It Costs A Lot To Look This Terrible...

IanJames says...

@als_seaham - Weather's a bit grim, all told, thank you, but I don't support Man Utd. I do, however admire their ability to win titles through character, intelligent play and superb management (even though it's by a red-faced grouch-machine). I'm sorry you seem offended by the word 'phalanx' (unless you find it more a challenging word than you expected), and I'll choose smaller more simpler words in future. In fact, I don't think it was getting my sums wrong that irked you and more a case of it being that this thread didn't mention Arsenal, and so you felt wronged, as if you were left out of the conversation. All right, then, let's put that right, shall we? All together, now: Arsenal are a lovely club and their players - bought for an initial cost of a fiver and a packet of Werther's Originals - are nurtured to be world-beaters, managed by a genius who, let's face it, does look like a vulture in dread anticipation of a diahorrea attack. There. Simmered down, yet? Has that placated (ooh, another long word) you? Yours sincerely, someone enjoying his numptiness a great deal.

Posted 3:12pm 21st March 2013

als_seaham (Sunderland) says...

@IanJames....Accused of being smug by someone who, very clumsily, used the word 'phalanx' & the statement 'unargued engine' - lordy lorks!!! Basically your understanding & your agenda are summed up when you attempt to paint manyoo as a club struggling financially. The same club who spent a net £36m on 12/13 transfers & thats forgetting wages (& they still are not very entertaining - does that mean they deserve relegation?). Look, we did a poznan at you last season, its called crack & its what must football fans enjoy. Get over it & go back to watching your team on ModtD. I hope the weathers good in Essex.

Posted 1:49pm 21st March 2013

Synergy says...

@TheGuru (Sunderland)> You keep bringing up "deserving". As of now your a fringe team that may or may not get relegated. If you get relegated you deserve to get relegated because your performances were dire and you didn't pick up the necessary points.

The main issues people had with your earliest posts was your attitude that neutral fans would prefer Sunderland to stay up because they are a bigger club. Most neutral fans don't care about club size, rather their performance on the pitch. And in that respect Wigan trumps you. As for NewCastle given their propensity to unearth first these African and French gems for basement bargain prices, I wouldn't put it past them to be challenging for a EL spot again, next season.

Posted 11:27am 21st March 2013

IanJames says...

"Until we finish bottom 3, we have every right to play how we like in the PL. We don't have to entertain anybody, if people don't like us being here- I can live with that." You've every right to think that, however, if you have another few seasons where you're just a plodding outfit with nothing to offer but struggle, try to live as much as you can with voices that think another club could offer far more than Sunderland in terms of something worthwhile happening. Hanging on in mid-table is fine for a few seasons until someone thinks 'is that all you've got'?

Posted 11:10am 21st March 2013

TheGuru (Sunderland) says...

V.Profane- "Aye, give us a buzz when you find out where yoorup is". What an intelligent response eh? Well done for getting into Europe. Enjoy it, cos you won't be seeing it again for a good few years.

Posted 5:10pm 20th March 2013

TheGuru (Sunderland) says...

I disagree. Our objective would not just to be 'comfortably make up the numbers" our objective (very optimistically) would be to finish top-half and maybe even push for a EL spot. Just because we under-perform doesn't mean we deserve to go down. Wigan try to "make up the numbers" to use your phrase, do they deserve to go down? Not every team can be successful in the Premier League is my main point. Yes, we are struggling and awful to watch. But that doesn't make us worthy candidates of relegation. We have aspirations and targets- we just haven't reached them. The league table doesn't lie, plenty of teams have been deservedly relegated since we came back up in 07. We aren't one of them. Until we finish bottom 3, we have every right to play how we like in the PL. We don't have to entertain anybody, if people don't like us being here- I can live with that.

Posted 5:09pm 20th March 2013

v. profane (Newcastle United) says...

"Probably FC France up the road too. They are overrated." Aye, give us a buzz when you find out where yoorup is.

Posted 2:03pm 20th March 2013

IanJames says...

TheGuru - You don't 'deserve' it if your main point of pride of being in the PL is just to comfortably make up the numbers season upon season. Then you become Coventry. I'm not saying that you should become Real Madrid overnight, but if your badge of pride is just to be there and occupy a berth without at least offering something that makes people think 'okay, they're worth it', then what's the point? Am I arrogant in thinking you deserve to entertain me? I probably sound like it, even though I didn't mean it that way, but I'm not arrogant in thinking that a welcome overstayed isn't looked too keenly by others. Perhaps if clubs' fans didn't keep blurting how much they 'deserve' to be in the top flight (an arrogance in itself) - you 'deserve'? Who says? - then perhaps some of us wouldn't have to point out how the current bobbins their teams regularly produce undermines that opinion.

Posted 11:09am 20th March 2013

IanJames says...

@als_seaham I take your points on football economics (even if you do come off like a smug bouncer with a phalanx of bees in his bonnet), and I am aware of the possibility that you can balance the books, keep costs to a bearable level and succeed to an extent. That said, for all the fiscal uncertainties that Manchester United have, it says a lot for their manager (the unargued engine that drives Man Utd) that for all the money problems they have, they're on course for another title, unlike another side I could name who could play football all night long and not pick up another trophy for years. They appear to get the job done nearly every year and bring silverware with them, despite their money complications and despite the neighbours, who chuck even more money away than them. And your lot? Blimey, if four words make you go up the wall, don't go near a dictionary. You'd get a coronary after the first two pages. Do you always get this unpleasant after reading a sentence of four words?

Posted 5:49pm 19th March 2013

TheGuru (Sunderland) says...

Ian James- We are not substandard though and there lies the point. We may not play the prettiest football or get into Europe or even regularly finish top half- but we still deserve to be in the PL. We haven't yet been relegated in 6 seasons yet so we continue to play in the PL. We don't break the rules, ruin our team financially and keep prices cheap for working-class supporters like myself. I think you are going over-the-top with the style of football point and the Mongolia references further highlights that. You'd probably prefer Wigan to stay in the PL based on the fact their football is more expansive and attacking, but they are actually worse than us. Surely that makes them less deserving to stay in the Premier League then? Odd logic yours is. The watchable point is hugely irrelevant. Don't know why you keep bringing that up. You're arrogant if you think we deserve to entertain you. I'm not saying we "are all that". But we are equally as deserving (and in my opinion more deserving) of Premier League status than Wigan, QPR, Reading, West Ham and Southampton. Probably FC France up the road too. They are overrated.

Posted 5:48pm 19th March 2013