Will Grigg to Sunderland | Page 10 | Vital Football

Will Grigg to Sunderland

There's no hard feelings whatsoever towards Will from me. He served us brilliantly well whilst he was at Latics, and commanded a very good fee when he left. He left on good terms, no shenanigans, and was a model pro whilst he was here. Nothing negative to say about him whatsoever. I was sad to see him leave, but I will admit that was more about personal loyalty than about my thinking he was going to suddenly find his groove and set the Championship on fire.

I don't want him back at the club. He's proven that he's not up to Championship level on several occasions with other clubs as well as Latics, and given his performances at Sunderland, there are some big question marks on whether he can still cut it at League One level. I get that some players suit some clubs and all not others, but reality is that we don't have the luxury of taking that chance if we go down. We'd be better served putting wherever we'd spend on Will into the wage pot and keeping hold of Garner and/or Moore.

I'll always give Will some applause whenever we see him: he's more than earned our respect with what he's done at the club in the past, but that doesn't mean that we should try to relight long extinct fires. The past is just that: the past. He did a great job for us, but I'd like to think the club aren't so short sighted as to think re-signing Will would be anything other than a big (and likely pretty expensive by our standards) gamble and very likely a step backwards.

Add to that that because of my personal admiration and respect for Will, I'd rather remember him fondly based on what he's done already than risk him losing that legacy by coming back and falling completely flat. Will's performances for us in League One will never be forgotten, and it's best that he keeps his place as a former legend than him become another notch on our bedpost of failed strikers with a second spell that'd no doubt not live up to many fans' expectations.
 
Marksparko said:
Good enough to bag a brace against United and the winner against City. For a guy “not quick enough” he did alright to beat Kyle Walker in a race too. Also, Grigg’s hold up play is underrated by both Cook and Michael O’Neill.

At the end of the day though, he’ll go to Sunderland, get promoted, actually get a chance next season in the Championship and end up being top goal scorer in the league. Would be typical of what happens when we bloody sell players. Meanwhile we’ll be left with no strikers as Garner, Vaughan, Windass and this new superstar striker we’re apparently replacing Grigg with will all think they’re too big for league 1 and piss off elsewhere.

At least we’ll have £1.5 million in the bank though ey, and save Griggs weekly wage. Result!
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At the end of day what actually happened is that he went to Sunderland, didn’t get promoted, has scored about 3 goals in god knows how many appearances and isn’t even in the top 50 goalscorers....in League One.

Meanwhile Latics replaced him with Leon Clarke temporarily who played his part in keeping us up and ultimately Kieffer Moore, a far better player and already worth at least double what Sunderland paid for Grigg.

Don’t take up fortune telling sunshine, you’ll be dishing out more refunds than travel companies in a pandemic.
 
Just watched it through my fingers...found the whole thing rather painful to be honest. They got screwed and even their manager knew he wasn't worth it....I usually don't feel sympathy for millionaires but poor Will.
 
hindleymonwafc said:
Just watched it through my fingers...found the whole thing rather painful to be honest. They got screwed and even their manager knew he wasn't worth it....I usually don't feel sympathy for millionaires but poor Will.
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It put so much pressure on the manager and Will that the fee was so high. Both knew he wasn’t worth that.
I don’t feel sorry for Stewart Donald, should have listened to the calm heads around him telling him not to do it.
 
Stormin' Norman said:
I'd have Grigg back in a heartbeat, Grigg and Moore up top and a manager that would know how to play them together!
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The problem with that Norm is that all the managers Will has had see him as a lone striker, no one sees him as a twin. So why would you believe that any manager would want to pair him up.

We got the best out of him and found his level, recent history has proved that, his performances have tailed off and will probably need to drop down another level to attempt to find his feet again.

I like Will and hope he is able to rekindle his career but to bring him back to a team that is above his level would be detrimental to his career and as has been said would be sad to see him come back and fail. I would rather remember him as the player he was for us than see the same happen to him that happened to Callum Mac.
 
richymac said:
It put so much pressure on the manager and Will that the fee was so high. Both knew he wasn’t worth that.
I don’t feel sorry for Stewart Donald, should have listened to the calm heads around him telling him not to do it.
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Slightly disagree. He went with his heart over his head. He knew had he not signed a striker, the fans would have castigated him and it was totally reasonable to believe that with Grigg's record in League One, he could have been the difference between promotion and all the financial reward that comes with it. We had him firmly by the bollocks and he had no choice but to play ball. It's not his fault that Grigg has been such an epic failure there.

Having watched the doc, I thought Donald came off well, heart on his sleeve the sort of chairman you want. His problem was that he got shafted on transfers, first by Maja and his agent, then talked publicly about needing a striker, leaving himself zero negotiating power in the transfer market.

The one thing that really struck me in the doc was how utterly shite the back of house staff were, the marketing/finance/media team, basically all the office managers behind the scenes. The meetings they had where they just sat silently offering zero ideas. You could tell in the years they'd been working there, no one had held them accountable and they were simply going through the motions. It's no coincidence whatsoever how much they've fallen as a club with those sort of lazy uncreative people behind them, because obviously what had happened to them on the pitch had flowed all the way through the entire club.

Fair play to Charlie Methven, who despite being David Brent reincarnated realised immediately how shit they were and tried to sort it out. That Irish women who looked like she got sacked at the end of episode three was a perfect example, sitting on her arse, rolling her eyes at everything. Methven gave them a kick up the arse, set goals (like the 40k on Boxing Day) and took no shit. Fair play to him, even if he did come across a bastard. That's how you get things done in business.
 
TRUE BELIEVER said:
The problem with that Norm is that all the managers Will has had see him as a lone striker, no one sees him as a twin. So why would you believe that any manager would want to pair him up.

.
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I think you maybe mistaken on that one, i read somewhere that Grigg stated HE prefers to be up top on his own and it seems managers are playing a system to suit him and not the team, some training ground coaching and i can't see any reason why Grigg and Moore couldn't play together, we'd score a pon full!

It worked in League 1 with Grigg up on his own because of the quality he had behind him and the lack of quality from our opponents, i also heard that Will was on a hiding to nothing once Joe Royle came in, JR didn't like Grigg as a CF hence the lack of game time and the injury excuses at the time.

True that.
 
C_Latic said:
Slightly disagree. He went with his heart over his head. He knew had he not signed a striker, the fans would have castigated him and it was totally reasonable to believe that with Grigg's record in League One, he could have been the difference between promotion and all the financial reward that comes with it. We had him firmly by the bollocks and he had no choice but to play ball. It's not his fault that Grigg has been such an epic failure there.

Having watched the doc, I thought Donald came off well, heart on his sleeve the sort of chairman you want. His problem was that he got shafted on transfers, first by Maja and his agent, then talked publicly about needing a striker, leaving himself zero negotiating power in the transfer market.

The one thing that really struck me in the doc was how utterly shite the back of house staff were, the marketing/finance/media team, basically all the office managers behind the scenes. The meetings they had where they just sat silently offering zero ideas. You could tell in the years they'd been working there, no one had held them accountable and they were simply going through the motions. It's no coincidence whatsoever how much they've fallen as a club with those sort of lazy uncreative people behind them, because obviously what had happened to them on the pitch had flowed all the way through the entire club.

Fair play to Charlie Methven, who despite being David Brent reincarnated realised immediately how shit they were and tried to sort it out. That Irish women who looked like she got sacked at the end of episode three was a perfect example, sitting on her arse, rolling her eyes at everything. Methven gave them a kick up the arse, set goals (like the 40k on Boxing Day) and took no shit. Fair play to him, even if he did come across a bastard. That's how you get things done in business.
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Can’t argue with the rest of that but I just feel like Donald got it wrong, especially how he couldn’t listen to those around him.
When they had their first offer knocked back and Jack Ross (Who I feel for as well) said they shouldn’t offer more. Donald should really have listened and tried for another target. They still had 24 hours at that point. Could have signed Devante Cole or Ivan Toney for £3mil
 
Stormin' Norman said:
I think you maybe mistaken on that one, i read somewhere that Grigg stated HE prefers to be up top on his own and it seems managers are playing a system to suit him and not the team, some training ground coaching and i can't see any reason why Grigg and Moore couldn't play together, we'd score a pon full!

It worked in League 1 with Grigg up on his own because of the quality he had behind him and the lack of quality from our opponents, i also heard that Will was on a hiding to nothing once Joe Royle came in, JR didn't like Grigg as a CF hence the lack of game time and the injury excuses at the time.

True that.
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Whether its true or not I couldn't say, however all the managers he has had have seen him as a one up top striker and no one has ever partnered him up.

Given he is now 28 years old I seriously doubt that anyone would take the chance of buying him and hoping to partner him up with someone.

I admire your belief in him but fear that it may be misplaced.

As I said I liked Will and thought that he was a genuine asset to the club at the time but most people agree that confidence plays a big part in a decent striker and I think the last couple of seasons have taken its toll and we will never again see the striker we once had. I do hope he can resurrect his career but in my opinion that will be at a lower level than the Championship or even the top end of the First Division.
 
richymac said:
Can’t argue with the rest of that but I just feel like Donald got it wrong, especially how he couldn’t listen to those around him.
When they had their first offer knocked back and Jack Ross (Who I feel for as well) said they shouldn’t offer more. Donald should really have listened and tried for another target. They still had 24 hours at that point. Could have signed Devante Cole or Ivan Toney for £3mil
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I'm with C_Latic on this...I thought Donald was likeable and one of the lads but he stank of desperation in the last 24 hours of the window. You make mistakes under pressure and he bombed on this one. Also, I don't think we played a masterplan either...I just dont think we wanted to sell until the daft money came up and then it was a no- brainer.

It just goes to show ( especially under DW ) how well run we were as a club who constantly get the best out of a player who then was sold for daft money and flop with their new clubs.

Some like to constantly criticize without ever giving us credit where it's due when we have maximized a players potential both on the field and monetry. It happened too many times for it to be accidental....the list is a mile long.
 
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