Signed on this day in 2014 is Jack Rodwell; Sunderland's pantomime villain. He joined the club for a fee of £10 million, coming in alongside the likes of Costel Pantilimon and Patrick Van Aanholt.
In the summer of 2014 we decided to splash £10 million on the Premier League winner, with the hopes that we could figure out his injury problems and bag ourselves a decent footballer. Alas, as everyone knows, that was not the case.
In his first few months in red and white Rodwell actually managed to have a run of starting games. That was of course until the inevitable happened and he missed one game for a calf injury. After this he spent the remainder of the season alternating between a starting role and the bench.
His next two seasons for us were more of the same. Inconsistent starts followed by a set of injuries. During the 16/17 season he managed to put an unfortunate record to rest, as he finally won a Premier League game with us in which he started. The winless run lasted 39 games spanning over 1,370 days, until we eventually put Big Sam’s Crystal Palace to the sword in a 4-0 win. After we got relegated Rodwell kindly decided not to take a pay cut regardless of the ongoing situation, including getting paid for being on the sidelines 90% of the time.
Even in a lower division Rodwell never really impressed in the games that he did play in. It was no secret that we were wanting to sell but we just couldn’t find a buyer. Who would want to buy a player with inflated wages, a poor attitude and limited footballing abilities? As a result of this he had fallen out of favour with the majority of the club, whether that was us fans or the club staff.
After falling into League One we finally decided to cut our losses and terminate his contract, making him a free agent. From here he has since been involved with several clubs such as Blackburn Rovers, Sheffield United and Western Sydney Warriors. In his time on Wearside,
despite his high opinion of himself (remember when he talked of getting back into the England squad) he was a terrible footballer with an even worse attitude.
Sunderland Till I Die exposed the man as a fraud and a waster, content to pick up his exorbitant wage and sit idly by. He was symptomatic of our poor recruitment policy and our rapid decline. How he got a second chance in football after us is just an aberration, frankly.
