Calm Down, Calm Down: Why Sunderland Won’t Get Relegated
Features, News | Jonothan Scollen | February 10, 2010 at 9:36 pm
Three attempts at beating the league’s bottom club have passed without success. On every occasion they have come from behind, knocked us out of the F.A Cup and twice levelled the match in the final minutes of the game. All the while Portsmouth has been teetering on the precipice of insolvency and consequent administration. Once again the season is turning into one of worry and angst rather than progress and relief.
We’re all sick of the rhetoric concerning the top ten and taking that elusive “next step.” We’re all sick of having our hopes raised only for them to be crushed mercilessly as time passes and we’re all especially sick of relegation battles after being assured there won’t be one. The U-turn needed in order to view this season as a success seems an impossible one, but there are still reasons not to worry as much as we are.
People talk of Man United being a one man team when the best example is sitting in the North East of England. Darren Bent was the key reason that we made such a blistering start to the season and he will be massive in our push for survival. For all the effort of Cattermole and Cana in the midfield Bent was the catalyst who transformed the effort into results. He looks to be the first player for Sunderland to score 20 in a season since Kevin Phillips hit 30 a decade ago. If the defence can up their game in the final 13 games of the season as well as Jones keeping up his recent form, Bent will win us the points we need to stay up. The danger with this situation is that if Bent picks up a serious injury from now till the end of the campaign, I might have to change the title of this article.
Steve Bruce is no stranger to the relegation zone having gone through demotion with Birmingham and taking over Wigan whilst they were rooted in the bottom three. He is the kind of cool head we need during pressurized times as these. He understands the situation and sees the way out, not to mention how his experience will help the players through the tougher periods. Bruce also knows the Premiership well, has a great scouting network and understands the North East. After keeping us up this season there’s not much doubt that after another summer transfer window we wont be in this situation come this time 2011.
Niall Quinn and Ellis Short, the duo that pull the strings at the club, both understand their positions and execute them perfectly. There is no interference from Short in the clubs running – apart from generous injections of cash – and Quinn doesn’t decide who Short’s finances get spent on. Any manager at this club also has the envious position of having time to achieve the goals he wishes, total freedom in the transfer market and the benefit of having an ex-footballer who has had a taste of management as chairman. The club is also safe in the knowledge that it has a chairman that not only loves the club but also will not rest until he has achieved his own ambition: ensuring Sunderland as a formidable Premiership force.
We also have more home games than away games left to play, albeit by one, and within the away dates lay opponents such as Hull, West Ham and Wolves. These are games we should be challenging in, even though we have been saying that a lot recently, the wins will eventually come. At home we still have Fulham, Birmingham, Bolton and Burnley left to play. If we cannot gain at least 12 points from that group alone I’d be surprised. Yes we may still have Liverpool, Arsenal and Man United left to play but these are not the games that will decide our fate (although ironically it wouldn’t shock me if we got something from one of these and lost to Burnley). Hopefully we could create a shock by taking something from Villa and Man City isn’t the same team away from Eastland’s.
If we continue on our poor run and limp towards May with trepidation and uncertainty, just as it unfolded last season, there are worse teams than us making up the bottom half of the league. With Portsmouth almost certainly down, I can’t see Wolves or Burnley finishing above us. With any luck it will not come down to this, but this is surely our worst case scenario.
The league table makes for a difficult read, but people should keep in mind that if we finished where we sit at the moment this would be our best league finish in nine years. One win could trigger a period of good form that could even see us reach 11th. This rut we find ourselves in hurts everybody but looking at the season in tunnel vision doesn’t help. The bigger picture holds more than just our winless run and however hard it is to see it, survival is completely within our grasp.
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Hope you’re wright, I always thought it would take the players coming back a few weeks till the team shaped up again.
Does anyone thinck this break is probably a good thing? We might not beat Arsenal, but we’ll deffinately be in decent form for the next few matches… at least now the team has a training ground, don’t underestimate such facts.
lets hope u r right but y do we have to put up with this year after year.
the stress is too much. i really hope it does not come down to the final day and get thrown to the wolves!!!
Bruce got relegated twice at Birmingham with sides that were rated as “too good to go down”, with players like Mikael Forssell, Emile Heskey, David Dunn, Maik Taylor, Matthew Upson, Kenny Cunningham, Jermaine Pennant etc. Those sides were stronger in depth than the current Sunderland side. He’s a superb manager at Championship level but struggles in the Premership.
Be concerned.
In the main I think Steve Bruce has it right. The players he has gotten rid of (except for Collins) or plans to get rid of were not premier league players. Having said that Cana and Cattamole are too simular and should not play together. Their styles of play are always going to cause them to be injured or suspended. We need a world class center midfield to quarterback the side, Andy Reid cannot be expected to play every game injury free. It takes time for all of the new players to gel as a team and next season should be time the to judge Steve Bruce.
“Sack Bruce” the tried and tested route to failure. Now I have suffered and had moments of glory supporting this team for 60 years and it never ceases to amaze me when we have struggled to buy quality players to come to the North East, for as long as I can remember; yet idiots blithely think we can not only find a top class manager who is available, but one who wants to come to us, knowing the moment things do not go according to plan he will be out on his ear. Surely our near neighbours experiences have to show us that it takes time to build a team and bouncing managers ever thirty seconds is not the answer.
Bruce may not and may never be the real deal, but he is all we have got and probably as good as we can get. The man has been blighted with injuries and bans, some justified and some not. At one point we had 10 first team players unavailable from a small squad . Is it any wonder he has struggle to pick a cohesive team on a winning run. It is likely to take three more years to get us to the standard we hope to see. Yes we could win on Saturday we probably won’t but it is not the end of the world but what is certain is that Bruce and any other manager you care to mention needs time to build a team
I suppose Mr Hedley had you been around in 1912 you would have been one of those standing on the quayside waving your cap at the captain of the Titanic while singing “for he,s a jolly good fellow”
Paul Having read your comment if I had been around in 1912 I would have an excuse for forgetting what the hell you are talking about.
Ah answered my own question the screen I am using was too small to see the original post I sent Paul your comment seems a complete non sequitur. I am saying I can see no evidence of anyone better than Bruce queuing up to join us, I am not singing the praises of Bruce
Non-sequitar!Mr Hedley,well if you choose not to see the parallel to be drawn from the ill placed confidence of many in a chief steering his charge to its eventual demise,so be it. However I do concede that you are not praising Bruce and for that I am thankful. Surely any retrospective on Bruces managerial career thus far charts a case for the mediocre, a decent scout maybe but a premiership manager,never! My contention is that from the start his appointment was a deeply flawed decision, an opinion I expressed at the time and one I have held throughout. I repeat, the Chairmen of whom I am an admirer, in this instance got it wrong, a mistake for which I do not condem him as he acted in good faith but one that now requires radical adjustment unless he is to see his hopes for Sunderland crumble. In short it calls for Niall to look inward and reflect upon his appointments who have squandered over £100 million barely to survive relegation. I am dismayed Mr Hedley when you say that Bruce is probably the best we can hope for and that those calling for his sacking are idiots, in an attempt to elevate the debate, let me put this question. How is it journeyman such as Roy Hodgson, Sam Alladyce and Tony Pulis create honest and comitted teams from reserve players from other clubs with little money, little time and are now at a level we wish to aspire. Are you suggesting they would not be flattered by the attentions of a club with the resources of a billionaire, an envied Chairman, huge support and professed ambition? You argue that given time, you suggest three years, he will build a team,after two transfer windows where is the slightest evidence of improvement when every solution appears to be sign another defender or entice uncultured midfielders. The very real danger in all this is that a paralysis prevents the club from acting through a misplaced fear that another sacking will deter future managerial applicants and stability. The consequences of this lousy season will resonate into the summer transfer activity and scupper our chances of adding real quality to the side. Who now will beleieve the “hard sell” of the clubs drive to realise future ambitions.In all probability disillusioned players most likely Bent and Jones will feel they have been sold a pup and will look to move on even if Premiership survival can be achieved. Finally rememember this, Fulham in the space of nine months sacked Chris Coleman then Lawrie Sanchezto eventually sign Roy Hodgson. I ask,have they lost stability?Are they in a terminal and downward spiral? The success Fulham currently enjoy is a direct result of Al Fayid being brave enough to admit his mistake,disregard the money spent on unsuitable players,sack Sanchez and look for someone of genuine quality. The billionaire Al Fayid was decisive and not afraid to ACT. No Mr Hedley I am not one of those idiots who blithely think we can attract a top class manager but I do know there are some who are better equipped and with genuine pedigree, better able than the current incumbant. I am just a long suffering fan who observes our beloved club toiling under the someone incapable of motivating a positive reaction and with pretentions beyond his capability to deliver. If Sunderland stay up it will be down to the ineptitude(e.g last season) of the teams around us and in spite of Steve Bruces best efforts. Sunderland deserve better than the services of a charlaten intent upon following the glittering blueprints for success engineered at Crystal Palace,Birminghm and Wigan. I urge Niall to be brave and realise the error before another decisive billionaire looses patience and opts to take the matter into his own hands.
Well an interesting and well argued post Paul but I have not given up on the season and the last two matches have show a significant improvement in the quality of play.
I will simply ask you this, where were all these wonderful better qualified managers, apart from Allardyce, beating a track to our door. I exclude Mr A because I cannot stand him or his style of football.
Hodgson has done well I agree but like many he prefers his footie in the south. There are very few who relish the prospect of a job in the NE. Now I will not be drawn into defending Bruce but I would prefer to judge him on what happens at the end of this season rather then half way along when we have been so blighted by injuries.
You clearly have strongly held views about Bruce whereas I remain ambivalent and the polls seem to indicate, albeit on a small sample, about 80% of fans consider that now is not the time to dump him.
I don’t know what your expectations for this season may have been, very little perhaps based on the opinion you hold of the manager but for me mid table possibly edging into the top half was what I anticipated and that remains on the cards at present.
Niall won’t jump ship it is not his nature and thus far his choice of decisions regarding employees of the club have been less than confidence building, so where does that leave your argument? A voice in the wilderness no matter how prophetic it may prove? Will you change your views if we have a top half finish or did you expect much more than that for our club back in the premiership? Look at the money Keane spent, where did that get us? We have better players now.
We may have a billionaire but we don’t have billions to spend, we seem to have the makings of a soundly based business seeking slow but steady growth and, recognising the adversity we have faced this season, that seems pretty much what we have got.