JockyWilsonspants

Yup, I saw this as well. The commentator was fuckin hopeless and never missed an opportunity to have a dig. "They[home fans] don't know the rules down here!"........5 mins later Shinnie(?) gets booked for a tackle in which he makes zero attempt to play the ball and the commentator goes apeshit. The guy made Dick Donnelly sound like a refined young hipster.

Loved Reyna as a player. Ran all day, could play multiple positions and very very rarely misplaced a pass. We also bought him for a relatively small fee for the time.

Was that last sentence aimed at me? Because at no point in my post did I doubt the manager. Maybe you ought to reread my post. I simply said no cunt on here has the slightest clue how he will do here. He could be the next Josie Mourinho or he could be the next Ian Cathro. Im happy to admit my ignorance, I wish others would too. Giving a lecture at something laughingly called a "masterclass" has zero bearing on how he'll do as manager.

Football is full of successful assistant coaches who turn out to be worthless as managers. There is little link between how good a coach/assistant manager is and how well they do in the top job. That's not meant as a criticism of Pedro. But lets be honest none of us have a fuckin clue how good, bad or indifferent he will be as manager here.

Tbf the scouting & recruiting process is always being addressed. Every fuckin incoming regime promises a top class youth development system and scouting set-up. Im convinced that gig is made for total shysters who possess a smooth way with words. I would put zero stock in what anyone says they are going to do behind the scenes. For every 10 charlatans in that role there is 1 good un.

I think a general rule of thumb is that if 50% of new signings in any season are a success then its probably been a decent transfer window. Any more than 50% is an added bonus.

I would hope we have a sell on clause, or that we get extra for McKay playing a certain amount of games. Still, im not going to change my mind on the guy. He was good in Scottish lower leagues but hardly stood out in our top league. These type of lower league standouts are ten a penny. Let's see if he's still on good form by christmas. One or two good games does not make a top notch player.

First Brexit, now this. Sunderland has fast become my favourite English city.

Is it too much to expect that his financial advisor told him to put X% of his football earning into a pension fund and that he was sensible enough to do so? That this money cant be touched by his creditors but its sitting there waiting for him when he decides to cash it in? edit: I dont know if its relevant but some documentary years back mentioned how often this happens to US sports stars(this was before the really funny money in football). I think they said its often mortgage related issues that get these people bankrupt. They get a mortgage on some huge fuck off sized 24 bedroomed mansion but cant keep the payments up once they retire. No idea how accurate this is though.

Goram Hutton Butcher Gough Numan T Steven Durrant Reyna Van Bronkhurst Caniggia Hateley

The fee looks about right to me, if marginally low, but im hoping there is a sell on clause just in case he improves. Scottish players have hardly set the world on fire down in England in recent years. I think the fee takes into account the woeful standard of Scottish football and the poor record of Scottish players down in England. Tbh its not as if us or Forrest have had a huge amount of games to judge McKay on where he has played well against strong opposition. In fact against mediocre opposition McKay has himself looked fairly mediocre himself.

I think it's safe to I have no idea what level of performance we will put in, neither does anyone else know and that includes our manager. We are all just hoping.

No specific memories to mention other than he had that X factor as a player pre-injury. You could probably find dozens of players you could put together a more impressive "highlights" video package of on youtube. But Durrant had the ability of scoring goals as a midfielder from open play. Such an ability is gold dust in modern footballers.

Gazza for me, just. Laudrup just didnt do enough in Europe for me. Tbh neither was Gazza exactly outstanding for us in Europe, but I always got the impression Laudrup could and should have delivered more for us on the European stage.

This. A local coach doesn't have to have had played for the club. Better getting in a coach who has proven his worth in a previous coaching role; a coach who has shown at the very minimum some competence and professionalism.