Pictured: Left and Centre, Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong, two big money players who got sacked by SAFC due to having a shocking attitude
Like it or not, SAFC has a bad reputation for wasting big money on players that failed to deliver. A number of the club’s most expensive signings, such as Didier Ndong, Jack Rodwell, Tore Andre Flo and Papy Djilobodji, seen the club lose its investment entirely as they left on free transfers or were even sacked. This has been a recurring theme in Sunderland’s premiership stints, from 2003 to 2007-2017. That’s not to say every single big money transfer failed, but it has been too frequent an occurrence to ignore.
The area lacks appeal to places like London
When he was manager of SAFC, Roy Keane made it publicly known that many players snubbed coming to Sunderland because they did not like to live in the North East and preferred places such as London and Manchester. He blamed this on their girlfriends, or “wags” and their desire for luxury shopping. This geographic disadvantage made it harder for SAFC to compete and often led to the wages of players who did come being inflated to force a deal.
SAFC often attracted the wrong kind of player, only in it for the money
Because SAFC had to pay over the odds in wages for players to get them to come to Wearside, this often resulted in Sunderland attracting the wrong kind of player, that being those who seen it as an easy ride and good money without having to put much effort into it, and consequentially had no passion or ambition for the club. Examples of this included Jack Rodwell and Fabio Borini on his second stint at the club after a £14 million transfer. Having given up his goal of getting into the Liverpool side, it looked as though he could not care aless.
Bad management led to panic buying or outright incompetence
SAFC was often plagued by people making incompetent transfer decisions, or engaging in panic buying where being unable to get an ideal player, they splashed money desperately at unsuitable targets. One of the most notorious examples of this was when Peter Reid paid a record £6 million for Norwegian Tore Andre Flo in 2002 on seeing SAFC were now struggling to score goals. The gamble didn’t pay off, Flo failed to deliver, was injury prone and Sunderland got relegated. He left on a free transfer.
Similarly, the entire Ellis Short recruitment structure was completely disastrous in its final years, because he placed his trust in the wrong people such as Roberto Di Fanti and Margaret Byrne. This created shocking scenarios such as when Sunderland had to pay £10 million for a player they didn’t even own or want, Ricky Alvarez, because of a contractual technicality they thought they could cheat on.
The best players we sign tend to not be expensive or big ones
Because Sunderland is at a geographic and financial disadvantage when it competes in the Premier League, the best and most successful transfers we make tend not to be expensive big name or ego driven players. Rather, SAFC’s position gives it a unique niche that if it signs young, hungry and passionate talent from lower league clubs who really feel they have something to prove in getting into the Premier League and staying there, they tend to do well. Kevin Phillips after all was not an overpaid prima donna, he was a £650,000 bargain from Watford who was written off by pundits.
This shows that when it comes to Sunderland, attitude matters much more than namesake or money, and the fans tend to respond better to such players, who then also appreciate the support they have. The Roy Keane team of 2006-2008 that got promoted and finished 15th in the Premier League was not full of extreme talent, but the attitude and determination they had allowed them to carve out outstanding last minute victories and fight to the death. It was when Roy Keane began to sign ego driven players the following season that things started to go wrong, make of that what you will.