Welcome to SAFC Comment.
I have lost count of the letters I have written to the Football Echo but have never got round to posting. By the time I read them again on the Monday after a match I start thinking "maybe I shouldn't say that" and think better of it.
This blog gives me the opportunity to vent my spleen about all things Sunderland AFC without having that cooling off period. The advantage of this over the Football Echo is that nobody will probably read it.
If you do accidentally stumble upon this blog please feel free to comment.
Sunderland have had an offer for Conor Wickham accepted by Ipswich, giving us permission to open talks with him. The offer is widely reported as £13million which is a staggering amount for such a young Championship player. I have never seen him play so cannot give an opinion on him, but it does seem to be a huge gamble by Sunderland. Most of the Ipswich fans on this site seem sorry to see him leave, but as one poster commented he didn't score many goals last season. According to Wikipaedia he has made 65 appearances for Ipswich and scored only 13 goals. Having said that Alan Shearer had scored 23 in 118 games before Southampton paid a then huge fee for him.
http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=18660&title=town_tight-lipped_but_wickham_talks_on#comm
There is reported interest from Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs so this could turn out to be one that got away and we might be reflecting in a year or two how lucky we were to be out bid.
It has been reported in this morning's papers that Newcastle want to hijack Sunderland's attempt to sign Manchester United's Darron Gibson. This leaves me in a bit of a quandary, because I haven't really seen much of Gibson I haven't got particularly excited about his probable arrival at the SoL. However if it is true that Newcastle have tried to de-rail his move to us I suddenly to want him to come to Sunderland more. Ridiculous I know, but it would be a bitter pill to swallow if he chose Newcastle over Sunderland and went on to be a very good buy for them.
Sky Sports has been broadcasting all day that Sunderland are on the verge of signing Craig Gardner from Birmingham City. I personally hope that this one happens. Gardner scored 10 goals last season from midfield as Birmingham were relegated. He scored the tenth at Spurs on the last day of the season believing that he had saved Brum from the drop, only for Wolves to almost instantly score at home to Blackburn to send them down.
My first memory of Gardner is of him coming on as a sub at the SoL and kicking Dwight Yorke in the chest. I have never really liked him since then and whenever I have seen him since he seems to be one of those opposition players who get under players and supporters skins. It will be nice to have someone like that playing for Sunderland for a change. We were missing the sort of commitment seen in this picture last season, particularly against Newcastle when Nolan and Barton bullied us out of the match. I really hope we see challenges like this from Gardner against Newcastle at the SoL on 20 August.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11695_7004233,00.html
Westwood is another player who will officially join the club on 1 July when his contract with Coventry expires. This signing suggests that Craig Gordon may be leaving Sunderland soon, because Simon Mignolet seems to be very much in Steve Bruce's plans. I for one won't be sorry to see Gordon leave so long as we get a good proportion of his £9 million fee back. I haven't seen much of Westwood so can't really comment. Again, Sunderland supporters are largely underwhelmed by this signing, but he is an international with Rep. of Ireland having 7 caps so far.
Seb Larsson has agreed to sign for Sunderland and will officially become ours on 1 July after his contract with Birmingham expires. Allegedly he turned down Newcastle and at the eleventh hour, Aston Villa. Larsson's signing hasn't exactly set Wearside buzzing with excitement but a free transfer and having someone who can take corners and free kicks is a plus for me.
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