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Tommy Watson ( ...off to Brighton)

Boris Bear said:
We won’t have £50m+ to do it with though. That’s the fundamental problem with this ownership
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It's definitely a worry, although tbf this will be the first time we've got major money coming in. From the accounts it looks like we'll be in line for a bumper profit year (lost £9m or whatever last year, but this time we'll have bigger sales, or we will the accounts after depending on sale dates). That makes this the first real test of the ambition of the owners imo. I get us being sustainable but if we sell Rigg and Jobe we'll be well in the black. How much of that are they prepared to reinvest? The answer to that should determine how much people support the ownership tbh
 

Guinness Guzzler said:
I'm hoping we keep Rigg. He's obviously a great prospect, much better than Watson, but he isn't yet running games in this division. Teams would want him, but without contract pressures hopefully we can convince him to give it another season. Jobe could have left after last season but I'd hazard a guess that having this extra year, looking genuinely good at this level, will mean both we and he get considerably more when he goes. Jobe probably doesn't gain much from another year in this league so if we don't go up I suspect he'll be off. Rigg isn't there yet imo. Hopefully next season can be the season he really steps up, like Jobe did this, and then either we go up or he leaves for a fortune at the end of next season
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Rigg only has 2 years left, the club really need to offer him a new contract now.
 
riffraff said:
I think you’re old enough to remember Bobby Park, Peter Stronach, Richie Pitt etc. No doubt they thought they had “all the time in the world for that” anarl. If I’m wrong about your age sorry marra!
£1m or so overnight is hard to turn down. Not that I’d no. Unfortunately.
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Anaar, anaar, and ya reet about me age!
 
Disappointing news. I’m not naive enough to think that players with absolutely no connection to the club would see playing for us at nothing other than a job but I hoped that lads brought up as Sunderland fans would value at least cutting your teeth at “their club” more than making more money playing for a premier league side’s reserves.

For a lad with his very limited first team experience the fee represents decent money.

In terms of going forward I’d say his role should very much be restricted to cameos which allow Mundle a breather late on in games.

Once the playoffs are mathematically confirmed he could start to give Mundle a rest but his contribution is likely to be very limited from here on in.
 
Hank Scorpio said:
Both Stewart and Clarke were established championship players mate. Watson has been signed purely on potential.

Although Watson will be on more money at Brighton then he would have got here, I’d honestly be shocked if he was on north of £10k a week.

I suspect Brighton will know he isn’t PL ready and therefore they won’t want him on big wages whilst he’s in the development squad - especially as other lads who are perhaps ahead of him are on less.

As I posted earlier though, I do find it a strange move for the lad.
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We would have been offering him £10K a week man! You can't sign players for £10M and offer them rubbish wages.
 
As I recall Watson stalled the signing of his contract at 17. This would suggest he has always seen himself playing at a higher level than we offer at the moment. To me it's a bit young to be itching for a move but we shall see.
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
Probably right mate, although I think there's a chance with Rigg. Jobe will definitely go. Going to be a big rebuild if we don't go up, but at least this time we should have about £50m+ to do it with. We'll need to see first team ready players mind, obviously the plan is to have the replacement here already like Stewart when Wyke left and Mundle when Clarke left. I'm not really seeing a Rigg or Jobe waiting in the wings though, and we can't just buy potential and leave gaping holes in the first team squad
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I thought Aleksis was that man waiting in the wings.
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
It's definitely a worry, although tbf this will be the first time we've got major money coming in. From the accounts it looks like we'll be in line for a bumper profit year (lost £9m or whatever last year, but this time we'll have bigger sales, or we will the accounts after depending on sale dates). That makes this the first real test of the ambition of the owners imo. I get us being sustainable but if we sell Rigg and Jobe we'll be well in the black. How much of that are they prepared to reinvest? The answer to that should determine how much people support the ownership tbh
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Pretty much my thinking but I don’t trust KLD to do the right thing. My biggest concern is he does the same thing with Young, Neill, Geragusian and Mayenda and we’re here in a couple of years talking about how well surely spend big now.

As you suggest though, surely there’s no excuse not to spend big now.
 
Flea Market Trader said:
I thought Aleksis was that man waiting in the wings.
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Same tbh, and I think he looks okay when he plays, but if he really is the man to replace Rigg I'd expect him to be getting at least a few minutes off the bench now. Looks like RLB doesn't rate/ trust him and can't imagine he'll suddenly be starting him next season
 
Flea Market Trader said:
I thought Aleksis was that man waiting in the wings.
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Aleksic is the Rigg replacement. I suspect the plan is ELF to be the Jobe replacement. The closest we have to a Neil replacement is Triantis I reckon. We’d have to go into the market because that midfield isn’t strong enough for promotion, especially as ELF won’t be here in the championship.
 
Boris Bear said:
Pretty much my thinking but I don’t trust KLD to do the right thing. My biggest concern is he does the same thing with Young, Neill, Geragusian and Mayenda and we’re here in a couple of years talking about how well surely spend big now.

As you suggest though, surely there’s no excuse not to spend big now.
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Given how healthy the accounts look, there's no excuse not to spend if we sell anyone for big money. I'm not expecting us to spend all of it, but I'd expect to see us suitably cover their absence from the first team and invest in other very good prospects. If they don't do it this time, depending on sales, then it's safe to assume they never will, at which point it'll be hard to see how they plan on ever getting us back to the PL. Fully accept a "process" and careful building, but if it starts looking like we'll never do it, whilst the likes of Ipswich can go up twice in two years and get miles ahead of us financially, it'll be a very hard sell to supporters who, rightly, think we should be out of this league sooner rather than later
 
DonaldDownTheWing said:
FWIW, the club won’t have had a choice in announcing it.

The minute it was signed Harte will have been on the phone to every Tom, Dick and Harry telling them the news.
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And Harte isn’t even his agent. Seems like he’s been in his ear mind, do we have anyone else on the books with a connection to this bloke?
 
Disco_Pants93 said:
Wouldn't have him involved now. Fans are going to be far less patient with him and I think he's already checked out mentally. Great fee for a player who may have potential but has so far done very very little.
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I thought that particularly given he made no effort on Saturday to chase Mayendas clearance
 
Boris Bear said:
Pretty much my thinking but I don’t trust KLD to do the right thing. My biggest concern is he does the same thing with Young, Neill, Geragusian and Mayenda and we’re here in a couple of years talking about how well surely spend big now.

As you suggest though, surely there’s no excuse not to spend big now.
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Wait until the end of August.
There'll be excuses galore trotted out, particularly on here.
 
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