The Humble Realist

Agree but it's so bad that they were cynical enough to make the decision in the first place....it clearly wasnt an accidental mistake making it the 29th. However....I am glad the club listened and changed their mind...let's hope this is a sign of things to come

Someone should let the EFL know its only actually 27 years....he had a 5 year break from the game according to his own LinkedIn profile

Not for the first time I am wondering... What's actually.going on with odowda? Has there been an update? Surely this will be his last season(even though he never manages more than 15games ) with us ?

Is he actually alright ?

https://gofund.me/9a6846e2 Hi all, Appreciate these sorts of things get posted regularly but wanted to share, if nothing else to raise awareness. I knew Sam at school and as you can see he is going through an incredibly tough time right now. It looks like this challenge will really help build his confidence and any money given will help spur him on. Please donate if you feel so inclined and likewise please share to raise awareness. Thanks all

Basso average? He was man of the match in countless games!! Always believe

Might have got this wrong but doesnt SL plan to build the new basketball arena complex on ashton vale whilst concreting the nature reserve /wetlands?

Have a good day buddy

This isnt specific to us but all football crowds and I admit its just a minority but the hypocrisy shown by some idiots is ridiculous. Yesterday we had Applause/tribute to Ukraine : Applause Take the knee: Applause 62 minute: Applause for fan who has passed away. All these displays of affection for human beings but when a player celebrates in front of us all sorts of objects are thrown /flare thrown yesterday/hooliganism in the park and stands etc I know its only some idiots but quite a large number of idiots. I wonder if they're aware of their own hypocrisy?

Bell miles out of his depth at right back /wing back. Birmingham played on it and often doubled up where he had no choice but to go.to the ball and then theyd pass it in behind him. He didnt help himself with some sloppy giveaways too. However he is young and he did recover well but the damage was done

John lansdown has some cheek saying we are underperforming after the Holden debacle and shambles of comms over the the season ticket refunds etc during Covid. Like all of us...perhaps we should look in the mirror first sometimes.

Gregor said the club cut out a large part of the press conference in the 'full press conference' they released. Is it just the stuff bashing J Lansdown that we think was left out? Cant imagine Pearson will be happy the club cut it out

Bizarrely I dont think I've ever been prouder than losing at home to city under pep. They had such a strong team and we only lost because we threw everyone forward looking for a winner. That man city team went on to amass 100 points , yet in both games we were drawing with them in injury time. Like I said...not 'best' but ironically my most proudest

My utility bills arent too much of a problem for me but appreciate the concern. I fear this will turn into a boring debate about Ashton/johnson/lansdown but.. 1. On the pitch we were no worse off when he left for sure For my money virtually all off pitch shenanigans lay at Ashtons door but since you blame LJ I will go on.... 2. Ok point taken about the wage bill but that would have been true for virtually all clubs like ours striving to go from bottom of the league after promotion to top half of the championship. 3. If your blaming johnson for our wage bill being so high presumably you will give him plenty credit for Kodja, webster , flint , bryan , reid, brownhill, pack and Kelly bringing in literally tens of millions of pounds in revenue through selling them Caveat to all of the above : I was certainly not disappointed when johnson left and as I said his 'talk' drove me mad. Could he have done better with us YES . My only real point is he gets a lot of hate considering ultimately he didnt do awfully with us and gave us some decent memories. No need for people to be wishing ill on sunderland.

Wasnt at yesterday's game but was he as good as Joe William's a few weeks ago vs stoke (I think ) at home ?

I get people might be rubbed up the wrong way by how johnson talks but why the hate ? Served us well as a player and gave us some good albeit frustrating times as a manager. Didnt get us relegated. Even with all the 'problems' he allegedly left us we are no worse than when he took over. He isnt everyones cup of tea in terms of how he speaks (I hate it!) but that's no reason to wish ill on him or the clubs he goes to. People hate johnson more than plenty of other managers who did nowhere near as well, and that's without taking into account his playing career too.

Websites for clubs are just PR machines now unfortunately. Used to be a way to get fairly fair and accurate information from the club, now you have to apply a BS filter every time you read it.

It's just interesting to read it back. Pat Murphy obviously rated him too but talk of fighting off premier league clubs shows how quickly things can change. Maybe we will face a similar situation with massengo

Ahh yes of course. My mistake. Clearly the brainwashing from Robins tv where the entire focus of our losing home run during lockdown was how great it was to have so many academy players playing worked better than it should have on me !! Apologies

Thought I would bump this thread to remind us all that a lot of players are young and need time to develop. We also as fans get it wrong. Look at all the comments here about how good bakinson is going to be, no doubt the same fans are 'not bothered ' about him leaving. This isn't a criticism, more a reminder at how quickly the tide can turn and we should stay balanced in any praise and criticism of young players in particular like Scott, benerous etc Hopefully bakinson goes on to have a successful career, hes an academy graduate after all.

Apologies if this is covered in another thread but what is going in with Atkinson and his place in the team? In my opinion he has made a pretty good start to his career here, and has played pretty well. Towler stated ahead of him on Sunday, he wasnt fancied for the QPR game with vyner and pring preferred and he was hauled off for the mistake against huddersfield which to be honest I thought was bennarous fault. Even if it was his fault it seems ridiculous to haul him off for one mistake like that. I know he has had a couple of injuries but I havent read or heard he is being 'managed'. Either way, I dont see any reason for him being left out so many times, especially when he is stil young himself and let's face it, there have been far worse culprits than him for some of our bad performances this year. It's a mystery to me

It was a really stupid thing for him to do to a)get booked for dissent and b)so obviously commit a 2nd yellow. We all make mistakes. Let's hope we smarten up

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2021/dec/30/norwichs-game-at-leicester-postponed-due-to-covid-cases-and-injuries Seemingly games are now being postponed because of 'injuries' How many players did we have out last season at its peak? We had to just play the kids and get on with it

Oh I see. I thought from what I read on the forum it said holden was only ever an interim manager. That's my bad, thanks for clearing up.

I dont really see what it has to do with FFP, I'm more surprised /confused why we would say holden was interim manager when he wasnt ? What does anyone have to gain by that?