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As womens football has now been placed on an equal footing with the mens (by the media anyway), does it now stand to reason that Steph Houghton will be starring alongside Pearce, Waddle & Southgate in the next pizza advert wearing a bag over her head, and Millie Bright will receive the same reception around the grounds that Beckham and Rooney received after their sendings off in WC matches we lost?
As much as the BBC force it down our throats, the fact that the coverage was hosted by a bunch of women and the tall bloke from Homes under the Hammer, rather than a World Cup Golden Boot winner & the Premier League record scorer tells me that it is (and always will be) a 2nd rate event.
I work with a lad who follows Liverpool all over the place, including Madrid tonight. I’m pleased for him.
Who is this Mr Royle bloke? Is he Latics chairman. Honestly, I’m not taking the piss but who is our chairman these days?He’s someone who doesnt understand the words “engagement with customers”
I suspect it went the same way Boltons went. Paying off the massive debts they got in trying to establish themselves in the Prem which they never ever did.
Seriously egg if you haven’t seen it watch it. We had some on here lambasting Mr Whelan for keeping the famed “War Chest” in check well he was a real big spender compared to the owner at Sunderland. Yes they got good players in on loan and paid Rodwell a ridiculous wage not to play but it backfired spectacularly on them. There is no way that club should have been relegated again from the championship. Chris Coleman never saw or spoke to the owner in his time in charge which seems ludicrous. I feel for the Sunderland fans at a small club like ours yes getting relegated twice is possible and understandable at times but when you have the revenue they can create along with the parachute payments they should never have been so bad. Thank god we had an owner who was hands on and gave us many memorable moments in his tenure. I didn’t think I could ever appreciate Mr Whelan more than I did but after watching what Ellis Short has done to Sunderland I truly do.[/quote]
The latest podcast, a 2 hour chat with the owners, was very revealing. They reflected on what had happened over the past 12 months, and how far they have come from turning a club with almost £200m of debts and 100m of assets into a debt-free club who will start to turn a surplus in a year. They described it as a “basket case” operation, where the owner wrote cheques from his Miami home whenever the Chief Exec asked him to. That was, until the day of relegation from the premier league, when Mr Short told the CE that he could whistle for any more funding. That put the club in a tailspin, as all of a sudden, they had to run it like a business rather than as if they were playing football manager on an X-box.
Ellis Short has waived his personal debt and helped clear the loan he had arranged with an American Bank who were charging £8m a year in interest alone. His only crime was to appoint executives who spent his money like it grew on trees on ridiculous things. The new owners’ first words were “The Piss Take Party Stops Now”, and boy has it, with spectacular results. The club has reconnected with the fans, the owners make visits to see fans who are too sick to attend, players attend fan sessions and willingly mingle, the owners do regular podcasts with the fanzine (perhaps Jay or Egg could get a 2hr interview every other month with Mr Royal and upload it to a podcast?).
Sure, we are 3rd division on the field, but off it, we are up there with the best.
Bigger than when Leeds were in there? Or Preston? Or Leicester? Wolves? Blackburn? Sides that have won things in this generation?Yes. It seems everyone wanted to be there when Sunderland came to town. Maybe next season Ipswich will be the cup final for everyone. I hope so, as facing sides looking to make a name for themselves is an added pressure we could do without, and probably why Luton slipped under the radar.
I don’t think anyone that isn’t involved closely realised what a shit state we were in last summer. Prior to pre-season, one player had stated he was happy to stay. One out of 25. Two went on strike, others agitated for moves, youth players were being poached. Pre-season started with the coaching staff having to make up the numbers in training matches.
July was a revolving door, as new faces joined, and continued to join up until deadline day. The squad had been re-built in 6 weeks. Then they had to start training together, in-between playing league fixtures.
In spite of this complete turmoil, being in contention was an achievement. Where it went wrong was selling our leading scorer (who would have left on a free), and replacing him with someone else. We’d have been much better keeping Maja and getting a replacement on a free this summer.
In terms of standard, its a pub league, with the exception of the top 5, and the other 19 sides have set themselves out to kick lumps out of us. Like it or not, we are the biggest thing to hit L1 since Man City, and just about every side has had their highest attendance when Sunderland visited, so its been a cup final for the opposition every week, including their visit to the SOL, where they play in front of crowds up to 10 times what they are used to.
Many pundits have said that it has been a very long time since there were 5 sides in league one who were all capable of winning it. I have long said that any side who gets relegated to L1 and keeps their squad should be able to double their haul the following season. You did it twice. Rotherham did it. Barnsley did it. We did it (even with a different squad).
Two of the three sides who come down will probably be in the shake-up next season, along with us and Portsmouth (assuming they keep hold of their players who are out of contract). None of our squad are out of contract, so the assumption must be that any signings will only be made to strengthen a squad that, despite being cobbled together at the 11th hour, achieved 85 points and lost less league games than every side bar Liverpool & Man City.
Like others, I expect promotion in 19/20 rather than hope for it.
Went over to Bishop Auckland from Alston yesterday. Not seen any Red and White shirts on anyone around our caravan site nor in any of the small towns in Weardale. Didn’t see any in Crook, Toronto or in the Tesco’s and shopping centre at Tindale Cross.
Where are they all? Keeping them clean for the group stages of the Checkatrade for the Visit of Boro’s juniors? Or maybe everyone’s deserted the third tier club and bought a bar code shirt to watch in the pub or at home.Unlike the dirty mags, we do have alternative clothing to use on non-match days.
You need a lifeAre you referring to me, or Bullitt, who is lurking around 12 months after being booted off the site, doing what he accused others of doing, yet afraid to post?
I’m pretty sure that if i’d been unceremoniously sacked off like him, I’d have found something better to do with my life in 12 months!
Ok, so my confidence in an immediate return has been twisted into an arrogant “we’ll piss this league”.
Looks like you’ve been taking lessons from Bullitt on how to twist things to suit an argument.
(Hi Bullitt – I know you are lurking
)you worry about getting out of that pub league you were so confident you were gonna walk.Do you fancy pointing me to exactly where I said we would walk it. Or is this the moment, like Bullshit, when you go all quiet?
