FM18: Sunderland AFC - Consectatio Excellentiae

[stevemc]

Welcome to the Sunderland AFC thread (FM18)

Club Details

Status: Professional

Nickname: The Black Cats

Founded: 1879

Owner: Ellis Short (willing to listen for offers)

Current Manager: Chris Coleman

League: Championship (England)

Captain: John O'Shea

Vice-Captain: Lee Cattermole

Squad Personality: Determined

Rivals: Newcastle United, Middlesborough

Legends: Kevin Phillips, Bobby Kerr, Jim Montgomery, Len Shackleton, Ian Porterfield, Gary Rowell, Charlie Hurley, Bob Stokoe, Nial Quinn 

Favoured Personnel and Icons: Kevin Ball, Peter Reid, Vic Halom

Ground: Stadium of Light

Capacity: 48,707

Training Facilities: Excellent

Corporate Facilities: Good

Youth Facilities: Excellent

Youth Level: 1

Junior Coaching: Adequate

Youth Recruitment: Above average

Data Analysis Facilities: Average

Finances: Okay

Transfer Policy: None

Transfer Budget: £2m (cannot be adjusted higher)

Revenue Made Available From Sales: 50%

Wage Budget: £538,375 p/w

Media Prediction: 7th

[stevemc]

Club History

Early years and league triumphs

Founded 17 October 1879 as 'Sunderland and District Teachers A.F.C.' by schoolmaster James Allan, Sunderland joined The Football League for the 1890–91 season. They replaced Stoke, who had failed to be re-elected, becoming the first new club to join the league since its inauguration in 1888.During the late 19th century, they were declared the "Team of All Talents" by William McGregor, the founder of the league, after a 7–2 win against Aston Villa. Sunderland won the league championship in the 1891–92 season, one season after joining The Football League. The club's 42 points were five clear of nearest rivals Preston North End, and this performance led The Times to describe the players as "a wonderfully fine team". Sunderland successfully defended the title the following season, aided by centre forwardJohnny Campbell, who broke the 30-goal mark for the second time in consecutive seasons. In the process, they became the first team to score 100 goals in a season, a feat not matched until 1919–20, when West Bromwich Albion set a new record.

Sunderland came close to winning a third successive league championship in the 1893–94 season, finishing second behind Aston Villa. However, they regained the title in the 1894–95 season, ending the season five points ahead of Everton. After winning the English League Championship, Sunderland played against Heart of Midlothian, the champions of the Scottish League, in a game described as the Championship of the World title match. Sunderland won the game 5–3 and were announced "Champions of the world". Sunderland came close to winning another league title in the 1897–98 season, when they finished as runners-up to Sheffield United. That season was their last at Newcastle Road, as they moved to Roker Park the following season. After coming second in 1900–01, the club won their fourth league title in the 1901–02 season, beating Everton by a three-point margin.

In 1904, Sunderland's management was embroiled in a payment scandal involving player Andrew McCombie. The club was said to have given the player £100 (£9.9 thousand today) to help him start his own business, on the understanding that he would repay the money after his benefit game. However, McCombie refused to repay the money, claiming it had been a gift. An investigation conducted by the Football Association concluded that the money given to McCombie was part of a "re-signing/win/draw bonus", which violated the Association's rules. Sunderland were fined £250 (£24.7 thousand today), and six directors were suspended for two and a half years for not showing a true record of the club's financial dealings. Sunderland manager Alex Mackie was also suspended for three months for his involvement in the affair.

 

Further league championship titles

On 5 December 1908, Sunderland achieved their highest ever league win, against north-east rivals Newcastle United. They won the game 9–1; Billy Hogg and George Holley each scored hat-tricks. The club won the league again in 1913, but lost their first FA Cup final 1–0 to Aston Villa, in a very tough loss. This was the closest the club has come to winning the league title and the FA Cup in the same season. Two seasons later the First World War brought the league to a halt. After the league's resumption, Sunderland came close to winning another championship in the 1922–23 season, when they were runners-up to Liverpool. They also came close the following season, finishing third, four points from the top of the league. The club escaped relegation from the First Division by one point in the 1927–28 seasondespite 35 goals from Dave Halliday.

The point was won in a match against Middlesbrough, and they finished in fifteenth place. Halliday improved his goal scoring to 43 goals in 42 games the following season, an all-time Sunderland record for goals scored in a single season.

The club's sixth league championship came in the 1935–36 season, and they won the FA Cup the following season, after a 3–1 victory against Preston North End at Wembley Stadium. The remainder of the decade saw mid-table finishes, until the league and FA Cup were suspended for the duration of the Second World War. Some football was still played as a morale boosting exercise, in the form of the Football League War Cup. Sunderland were finalists in the tournament in 1942, but were beaten by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

For Sunderland, the immediate post-war years were characterised by significant spending; the club paid £18,000 (£584 thousand today) for Carlisle United's Ivor Broadis in January 1949. Broadis was also Carlisle's manager at the time, and this is the first instance of a player transferring himself to another club. This, along with record-breaking transfer fees to secure the services of Len Shackleton and Welsh international Trevor Ford, led to a contemporary nickname, the "Bank of England club". The club finished third in the First Division in 1950, their highest finish since the 1936 championship.

 

Financial troubles and three cup finals

The late 1950s saw a sharp downturn in Sunderland's fortunes, and the club was once again implicated in a major financial scandal in 1957. Found guilty of making payments to players in excess of the maximum wage, they were fined £5,000 (£111,000 today), and their chairman and three directors were suspended. The following year, Sunderland were relegated from the highest division for the first time in their 68-year league history.

Sunderland's absence from the top flight lasted six years. The club came within one game of promotion back to the First Division in the 1962–63 season. Sunderland required only a draw in their final game against promotion rivals Chelsea, who had another game left to play after this match, to secure promotion. However, they were defeated, and Chelsea won their last game 7–0 to clinch promotion, finishing ahead of Sunderland on goal average. After the close call in the previous season, the club was promoted to Division One in 1964 after finishing in second place. Sunderland beat Charlton Athletic in the final stages of the season, where they clinched promotion with a game to spare. At the end of the decade, they were again relegated to the Second Division after finishing 21st.

Sunderland won their last major trophy in 1973, in a 1–0 victory over Don Revie's Leeds United in the FA Cup Final. A Second Division club at the time, Sunderland won the game thanks mostly to the efforts of their goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery, who saved two of Leeds shots at goal in quick succession, one being from hot-shot Peter Lorimer. Ian Porterfield scored a volley in the 30th minute to beat Leeds and take the trophy. Since 1973 only two other clubs, Southampton in 1976, and West Ham United in 1980, have equalled Sunderland's achievement of lifting the FA Cup while playing outside the top tier of English football.

By winning the 1973 FA Cup Final, Sunderland qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the club's only appearance in European competition to date. Sunderland beat Vasas Budapest 3–0 on aggregate, and were drawn against Lisbon club Sporting in the second round. They won the first leg at Roker Park 2–1 but were defeated 2–0 in the away leg, and were knocked out of the competition 3–2 on aggregate. After spending six seasons in the Second Division, Sunderland were promoted to Division One in the 1975–76 season; they topped the table over Bristol City by three points. However, Sunderland were relegated the following season back into Division Two, without their FA Cup Final winning manager Bob Stokoe, who had resigned because of health problems at the start of the season. The club celebrated its 100-year centenary in the 1979–80 season with a testimonial against an England XI side, which they lost 2–0.

Sunderland appeared in their first League Cup final in 1985, but lost 1–0 to Norwich City. In 1987, Sunderland saw one of the lowest points in their history, when they were relegated to the Third Division of the English league for the first time. Under new chairman Bob Murray and new manager Denis Smith, the club was promoted the following season. In 1990, they were promoted back to the top flight in unusual circumstances. Sunderland lost to Swindon Town in the play-off final, but Swindon's promotion was revoked after the club was found guilty of financial irregularities and Sunderland were promoted instead. They stayed up for one year before being relegated on the final day of the following season.

Sunderland's next outing in a major final came in 1992 when, as a Second Division club, they returned to the FA Cup final. There was to be no repeat of the heroics of 1973, as Sunderland lost 2–0 to Liverpool.

 

New stadium, promotions and relegations

In 1995, they faced the prospect of a return to the third-tier of English football. Peter Reid was brought in as manager, and quickly turned things around. Reid's time in charge had a stabilising effect; he remained manager for seven years. After promotion from Division One in the 1995–96 season,^[54] Sunderland began their first season in the Premier League, but finished third from the bottom and were relegated back to the First Division. In 1997, Sunderland left Roker Park, their home for 99 years. Bearing fond memories of the stadium, former Sunderland player Len Shackleton said, "There will never be another place like Roker". The club moved to the Stadium of Light, a 42,000-seat arena that, at the time, was the largest stadium built in England after the Second World War. The capacity was later increased to 49,000. Sunderland returned to the Premier League as First Division champions in 1999 with a then-record 105 points. Sunderland's 1999–2000 season started at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea beat them 4–0. However, in the return match later in the season Sunderland turned the tables on Chelsea, avenging their 4–0 defeat with a 4–1 win at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland also achieved a 2–1 victory over rivals Newcastle United at St. James' Park, a result which helped bring about the resignation of Newcastle's manager, Ruud Gullit. At the end of the season Sunderland finished seventh, with Kevin Phillips winning the European Golden Shoe in his first top-flight season, scoring 30 goals.

Another seventh-place finish in the 2000–01 season was followed by two less successful seasons, and they were relegated to the second-tier with a then-record low 19 points in 2003. Former Ireland manager Mick McCarthy took over at the club, and, in 2005, he took Sunderland up as champions for the third time in less than ten years. However, the club's stay in the top flight was short-live as Sunderland were once again relegated, this time with a new record-low total of 15 points. McCarthy left the club in mid-season, and he was replaced temporarily by former Sunderland player Kevin Ball. The record-low fifteen-point performance was surpassed in the 2007–08 season by Derby County, who finished on eleven points.

 

Drumaville Consortium takeover and Ellis Short era

Following Sunderland's relegation from the Premier League, the club was taken over by the Irish Drumaville Consortium, headed by ex-player Niall Quinn, who appointed former Manchester United captain Roy Keane as the new manager. Under Keane, the club rose steadily up the table with an unbeaten run of 17 games to win promotion to the Premier League, and were named winners of the Championship after beating Luton Town 5–0 at Kenilworth Road on 6 May 2007. Following an inconsistent start to the 2008–09 season, Keane resigned. Before the start of the following campaign, Irish-American businessman Ellis Short completed a full takeover of the club, and Steve Bruce was announced as the next manager on 3 June. One of Bruce's first signings, Darren Bent, cost a club record fee of £10 million, broken a year later when they bought Ghana international Asamoah Gyan for around £13 million. Sunderland started the 2010–11 season strongly, but after Bent left for Aston Villa in January 2011 in a deal potentially worth £24 million, a record transfer fee received for the club, they eventually finished 10th — which was still their highest top-flight finish for 10 years.

Short replaced Quinn as chairman in October 2011, with Quinn becoming Director of International Development. Bruce was sacked in November 2011, and replaced by Martin O'Neill. In February 2012, Quinn left the club with immediate effect. O'Neill was sacked in March 2013 and Italian Paolo Di Canio was announced as his replacement the following day. The appointment prompted the immediate resignation of club Vice Chairman David Miliband due to Di Canio's "past political statements". Sunderland went on to avoid relegation with one game to go. Over the summer, the club appointed Italian former agent Roberto De Fanti as the club's first director of football.

Di Canio was sacked after a poor start to the 2013–14 season, and reports of a complete breakdown in relations with his players. Gus Poyet was announced as his replacement, and led Sunderland to the 2014 Football League Cup Final, where they were defeated 3–1 by Manchester City. De Fanti was sacked as Director of Football in January 2014 and was replaced with Lee Congerton as Sporting Director. In March 2015 Poyet was sacked, and veteran Dutchman Dick Advocaat was appointed as the club's new head coach, saving the club from relegation. Eight games into the 2015–16 season he resigned from the position. Sam Allardyce was appointed the next manager in October 2015. Congerton left the club in December 2015, with the club apparently no longer wishing to use the Director of Football role. Sunderland remained in the relegation zone for much of the remainder of the 2015–16 season, but Allardyce was able to save the club from being relegated with improved form in the second half of the season.

In July 2016, Allardyce left the club to be announced as manager for the English national team following the dismissal of Roy Hodgson after England's disappointing UEFA Euro 2016 campaign. Former Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyes was appointed as his replacement on a four-year contract. Under Moyes, Sunderland made the worst ever start to a Premier League season, taking just 2 points from their opening 10 matches. The club was relegated to the second tier for the first time in ten years at the end of the 2016–17 season, finishing bottom of the table with 24 points. On 22 May 2017, Moyes resigned as manager of the club.

 

Colours and crest

Sunderland played in an all blue strip from their formation until 1884, when they adopted a red and white halved strip. They assumed the current strip of red and white stripes in the 1887–88 season. Their badge included a ship, the upper part of the Sunderland coat of arms, a black cat, and a football in front of Sunderland's red and white stripes. In 1977 the badge was changed, but still included the ship, football and the background of red and white stripes.

This badge was used until the relocation from Roker Park to the Stadium of Light. To coincide with the move, Sunderland released a new crest divided into four quarters; the upper right and lower left featured their traditional red and white colours, but the ship was omitted. The upper left section features the Penshaw Monument and the lower right section shows the Wearmouth Bridge. A colliery wheel at the top of the crest commemorates County Durham's mining history, and the land the Stadium of Light was built on, formerly the Monkwearmouth Colliery. The crest also contains two lions, the black cats of Sunderland, and a banner displaying the club's motto, Consectatio Excellentiae, which means "In pursuit of excellence".

[stevemc]

Stadium

Sunderland have had seven stadiums throughout their history; the first was at Blue House Field in Hendon in 1879. The ground was close to the place where Sunderland formed, at Hendon Board School; at that time the rent for use of the ground was £10 (£900 today). The club relocated briefly to Groves Field in Ashbrooke in 1882, before moving again the following season. The club's third stadium was Horatio Street in Roker, the first Sunderland stadium north of the River Wear; the club played a single season there before another move, this time to Abbs Field in Fulwell for two seasons. Abbs Field was notable for being the first Sunderland ground to which they charged admission.

Sunderland moved to Newcastle Road in 1886. By 1898, the ground reached a capacity of 15,000 after renovations, and its rent had risen to £100 (£10.2 thousand today) a year. Near the turn of the 20th century, Sunderland needed a bigger stadium. They returned to Roker and set up home in Roker Park. It was opened on 10 September 1898, and the home team played a match the same day against Liverpool, which they won. The stadium's capacity increased to 50,000 after redevelopment with architect Archibald Leitch in 1913. Sunderland were nearly bankrupted by the cost of renovating the Main Stand, and Roker Park was put up for sale but no further action was taken. On 8 March 1933, an overcrowded Roker Park recorded the highest ever attendance at a Sunderland match, 75,118 against Derby County in a FA Cup sixth round replay. Roker Park suffered a bombing in 1943, in which one corner of the stadium was destroyed. A special constable was killed while patrolling the stadium. By the 1990s, the stadium was no longer large enough, and had no room for possible expansion.In January 1990, the Taylor Report was released after overcrowding at the Hillsborough Stadium resulted in 96 deaths, an incident known as the Hillsborough Disaster. The report recommended that all major stadiums must be converted to an all-seater design. As a result, Roker Park's capacity was reduced. It was demolished in 1997 and a housing estate built in its place.

 

In 1997, Sunderland moved to their present ground, Stadium of Light in Monkwearmouth, which was opened by Prince Andrew, Duke of York. Built with an original capacity of 42,000, it hosted its first game against Dutch team Ajax. The stadium bears a similar name to the Portuguese club Benfica's ground Estádio da Luz, albeit in a different language. Stadium expansion in 2000 saw the capacity increase to 49,000. A Davy lamp monument stands outside the stadium, and a miners banner was presented to the club by the Durham Miners' Association, as a reminder of the Monkwearmouth Colliery pit the stadium was built on.

 

Supporters and rivalries

Sunderland held the seventh highest average home attendance out of the 20 clubs in the Premier League at the end of the 2013–14 season with an average of 41,089, and held the sixth highest average attendance in the 2014–15 season with an average of over 43,000. Sunderland fans often sell out allocations for away games: in the 2013–14 season, 9,000 Sunderland fans attended Old Trafford for the second leg of the Football League Cup semi-final, which they won to go through to the final. At Wembley, London was taken over by thousands of Mackems, the sights of Covent Garden and Leicester Square were awash with red and white, local shops completely sold out of alcohol but only one arrest was reported by the police. Support is drawn from across the North East, in particular County Durham, and beyond. The club has many supporter branches across the world, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Cambodia, and Greece. According to YouGov statistics, supporters of Sunderland predominantly lean to the political left, and often sing "The Red Flag" during games. Former chairman Bob Murray described Sunderland as a "Labour Club".

Traditionally, Sunderland's main rivals are Newcastle United, with whom they contest the Tyne–Wear derby. The club shared a rivalry with the now defunct Sunderland Albion in the 1880s and 1890s, a breakaway club formed by Sunderland's founder James Allan. Sections of fans share a mutual friendship with Dutch club Feyenoord; this was developed after Wearside shipbuilders found jobs in Rotterdam during the 1970s and 80s.

The club has an official quarterly magazine, called the Legion of Light, which season ticket holders receive at no cost. One of the club's current fanzines is A Love Supreme. Others in the past have been It's The Hope I Can't Stand, It's An Easy One For Norman/It's An Easy One For Given, Sex and Chocolate, Wise Men Say and The Roker Roar (later The Wearside Roar).

 

Nicknames

Sunderland's official nickname is 'The Black Cats'. The previous nickname, 'The Rokerites', was made redundant after the club left Roker Park for the Stadium of Light in 1997. The new name was decided upon in a public vote that year.

Despite the nickname being made official only relatively recently, the black cat has been used as an emblem of the club throughout most of its history. Photographs exist of players holding a black cat which made Roker Park its home in the 1900s and 1910s, and which was fed and watered by the football club. A Sunderland supporter, Billy Morris, took a black cat in his top pocket as a good luck charm to the 1937 FA Cup final in which Sunderland brought home the trophy for the first time. Since the 1960s the emblem of the Sunderland A.F.C. Supporters Association has been a black cat. Reference has also been made to a "Black Cat Battery", an Artillery battery based on the River Wear during the Napoleonic Wars.

As well as club nicknames, names have been used to define memorable periods in the club's history. The "Team of All Talents" moniker was used during Sunderland's successful period in the 1890s, and Sunderland were known as the "Bank of England club" during the 1950s. This was in reference to the club's spending in the transfer market at the time, which saw the transfer-record broken twice.

 

Transfers

The biggest transfer fee Sunderland have ever received for one of their players is £30m for Jordan Pickford who moved to Everton on 1 July 2017. The biggest transfer fee paid by Sunderland is the eventual £17.1m for Didier N'Dong, who was bought from FC Lorient in August 2016.

[stevemc]

Players and Staff

First team squad

 

U23 team squad

 

U18 team squad

 

Coaching staff

 

Medical staff

 

Scouting staff

[stevemc]

Why Manage Sunderland?

Sunderland is a club with quite a rich history, but not so much recently. They are a club on the wrong path, can you be the manager to turn around their fortunes?

First of all, you’ll need to get them out of the Championship, back into the Premier League where they belong? After establishing them as a Premier League club, can you push forward achieve silverwear? The last time Sunderland won the league was a lifetime ago, in 1935/36 so this will be no easy feat… Can you add to their two FA Cups? European football also seems light-years away...

You have a £2m budget, with plenty of sellable good value players to increase your transfer pot, there are also a few players out on loan that can provide a cash injection, or a boost to the team, the following summer.

Some landmarks to surpass:

Longest Serving Manager: Bob Kyle - 23 years

Best Win Ratio: Tom Watson - 62.3%

Most Matches Won: Bob Kyle - 371

Most Successful Manager: Tom Watson - 3x league titles

[Nozzer]

We are a decent pick / challenge this year due to being in the Championship.  Quite a few of our players are over rated and the board only want play offs.  Challenge comes from the dire financial situation but promotion goes a long way to fixing that

You can raise a decent amount of funds as well by selling players such as Cattermole, Jones, Rodwell and Kone and replace them quite easily with much cheaper players

[Sabine]

We are truly in great position in the game.  Huge transfer budget, sellable assets and relatively low expectations in comparison to the squad's ability.

I managed to get £5 million for Rodwell, £4.1 million for Billy Jones, £11.75 million for Cattermole and £17 million for Kone. 
I highly recommend buying the transfer listed Shani Tarashaj from Everton for £4.6 millon.  He did.. rather well for me.

[Armistice]

Any signing recommendations?

[stevemc]

It is also worth pointing out that Patrick van Aanholt has a number of clauses that can also be cashed in, at the start of your save:

[Sabine]

11 hours ago, Armistice said:

Any signing recommendations?

Transfer listed for cheap at the beginning include Tarashaj, Brad Smith, Florin Gardos, Georges Nkoudou, Andrea Rispoli (I think) and Jean-Daniel Akpa Akrpo is available on a free.
All are within the transfer budget.

My first season transfers for reference. 

[pedromanuelpinto]

Hi there,

I'm starting a new game with Sunderland. Alway like to start with a big fish in the down (last season was Newcastle). 

So I'm using a 4-2-3-1 (bellow the tactics and players). And i didn't sell anyone, well no one have offer anything and I don't want to have problems adding a player to transfer list.

I buyed Konsa for 1.2 M.

 

Any suggestion?

[Sabine]

Sadly, since I got a glitch that was featured in the Beta saves, I can no longer play my game, so I'll have to start over, but I really can't be arsed.

Basically, I won the FA Cup last season which gives me an automatic place into the Europa League.  Problem is, however, I have come to the point where the group stage draw is and it hasn't been drawn... so no Europa League at all. 

[w_x]

On 27/11/2017 at 19:04, Sabine said:

Sadly, since I got a glitch that was featured in the Beta saves, I can no longer play my game, so I'll have to start over, but I really can't be arsed.

Basically, I won the FA Cup last season which gives me an automatic place into the Europa League.  Problem is, however, I have come to the point where the group stage draw is and it hasn't been drawn... so no Europa League at all. 

Ah I was wondering how you got Tarashaj, Everton want 35m for him!

[Sabine]

42 minutes ago, w_x said:

Ah I was wondering how you got Tarashaj, Everton want 35m for him!

Yeah, in the beta he was transfer listed for £4.6 million. Bargain of the century!

He's still available on loan I believe.

[Sabine]

I'm starting up a new save now with the full version of the game, hopefully

Don't let the new £2 million transfer budget fool anyone, there's still tonnes of sellable assets.

Kone (if you hate him like me), Cattermole, Rodwell and Jones all a fair whack of money.  I also cancelled all of the loans because none of them had future fees.. so not much point paying inflated prices at the end of the season if they play well.

I have been extremely busy however and have a squad that is unbelievably strong for the division, in my opinion.

 

Konradsen in my opinion is the pick of the bunch.  He is an absolute bargain for £800k.  Look at him! 

I'll be looking forward to this save.

[20LEgend Razman]

Having downloaded a real results file the other week, I started my game on 1/1/18. When I simmed to the end of the season, the Championship table was as follows:

When Sunderland were taken over during the summer, Chris Coleman was sacked and I decided to take over the club. My summer activity saw an overhaul of the squad (please ignore the Crouch signing ).

Mostly due to players leaving, we brought it a lot of money, and spent only a fraction of it. Despite this, the start of the season went predictably well, considering the league we were in. 

After almost a full half of the season undefeated, the 23rd game saw a 3-2 lead squandered with two goals in injury time. Despite the reinforcements in January seen above, the second half of the season saw us completely fall apart.

The lead established in the first half of the season saw us through most of the season in first place, but a defeat to relegated Oldham resulted in us falling out of the top 2 for the first time. With this, a board meeting was called with me having one match to save my job. Resigned to defeat, we came out victors and several other key wins saw us somehow claw back first place. A last minute winner against Blackburn, which took us from third and back to first place was a particular highlight. Having regained top spot, I just needed to match or better my nearest rivals results, which we did - winning 3-0 against the team who were the catalyst of our terrible run. This was the final League 1 table...

With some of my signings underperforming, I decided against signing most of my loanees permanantly, feeling much better was needed if we were to challenge for the Championship promotion spots. Top Half was expected, but optimistic hopes of playoffs were in the back of my mind. Missing out on a few big targets, we were left with the following activity.

A couple of the signings were made in something of panic mode (having been rejected on deadline day by Wayne Rooney), after an awful start to the season saw us 22nd - after just 2 points from 5 games. However, after ditching what appears to have been an overly cautious approach, the team has performed above even my wildest expectations. Going into December, the result so far...

My concern is continually about when my traditional and inevitable slump comes in, but back to back promotion would be great. If promotion isn't achieved, another season with this team in the Championship would probably see me leave and seek a new challenge.

The squad at the moment:

Lots of players were signed due to their performances on loan in the Championship with other clubs last season, and that has served us well. However, Harry Wilson - who struggled at Palace last season - has proved particularly pleasing, as well as League 1 player of the year Oliver McBurnie. After 19 games played, the following would be my strongest line-up, if everybody was fit.

With January 2020 coming up, I am struggling to where I need to strengthen, although there are one or two issues with depth - meaning that players like Brendan Gallows and Todd Kane are being stretched. Beyond that, the season is going really well (as somebody who is generally terrible at the game) and while we're starting to look upwards, my target remains acheiving a play-off place...

[Knoblauch]

Sunderland is great fun on this edition - some pretty bad players but with infrastructure in place. I just started Season 2, now in the Premier League. 

Here is a recap of how we fared in the first season and afterwards the start of season 2. 

Season 17/18

Transfers

Not a lot of changes - we needed an player for the AMC spot. Hoolahan did okay, but when Hyndman got going (in the second half of the season) he made the spot his own. Unfortunately Bournemouth did not want to loan him out again in the next season. 

League Standing

We were no 1 until the last game, where we drew and Boro won. It did not really matter, as we were promoted with a couple of games to go. 

Best Eleven

Special mention to the following players:

Hyndman had the most key passes in the league and had 13 assists from 31 starting games. 

Watmore was on fire when he came back from injury: 28 games / 9 Goals / 9 Assists / 7,49 AVR.

Season 2

During the summer we were taken over (finally) by a Serbian Consortium, which meant we had a very healthy transfer budget. Something I was very pleased with as ie Hyndman and Galloway was not allowed back on loan, plus I wanted new central midfielders, right back, AMC and Striker.... This is what happen during the summer (spent way more money than I thought we would):

Byram is my new RB, Maguire is a player I really admire IRL and as Leicester was relegated I had to take the chance, Verdasca a young CB for the future, Cairney my new AMC Playmaker, Taylor for the LB spot which meant offloading Oviedo, my Romanian guys in Nedelcu (looks an excellent B2B) and Coman (who I stumbled upon - looks like a classy striker), Gruezo who had been tearing up the MLS and is an upgrade on Cattermole and finally Rulli who happened to be transfer listed!

This leaves me with the following starting eleven:

McGeady and McManaman are battling it out for the left midfielder - an area that needs addressing next summer window. 

The beginning of the season has been very good:

The game against Man City was completely crazy, and we were utterly destroyed against Spurs (should have been 1-7). Besides that we have been playing some cautious football with focus on the defensive side. It is paying off so far. Carabao Cup is right now just for reserves...

[Sabine]

Here we go...

Promotion is about to get a whole lot more exciting.

[Sabine]

 

Despite simming the last 10 games due to not being bothered about the Championship, this is how it turned out. 

Although he was never going to be as good as Tarashaj, Sigurðarson was absolutely phenomenal even with rotating occasionally with James Wilson.

Tactically, I went with something that pretty much goes against what Sunderland have always played with; possession football.  It's worked absolute wonders,  This game against Sheffield Wednesday is a prime example of utter dominance with some ridiculous passing stats;

I only brought in Daniel Bentley for £9.5 million (I know) in the winter, selling Mika for £145k and robbing Hull of £2 million for James Vaughan and £5 million from Celtic for Ruitter.

It's going to be a fun summer with over £75 million for our transfer budget but I absolutely want to keep my wage budget under a million/week so players will be leaving.

[FulhamFc14]

On 27/11/2017 at 14:00, pedromanuelpinto said:

Hi there,

I'm starting a new game with Sunderland. Alway like to start with a big fish in the down (last season was Newcastle). 

So I'm using a 4-2-3-1 (bellow the tactics and players). And i didn't sell anyone, well no one have offer anything and I don't want to have problems adding a player to transfer list.

I buyed Konsa for 1.2 M.

 

Any suggestion?

How did Konsa develop? 

[craiigman]

Apparently James Vaughan is a FM god?