The happy clappers have had their time


Irony on this board is staggering sometimes. Not saying it’s you but there’s plenty of posters that say the mag fans are where they deserve to be.

Sunderland fans want more and “expectations based on what?”

How about being the biggest club outside of the PL for a start?

Ok, so the subjective size of the club should outweigh finance and squad ability?
 
We’ll see. I honestly think fans are happy just to plod on in this league.


Fuck all, because there’s an even greater number of people who are happy with where we are.
I respectfully disagree and see it as people are just understanding of where we are and have a bit extra patience at the minute because of where we just came from, which happened as a result of top level mismanagement. Ironically we are where we are thanks to Ellis Short and the way he mismanaged us all the way to League 1 and nearly bankrupted the club, and yet he’s seen as some sort of ambitious bloke the likes of which we should aspire to owning us again. The current owners are far from faultless but the facts speak for themselves that they’ve progressed us from when they first took over and have done it pretty responsibly rather than going wild throwing money about and jeopardising the security of the club.
 
Ok, so the subjective size of the club should outweigh finance and squad ability?
The subjective size of the club should outway any kind of logic or common sense. Just scream that you want and expect more whilst ignoring all the actual real life obstacles confronting clubs outside of the top 4/5/6/anyone outside of the premier league.

The reaction to how we go on in the premier league if/when we finally get there will just be amplified further.
 
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I dont get it, read it many times before and an actual plan or sensible explanation of why they're getting so irate about others not sharing their opinion has never been provided.

I didn't "accept" Donald at the club and did what I could to change it, which transpired to absolutely fuck all.

The reality is that there's bugger all fans can actually do. No fan protest in history has led directly to an owner selling. Even the Oystons only sold Blackpool because they were legally forced to. Fan power is a massively over-rated thing - all it actually achieves is letting people let off steam.
 
I respectfully disagree and see it as people are just understanding of where we are and have a bit extra patience at the minute because of where we just came from, which happened as a result of top level mismanagement. Ironically we are where we are thanks to Ellis Short and the way he mismanaged us all the way to League 1 and nearly bankrupted the club, and yet he’s seen as some sort of ambitious bloke the likes of which we should aspire to owning us again. The current owners are far from faultless but the facts speak for themselves that they’ve progressed us from when they first took over and have done it pretty responsibly rather than going wild throwing money about and jeopardising the security of the club.
That sums it up for me. I find it crazy that we're not supposed to recognise the journey we've come on since the lowest point in our history. We've been completely left behind thanks to the financial differences and FFP rules that have come in since our relegation. Its not as simple to catch up as some make out. Last year was unacceptable from my perspective (on and off the field btw) but while they have us challenging for promotion I'll not be complaining. Stadium size, history etc has nothing to do with it. It's difficult to compete with the squads and money the premier league generates for its relegated sides but we did for a large chunk of the season.
 
With that wealth I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more investment than we've seen so far.
He's investing all the time. He's keeping as afloat. We're running at a loss. And there's restrictions over how much can be pumped directly into the playing side.
The reality is that there's bugger all fans can actually do. No fan protest in history has led directly to an owner selling. Even the Oystons only sold Blackpool because they were legally forced to. Fan power is a massively over-rated thing - all it actually achieves is letting people let off steam.
Bang on.

The scum embarrassed themselves for years, and the reality is they had frig all to do with that sale happening, even if they like to think they did.
 
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The subjective size of the club should outway any kind of logic or common sense. Just scream that you want and expect more whilst ignoring all the actual real life obstacles confronting clubs outside of the top 4/5/6/anyone outside of the premier league.

The reaction to how we go on in the premier league if/when we finally get there will just be amplified further.

I wonder if the same standards/expectations are applied to anything other than a football club.
 
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Said this for years. We are a blue collar town with fans who want to see honest graft on and off the pitch from the club. Sadly we have half-arsed ineptitude from the owners, the stadium of light is dropping to bits, the owner can’t be bothered to turn up anymore, our players are on the beach, and yet some of our so-called supporters are happy with this. They are happy to play second fiddle to our local rivals, rotting away in the championship like a bloated corpse.

I don’t pay my season ticket money for complacency. I pay it because I want to contribute to helping SAFC get promoted in some minuscule way. At least that’s how I convince myself to keep going :lol:

You sound angry. If I was you, I wouldn’t renew (again).

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I absolutely agree that we’re making progress. Like you say we’ve gone from a squad worth nothing trading for signing on fees to having a squad worth a decent amount of money.

However, I don’t think that’s the barometer of success. If it was, Brighton would win the league every year. It’s all well and good having players who bring money in, but if they don’t bring success (in relative terms) what’s the point.

A hypothetical, but I think fairly realistic possibility - we sell Jobe for £25m this summer. We reinvest it. A few turn out to be duds, a couple turn out to be prospects, 1 is ready for the first team. We have a good run, the players get tired and we lose in the playoffs again. Next summer we sell Rigg, we reinvest it…

You can see where I’m going. Yes the club will be making money. Yes the club looks like a place to develop player. But when do we make the step up?

At some point the club has to say “okay we’re going for it now”.
Isn't this the supposed 'model' already though mate? Although some may question where the money for Stewart and Clarke has gone!

I appreciate there are loads on here that will revert to the 'at least we're sustainable' argument. I too will lean towards this but if we want to challenge we have to invest (imo).

How many transfer windows did we go through without any real investment, shouting for a striker only to be ignored and continue to be ignored?

I'm not saying we shout break the bank but surely we're attractive enough to bring in a few proven players with experience - the type of experience we need now.more than ever to stop the young heads going down in the dressing room.
 
The expectation for Sunderland should always be to be in the top flight. If we're not there, we should trying to get there. Everything about the club points to that as being true.

That's a touch more broad.

I imagine there will be a lot of clubs that will be trying to get there.

Although I expect those with the biggest budgets and best squads will more than often than not be in the top two.
 

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