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[Tdansmith 3247]

19 minutes ago, essembeeofsunderland said:

A nice little trip to Exeter for the makems next season.Ha ha.

I went there when we got beat 4 v 0

It could be the only St James park they will be at for a while

Edited June 22, 2020 by Tdansmith

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

On 22/06/2020 at 19:52, Tdansmith said:

It could be the only St James park they will be at for a while

And they know it.

[ewerk 30405]

Quote

Four years ago this week, the Northern Ireland striker Will Grigg looked up and around the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris to find his face emblazoned across all four screens of the stadium.

Grigg was, as the chant went, on fire. In the stands, German and Northern Irish fans danced to his tune. After a 28-goal season for League One side Wigan Athletic, his Lancashire appeal went continental and a ditty in his honour became the defining anthem of the 2016 European Championship.

After first being adopted by the Wigan Athletic supporter Sean Kennedy, Blonde’s adaptation of Gala’s dance classic Freed from Desire reached No 7 in the iTunes UK Top 100. Griggs’ own international team-mates then recorded a version. Beer gardens blared out the track and social media videos spiralled. At the peak of Grigg-mania, one resident in Cheshire even called up the local emergency services to report that, yes, Will Grigg was on fire.

“It was brilliant,” Grigg tells The Athletic. “I was full of excitement. There was a lot of attention on me. We played Germany and we were warming up. The stadium had four screens and the song came on, and all of a sudden the lyrics were on the screen. One of the lads shouted over and told me and we all looked up. That was pretty surreal, to be warming up with your face, song and lyrics on a screen at a European Championship. For a long time, I didn’t put the radio on just in case I heard it!”

Now, however, the noise around Grigg has drastically quietened. A doomed transfer to Sunderland, dramatically broadcast on a Netflix documentary, has derailed the past year of his career and, with League One football on hold until the new season, Grigg is training alone and his life is centred on being a full-time father of three.

His mind wanders back to the Euros and it is interesting he does not regard the competition with the same fondness as the rest of us. It may seem like a trick of the mind but remarkably, Grigg did not appear for a minute of the 2016 tournament as his country reached the knockout stages.

“I didn’t play,” he says. “It was actually one of the most disappointing things I have ever been involved in, after scoring 29 goals that season including my first international goal. If you put all other strikers (in the Northern Ireland squad) together, they had not scored 20 goals, so to have a 29-goal striker on the bench and not use him… even the players were at one point questioning why. It was unfortunate for me.”

It was not the last time Grigg would be unwittingly placed front and centre. Grigg, now 28, has achieved promotion from League One four times in his career — twice with Wigan and once with Brentford and MK Dons. It was at Wigan where he first found nationwide renown, culminating in a winning goal against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in February 2018 to quash their hopes of a quadruple.

As such, when Sunderland required a boost to their chances of promotion from League One in January 2019, Grigg was seen as the ideal striker. The story of his transfer, however, has become one of the most infamous pursuits in Football League history. Sunderland allowed Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall cameras to follow two seasons for Sunderland ‘Til I Die and Grigg’s transfer came midway through the second season.

The move goes down to the wire on deadline day and is startling to observe, speaking for all the sense of panic that consumes directors as the clock ticks down. Sunderland had lost their star striker Josh Maja and required a replacement. Grigg was a key target, yet on the morning of deadline day, owner Stewart Donald tells his head of recruitment Tony Coton that their offer to Wigan would be £1.25 million — “take it or leave it”.

When Wigan say they value Grigg much higher, the episode then broadcasts a conversation between Donald and the club’s manager, Jack Ross, who warns his owner the player is “not worth” more than the initial bid. “To be honest Stewart,” Ross begins, “I know this is probably not the ideal way to look at it, but see the offer you’ve put in? He’s not worth any more than that. If you’re getting him for that money, it’s a good offer, fine. But not the figures they’re talking about, it’s just mental. I just wouldn’t do it. He’s not worth it.”

As the day proceeds, the club’s head of football operations, Richard Hill, is shown with his head in his hands as Donald considers raising the bid. Despite warnings from his advisors, Donald goes on, eventually raising the bid to £4 million, including future incentives. At the sixth time of asking, Sunderland’s offer is accepted.

Grigg recalls: “It had been on and off for a week, even on the last day. During the afternoon, I got a call to say it was not happening. They said: ‘We have done our best but it is not going to happen’. So it was 9.30pm. I was in pyjamas with my partner. I put the children to bed and was sitting watching TV when I got a call to say, ‘Get yourself to Wigan as soon as possible, we have an hour to get the deal done’.

“I was really keen on Sunderland — a massive club. I wanted to be part of that. I absolutely loved my time at Wigan and, in hindsight, I probably should not have moved. Some things were happening at Wigan at the time, with certain people and a change of ownership, as well as staff behind the scenes. It was not in favour of me.

“I don’t mean the gaffer or playing staff. I got on with them so well but there are a lot of things behind the scenes in football that fans and everyone just don’t see. At no point would I ever have wanted to leave. I would love to return. At the time, I felt as though I was forced into… not forced, but I felt like I didn’t have a choice when they accepted the offer. I had to leave. I should not have left when I did.”

The deal was eventually done and Grigg targeted a double-figure goal return to power Sunderland to promotion. Yet it did not work out. He was substituted in his first game, missed an open goal in his second against Blackpool and scored only once — from the penalty spot against Gillingham — in his first eight League One games for Sunderland. He scored five goals in all competitions in 22 games until the end of the campaign as Sunderland fell short in the play-offs. Before the campaign was curtailed this season, Grigg had scored once from 20 league games. For a League One record signing, the televised deal has fallen short of expectations.

It must be quite surreal to have an entire television episode dedicated to your transfer. Has he seen it? “No,” he reveals for the first time. “Definitely not.”

There must have been a curiosity? “It does not interest me at all. It is edited how the producers want it to be edited. I tell a lie, as I watched the previous series but after the Jack Rodwell incident (Rodwell was portrayed as being at loggerheads with the club over financial demands), it was not something I wanted to be involved in. Everyone I have ever spoken to says great things about Jack. The way his moment was edited, I felt it wasn’t a fair reflection (of him as a person) so it wasn’t something I was keen to be involved in, let alone watch.”

Grigg is, however, aware of what was said and how the negotiations transpired. He says: “I heard about it and read certain things. From what I have heard, it was not the most professional thing ever. But that is what happens on deadline day and it was filmed. I am sure that was happening at hundreds of clubs over the country and it has done over the years. Unfortunately, this one was televised and has not worked out. If I had gone on to score 20 goals in the 12 games and we got promoted, everyone would say it was a genius move. It has not worked out for the club so far and it has not worked out for me. I have two years left and you never know.”

He insists it does not trouble him that Ross, his manager at the time, said he is not worth more than £1.25 million. Grigg says: “The valuation and price of players is not my job. If someone wants to pay X amount for me, then so be it.”

When did it start to feel like things may be going wrong? “Pretty quickly, just because of the expectation,” Grigg says. “I had never missed a chance like the Blackpool one in my life and I don’t think I ever would again. It was just a lapse of concentration and a genuine mistake.

“I have never really been affected by pressure. I have played in front of 50,000, I scored against Manchester City, I represented my country. It is not something that fazed me. I didn’t suit the team at all. I missed that chance but I didn’t miss many others until the end of the season. I scored five and to have scored double figures would have been a miracle in terms of the chances we created. I am not going to pretend I was playing my best football, I wasn’t at all, but I wasn’t playing in a team I was used to. I had been successful at MK Dons and Wigan. They were very different teams.”

He explains the tactical challenges at Sunderland. “It is a lot of things. Tactically, we played a 4-2-3-1 system before at Wigan. A lot of the time, I stayed away from the play and I was lucky enough to have a No 10 in Nick Powell who could create chances for me: left, right and centre. We got loads of crosses in, we had full-backs overlapping, played a bit more football and tried to get crosses into the box, which I thrive off. At Sunderland, we were a bit more direct, we didn’t have a No 10 like I was used to at previous clubs.

“At Sunderland, even now, you have a big target man in Charlie Wyke. He was used ahead of me. It tells you a lot in terms of the style of play. I don’t know if that comes from Sunderland and their background — they like to go back to front a bit — but it has definitely been the case while I have been there. They have wanted a big physical lad up front.

“The fans go back to Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips, big man, small man. It is what they like and what they are after. Jack Ross tried to play a bit of football but that has got drastically different with the change of managers. We definitely play a lot more direct now and whether that affects what happens in the future, I do not know.”

This season, the situation worsened drastically. After starting a run of games in the early period of Phil Parkinson’s tenure in the autumn, Grigg was frozen out of the first-team picture. His last start was on December 7 in a 1-0 defeat at Gillingham. In January, Sunderland blocked a loan move to promotion rivals Oxford United.

He says: “The move was definitely close but the club decided it was not the best thing to do. It was a rival team and I was training really well, so the manager decided he did not want me to go to a rival team and do well. I am sure everyone at the club knows I am capable of that. It was difficult. I said I was happy to stay and fight for my place. But then, for the next six weeks, I was not even on the bench. That told me pretty much where I was at the time.”

How does that feel, as a record signing cut adrift? “It wasn’t easy at all,” Grigg says. “It has never happened to me in my career. I did not see it as my responsibility to seek an answer as I do not think the answer would have been anything that would have made a difference to my approach.

“I was working really hard, doing extra training and the gaffer even said that in his press conferences. Three games before the lockdown, I was back in. I was on the bench against Coventry and Gillingham, then came on for five minutes against Bristol Rovers. I was finally getting back into the mix and football stopped.

“When Phil Parkinson came in, I was the only available striker. I played the first eight or nine games and we won two of those. I only scored one goal. We were adapting to the new manager’s style and it is no secret that it was horrendous. We weren’t playing well and it took us a long time to adapt. I had a little bit of a chance but since then, my chances have been limited. It was not a secret that I wasn’t the sort of striker the manager wanted to use at that time.”

Grigg would, he says, relish a return to Wigan. Reports locally in Sunderland last week suggested the club would like to sell Grigg before the new season. Grigg is now signed to agent Sam Rush of 366 Group and there is already sustained interest. Grigg believes he is a Championship-level striker. He says is in the “best shape” of his career, having gained lean muscle in the lockdown.

The period without football, not just in the pandemic but his reduced role before it, has turned his mind back to his teenage years. When he was in Birmingham City’s academy, Grigg broke his leg and was released soon after. He fought his way back to the Football League via non-League Solihull Moors and Stratford Town.

He says: “I am raring to go. I have had massive disappointment over the past 18 months. It feels similar to when I was released by Birmingham. I was always one of the better players at Birmingham, playing up an age group. I was always pushed forward, scored loads of goals.

“During the leg break rehab, it was difficult and I just never got back into that rhythm. In the space of 12 months, I went from a guaranteed scholarship to unsure. We had a meeting one evening. I sat down with the coach and I could tell by his face straight away. Among the coaches, he said there were three who wanted to keep me and three who didn’t. You needed a majority. I remember getting in the car and mum just burst out crying. Then I was crying. We both cried the whole way home. It was such a surreal moment.

“It was adversity but in my life, I have always overcome that. And I want to do that again now. I have had two goes at the Championship (both with Wigan): I scored four in 10 starts (in the second season). I just feel so hungry and ready to get back into it, wherever it may be. Whether it’s Sunderland or not, I am just desperate to get back into it.”

 

How do you spend £4m on a player who has scored 76 goals in his last three seasons as a League One player and have no idea how he's going to fit into your system? This sounds exactly like what it was, the chairman buying a player with absolutely no buy in from his manager. He also doesn't sound like a player too keen to return to Sunderland next season. It'd be a miracle if they managed to recoup half of their outlay.

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

The good thing about this Grigg business is this,he’ll be on good money which the makems are struggling to pay,he’s happy to pick up his good money without playing,the longer it goes on the less he’ll be worth in the transfer market.For us it’s a win win win situation.

[The Fish 10817]

1 hour ago, ewerk said:

 

How do you spend £4m on a player who has scored 76 goals in his last three seasons as a League One player and have no idea how he's going to fit into your system? This sounds exactly like what it was, the chairman buying a player with absolutely no buy in from his manager. He also doesn't sound like a player too keen to return to Sunderland next season. It'd be a miracle if they managed to recoup half of their outlay.

 

Watching it unfold on the Netflix show was shocking and hilarious in equal measure. I thought tales of owners getting carried away were exaggerations. The manager, other members of the board all saying, £1.25m is fine, but no more, yet Donald loses his mind and spends an absolute fortune on an average player. I'd have thought it would be the other way around, the manager and the other advisors insisting the deal has to be done.

[ewerk 30405]

He's more than an average player though by League One standards. He would have been worth the four million if he'd kept up his previous scoring record in the league but it looks like The Don just went off his stats on Wikipedia rather than sitting down with the manager and discussing whether he was the right fit for the team. Just as well the piss-taking had been stopped by that point or god knows what they'd have offered for him.

[David Kelly 1224]

I think the don just went off the song.  The fans were pissed off about losing Maja and had for the first time started to question him and tory boy.  He wanted something to get them onside and thought the unwashed singing along to that while shitting in the seats would do it.

Mind our signing of Joelinton is just as staggering.  God knows why we signed a player who has never played as a number 9 to replace Rondon is a mystery to me.

[The Fish 10817]

6 minutes ago, ewerk said:

He's more than an average player though by League One standards. He would have been worth the four million if he'd kept up his previous scoring record in the league but it looks like The Don just went off his stats on Wikipedia rather than sitting down with the manager and discussing whether he was the right fit for the team. Just as well the piss-taking had been stopped by that point or god knows what they'd have offered for him.

Aye, I guess average is a bit harsh, but he's not worth anywhere near £4m. Especially to a club where £4m is a lot of money. Had they just sold Maja for £20m, were debt free and had cash to burn, then who cares? But they're broke, they had to borrow millions to keep the lift working ffs. 

 

[Dr Gloom 21868]

On 21/06/2020 at 17:53, Alex said:

It’s funny on there today like. It goes from wanting Sheffield Utd to win to them being absolutely shite. There’s also someone saying how cringeworthy a club we are because of how much the crowd noise went up when we scored. When it was pointed that Sky controlled it they claimed to have known that but that Sky had made it louder for us because they’d bought into the idea of our fan base being so passionate. 

That’s the mainstream magedia for you 

[ewerk 30405]

4 minutes ago, The Fish said:

Aye, I guess average is a bit harsh, but he's not worth anywhere near £4m. Especially to a club where £4m is a lot of money. Had they just sold Maja for £20m, were debt free and had cash to burn, then who cares? But they're broke, they had to borrow millions to keep the lift working ffs. 

 

My point about the £4m was that if he had come in and scored at a rate he previously did then Sunderland go up. That alone is worth £4m to them and is the reason they spent that money. It was a massive gamble and subsequently turned out to be a stupid one. Stewart saw Grigg as a guarantee of goals given his prior record but failed to grasp the fact that you can't just transplant a player from one team into another and expect identical results, football doesn't work like that.

[Toonpack 9316]

[David Kelly 1224]

And they call us deluded.

[Tom 14011]

Norwich get nearly twice their attendance ffs  

[Alex 34953]

If they were in the same division a lot of players would go for Norwich. Also completely misses the point that money is a massive motivating factor, and therefore any club able to pay higher wages automatically becomes a more attractive option for virtually every player. On top of that they have a fucking terrible reputation as a club within the game 

Edited June 25, 2020 by Alex

[trophyshy 7075]

Norwich isn't exactly the most exciting or glamorous place to be but next to Sunderland it is fucking Monaco.

[Meenzer 15466]

45 minutes ago, Toonpack said:

 

[fade to black] On a river where they used to build the boats...

 

 

[Ayatollah Hermione 13842]

Been some good young players coming through Norwich as well in the last few years. I’d consider it as a young player too, even if it is a fucking nightmare to get to.

[Howmanheyman 32890]

If you're a player who's watched their Netflix show, why would you want to go there if you had a viable alternative, especially at a club in a higher position with more recent PL experience?

 

That's it! The 'Friendly cup' games against Norwich are cancelled! 

[Kevin Carr's Gloves 3860]

1 hour ago, Meenzer said:

 

[fade to black] On a river where they used to build the boats...

 

 

Fucking thick makem song writers 

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

On rtg they’re currently debating whether Henderson is better than Gerrard. 
Joelinton or Shearer?

[Alex 34953]

Henderson is class 

[OTF 7287]

27 minutes ago, Alex said:

Henderson is class 

 

You're right, but Gerrard, as much as I hated the high pants diving twat, was a class above Henderson.

[Alex 34953]

2 minutes ago, OTF said:

 

You're right, but Gerrard, as much as I hated the high pants diving twat, was a class above Henderson.

I would agree but it’s hardly Shearer v Joelinton  

[OTF 7287]

3 minutes ago, Alex said:

I would agree but it’s hardly Shearer v Joelinton  

 

Agreed. It's almost like smb is biased... or maybe just a huge Joelinton fan

[essembeeofsunderland 811]

I remember when they discussed who was the better player, McClean or Messi.