Roker Rapport Podcast: With Stewart Donald (Tues 28th May)

Black Cat Gypsy said:
Quinn got his fair share of criticism.
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What for?
All I remember is when he used to moan at fans for watching in the pubs and for not sorting out the pink seats.
Cant ever remember folk being paranoid and suspicious of him and his Irish mates for being chancers. In retrospect they probably were too, put in cash with no real plan, just to get us in the prem and to sell us on for profit.
No one minded that. But now with the owners sorting out the mess we're in and trying to increase our turnover and make us self sufficient some slag them off for only being in it for themselves.
I find it odd.
 


I would like to know whom at the club signed off on the new home kit and watch subsequent punishment has been handed to said individual
 
offmenut said:
What for?
All I remember is when he used to moan at fans for watching in the pubs and for not sorting out the pink seats.
Cant ever remember folk being paranoid and suspicious of him and his Irish mates for being chancers. In retrospect they probably were too, put in cash with no real plan, just to get us in the prem and to sell us on for profit.
No one minded that. But now with the owners sorting out the mess we're in and trying to increase our turnover and make us self sufficient some slag them off for only being in it for themselves.
I find it odd.
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Probably because Quinn was a legend, Donald isn't.
 
Cack Stottie said:
Absolutely nothing gets censored, behave ;)



Will revisit this thread after the weekend too, the lads aren't meeting to put the Pod plan together until Monday night.



Re: Shorts, the ones for this season are the same ones as last season as there was such a huge surplus!
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You need to get someone in that understands accounts to help interview him mate. And if they can interpret the responses into layman’s terms for the listeners and ask follow ups that challenge the answers it would be helpful to us all. Need to get all this financial stuff aired clearly.
 
Free WiFi with stadium as signal is shocking.

Full score updates of all English leagues at half time on scoreboards. Poor signal means sometimes can't get online to check.
 
How does he keep perspective and carry on with the job when facing criticism that may be borne out of ignorance of how clubs operate? How does he switch off?

Did anything come of the ideas for new revenue streams like borrowing money to buy hotels etc?

How can the club use its profile and facilities to help local small businesses. Are any contracts designed to help smaller local businesses compete with larger providers?

Does he think the club is as lean as it can be or are there other areas that may be subject to cuts or 'efficiencies'?

If we manage to return to the Premier League during his tenure, how does he think a sustainable club can survive in that division, thinking of Fulham and Brighton spending big last year and going down?

What are the best and worst bits about being a club chairman?

Have his family bought into the Sunderland story or do they just think he's crackers?

Given that he will attend meetings of league chairmen, is there a change he'd like to see in how the league operates? And have there been any discussions at league level about regulating football agents?
 
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Has Charlie ever featured on the website; Look at my f***ing red trousers.
If not why not
Cack Stottie said:
Hi everyone,

We've got Stewart Donald coming in to record a Podcast on Tuesday. As per, throwing it out there for people to add their questions they'd like to hear him answer/topics for discussion/anything else.

Please reply to this thread if you've got owt to say and we'll do our best to cover off absolutely everything.

Cheers.
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kildaremackem said:
oh yes certainly...£3m is more than the going rate for a league one striker-it may prove value in time, but they certainly overpaid.
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Maybe another slant on it is why did we buy two strikers who were injured (Wyke and Grigg) when we needed players who could hit the ground running at the time both transfers were made.
 
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why did someone at the club agree the best thing to do with the new kit was to cover the Betdaq logo with a red band? Was this down to time restraints or someone just didn't want to foot the bill to do it properly?
 
kildaremackem said:
i dont ant to dirty his name. I just state facts. he came in-achieved something on he field (promotion) and was well rewarded for it. good luck to him. he is a business guy who has had some success.
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He did a lot off the field as well for which his only reward was knowing he’d helped build a hospital that would help others. Niall Quinn is great man with a big heart.
 
Coeus said:
Given that many of us believe the academy to be critical to any future success, the running of it appears from the outside to be very concerning. Our best young players seem to be leaving on mass for minimal fees. There was investment spoken about for the academy, but the actuality appears in stark contrast. A lot has been said about not being able to do anything about it although we have had people close to those that have left say the opposite and confirmed that it is their opinion, that the club was only too happy to receive a fee. Can Stewart clarify if he is pleased to sell of youngsters or if he would prefer to keep them, if he would prefer to keep them, what was done on an individual basis to give us the best opportunity to progress these youngsters at the club?

Is he happy with how the academy has performed this season? Paul Reid's influence? Is the intent there to produce players for the first team, and what is the stratagy to do this?

Donald spoke of January with clubs adding millions of pounds onto players value due to a "Sunderland Tax". Does he believe that signing Will Grigg for 4 million pounds will add to that tax in the future? Will they see us coming?

How are we counteracting clubs trying to fleece us?

How does he see the scouting set up evolving, is the plans in place to grow whatever system we have or implement a new set up? I'm aware that he said one or two new people were coming into this department but has any thought gone into how the scouting is done? Anything particularly clever or different from other clubs? Will future signings be done under any philosophy (such as to sell for profit) or is it more what we need at the time?

Have any actual conversations been had with Juan to discuss how Monaco went about changing their clubs philosophy very successfully from spending silly money to purchasing excellent prospects?

Has this season encouraged him that this is what he wants to do long term or that he is better suited to a couple of years?

Have any long term plans been created or is the onus firmly on getting the current fundamentals (staff, sponsorship, costs) to be the best they can be?

We saw speculation that John Park was linked, is this true? If not, have you considered bringing someone in with the experience of deploying a long term plan or strategy?
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This please. Especially the first bit about the academy.
 
Can you get grumpy old man on to grill him about the finances. Would love to feel 100 per cent confident about what he says as sometimes he seems to get away with being a bit vague on the subject.

I'd like to know what he has learned, what mistakes have been made this year and what he would do differently.

Also, before the concert this summer I would like to know which order he would ride the spice girls.

Correct answer is, ginger, baby, posh, sporty, scary by the way.
 

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