What if Sunderland KNOW who they want but he is currently unavailable until after the coming season Kev? You don;t know and we don't know - Phillips knows **** all about the club and the thinkings of the situation and this has somewhat soured my opinion on him TBH!
(Tees said this not me - am trying to fix my balls up!!): I think hes being abit silly here. Id say its obvious why we wanted Dick to stay, even for just a year. We need stability at the club and after spending the last few months of last season with us Dick knows whats needed to turn things round. Bringing a new face in would have bought us back to square one. The new manager would have had to fathom out whats our best formation to pick, and check out every player before deciding who needs to stay/go. Hopefully well have a solid unit now for whoever takes over next season.
I think Kev is underestimating the power of a mid table finish and what it attracts. A mid table finish would attract better players and a better manager. Before Dick signed back up the managers were ****, why settle and put one on a long contract when Dick has the pedigree put us in a position where the personel available will be of a much higher calibre. The best manager available was only available for a year, Kev would rather us go for some undeniably worse just because we can give them a longer contract. It's daft.
We might have been interviewing Nigel Pearson or Big Sam if Dick hadn't put pen to paper, so I'm not clear what SKP's immediate problem is. I'm not knocking him as obviously we'd like a longer-term appointment, but we've just been through some (fairly) big name managers in Bruce, O'Neill & Poyet, so it's not as if the club hasn't been trying!
Hes a legend here but he needs to be more concerned about his position at Leicester now Pearsons gone instead of sticking the knife in to the local rag of his former club. Theres been enough negativity here over the years without ex players having a pop when things finally look like they could be on the up
The Board obviously did have a clear idea - they wanted Dick so much he said "They wouldn't leave me alone, but kept ringing". But there's no way a 69 year-old was going to sign a five year contract - he could be dead by then! I suspect the one-year contract is a rolling one - sort of, see how you feel next year. In the meantime, he and Congo can work together to knock the club into some sort of shape. I'm for it, and Kev can think what he likes.
This is exactly the way I see it and, I suspect the vast majority of supporters feel the same way. It`s probably another of those occasions where an ex player is asked his opinion and gives it. I think KP has got this one wrong though. Looks like he`s well out of touch. I reckon Ellis could be thinking about DA`s replacement even now. If he isn`t then he should be.
I don't doubt we're already drawing up a top/middle/bottom/relegation half shortlists planing for every scenario.
The available candidates were bottom of the barrel, risky or uninspiring. The mags happened to nail all 3. Dick was the smart option and should see us in a stronger position next summer
My immediate concern when it was announced that Dick was staying for just a year was, how can he sign players on 3-4 year contracts if they know he's just staying for a year? But if we are being seriously linked with a couple of his old players, then although they may be interested in working with their own boss again, maybe the pull of the PL on top of that would still seem to be enough and my concerns were unfounded. I don't see big numbers being quoted much either.
Of course he was. We could see that. KP couldn`t as he`s way out of touch. Don`t know why they bothered to ask him really.
I think he has just overthought this one. With DA only here for a year the club can plan for his departure, but he has promoted his left hand man to work alongside him, so why not take over if we get off the ground. SKP seems to have fallen into the trap that management is a young man's domain but we can maybe now develop a style where a player can be bought to fit into that way of playing rather than what we have had over the last five or so seasons. Continentals have operated that way for decades.
It's hard not to get a little carried away, but after the last 6-7 years I guess its understandable. But I'm really beginning to think there's some common sense amd good sound business taking root in the club. Early days though....
phillips knows **** about sunderland today, how about this one......... dick 12 months contract safc (dutch) his prodigy de booer 12 months contract ajax (dutch) ...... well its a thought lol
