Just watched episode 2, interesting the discussion about Maja, his contract and his agent (same as Aribo's) i'm sure you could cross reference those discussions to the Joe Aribo thread on here and find a very similar detailed discussion.
When you look at their Wembley record you can feel their pain. Who can really know, but I think the Checkatrade Trophy was not something they should have taken seriously. Neither them or Portsmouth needed the distraction. No complaints here though.
Only watched the first couple of episodes where everyone is still in the honeymoon period, but the alarm bells were ringing re. Methven the minute he mentioned changing the music they run out to and trying to make it sound like a dance club. Might as well have put on a t-shirt with "I DON'T GET IT" emblazoned on the front.
At the first Stayen cup in St Truiden she canvassed some of the younger supporters about getting rid of it for something more modern. Both my son and stepson told her it was sacrilege and questioned if she knew anything about the history of our Club.
When you look at their Wembley record you can feel their pain. Who can really know, but I think the Checkatrade Trophy was not something they should have taken seriously. Neither them or Portsmouth needed the distraction. No complaints here though.
It ruined both their seasons... the Semi-Finals between those two confirmed that, quite simply those matches were shite because the two sets of players were exhausted
Its also the reason why Sunderland's form nose dived in those last three league games as up until then; promotion was in their hands still
The fans take a lot of blame for the Checktrade too. Didn't more of them turn up for that than the play off final. I think Sunderland should be embarrassed that we took more fans to Wembley even though we are of course closer. The reason they didn't is they focused on the wrong game.
The fans take a lot of blame for the Checktrade too. Didn't more of them turn up for that than the play off final. I think Sunderland should be embarrassed that we took more fans to Wembley even though we are of course closer. The reason they didn't is they focused on the wrong game.
Seems as well they didnt bother with the Semi Final at Sunderland either - I get the rule about ST Holders have to buy their tickets for these games and that the North is a lot poorer the South but their attendance figures we awful for the club of their size for that game because they were saving their money for Wembley
They had home advantage first so could have made it bloody intimidating for Portsmouth before going down to the South Coast a bit more comfortable
Look, neither us nor Sunderland belong in League One. But we probably have less of a case for not belonging there than they do. So FFS, it is not a trophy you should have any desire to win. We had our eye on the real prize and when margins are small, that can make the difference. Those that attended the Final with Pompey and not the play-off semi and the far more important final are part of their problem. Money is no excuse as they found it for the Checkatrade.
Binge watched all six episodes knowing the last one would be the best - and it was. Can never get bored with seeing Bauer put the ball in the net - still get goose bumps. Agree that Charlie Methven comes across as a complete twat. Wonder he hasn't copped a right hander the way he talks to people. Do feel sorry for the Sunderland fans, though. They deserve better than League One.
Just binge watched this today. God I miss football, can't wait until everything is back to normal. Like others said, that Charlie is a right wrong 'un, very yuppie and up his own backside. I thought McGeady came across very well which is good.
I feel sorry for their fans too cos they are proper ones that don't deserve all the shit their team / ownership deals up. Still bloody glad we won the playoff final though!
Seriously cannot wait to be back at The Valley again whenever that may be.
For the big club they are for that league they were very excited about getting to Wembley for the JPT final which maybe is probably down to them getting to the Arch for the first time in a while whereas only being in the play-offs was a disappointment for them - they clearly expected and demanded promotion (I mean Luton won the league..)
Maybe it was the same for you guys? - but you hit the jackpot anyway.
Not that you'll complain but losing on penalties and in the final minute must have been rather painful!
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
For the big club they are for that league they were very excited about getting to Wembley for the JPT final which maybe is probably down to them getting to the Arch for the first time in a while whereas only being in the play-offs was a disappointment for them - they clearly expected and demanded promotion (I mean Luton won the league..)
Maybe it was the same for you guys? - but you hit the jackpot anyway.
Not that you'll complain but losing on penalties and in the final minute must have been rather painful!
I expect nothing of Charlton, yet am frequently left disappointed.
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
It was poorly edited. Series 1 was much better.
Donald and the posh twat came across as clueless. Grigg was a name not a goal scorer
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
What I thought happened was that the club found out from the media that Maja had refused a contract extension and were understandably a bit peeved that they heard the news from Sky rather than from the player or his agent. When you have six months or less on your contract you are free to talk
to other clubs, his agent deliberately ran the clock down in the run-up the transfer
window opening and was then free to start negotiating.
As for Charlie Methven - he's an Old Etonian, ex-Telegraph journalist born to rule type who's out of his depth the moment he has to actually run something. I can't think who he reminds me of...
Enjoyed it. As much as Methven is, as mentioned any number of times on here already, a bully as well as being an idiot, the owner, Stewart Donald, is culpable, along with their Manager, Ross, for them not being promoted.
Sunderland failed to go up last season because they didn't keep Maja, then tried to replace him with Grigg who the Manager didn't want in the first place because he didn't suit the way Ross set up his team to play. And he wasn't in great form when he joined them anyway having netted just 4 times prior for Wigan up until January.
Sunderland picked up 57/78 points with Maja in the side but just 31/60 points without him. They sold Maja for £1.5m but paid £4m for Grigg. They should have stood firm and made Maja see out his contract and then let him go on a free at the end of the season. Yes he might have refused to play but that would have shown him in a very poor light and his stock would have gone down rather than up had he done so.
There are, of course, parallels with how Grant left us in January. It is arguable whether we could/should have stood firm but the fact that Sunderland were getting an average of 32,000 whereas ours was nearer 12,000 would have made it easier for them to make Maja sit out his contract.
The main difference is that we still had Taylor and he went on to score 10 in the final 13 games of the season. Sunderland had Charlie Wyke and Grigg who managed, between them, just 8 league goals in 47 appearances. And Grigg has only scored 3 in 27 this season which rather re-affirms the folly of the impetuous Stewart.
Agree that it is not quite as good as the first series, love the way that at their first press conference Methven makes it clear that the days of teams taking the piss out of Sunderland are gone for good, and there is a new sheriff in town.
Six months later they pay $3Million for a guy that couldn't get a game at Wigan, and whom they had to virtually beg to play for them!
As one of my old bosses would never tire of saying "Mean what you say, and say what you mean, otherwise folk just stop listening to you!"
Unless he is a brilliant actor, I think that Stewart Donald comes out of it looking like a decent bloke, who genuinely wants the best for the club and it's supporters.
However he also appeared miles out of his depth in the murky and machieveillian world of professional football, and I would also make the observation that for a club that was supposedly cutting costs, there was a hell of a lot of people at the top taking a salary out of it.
As well as the two owners, I also noted a COO, a CFO, a head of recruitment (Tony Coton) and then whatever role Richard Hill (whom we almost signed many years ago) was doing.
Also am I alone in wondering exactly what it is the 10-12 people (not the subs) on the bench do for the club, how many support staff do you really need?
Just finished it, thought the first series was better (apart from the end).
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
I’m kind of confused by the Maja situation, how did he sign for Bordeaux without them knowing? He was still under contract with Sunderland at the time, did I miss the bit where they actually accepted an offer for him?
Maybe they did and were trying to cover their backs when the manager asked what was going on.
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
I'm really enjoying it too, it's a much better watch than the Man City doc.
Definitely better . I gave up on the city one after two episodes.
Sorry to quote an old quote but from what I heard it was a bit of a PR show for City - and unlike Sunderland for example they were pretty successful!
Was clearly supposed to be a celebration season type video!
We were meant to be involved in one of these on the BBC but it got scrapped and only aired in the USA for some reason.
TBH They probably didn't get much content - the Pozzos are pretty private people and at the time Deeney was the only one who spoke to the media (still is apart from Foster)
Think it was when we mad Walter Mazzarri who did't speak English so there would have been no involvement from him.
Allegedly the consortium paid £40m for Sunderland ca 18 months ago. Probably roughly what Roland would have sold out for at that point, I'm curious whether Donald and his team ever looked at Charlton as an alternative to Sunderland, or even why he didn't buy a bigger stake in Oxford (he owned 10% of Oxford at one point).
Anyway since S2 ended Donald has sold his insurance company (Bridle Insurance) and has more or less put Sunderland up for sale again. Clearly he loves the game and probably owning a league club was about fulfulling an ambition, he sold Eastleigh FC to buy Sunderland so it's not as though he had no knowledge of the football business. Sadly I saw another well intentioned and good bloke at heart diving in and taking on a job that was just too big for him. Charlie Methven although he comes across as a bit of a dick made some good points about the culture of failure at the club and that passing the bills on to Ellis Short to pay was no longer sustainable. As others pointed out the big mistake was selling Josh Maja and paying well over the odds for Will Grigg - Wigan saw Sunderland coming. There was a quote in there somewhere to the effect that he wasn't worth £1.25m yet they ended up paying £3m rising to £4m.
Am 5 episodes in and will watch last one tomorrow (no spoilers about the playoff result please)
Feel a weird sense of survivor guilt watching it knowing what's coming in the finale.
Bloody love our club and always will but for those fans and for that city it is their lives.
Something quite appealing about one club towns and cities where all of you, your mates, family and colleagues all support the same club. A different world to what we're used to down here.
Got a massive soft spot for Sunderland after 98 and even more so after May. Really hope they do well. Proper club with proper diehard supporters.
Still have an episode left but I actually warmed to the owners having started the series thinking I would instantly dislike them after seeing their arrival at last series's finale.
But for all their Brentisms they genuinely seemed to care and were invested in the project and what it means to the people up there. There's a brief shot of Donald at the full time whistle of the checkatrade in the stands and he looked like a little boy lost which was quite poignant I thought.
Compared to the revolving door sack of unscrupulous, festering pricks that have been involved in the clusterfuck mismanagement and abuse of our great club over the past decade the Sunderland blokes (particularly Donald)seemed to really want the best for the club and its fans.
Think this was even better than the first series.
That O' Nien came across as a really nice young lad too and reckon would be the sort of player Curbs might have signed.
Actually finding it painful to watch on account of Methven. That he got to where he did was an absolute triumph of self-belief over ability. You can tell that he thinks he's the greatest living Englishman. These people always rise to the top.
From afar (and from observing working alongside many over the years) one of the things an English public school education appears to give is an unwavering sense of self belief and confidence.
Must make it easy to go through life like that but of course does give rise to the lions led by donkeys scenario throughout our society.
The Maja decision absolutely killed them - complete madness.
As someone pointed out above they were winning games for fun with him in the team and without him they turned into draw specialists.
You can't compare it with Charlton with KAG because RD wanted the cash and obviously was never going to spend money on bringing in a replacement.
Sunderland? Dear me, if you can afford to spend 3 million on Grigg then you can afford to lose 1 million Euros by not selling Maja.
The conversation is very simple, "OK mate, you're staying here till the end of the season. The more goals you score for us the bigger the move you will get at the end of the season. No hard feelings."
I fully expect this season to be cancelled so Sunderland will be in League One again next year and the longer they are there then the harder it is to get out.
Comments
timnicebutdim
how do these prats get jobs? Obviously he’ll inevitably get linked with a job at cafc. Good luck to him.
At the first Stayen cup in St Truiden she canvassed some of the younger supporters about getting rid of it for something more modern. Both my son and stepson told her it was sacrilege and questioned if she knew anything about the history of our Club.
Its also the reason why Sunderland's form nose dived in those last three league games as up until then; promotion was in their hands still
They had home advantage first so could have made it bloody intimidating for Portsmouth before going down to the South Coast a bit more comfortable
Agree that Charlie Methven comes across as a complete twat. Wonder he hasn't copped a right hander the way he talks to people.
Do feel sorry for the Sunderland fans, though. They deserve better than League One.
Like others said, that Charlie is a right wrong 'un, very yuppie and up his own backside. I thought McGeady came across very well which is good.
I feel sorry for their fans too cos they are proper ones that don't deserve all the shit their team / ownership deals up. Still bloody glad we won the playoff final though!
Seriously cannot wait to be back at The Valley again whenever that may be.
Maybe it was the same for you guys? - but you hit the jackpot anyway.
Not that you'll complain but losing on penalties and in the final minute must have been rather painful!
My favourite bit until the last episode was Donald losing the plot on transfer deadline day and going from £1.25M to £3M rising to £4M on Will Grigg in a matter of minutes. Bet Wigan couldn’t accept that one fast enough!
Grigg was a name not a goal scorer
Sunderland failed to go up last season because they didn't keep Maja, then tried to replace him with Grigg who the Manager didn't want in the first place because he didn't suit the way Ross set up his team to play. And he wasn't in great form when he joined them anyway having netted just 4 times prior for Wigan up until January.
Sunderland picked up 57/78 points with Maja in the side but just 31/60 points without him. They sold Maja for £1.5m but paid £4m for Grigg. They should have stood firm and made Maja see out his contract and then let him go on a free at the end of the season. Yes he might have refused to play but that would have shown him in a very poor light and his stock would have gone down rather than up had he done so.
There are, of course, parallels with how Grant left us in January. It is arguable whether we could/should have stood firm but the fact that Sunderland were getting an average of 32,000 whereas ours was nearer 12,000 would have made it easier for them to make Maja sit out his contract.
The main difference is that we still had Taylor and he went on to score 10 in the final 13 games of the season. Sunderland had Charlie Wyke and Grigg who managed, between them, just 8 league goals in 47 appearances. And Grigg has only scored 3 in 27 this season which rather re-affirms the folly of the impetuous Stewart.
Six months later they pay $3Million for a guy that couldn't get a game at Wigan, and whom they had to virtually beg to play for them!
As one of my old bosses would never tire of saying "Mean what you say, and say what you mean, otherwise folk just stop listening to you!"
However he also appeared miles out of his depth in the murky and machieveillian world of professional football, and I would also make the observation that for a club that was supposedly cutting costs, there was a hell of a lot of people at the top taking a salary out of it.
As well as the two owners, I also noted a COO, a CFO, a head of recruitment (Tony Coton) and then whatever role Richard Hill (whom we almost signed many years ago) was doing.
Also am I alone in wondering exactly what it is the 10-12 people (not the subs) on the bench do for the club, how many support staff do you really need?
I mean Donald went ahead and signed Grigg despite Ross, Coton and Hill all saying don't bother..
Is that really how transfers are done these days!?
No wonder managers get fed up..
Was clearly supposed to be a celebration season type video!
We were meant to be involved in one of these on the BBC but it got scrapped and only aired in the USA for some reason.
TBH They probably didn't get much content - the Pozzos are pretty private people and at the time Deeney was the only one who spoke to the media (still is apart from Foster)
Think it was when we mad Walter Mazzarri who did't speak English so there would have been no involvement from him.
Feel a weird sense of survivor guilt watching it knowing what's coming in the finale.
Bloody love our club and always will but for those fans and for that city it is their lives.
Something quite appealing about one club towns and cities where all of you, your mates, family and colleagues all support the same club. A different world to what we're used to down here.
Got a massive soft spot for Sunderland after 98 and even more so after May. Really hope they do well. Proper club with proper diehard supporters.
Still have an episode left but I actually warmed to the owners having started the series thinking I would instantly dislike them after seeing their arrival at last series's finale.
But for all their Brentisms they genuinely seemed to care and were invested in the project and what it means to the people up there. There's a brief shot of Donald at the full time whistle of the checkatrade in the stands and he looked like a little boy lost which was quite poignant I thought.
Compared to the revolving door sack of unscrupulous, festering pricks that have been involved in the clusterfuck mismanagement and abuse of our great club over the past decade the Sunderland blokes (particularly Donald)seemed to really want the best for the club and its fans.
Think this was even better than the first series.
That O' Nien came across as a really nice young lad too and reckon would be the sort of player Curbs might have signed.
Must make it easy to go through life like that but of course does give rise to the lions led by donkeys scenario throughout our society.
As someone pointed out above they were winning games for fun with him in the team and without him they turned into draw specialists.
You can't compare it with Charlton with KAG because RD wanted the cash and obviously was never going to spend money on bringing in a replacement.
Sunderland? Dear me, if you can afford to spend 3 million on Grigg then you can afford to lose 1 million Euros by not selling Maja.
The conversation is very simple, "OK mate, you're staying here till the end of the season. The more goals you score for us the bigger the move you will get at the end of the season. No hard feelings."
I fully expect this season to be cancelled so Sunderland will be in League One again next year and the longer they are there then the harder it is to get out.