No Blame on Borini ALS Blog by John Ward a-love-supreme/roundup.htm Hands up who wanted Borini to sign for us permanently? Of course you did. Keep them up if you thought he would sign. Really? This isnt going to make me popular, I realise, but if you a) didnt support us, and b) were a footballer looking to progress their career, would you sign for us? Lets be honest, the chance of us getting into Europe via the league is non-existent, and last year aside our recent cup pedigree is less than stellar. Since we returned to the top flight we have finished in the top half once. Just. Have we reached our level? It cant be said we havent hired managers with the potential to move us on. And Paolo Di Canio. For some reason though, they dont seem to be able to repeat their prior success with us. Another one: hands up if you wanted ONeill as manager. Of course you did. And why wouldnt you? A manager with a proven record of over achievement at limited teams. We were thinking of Leicesters cup successes, of Villas two sixth place finishes; and best of all he was one of us, a fan. We ended up with the worst stats of his club management career. We all wanted him to work his magic and banish the dark days of Bruces reign. But when he arrived, Bruce had worked wonders at Wigan. They played decent football, and punched massively above their weight with tiny crowds to finance them. Hes done pretty well at Hull as well so far. We ended up with the worst stats of his club management career (sound familiar?). In fact, the most successful manager stat wise since St Niall took over is Roy Keane, but that does include that fantastic first season in the championship. Since we returned to the Premier League our win percentage has hovered fairly consistently around 30%: Keane 42%, Sbragia 23%, Bruce 30%, ONeill 32%, Di Canio 23% Is this the record of a club on the up, a club that should look attractive to the kind of players we would all like to see? Sure, we have a fantastic support. Absolutely, we have a great history. But do we provide a potential step up in a players career? Should we just accept that we are a mid table club at best, and likely to feature in a relegation battle otherwise (like about half the division)? At the moment, the responsibility for persuading me otherwise lies with Poyet, and yet again, I find myself being seduced by the hope that things are changing. I like Gus. I want him to succeed. Statistically, he is our best manager since Keane (39% wins), and without the distorting effect of a championship season. He came in and dealt with the horrors that Di Canio left us. He has us playing attractive football. He took us on two cup runs. He gave us the Great Escape. But have things changed? Poyet has spoken of there being something rotten in the state of Sunderland, which had echoes of Quinns Gremlins comment when he took over. Yet again, despite the better football, we have started the season not beating teams around us and losing to a newly promoted team. Once again key players have left. And again, we are left with assets such as Wickham seemingly running down their contracts. Has Guss arrival improved things? Absolutely. Has the clubs potential changed? I dont know. I hope so. I dare to dream again. Do I blame Borini for not wanting to take the risk with his career? Absolutely not.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Sep 2014 09:47:25 +0000
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