Promotion

[Danizen]

14 hours ago, Levi Port said:

I do as it gives us our best chance of keeping our best players. Fatawu won’t be here next season if we don’t go up, he probably will if we do. Monga won’t stick around down here forever either. 
 

I understand why people think we need to build, but the longer you’re down here, the more pressure you are under to sell your best, and the harder it is to attract decent players. 
 

You can build whilst getting promoted, look at Sunderland, that team wasn’t ready for the prem. But one good window has them competitive and if they’re relegated, their squad value is much higher and will give them a good shot at bouncing back. It’s changed their trajectory, we can’t fall behind. 

I want us to get promoted but the flip side of that is the likes of Vestergaard, Winks and Faes (and a few others) get their relegation clauses reversed and their wages bumped back up. That's about £250k/week on players that are plainly not good enough for that level. It will hamstring us by eating up a massive part of the budget and not letting us implement a proper wage structure. 

[Fox92]

Why would I want us to continue playing second tier football?

 

Hopefully Sunderland carry on picking up points to get rid of the "you go up just to come back down" nonsense. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

13 hours ago, Stadt said:

Sunderland have 44% of our points total from 24-25, 16% of the way into the season.

Why do people have this notion that somehow points at the start of the season are worth less than at the end of it. Apparently dropping points at the start of the season doesn't matter because "there's a long way to go".

 

As an aside to this I think there are a huge number that actively want the club to fail in general. Like everyone knows how crap Rudkin is and how far we've fallen but the glee I see on here and Twitter when we concede and drop points is astounding.

[Golden Fox]

My first real experiences of promotions and relegations were in the Brian Little days, when we were so close year after year, and then finally reached the promised land, which just showed us how far off the pace we were. My first season in the kop, and singing "We're so s**t" was a pretty scarring introduction to top flight football. So I did always have in my head that thought that there was a lot to be said for staying down, being near the top of the league and winning games, compared to going up and getting tonked every week and coming back down.

 

But I remember having this conversation with my family in 2013/14 under Pearson, where we'd had some seasons near the playoffs, but we'd been so far removed from the Premier League, that we wouldn't stand a chance, and might be better off staying down.

 

2 years later, we were Premier League Champions, and not only did it show what a silly, small minded view it was, but I thought it had closed the argument completely and we'd never hear this thought again!

 

[Corky]

38 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Why would I want us to continue playing second tier football?

 

Hopefully Sunderland carry on picking up points to get rid of the "you go up just to come back down" nonsense. 

Problem we have is that the people with influence just aren't good enough. We want to go up, and it shouldn't automatically mean a complete struggle, but we need an overhaul in key areas. We thrived a decade ago through the work of several no longer involved. Sadly, the last five years have given a picture of what to expect under this set-up.

[Stevosevic]

13 hours ago, Spanner73 said:

Sunderland as a club clearly have a team ethic, good culture, desire, work rate and a fighting desire on and off the pitch to get where they are today and how much work has been put in over a period of time can’t be underestimated. 
 

The contrast between us and them are oceans apart and we all know why !! 
 

No point in promotion as our owner is bone idle - end of !! 

That’s all happened pretty quickly for them though. They were a joke for many years until recently.

Things change quickly. 

[CosbehFox]

Just to mention on Sunderland - if they go down, the fans already have a few memories from their time here. Honestly think you'd struggle get past 2 for us last season and that includes Vardy which could have been against anyone. 

[filbertway]

1 minute ago, CosbehFox said:

Just to mention on Sunderland - if they go down, the fans already have a few memories from their time here. Honestly think you'd struggle get past 2 for us last season and that includes Vardy which could have been against anyone. 

I think our 2 main ones would be the 2 late gifts from Southampton and Ipswich under Cooper.

[CosbehFox]

1 minute ago, filbertway said:

I think our 2 main ones would be the 2 late gifts from Southampton and Ipswich under Cooper.

Winning at Spurs trumps both of them. 

[filbertway]

Just now, CosbehFox said:

Winning at Spurs trumps both of them. 

There we go, tonnes of magical memories from the 24/25 season Cosbeh  

 

[CosbehFox]

Just now, filbertway said:

There we go, tonnes of magical memories from the 24/25 season Cosbeh  

 

That Ipswich goal had consequences still standing - people started to believe Soumare could play 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Would it be easier to balance the books as a big fish in a small pond? Possibly.

 

Even with recent success, we're a medium fish in the Premier League, though that doesn't necessarily mean we shouldn't get promoted.

 

Without PSR the very obvious answer is to always strive for promotion.

[Tommy G]

I don't think - so far - we have the quality to go up, but if we do of course we need to go up.

 

Being in the PL isn't the issue, it's the people employed who execute the key decisions where lies the main issues. 

[filbertway]

2 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

That Ipswich goal had consequences still standing - people started to believe Soumare could play 

Ha yeah. Kalvin Phillips really did a number on us in that game. Lull them into a false sense of security, it worked like a bloody dream to be fair.

[hackenbacker]

15 hours ago, Stadt said:

Sunderland have 44% of our points total from 24-25, 16% of the way into the season.

Huh? you forgot to mention that 60% of the time it works every time.

Edited 29 September 2025 by hackenbacker
Spelling

[Nalis]

I want promotion but not as bothered as previous years if we dont get it

[Spanner73]

2 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Why do people have this notion that somehow points at the start of the season are worth less than at the end of it. Apparently dropping points at the start of the season doesn't matter because "there's a long way to go".

 

As an aside to this I think there are a huge number that actively want the club to fail in general. Like everyone knows how crap Rudkin is and how far we've fallen but the glee I see on here and Twitter when we concede and drop points is astounding.

For some of our fans they’ve seen enough ! and you can’t blame them, the reality is you can’t throw money at it without putting in the effort so why go up if you don’t want to commit to working hard and staying there ? Khun Top isn’t going to change, he can’t be bothered end of. The greatest gift of all is commitment and time to something or someone which he clearly doesn’t have. 
 

Im sure if someone needed his help he’d ask how much ? Because that’s his answer to everything. 
 

So yes good luck to all the other owners that do want to put in the hard effort, loyalty commitment and long hours to their clubs cause because come the end of the season maybe one of those will be truly rewarded like Sunderland and we’ll get what we fully deserve. 
 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

13 minutes ago, Spanner73 said:

For some of our fans they’ve seen enough ! and you can’t blame them, the reality is you can’t throw money at it without putting in the effort so why go up if you don’t want to commit to working hard and staying there ? Khun Top isn’t going to change, he can’t be bothered end of. The greatest gift of all is commitment and time to something or someone which he clearly doesn’t have. 
 

Im sure if someone needed his help he’d ask how much ? Because that’s his answer to everything. 
 

So yes good luck to all the other owners that do want to put in the hard effort, loyalty commitment and long hours to their clubs cause because come the end of the season maybe one of those will be truly rewarded like Sunderland and we’ll get what we fully deserve. 
 

 

You can dislike the ownership and still want the club to win every game.

[DZ-LCFC]

No chance 

[coolhandfox]

Probably the only way we keep Fatawu and Monga at the club.

[Blueman1967]

16 hours ago, Pita said:

We got too many bit part players on big wages who just are not good enough for the championship let alone the premiership 

Yes l agree, but l think the quailty we do have, we can go up, automatic or play offs, but that when you got the problem then of investing in the squad, if we went up.

[adam1]

5 hours ago, Tommy G said:

 

 

Being in the PL isn't the issue, it's the people employed who execute the key decisions where lies the main issues. 

This.

 

We could be the only club in history to be promoted where the conversation will not be around the ability of the players/squad, but of those running the club....

[kingfox]

Only worth going up if we learn from previous mistakes. 
 

We got everything wrong last season, from following the wrong trends to piss poor recruitment. 
 

You have to get at least one of those things right, Sunderland so far look to have nailed things on the recruitment side. 
 

In our case, if we went back up, the whole spine of our team would need revamping. That was one of our catastrophic failures last season.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

6 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

Just to mention on Sunderland - if they go down, the fans already have a few memories from their time here. Honestly think you'd struggle get past 2 for us last season and that includes Vardy which could have been against anyone. 

 

The black, pink and orange kit was a highlight for me and my friends and family 

[Brainy]

I would have been happy to spend a couple of years blooding in at younger talent, however all we've done so far is blood in Jordan Ayew & Vestergaard, so meh