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Chairman Bob Murray, hardly Mr. Popular on Wearside, has said it is not that bad as supporters feared the club was heading for administration whilst manager Mick McCarthy, still looking for his first point as Sunderland boss, issued the rallying cry of, "I’m going to give it some, do you want some?"
There have been rumours regarding the sales of the likes of Sorensen, Phillips, McCann and Gray but they all still remain at the Stadium of Light. There was though some relief this week with Bernt Haas finally completing his on/off move to West Brom.
If the news is bleak at Sunderland then it is certainly not the case at West Brom and what a good week they have had. Besides signing Haas they have also capture Crewe’s Rob Hulse and the very impressive James O’Connor from Stoke and have now got Lassina Diabate (on loan last season at Portsmouth) with them on trial. No surprise that everyone is suggested that Megson’s team are favourites.
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A number of other transfers have gone through with the Clarets once again in the news here with the capture of Luke Chadwick on loan from Manchester United. A similar deal has seen Porto’s right-winger Candido Costa sign for George Burley at Derby.
Stoke, rivals with Burnley for John Eustace, have helped themselves at crisis club Oldham by snatching former Tranmere player Clint Hill for an undisclosed six figure fee. In other words they have paid £100,000 for a player who cost Oldham £250,000 a year ago. They are also keen on Jon-Olav Hjelde released by Nottingham Forest at the end of last season.
Forest meanwhile have four players on trial, all on the club’s tour to France. One of those four is Manchester United’s Michael Stewart who suddenly appeared at Forest just when Burnley were expecting to announce his signing. There are still suggestions that Burnley could still get their man but I would suspect that Forest are very much in the driving seat and he made his debut for them last night in a 4-0 win against Saint Medard.
Vinny Samways has returned to Walsall on a permanent basis after a successful loan spell last season. The former Spurs midfielder, now 34, joins from Spanish club Seville. There is no definite news though on whether manager Colin Lee has been able to persuade Paul Merson to move to the Bescot after he got upset with other players earning more at Portsmouth. He does though remain very confident of getting his man despite a late bid from Forest.
Neil Warnock is set to make his fourth signing of the summer for Sheffield United, the move will be completed today but as yet the player’s identity remains a mystery.
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Bradford’s Nicky Law has been as busy as any manager though and this week made his ninth summer signing when he brought Middlesbrough’s Republic of Ireland Under21 international Jason Gavin to the Bradford & Bingley Pulse Valley Parade Stadium.
And newly promoted Cardiff have made their first signing with Charlton’s Zimbabwe midfielder John Robinson moving to Ninian Park. That’s one more than Wigan who have appealed this week for fans to be patient. That from the club with the least patient chairman of all.
Desperate Coventry have a sale on and already Jay Bothroyd has been allowed to move to Serie A club Perugia. It hasn’t stopped Coventry swanning off to Germany for pre-season though.
As Burnley fans prepare for another exciting adventure with the Laxey Wheel spare a thought for those Coventry fans lumbered with Germany or the Forest fans in France. Then poor Crewe fans have had to go to Portugal whilst Palace are off to Spain and Ipswich to Scandinavia.
One player not off on the Ipswich tour is goalkeeper Matteo Sereni who was on loan all last season in his native Italy with Brescia. Sereni failed to turn up for pre-season training stranded in his homeland having mislaid his passport. Don’t expect to see him back at Portman Road with Joe Royle already having taken Spaniard Javier Sanchez Broto on trial and Sereni himself wanting to stay in Italy and keen on a move to Lazio.
According to Rotherham they have not received an offer for Alan Lee from West Brom and they said that a £400,000 bid would be laughed at. Meanwhile they still want Lee Briscoe but Ronnie Moore has not heard from the player. Moore said he didn’t think he had got fixed up because he would have heard. That sounds like not very proactive management from the Rotherham boss.
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Watford sold their ground last season to raise money and are now asking the fans to buy it back.
It seems that it is always the fans who have to pay for the incompetence at the club and Watford found themselves in thier financial crisis not because of a year in the Premiership but because of massive spending by Gianluca Vialli during his one season in charge in 2001/02 season. That was the year that apparently saw big names arrive at Vicarage Road on even bigger wages.
The appeal though has just been boosted with a donation from former Chairman Sir Elton John. He agreed to double what was already in there and that has cost him a total of £115,000. Surely the biggest donation of all came from the Clarets by losing the cup tie there and allowing Watford to make money from their FA Cup Semi-Final appearance.
Finally, and on a very sad note, there is some terrible news of Elliott the son of Gillingham Chairman Paul Scally and his partner Sara. Elliott returned to Guy’s hospital in London but surgeons have said they are unable to save the three month old baby after an operation to repair two main arteries into the heart was unsuccessful.
Elliott has now been taken off his life support system to spend his last days with as little distress as possible. Paul and Sara are at his bedside and our thoughts are very much with them at this terrible time.