00:00There's been a better transfer window than the summer just gone.
00:02The players we've recruited, especially the defence, have been unreal.
00:05It's a great question, this.
00:07I was trying to have a think last night.
00:09I mean, it's clearly the best transfer window.
00:11When you look at the sheer kind of calibre of player that comes in,
00:14when you look at Mukele, Alderete, Siddiqui,
00:18obviously Granit Xhaka is the kind of headline of that.
00:21But also when you look at the young players,
00:23the kind of talent for the kind of future as well,
00:26it's, yes, they've brought in real quality,
00:28big-name kind of players with big reputations,
00:30which is incredibly impressive.
00:31But so far, you know, I mentioned Siddiqui there,
00:34looks an absolute find.
00:35Robin Ross looks an absolute steal.
00:37And we're starting to see now, as I mentioned before,
00:39that I think Chempstein-Telby is a real talent
00:41who could be a great player in time.
00:43So I think the overall blend
00:44and the challenge of kind of building an entirely new team
00:46means this has to be the best transfer window.
00:48I was trying to think back.
00:49There hasn't been a better one.
00:51I'm coming up for nine years at the Echo,
00:53and I've definitely not covered a better one.
00:54I think sometimes the transfer window,
00:58or the two transfer windows, if you like,
01:00the year that we got promoted out of League One
01:02is sometimes a little bit underrated.
01:03If you go back and look at how many players were released
01:05and how much work was to be done that summer.
01:08And generally, although there were a couple of players
01:09who didn't really work out,
01:11you know, the fact that the vast majority of the players
01:13sang across those two windows,
01:14I'm thinking, you know, Corey Evans,
01:16Alex Pritchard, Jack Clark, Dennis Serkin.
01:19If you think that most of those players went on
01:21to kind of contribute significantly to two promotions
01:24back to the Premier League,
01:25that was a hell of a window
01:26that maybe doesn't get talked about enough.
01:28But this one, I think,
01:29given the overall quality is right up there.
01:32I think the only other one you could put up there
01:33in terms of being as impactful
01:35is probably the Roy Keane January one,
01:37where just kind of, you know,
01:38Johnny Evans came in as one obvious example.
01:41There were a few others who made a huge impact.
01:43I think given the fact that it's January
01:45where it's notoriously harder to recruit,
01:47I think that was a kind of a brilliant window
01:50to have such a positive impact on the team.
01:53But for me, this is definitely the best transfer window
01:56of my Sunderland's kind of support
01:58and following life.
02:01And I do just,
02:03I don't know if everybody else is the same
02:04in the stadium in my life,
02:05but I do just kind of pinch myself sometimes
02:07when I see Xhaka, Mukele,
02:11you know, when I see Enzo,
02:13you know, the little bits of magic
02:14that he produces,
02:16it feels almost surreal to me
02:18that, you know,
02:19we were watching League One football
02:20just a few years ago.
02:21It's, you know,
02:22no disrespect to those players,
02:23but it is just incredible
02:25to see this level of football
02:26back at the stadium alive.
02:28And I think we've just got to enjoy
02:29every minute of it.
02:30I think we've deserved it.
02:32I've got another question.
Comments