00:00It looks to me like it's a kind of restart for the coach.
00:04You know, you need to reshape the team because there's going to be many changes.
00:08The quickest the players they can use to play together and also the new players,
00:15because most of the time, you know, people from abroad adapt to the Premier League,
00:20which is different and unique, the better for everybody.
00:24So it's going to be a matter of seeing if they can start in a nice way
00:29because I remember last year, the two or three teams,
00:32especially the two teams that they didn't start well, they were then too far.
00:36No, Sheffield was a long back and even Eastridge,
00:41it was a moment that they were too far back.
00:44It happened to Burnley before, it happened.
00:46So it's important that you start and you maintain yourself.
00:49I'm not saying you stay in the top 10 because nobody's asking for that,
00:52but just in contact with the team.
00:55So important to start.
00:57You met Reggie Stabris last season during the summer, you got to speak to him.
01:03Were you even surprised by how well Sunderland did last season
01:07and get promoted to the Premier League?
01:08Did you expect that when you spoke to him last season?
01:11No, I'm going to be honest, no.
01:13Not for two or three reasons.
01:14One, because he was alone.
01:18I suppose you know he didn't bring any of the French assistants
01:21and I've been up in there and been a foreigner, alone.
01:26I remember talking to the people from the club, to the owners,
01:30and saying, bring him someone, please help him.
01:33Give him a little bit of support.
01:34Someone who can go and eat even.
01:37And then they brought a coach.
01:38I don't know from where, but they brought a coach.
01:40I think he said that he was very quick to understand what he needed.
01:46I think it's very intelligent, I suppose,
01:49because the team started very well.
01:51And from the beginning, they were consistent.
01:55It was a moment I thought, OK, they're going to be there.
01:57And they're about.
01:58A playoff 100%.
01:59So it was, by me, the season, it was done, the playoff for me.
02:02But then I go really worried.
02:05I nearly say when we, you know, Sunderland,
02:08when we lost the last five games of the season.
02:10Like, not now.
02:12You know, don't lose the momentum.
02:16And why I was surprised?
02:19Because being totally honest,
02:21it shows that football is incredible.
02:23I don't think that Sunderland deserved to get through commentary.
02:26And I don't think that they were the third winners of the final.
02:31I don't.
02:32I think that it was the momentum.
02:34It was the time.
02:37You know, it's your moment, your season.
02:40And they went up.
02:40I think previously they had better chances.
02:42And they were better, you know,
02:43when they lost the playoff a few years back.
02:46But this one, it was like,
02:48because the first game at Coventry,
02:49Coventry was exceptional.
02:51And Sunderland wins the game 2-1 with two shots.
02:54And then the second leg is to the last second.
02:57I mean, it was like, wow.
02:59And they get through.
03:00And then they go to Wembley and Sheffield is unbelievable.
03:05And somehow, okay.
03:07So it was the time.
03:08Now, that shows that the consistency was the key
03:14and the belief of the player, the mental side.
03:17Because if you were not together and mental ready to go,
03:20you wouldn't win those three games, okay.
03:24And that's something that the coach needs to create now.
03:27Quickly.
03:28New players.
03:29Foreigners.
03:30Sunderland.
03:31Up north.
03:31You know.
03:32Do it now.
03:32That is summer.
03:33Don't wait for the winter because you know you're there.
03:36But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to see.
03:40And Gus, you talk about the playoffs there.
03:42But have you ever seen anything like those three games?
03:46Obviously, you managed Sunderland to some brilliant results.
03:49I was in the crowd.
03:50Manchester United away in the League Cup.
03:51The Newcastle games as well.
03:53You know, really special.
03:55Really memorable.
03:56But those three games, the two against Coventry.
03:57The last-minute goals.
03:59The way the fans reacted.
04:01The noise.
04:02I've never experienced anything like that.
04:04It was just incredible.
04:05Yeah, it probably was, you know, the years waiting after so many years being away from
04:12the Premier League brings something extra.
04:14Me, my first moment at Sunderland is Borini.
04:18Borini.
04:18I mean, Newcastle, it was, it was explosion.
04:22It was, wow.
04:24Incredible.
04:25Okay.
04:26The two wins at Newcastle, they are away.
04:28They are different.
04:28No, it's a different kind of connection with the fans.
04:31They are beautiful because they are away.
04:33They are magnificent, but they are away.
04:34But I think the biggest explosion, it was, it was the Borini moment.
04:39And when I was watching that last goal against Coventry in the second leg and seeing that
04:44stadium, I was watching the television.
04:47It was tremendous.
04:48Yeah, I can imagine.
04:49It was, because I went late 50-50, you know, the fans.
04:52But I think, I think the moment of the biggest explosion is that, is that late goal at home
04:57in the second leg against Coventry was tremendous.
04:59And, and, and, and then is when I believe, yes, anything can happen.
05:04Even playing bad against Sheffield, because this is what the, the team is, is playing for.
05:09It was, it was tremendous.
05:10It was nice.
05:11I think, I think it was time as well, because every year, you know, like, yes, but, yes,
05:16but, come on, do it.
05:18Bang, in.
05:19See you later.
05:20And Gus, have you been sort of, we mentioned the spending earlier this summer, but has that
05:25taken you a little bit by surprise in a sense, just the level of it?
05:27I think it's well over a hundred million now.
05:29I, I was surprised, to be honest.
05:31Yes.
05:31I, I was surprised.
05:33Yes.
05:33I, I thought they would spend something, but I didn't spend over a hundred million.
05:36No, I didn't.
05:37I didn't.
05:38And, uh, interesting.
05:40Now, important.
05:43A few years back, Poulain went up, spent a hundred million, they went down.
05:49That, that didn't give you salvation.
05:52Okay?
05:52The important is that those players, they arrive, they settle down very quickly, the
05:57coach reshape, and you start well.
06:00Like I said, don't start bad and stay away from the other ones.
06:03Start well, maintain in touch with all the teams, and then it's up to you, you know?
06:09Then you can add in January, if you're lucky with the injuries, blah, blah, blah.
06:12But it's important to start well.
06:14Look, two last questions for you.
06:17I don't think, as a player or as a coach, I don't think you ever lost to Newcastle.
06:20Can Sunderland beat, can Sunderland beat Newcastle next season?
06:24And can they stay up?
06:25Listen, I, look, one, I'm not going to miss that game.
06:29I hope I don't have a game and I need to be watching.
06:32No, no, I'm not going to miss that game.
06:34Uh, I think it's going to be nice for the coach.
06:38Amazing for the coach.
06:39The coach will realise.
06:40Okay?
06:40Uh, to play, same level.
06:42Uh, and I think Newcastle this year, they are worse.
06:48So, big chance.
06:50Okay?
06:51Big chance.
06:52Uh, but, uh, yeah, there is no better feeling.
06:56Look, I, I, I don't know if you know this story.
06:58Maybe you heard it from me.
07:00Uh, after a week, being in there, uh, we left the training line like at 6 p.m.
07:05or 7 p.m.
07:06because we were all late at the training room.
07:08And in the traffic light, they stopped us, some fans,
07:11and they started shouting and I put the window down.
07:14And they said to me, don't lose against Newcastle.
07:18Big them up.
07:19And I went, okay, no window up.
07:23I look at my assistant, Tano, I said, Tano, we know.
07:26You know, that's.
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