’s what huge investment does .
The gulf is huge these days-“ it’s not about the money money money “
It really is !

The day I'm not bothered about losing to them is the day I pack it all in tbh. Investment is obviously a huge advantage but it didn't stop the likes of Bromley, Wimbledon and Birmingham giving them a game this season.

We rolled over and let them tickle our bellies. It was as if it was Beales game plan.
 
Think PL mid table is our 'glass ceiling' like.

Ridiculously hard to achieve, but get there and youd like to think wed have the odd good season pushing top 8, then ofcourse the odd bad season dropping downna bit.

Most clubs in that area are only a bad transfer window or two away from battling relegation.


Ever since the Saudis took over Newcastle their clubs PR has been in overdrive, especially on social media.

If/when we get back to the prem we really need to be taking a leaf out of their book and capitilising on the extra exposure. If we cant sell tickets at top dollar then atleast expand our reach and try to increase merchandise sales, which tbf i think were making moves in that, if we can atleast get the stock in 🤣.
When Hall took ower the mags there was a “story” sneaking out every day from Syd James’s. Some true some made up by their PRess dept to keep them as the main item on NE TV and sports press. It was amazing to see.

SAFC still haven’t learned.
 
When Hall took ower the mags there was a “story” sneaking out every day from Syd James’s. Some true some made up by their PRess dept to keep them as the main item on NE TV and sports press. It was amazing to see.

SAFC still haven’t learned.

You're absolutely correct. I still remember one example where it would have either been John Hall or Shepherd who left a NUFC shirt on the back seat of his car with Del Piero written on the back and the press went into overdrive. Obviously it was a load of shite but it had them as the main news story again.

Sadly I think nowadays the footballing landscape has changed. Driven by the likes of Sky it's being hammered into everyone that the Premier League is the only league that matters. The Championship and it's clubs get virtually no media coverage at all anymore, with the slight exception of Leeds.

This weighs extra heavily on impressionable kids who have it drummed into them that the Premier is the be all and end all. That's why it's not only crucial we get back in it, but don't do what Southampton, Leicester and Ipswich have done and stink the place out before making a swift return.
 
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