The McCarthy Era (Sunderland A.F.C.)

Member Name: utero

Product:	Sunderland A.F.C.
Date:	12/12/05 (102 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest manager, Good ground, good fanbase

Disadvantages: Some fans with short memories

There’s nothing more fickle than a football fan. I should know, I’ll admit to calling for a change in management at the first sign of a blip!

Sunderland and Norwich are two clubs that share an affinity that goes back to the 1985 league cup final that Norwich won 1-0. Since then the clubs have contested a friendly cup each season they meet each other. So as a club, I kind of like Sunderland but I’m not liking the reaction of some of their support at the moment.

Two seasons ago the club were relegated from the Premiership with the unfortunate record of having the least points in the season, 19 to be precise. That season they’d spent big and went down with a large wage bill and a spiralling debt. If you look at most clubs that have suffered a similar fate then the future doesn’t bode well. The likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Bradford dropped down the divisions quite quickly and the road back is a long one.

I hear Sunderland fans calling for manager Mick McCarthy’s head but that view is quite blinkered when you consider what he has achieved in a short space of time. In his first full season he gets them into the playoffs despite having lost a lot of good players. Last season he went one better than that. He cleared out all the deadwood, bought in some young players for very little money and won the championship by seven points. In most situations the best a supporter can hope for is a season of consolidation and a mid-table finish.

Unfortunately this season Sunderland are being hampered by their financial exploits of season’s past. When a club spends big and it ends in failure then they’re not liable to make the same mistake again. As a result Mick McCarthy has spent very little money and is left with a squad full of endeavour but very short on top-flight experience and quality. The result is that the team has struggled and lost pretty much every match they’ve been involved in this season.

In many ways they’re similar to my club Norwich’s experience in the premiership last season. To realistically have a chance of staying the top league now you have to spend £6-8 million on transfer fees alone in the close season. That’s not accounting for wages etc. People have been impressed by Wigan so far this season but many fail to mention the money they’ve spent. There isn’t a club in the leagues who could spend around £8M on players when they have only pulled in crowds barely scraping 12,000. No, in this instance you need a sugar daddy and that’s what Wigan have.

Sunderland’s close season transfers haven’t been great but it’s hard to get the right players when you’re on a tight budget. £1.8 million for John Stead was not good business. I fail to see how a player increases 800k in value when he’s only had a few decent games in the top flight. Kelvin Davis at £1M was also a touch on the high side but capturing the likes of Tommy Miller and Alan Stubbs on free transfers was a step in the right direction.

The gulf in class between Championship and Premiership is quite large in terms of quality. A side can scrap their way out of the championship but all that gets you in the top league is a bit of sympathy and a few nice comments.

So what I say to those despondent Sunderland fans is stick with your manager. He’s doing the best he can and no one’s going to come in and do a better job. After all, it’s better to be playing at the top and going to Highbury than seeing a game of head tennis at Gresty Road.

That being said, I look forward to seeing Sunderland at Carrow Road next season albeit in the Championship L

Summary: The mackens are suffering but it's better at the top than going on the slide