Sunderland Fan View: Moving training to London would help recruit players - but Premier League survival is key

Are Sunderland upping sticks and moving their training base to a London site? That was the rumour which greeted Black Cat supporters over breakfast this morning.

The Sun newspaper ran the story that the Sunderland hierarchy are considering a ‘hush hush’ project, which would see the club potentially de-camp south. QPR’s training facilities are just one locale apparently under consideration.

The story further suggests that the Hoops are due to leave their base freeing up the opportunity for the Wearsiders to move in.

Despite the paper’s claim that this is a ‘bizarre’ notion, it does actually make a degree of sense at first glance. The ‘geography’ issue has long been a thorn in the club’s side. Managers have often claimed that part of their struggle to attract top quality players has been persuading them to move to ‘Winterfell’ or the North East, as it’s also known.

However, when recently asked about the challenges facing the club during the transfer windows David Moyes has been far more realistic in his assessment. Rather than point the finger of blame at the issue of locality, or even finance for that matter, he has claimed that the annual fight against relegation is likely to be the true cause. The Scot said,

“We had some players who I thought would sign, and I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t come for different reasons. It wasn’t just to do with money.”

“And I don’t think it’s a matter of geography – players want to come and play in good teams at good clubs. We have to make sure that we have a good team that players want to come and play for.”

On this point, I agree with Moyes. Perhaps moving to a training base in the London area would help attract one or two more players than the club might currently. However, there can be no substitute for being successful.

Being wanted by a team thriving in the Premier League is the only sure fire way of attracting the best players in the game. That is all the magnetism the Black Cats require. Moyes added,

“Sunderland has got everything in terms of the club and the set-up, but what it has not got is the league position. It’s through the league position that you measure progress, and that’s what we’ve got to get right.”

“If we can do that, players will look at this club and fancy playing here if we are winning regularly, pushing on and trying to do it right.”

“I just don’t know at the moment whether people are believing that, so I have to be the one that changes that.”

“But until I can get a bit of momentum, it’s going to be tough.”

Should Sunderland be relegated come the end of the season then the battle becomes even greater of course. No southern training centre will make any difference then.

Who knows whether there is any truth in the rumour. It certainly would not surprise me if similar plans had been under consideration. After all, if an opportunity exists to better the club then why not take a look at the proposals?

However, the reality is that all the infrastructure is already in place within the club save for the team on the pitch. Why spend money on an area that does not require attention especially when funds are in limited supply? Surely there are far more pressing areas which need urgent attention.

When you apply some cold logic to the matter, moving to London starts to look less and less likely.

Yes, the problems within Sunderland may be wide and far reaching but I’m not sure moving some 200 plus miles south would make any significant improvement.