The ground extension of £8m was a bargain and fully justified. We may well have blown that on another over priced Flo type signing.
At the time I believe Reid made serious attempts to bring in quality and move Sunderland forward.
Ray Parlour turned down an excellent package to join us, Robbie Keane was targeted and the giant coveted Jan Koller was on our radar for a while.
Reid was then forced to recruit at short notice without the necessary scouting back up ; for example Stephen Wright came in without any prior consideration the result of his name being dropped into a telephone conversation with Reid by the then Liverpool manager.
I would wager that the sole criteria McAteer, Piper, Flo and Babb were all brought into the club was on the basis that they had been in and around the top flight for a while and therefore must have had something to offer Sunderland. They were probably not closely vetted and therefore their value or otherwise to the club not properly established.
It always has been hard for Sunderland to attract quality once the prolific stream of Scottish talent had dried up back in the nineteen sixties.
It is well documented that during the Ellis Short years Sunderland were forced to pay over the going rate for mediocre Premier League players. ; Anton Ferdinand at £60k a week as an example.
The odds were increasingly stacked against Peter Reid.
Consecutive seventh positions was as good as it was going to get. The rate of decline was rapid but the unravelling would have been inevitable eventually.
At the time I believe Reid made serious attempts to bring in quality and move Sunderland forward.
Ray Parlour turned down an excellent package to join us, Robbie Keane was targeted and the giant coveted Jan Koller was on our radar for a while.
Reid was then forced to recruit at short notice without the necessary scouting back up ; for example Stephen Wright came in without any prior consideration the result of his name being dropped into a telephone conversation with Reid by the then Liverpool manager.
I would wager that the sole criteria McAteer, Piper, Flo and Babb were all brought into the club was on the basis that they had been in and around the top flight for a while and therefore must have had something to offer Sunderland. They were probably not closely vetted and therefore their value or otherwise to the club not properly established.
It always has been hard for Sunderland to attract quality once the prolific stream of Scottish talent had dried up back in the nineteen sixties.
It is well documented that during the Ellis Short years Sunderland were forced to pay over the going rate for mediocre Premier League players. ; Anton Ferdinand at £60k a week as an example.
The odds were increasingly stacked against Peter Reid.
Consecutive seventh positions was as good as it was going to get. The rate of decline was rapid but the unravelling would have been inevitable eventually.