How high will the dead black cat bounce?

[dave.woodhall]

Hi Davey Allways good to have a sensible  fan from another team on here. Yeh putting it into perspective I can imagine what this new dawn feels like. We had the same feeling when MON came walking in and a new owner as well. It all looked great for a couple of seasons and then through poor transfer dealings (he made some good ones and some awful ones), stubourness and limited tactical awareness it all got too much for him. He walked leaving us with a squad of over paid players that we could not move on and some of them are still here. Maybe he has learnt from his expereiences with us. Also our owner has to take some responsibility for the mess that we are still trying to sort out since his departure. Anyway enjoy the ride. All the best Hawkeye

Thanks Hawkeye! If you ever get up here mate give uz a shout, would love to have a pint with a few of you lads, let people see that rival fans can get on ok!

All the best marra!

Davey

Who's paying?

[Davey B]

Hi Davey Allways good to have a sensible  fan from another team on here. Yeh putting it into perspective I can imagine what this new dawn feels like. We had the same feeling when MON came walking in and a new owner as well. It all looked great for a couple of seasons and then through poor transfer dealings (he made some good ones and some awful ones), stubourness and limited tactical awareness it all got too much for him. He walked leaving us with a squad of over paid players that we could not move on and some of them are still here. Maybe he has learnt from his expereiences with us. Also our owner has to take some responsibility for the mess that we are still trying to sort out since his departure. Anyway enjoy the ride. All the best Hawkeye

Thanks Hawkeye! If you ever get up here mate give uz a shout, would love to have a pint with a few of you lads, let people see that rival fans can get on ok!

All the best marra!

Davey

Your on mate, my next trip to Sunderland includes at least one pint with you. Hawkeye

Good stuff 

[Davey B]

Hi Davey Allways good to have a sensible  fan from another team on here. Yeh putting it into perspective I can imagine what this new dawn feels like. We had the same feeling when MON came walking in and a new owner as well. It all looked great for a couple of seasons and then through poor transfer dealings (he made some good ones and some awful ones), stubourness and limited tactical awareness it all got too much for him. He walked leaving us with a squad of over paid players that we could not move on and some of them are still here. Maybe he has learnt from his expereiences with us. Also our owner has to take some responsibility for the mess that we are still trying to sort out since his departure. Anyway enjoy the ride. All the best Hawkeye

Thanks Hawkeye! If you ever get up here mate give uz a shout, would love to have a pint with a few of you lads, let people see that rival fans can get on ok!

All the best marra!

Davey

Who's paying?

YOU ARE! PMSL 

I'll stand the first round, as long as theres not a fecking bus load! 

[Pat McMahon]

Davey, he;s a good manager who will restore a bit of pride.  The fact you'll reach 7th or 8th and that'll be that isn't what you want to hear tonight. But it's what will happen. 

In three seasons you'll be 6th or 7th and feeling somewhat disillusioned.

I understand where you are coming from Rigadon! I hope and pray that one day i can actually be "spoiled" enough by my beloved Sunderland to be actually disillusioned in that manner! As someone has mentioned on a thread on here, we are still regarded as a bit of a yoyo club, so the disillusionment has been of quite a bit different nature for us! One serious trophy in my lifetime when to be truthfull I was too young to even understand what it was all about! I remember despite my second team affection for them, watching Villa more so in the early 80's, on TV with envy! Peter Withe, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, winning game after game, trophies, domestic and European, in style, a lovely ground, fantastic strip, wishing one day i could see Sunderland do that. Sunderland then even changed their strips from the Red n White stripes to the nightmare and effeminate Le Coq Sportif pyjama strip, white shirt, red pin stripes, with very pinkish red satin type shorts. I still cringe thinking about that strip. It was the first Sunderland kit i refused to buy. That's disillusion!

Davey, he;s a good manager who will restore a bit of pride.  The fact you'll reach 7th or 8th and that'll be that isn't what you want to hear tonight. But it's what will happen. 

In three seasons you'll be 6th or 7th and feeling somewhat disillusioned.

I understand where you are coming from Rigadon! I hope and pray that one day i can actually be "spoiled" enough by my beloved Sunderland to be actually disillusioned in that manner! As someone has mentioned on a thread on here, we are still regarded as a bit of a yoyo club, so the disillusionment has been of quite a bit different nature for us! One serious trophy in my lifetime when to be truthfull I was too young to even understand what it was all about! I remember despite my second team affection for them, watching Villa more so in the early 80's, on TV with envy! Peter Withe, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, winning game after game, trophies, domestic and European, in style, a lovely ground, fantastic strip, wishing one day i could see Sunderland do that. Sunderland then even changed their strips from the Red n White stripes to the nightmare and effeminate Le Coq Sportif pyjama strip, white shirt, red pin stripes, with very pinkish red satin type shorts. I still cringe thinking about that strip. It was the first Sunderland kit i refused to buy. That's disillusion!

Davey, I hate that kit for a different reason. IIRC you wore it to Villa Park on the first day of the 1982-83 season and beat us 3-1, with a young Ally McCoist in the team - he may even have scored, but my aging memory isn't what it used to be.

Our youth team paraded the European Cup before kick off and did a lap of the ground. To a man, the Sunderland supporters rose and aplauded them when they passed in front of the Witton End and Witton Lane stands where your fellas were congregated - a really sporting gesture.

Enjoy the rollercoaster - you will have a much higher media profile in the coming months.

[eastie]

Top 8 at best , certainly not a top 6 club.sunderland have won one fa cup in the last 50 yrs and i think finished in the top 6 once in the last 50 yrs so top 10 will be an achievement and i expect them to establish themselves in the top half

[ajmant]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

[not3bad]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

I guess he'll carefully time his departure to 'preserve the magic'.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

Give it a couple of years and the Mackems will get tired of the Geordies taking the piss out of their caveman football.

[SoccerHQ]

Davey, I know you are high on the win today, but realistically you struggled, and should have been 2-0 down against a very poor side. MON is a decent manager no more, and you will find that out in time. Greatness should be reserved for just that, greatness.

Point honestly taken Jim, and yes, i'm certainly buzzing mate, of that there is no doubt. But, he's still great to me! He was great to me when he was at Leicester, what he achieved with practically nowt! He was great even more so when he was at Villa, maybe assisted due to my soft spot for them, and now he's at my hometown club, which he supported as a boy. Today was thrilling, Roy of the Rovers stuff, for the first time in a long long time Jim, I feel great about my hometown football club. For that alone, i think Martin O' Neill is great! 

Christ, he's been brainwashed already!

Give it a month and you'll be back saying stuff like "does he always play Nicklas Bendtner at right back?"

[Chris Smith]

This thread should be retitled "wishful thinking". It would a far more interesting read if you could all put aside your bitterness and show some objectivity.

[dave.woodhall]

This thread should be retitled "wishful thinking". It would a far more interesting read if you could all put aside your bitterness and show some objectivity.

I'll put aside my bitterness if he ever apologises for what he did.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

I can sum this up succinctly:

Martin O Neill is a ******.

[Chris Smith]

This thread should be retitled "wishful thinking". It would a far more interesting read if you could all put aside your bitterness and show some objectivity.

I'll put aside my bitterness if he ever apologises for what he did.

I meant put it aside virtually for the duration of the thread, I'm not expecting anyone to forgive and forget.

[KevinGage]

The conditions should be ideal for him up there.

We wanted to break into the group of CL clubs and the money spent meant we had an opportunity do to that at one point. With money and opportunity also comes pressure.  And expectation.   In the final analysis, 6th for three seasons in a row was about par (or slightly below par) for the money spent.  The standard of football was definitely below par.

Up there they won't be thinking about CL. Stay up this season and he'll be hailed as a success. He'll like that.   Top 8 might be enough for open top bus parades, considering they've spent the last 15 years either getting relegated, promoted or had the very real threat of relegation hanging over them. 

I wouldn't be completely stunned if an extended cup run sees them make Europe at some point too.  Either by winning the LC or if the latter stages of the FA Cup are enough based on who else makes the final.  They might name the stadium after him then.   He'd like that.

I wish him neither good luck or ill fortune.   The majority of his time with us was positive. Some of his comments directed towards the fans and definitely the manner of his walkout soured that.   What he does now at Sunderland only interests me in so far as how it impacts on Aston Villa, namely how many of our older lot on big wages will he entice up there.  It certainly does not seem to be the step up in career he, Oliver Holt and other sycophants perhaps believed was his as of right. Maybe even Magic Martin was surprised at the calibre of clubs that came in for him these past 18 months.  Perhaps he'll reflect on what he had and what he threw away.

I had to laugh though when their fans booed his side off at half time (in his first game!) there. I wonder what his delicate ego made of that.

[cheltenhamlion]

Probably that it was Spud Head's fault.