FROM THE MANAGER
Welcome back for what I think should be a really good afternoon.
Anyone who knows anything about football knows that Ajax are
one of the world's top top clubs. They've got a new manager and he
wasn't a bad player!
The Higher You Go
The Harder It Gets!
Obviously Marco van Basten was a
great player and like myself he's a
manager just starting out and I wish
him all the best with that. I'm looking
forward to welcoming Ajax just as we
welcomed Juventus last summer. It's
great for our club to be playing clubs
like Ajax and Juventus and if today's
game is as good as last year's home
friendly I'll be delighted because that
was a good game and exactly the
kind of workout we needed as part of
our preparation. Even in pre-season
you still want to take on the best
and if you've something inside you
you want to do well at all times.
We know that this season is a big
challenge for us because the higher you
go up the league the harder it becomes
to climb further but that's what we're
aiming to do and that's why we're
building a stronger squad. This time last
year we'd just got promoted and the
question was can you stay up? Credit
to the players for achieving that and
now it's a case of can we establish
ourselves amongst the group of
established Premier League teams
like Blackburn, Portsmouth, Man
City, Villa and so on. We're not far
away but we're far enough
away and our aim for this
season is to get in
amongst the group
of teams who can
hold their own in
the Premier League
without having
to look over their
shoulders at the
relegation battle.
If we can do that
and look to do well in the cups we'll
have a good season. Supporters can
see the kind of players we're bringing
in, ones where there isn't a question
of whether or not they can make
the transition to the Premier League
because we've seen they can handle it.
Credit to Niall and Peter because
we've got over the line with some
important deals and hopefully
there'll be one or two more new
faces before the Liverpool game.
I'm pleased with how we're doing in
terms of bringing players in. We haven't
got every player we'd have liked but
we've been more successful than last
summer even though we've been going
for a higher calibre of player and have
been trying to bring in that bit of quality
that helps you to win games at this
level. When we went for four players
from one club I think some people
might have thought it was easier than
trying to sign four players from four
different clubs but that's not
the case because each deal is
separate and different players
and agents all have their
own demands. Having said
that sometimes you sense
a club might be willing to do
business and with Ramos
coming in to Spurs and
looking to re-build
we thought we
might have a chance
of some players
that we fancied.
Last year we were
bringing in players
predominantly
from Championship
clubs whereas this year we're
attracting players from established
Premier League teams and that goes
to show the progress we're making.
You still never know how a player
will settle but there won't be any
question marks about whether or not
they can handle the Premier League
because that is already known.
I think coming to Sunderland will
take the new lads onto another level
even coming from a great club like
Spurs. I'm convinced that even when
players join us from good clubs that
they'll be pleasantly surprised by
the expectation of our supporters
and as long as they give 100% they
should be ok. Take El-Hadji Diouf
for instance, he's a player who we
hope will get people off their seats
and enjoy playing on a big stage.
We've brought in different types of
characters but it's my job to manage
people and try and get the best out of
them. If I was to shy away from these
sort of challenges I could guarantee I
wouldn't be progressing as a manager
and it's my responsibility to get the
best I can out of players for the good
of the club. That's something I've got
to deal with and manage. I know that
sometimes different players need
different things and it's a question of
judging how to help players produce
their best football. One of the things
I've always liked about football
dressing rooms is the mix of different
nationalities and characters. We've
got good characters in there, people
like Yorkie, Deano and a couple of the
senior players and that will also help our
new lads to settle in. We want them to
