Sunderland surpassing us is worse than you think, because it's based on a Friedkin failure.

[nonstripdzebra]

….nonsense of a thread, Friedkin have been here far too short a time to judge progression. Sunderland had a terrific season, bought very well in the summer but I’ve been around too long to see teams finish above us one season then drop into the wilderness soon after.

If our players had been arsed the last 3 games of the season, we would have been in Sunderland position. Good points raised though.

I think it’s fair to question how Sunderland will fair in Europe. It wouldn’t shock me if they really struggle in the league. But I’d argue Europe isn’t the main ground of criticism. It’s that they achieved it while also being future focused oppose to present focused in their recruitment and development strategy.

Ghisolfi bought a keeper he now could make 5x profit on from a years time at the club. In the same timeline and price we have let Aznou and the majority of our youth rot on the bench. They have value propositions all across the pitch playing week in week out and finishing above us.

It’s early in the project, some of the signings won’t hit. Teams like us could usurp them for a season or two being a little more present minded. But how they are moving looks Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth-esque in regards to always having an eye on the future.

Those clubs are showing it’s ultimately about how you turnover and reinvest, rinse and repeat that over multiple windows. But in one season they have set a better starting place than we currently have in that being a viable possibility.