It’s been quite a week for football, the Super League have been defeated, Bob Murray has gobbed off and after failing to beat Hull, SAFC are pretty much consigned to the play-offs. We discuss all three topics in this week’s round table…
The Super League has been defeated! A show of strength for football, or a warning for the future?
MICHAEL GLANCY
As the Crystal Palace Chairman Steve Parish said on Monday Night Football; “honestly, this whole thing has been a gift.” Whilst this might seem like a strange sentiment given the downright contempt shown by the “big six” to, well, everyone else, Parish went on to make the point that the European football elite had been getting away with incremental, damaging changes to football for years, and that this monstrosity was them playing their hand far too early. Without their greed, short-sightedness and down right idiocy, they probably would have gotten away with it over a longer period, with the closed shop element being brought in later. Having said all this the changes made for the 2024 Champions League still allow for a “legacy” place which could mean that if a team finished 5th in the Premier League and Man United finished 6th, Man United could still finish ahead of the 5th place team. Now that we have used this anger to stop the Super League, we need to use it going forward to reverse the changes made to European football and to close the gap both between leagues, and within the leagues themselves. If this continues to gather momentum, then genuine change could be made for the good of the game. However, if nothing else is done and people forget about this, the elite will go back to what they were doing, in terms of growing the gap between the bottom and the top of football.
DANIEL HUNTER
Whilst it’s great to see football come together as one to defeat The Super League, if there isn’t proper repercussions for the clubs involved then there’s nothing stopping them trying to break away again in five years. In my opinion the clubs should be docked points by the Premier League and banned from European competitions for a season. The only benefit of a European Super League would have been Sunderland going up automatically as one of the six teams promoted from League One, however knowing our luck we’d finish 7th this season.
MICHAEL CONROY
What a bizarre week that was. There was a part of me that said, “Let them go”. I just had this inner peace with it all at first because I honestly believe that English football, or the principle of English football would survive. Proper football fans enjoy seeing their team play the unfashionable teams and the unfashionable teams love playing the so-called big teams because they can beat them. Our victories over Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool, Man Utd... they have all been special occasions. Man Utd still hate us because we did the Poznan to wind them up. Are you going to get that level of banter watching Man Utd v Atletico on Amazon Prime or wherever? The reaction proved I was right. It is however a massive warning for the future because in reality 12 teams would have sucked all the money into an already bulging treasure chest and clubs would have gone to the wall left, right and centre. It was a shameful episode for the clubs involved and I hope there are now serious ramifications. I don’t mean points deductions or anything, I mean a root and branch review of the balance of power in football. We have allowed our game to be governed by the super wealthy clubs and it is time for that to change. If owners can refer to their own fans as “legacy fans” who need to be forgotten about then they should have no place in our game.
The Bob Murray comments. Fair or a case of people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones from the Chairman who oversaw both of our low record points seasons and more fan protests and relegations than any other chairman in our history?
MICHAEL GLANCY
I think that while there were issues with Murray’s ownership, the fact that he is still clearly interested and concerned by the club shows that he is a genuine fan. If I am being honest, a lot of the Murray era feels so long ago, that it is water under the bridge as far as I am concerned, as well as the fact that I am a bit too young to really remember a lot of his reign. That is not to completely airbrush out some of the things that happened under his tenure, but we have had three changes of ownership since he was last here and while there were plenty of things that didn’t go well at least we never dropped into the third tier under his ownership.
DANIEL HUNTER
I’m a bit too young to form a proper opinion on Bob Murray, growing up I thought he was a good chairman considering he was in charge when we finished 7th two seasons running. However, as I’ve got older I’ve realised he chose to expand the SOL instead of improving the squad and it makes me think of him in a different light. I think his Murray’s comments were fair but it’s typical Sunderland really we complain that Bob Murray isn’t putting enough money in and then Ellis Short comes along and starts throwing money about too freely and we end up in millions of pounds worth of debt. Having said that I thought Murray’s comments about Del Boy and Rodney were spot on and I really hope that KLD learns from all the Chairmen before him and is cautious and strategic with his spending.
MICHAEL CONROY
I know there are many who can look past the Murray at Roker era and point to the Foundation and Stadium and Academy as a legacy and there is some merit in that. As I understood it the Stadium was financed largely by EU funding and so I would imagine with the Academy and Stadium Bob Murray would have made a tidy profit when he eventually decided/was convinced to sell up. Separating legacy and results is a tricky business but I honestly believe his positives are massively overshadowed by the negatives. Roker Park was allowed to fall into a dilapidated state, the Butcher era, the Buxton era, the failure to invest in 1990/91 at a time when football was ripe for change and a bit of spending could have seen us rise permanently from the ashes to be in a position where the Super League debate was a dilemma for Kyril. Then there’s the failures at the Stadium of Light, the record lows, the relegations. Those fan protests were amongst my lowest times as a Sunderland fan and I think I’m now conditioned to turn my nose up at anything involving Murray, equally though, I know not everyone was there for that and they can only judge on the Stadium we now have, the Foundation which does some great work and the Academy which has been decimated under the ownership of those he criticised, and so I get why his views may hold some truck.
Are the next four games a matter of going through the motions and avoiding injury?
MICHAEL GLANCY
No, there is a very small chance that the automatic places are still to play for, as well as the need to gain momentum before the playoffs. If we go into those on a winning run, we stand a much better chance than we did two years ago. Apart from Blackpool, the three fixtures we have give us a chance to get goals, wins, and form under our belts, unlike the Jack Ross season where we went into the playoffs on a really negative run. As well as this, being able to potentially experiment with the starting eleven and formation in the past couple of games (presuming the automatics are out of reach) means that we can hopefully have a variety of players in form for selection as opposed to the moment, where no players are really in great form and are being picked off the back of overall individual quality as opposed to how they are working as a team and a system. Having said that, I would potentially consider resting some of the older players for perhaps the last game, but again, only if it is a dead runner.
DANIEL HUNTER
100%. I can’t see us closing the gap to Peterborough, so it looks like we are destined for the Play Offs once again. The next four games are a chance for us to get momentum going to into the Play Offs and they also present a chance for Lee Johnson to find out what his best team is. I wouldn’t risk McGeady until he is 100% fit, and I’d also like to see Ross Stewart get a few starts because I think he’s got some potential.
MICHAEL CONROY
Use them as training matches. Keep them fit, work on game plans, build a bit confidence and focus. We are not going up automatically even though there is a corner of my brain which demands that I shouldn’t give up yet. With that in mind I think LJ needs to play that psychological and fitness game for the run in with a focus on smashing the life out the play offs. We are 7 points ahead of Oxford and Pompey so, realistically, we’re secure in the play offs. We do need to win our next one against Accrington though to make sure that we can ease into the final three with nothing to worry about really other than preparing for our inevitable Wembley showdown with Charlton.
