Sunderland: Four Reasons Why the Giant is Awakening
Keane - Sunderland Manager
Two years ago, Sunderland were the laughing stock of the English Premier League. The Black Cats finished the 2005/06 season with an embarrassing 15 points – a record only topped by Derby this past season.
A new era began at the club in 2006, though, as legendary midfielder Roy Keane was appointed manager of the club. Under Keane, Sunderland recaptured their good form and ended up winning the Championship – giving the squad a chance at redeeming themselves in the Premier League.
This summer has seen a revitalization of the club. I would go as far as saying Roy Keane is beginning to wake this sleeping giant (the club has, after all, won the top flight of English football six times). The signings of players like Craig Gordon and El-Hadji Diouf signal the club’s intent, and this season could see a change in fortune for Sunderland fans. Here are the four reasons why:
1. Roy Keane. The former Manchester United captain learned from one of the best in the business at Old Trafford and is now becoming an assertive figure himself. Keane has brought the best out of players through his motivation and has shown that he can unearth gems as well. In Kenwyne Jones, Keane has an exciting striker who has proven he can score goals. Keane has also made other great signings such as promising goalkeeper Craig Gordon and pacy winger Kieran Richardson. This season we’ll see if his gamble on the eccentric El-Hadji Diouf will pay off.
2. The fans. Sunderland are known around the nation for having some of the most passionate fans. The Stadium of Light holds 49,000 of these crazed fans, which means a consistent fanbase brings financial stability to the club.
3. The veterans. Like his old Manchester United sides, Roy Keane has built a squad which blends youth with experience. Experienced heads like Dwight Yorke and Graham Kavanagh are great to have around because they can offer invaluable advice to the less experienced players in the club. In times of trouble, you can always count on these veterans to step up.
4. The youth. Every team needs youngsters in order to ensure long term stability, and Sunderland fans will be excited at the younger prospects that the club have. Even key members of the starting eleven are young; Craig Gordon is only 25 years old – for a keeper that’s like being 18 or 19, so he still has about 10 years at the top.
Richardson, one of the most exciting players Sunderland has, is only 23 years old. With his pace, the sky is the limit, and a powerful shot will allow him to pick up a few goals this year.
The third key youngster is Jones, the 23 year-old striker from Trinidad and Tobago. Jones impressed greatly in his debut campaign at Sunderland last season and will be looking to better his goal tally this term, though he will start the season as a spectator thanks to a knee injury.
It is these four reasons that make me certain that Sunderland is on the verge of making that next step up. Perhaps not this season, but within the next few years, Sunderland should be a side challenging for a spot in European competitions. With a solid financial backing, a good manager, great fans, and an excellent blend of youth and experience, the sky is the limit for the Black Cats.
Brian Lofrumento writes at Premiership Talk.
Whilst I agree with most of what you have said I would say that the biggest influence starting the revile is Neil Quinn. He has brought in a great board who had faith to employ Keane and despite making a few mistakes, especially in the transfer market they have backed him to the hilt and given Keane more money to spend than any modern Sunderland manager has ever ha – remember we were called the Bank of England because of the amount of money we spent in transfer fees.
Neil Quinn? Niall on the other hand was fantastic in getting together and convincing a group of investors that it was the right move.
I think Quinn (Niall by the way) and Keane are an excellent combination. Money is always the challenge but as you point out, Sunderland have the fan base to help with this. I hope they do get there as they are a great club.
I predict big things for this great club. Sunderland are well known for their fanatical supporters and whenever they play away, they travel to support their team in their thousands. Nearly ten thousand travelled down to Barnsley last year to watch them win 2-0. With a few more signings, Europe could be a real possibility this year
I agree with Gerry – Quinn is a really winner. I think you are really intelligent Gerry…Go Gerry. Go Quinn.
Nothing will happen for SAFC this year until they buy a quality centre back – everything hangs off the confidence that brings When Evans played SAFC did well, when he didn’t they lost. They can’t outscore prem opposition as the barcodes tried…
but the really question is…is Evans a scaly manfish?
Keane is the kind of manager that makes player want to play under him, I think. In the past two years, Sunderland has had a higher transfer pull than Newcastle and that is saying something…
Most teams that are preparing for the second season in the Premier League find it hard to attract players (Wigan, Reading), but everything looks so rosey for Keane.
I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to. We are building on a solid foundation – last season was all about safety and securing our top level status; this season we are all about kicking on for mid-table and cup runs as signalled by our signings. What lies ahead in the coming seasons?
ps…. love you Noods
And now the black cats have Malbranque
And, as predicted, the goals are already coming for Kieran Richardson. Keano showed today he isn’t happy with a mediocre performance, and his team reacted. Let’s hope Sunderland can pull off a top 10 finish this season.
I find this article as quite misleading. For last two seasons(including this one), Sunderland has been spending like Real Madrid or Chelsea. Even after spending such astronomical amounts, all what they could achieve is to ‘just survive’. Considering the amount that they have spent, they should atleast be in the Top 6. The same argument goes with Spurs as well, crazy spenders they are.
In my opinion, Keane has bought crap players (except a very few) , that too for extremely inflated prices. Nowadays, Stadium of Light has become the ‘deadwood dumping hub’ for Juande Ramos. The surprising factor being, he is getting around 5 times the amount that he deserves to get for the deadwood that he is dumping. Infact Keane and Quinn is indirectly sponsoring the Spurs ‘revolution’.
But i suspect both teams are again going to finish in bottom half this season as well. What an under-achievement that would be, considering the mammoth cash they have splashed in the transfer market.
Vipin,
While I agree with you that Sunderland has spent a lot of money in recent years, they are not even close to spending an amount comparable to the spending of a team like Real Madrid. In recent years Real have spent €110 MILLION on Pepe, Gago, Robben, Heinze, and Sneijder alone. Sunderland haven’t spent anywhere near that amount, so immediately your argument loses a lot of steam. Even if they had spent that same amount, don’t you think Madrid started on a better base than Sunderland? Players like Guti, Raul, Casillas, etc. were already at the club. Sunderland are a team building from scratch.
On top of that, spending money doesn’t necessarily translate to a better performance. If that was the case and your argument held true, shouldn’t Chelsea have won the Premier League every year since Abramovich took over? So are they disappointing?
At the end of the day football comes down to consistency. If Roy Keane can get his team to perform with high intensity in every game then Sunderland should finish in the top half of the table this year. It’s only their second year back in the Premiership and things are only looking up.
As for Tottenham, I can’t see them finishing outside of the top seven. Anything less than that and they need to seriously consider changing a LOT of things.
Fact is Vipin, we HAD to spend the amount we did last season to simply survive in the top flight. Both Derby and particularly Reading went down precisely because they didn’t. To say that we should have finished top 6 simply on the basis of the amount spent is plain daft really.
We began last season as relegation fodder and finished with a team / squad capable of staying up (fairly) comfortably. Our new signings should see us at mid-table upwards. Next season should be even more interesting….
The most pleasing aspect of all this is that we are now being taken seriously as a “big club”, by both media and players alike. We finally have the financial backing to match the ambition and expectations of our long suffering fans and what’s more, we will finish above the mags this season !
Alright. I can understand your feelings. But give me a clarification.
How much exactly did Keane spend on Spurs Rejects- tainio+malbranque+chimbonda? I read that the amount is almost a whopping 20 M GBP!!!!! Is that true? If you ask me, those three put together would cost a maximum of 7 M GBP. Not a penny more.
Why is Keane so naive in the transfer market? Why does he always end up paying extremely inflated transfer fees? May be only Chlesea and Spurs are worse than Keane in this aspect.
If there is anything wrong in the figures qouted by me, then please do correct it.
Vipin,
I agree with Brian and Col. Your assessment is way too harsh. On the websites I have looked at, all 3 of the players you mention are listed as having ‘undisclosed’ transfer fees, so where you get your numbers I have no idea??
Vipin, malbranque is worth 7m, chimbonda 5m, tanio 3 or 4m.
thats what keane payed for them.. it was 21 including kaboul and hell be about 6.