Sunderland Mad's very own football expert Lee Freeman (username "Lee 71") has kindly provided his review of how the club is progressing under Niall Quinn & Roy Keane and gives a glimpse of what might lie ahead.
After the bad start we have had, (i.e. losing the first five games), we are more or less where I thought we would be. It is still a bit early to say as there is a long way to go, but my gut feeling is that
We now have a better management and a more stable regime. Niall Quinn has sorted out the off-field problems. He is also trying to cut the ticket prices in an attempt to draw back the crowds to our first class stadium. This means that the club is not in such a bad state when compared to the management of Bob Murray and his “yes” men. Hopefully Niall Quinn will learn from the previous management and will not for example implement pointless cost cutting exercises. Quinn should also realise that staying as chairman for decades could mean that the club will eventually stagnate.
Keane is “getting there” in his own words. There is still a long way to go in his managerial career. Keane is talking to his old manager Sir Alex Ferguson to get some advice on how he should proceed, which is commendable. Keane and Quinn have done nothing to disappoint me personally so far, especially considering the bad start we had to this season and the terrible season before that under the old regime.
Having said that, to date we have been far too inconsistent to win a place in the playoffs and this is partly due to the working in of the new manager and new chairman. I think our best performances were against
Of the new blood, Kavanagh and Connolly are key players in the team. Their respective injuries have not helped. Dwight Yorke performs well but he sometimes gives the ball away. David Connolly needs to get his fitness up and get on the end of things at the last third of the field. Liam Miller's standard of football needs to improve according to Keane and I agree with that. Ross Wallace needs to stop getting sent off for celebrating goals by removing his shirt.
One of the negatives is that we now have no meaningful competition for the reserves team. This is one of the reasons Keane has shifted players out on loan to other clubs. I strongly believe that loaning all those players out has been the right way to go. I wouldn't like to see any of them come back because they would only bring some bad memories back with them. The team has progressively played better as these players have been loaned out.
The transfer market reopens in January and I think Keane will get another four or six players which will hopefully help us build towards a playoff position. I think we need one more left or right full back to play alongside Danny Collins and Varga, one more creative mid-fielder and a goal-scoring midfielder. Another striker wouldn't go amiss either. I would like to see the age range of the new players between 21 - 24 and perhaps another couple of experienced players in the 30 - 31 age range. We have to be careful because of over-exaggerated salary demands. I think that playing better football, strengthening the team with the skills that are lacking at the moment, drawing the fans back and staying another season in the Championship should enable the club to have a good chance at winning promotion in the 2007-08 season.