Ahead of Saturday’s visit from Sunderland, LFW caught up with Mackems fan Joseph Tilbury from the Sunderland World blog for his thoughts on Gus Poyet’s team.
Assess last season for us, exciting stuff…
JT: If someone had offered us fourteenth place, a Wembley cup final and two wins over Newcastle at the start of the season most Sunderland fans would have snapped your hand off. The highs were just about as high as we could ever have hoped for, but the lows left us fearing the worst. At several points last season — after the eight games we had only one point and with seven to play we were bottom of the league and seven points from safety - I had come to terms with our relegation. To secure our survival with a game to go against West Brom, the team who we had been so comprehensively beaten by in the last game of the Di Canio era, was a sign of how far the team had come over the course of the season.
Where did it go wrong for Martin O'Neill, who seemed like a perfect fit for you guys when he was appointed?
JT: It’s hard to place where exactly it went wrong for O’Neill. When he first came in, we won four of the first six and spirits were high. We beat Manchester City at home 1-0 with a Ji Dong-won last minute winner and then went to Wigan two days later and beat them 4-1. At that point there was a feeling amongst the fans that we could go far with him. We went on a good run of form but went on to win only two of our last 14 games, which cost us a top ten finish.
I’d say it all went wrong for him that summer. We failed to properly strengthen, with the £24m spent on Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson eating up our transfer budget and all the other new players being loans or frees. We struggled for goals, relying heavily on Fletcher whose season was cut short by injury in February. After that, we plummeted and only just avoided relegation. Had he recruited better, and not overspent, things might have turned out differently.
And what about Paolo Di Canio, who turned out much as everybody expected!? Was that always doomed to failure?
JT: At the time of his appointment, Di Canio was just the shot in the arm we needed. He’s a passionate man and managed to get that same passion out of his players, which made up somewhat for their lack of quality. This was enough to get us over the line and keep us up.
Long term he was a nightmare. Whilst Roberto De Fanti, the director of football at the time, didn’t help by signing players Di Canio didn’t want, his man management style left a lot to be desired. He ostracized players like Lee Cattermole and Phil Bardsley who went on to become key players after his sacking. His desire to control everything was never going to go down well, and it’s really no wonder the players revolted.
What did you think of the Gus Poyet appointment at the time and what kind of a job had he done so far?
JT: I thought the appointment was a good one to cover all eventualities — a young manager with promising potential if we stayed up, whilst also having a decent proven track record in the Championship if we had been relegated. Whilst there were concerns about his Premier League inexperience, we seemed doomed at that point so there wasn’t much pressure on him.
Overall, Poyet’s impact upon the club has been a positive one. Whilst a bad run of form after the League Cup final where we took one point from eight games jeopardised our survival chances, he did what he was hired to do — retain our Premiership status. This season will be a big test, with him having had two transfer windows to build his team and perfect his style.
Assess your summer transfer activity for us. Who's come in, who's gone out, where is the team strong, where are the weak links?
JT: The window has been promising so far. The players we have let go have been replaced by better ones — Costel Pantilimon for Keiren Westwood, Patrick van Aanholt for Andrea Dossena, Jack Rodwell for Jack Colback — and we are starting to get rid of the remnants from the Di Canio era.
However we still need to recruit. Ideally, we will sign a centre half and a striker before the window shuts. We need a decent back up for Wes Brown and John O’Shea, as I’m not fully convinced Santiago Vergini or Valentin Roberge can deputise effectively, and whilst lack of pace has been solved by the signing of Will Buckley, we still need a striker who can guarantee ten to 15 goals a season. Salomon Kalou has been linked and seems ideal.
What do the fans think of owner Ellis Short, who seems to have spent a lot of money for you to stand still?
JT: As a person, Ellis Short is well liked by fans. His recent ice bucket challenge, where he nominated Mike Ashley, Alan Pardew and Jack Colback has only raised his stock in the fans eyes. Whilst he has spent big money to little avail, the money spent has come from selling players — we made £50m by from Darren Bent, Jordan Henderson and Simon Mignolet, which has been reinvested in the likes of Adam Johnson, Jack Rodwell and Steven Fletcher. However, the money hasn’t been spread evenly around the squad, so some areas, particularly defensive positions have seen less of this money than attacking ones. This has led to the stagnation despite some big money signings.
How do you see this season going?
JT: If we get in the necessary players, we should have an ok season. I can’t see us breaking the top ten, but I can see us finishing around twelfth, and see us survive comfortably. After the ups and downs of last season, I’d take that.
Short, medium and long term aims for the club...
JT: Short term, we need a solid season where we survive relegation comfortably, which I think is realistic. Then, longer term, we should be looking to build on that and mount a top ten challenge.
Please be sure to visit the Sunderland World blog if you can, and thanks to Joseph for taking part.
The Twitter @j_m_tilbury, @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images