In our exclusive interview, the ex-West Brom striker discusses the newly promoted Premier League teams, the Football League season so-far and what's next for Dele Alli.
Don Goodman believes Sunderland have given themselves a chance of staying in the Premier League after signing 14 players over the summer.
The Black Cats went up through the play-offs last season, but after they finished 24 points behind Leeds and Burnley in the Championship table, Goodman says the club needed to show their ambition by being ‘ruthless’ in the transfer window.
In our exclusive interview, Goodman also discusses the clubs vying to reach the Premier League, with Ipswich the current favourites in the Championship promotion betting, and the speculation linking Dele Alli to Swansea, Wrexham and Birmingham.
Leeds United went down the route of signing physical players following their return to the Premier League. Will this be enough to keep them up?
Obviously, it’s too early to know if it’ll be enough for Leeds United, so the answer really is time will tell. But four points is a good start for Leeds. The fact that nobody has scored against them at home is impressive, which will give them confidence.
When you look at the new signings, Daniel Farke has eased them into the team, really. There’s only Lucas Perri, Gabriel Gudmundsson, and Anton Stach who have been heavily involved so far. They’re the only ones who have started all three games, but then I thought Sean Longstaff was excellent against Newcastle United in the last game.
When Dominic Calvert-Lewin came on, he added to the attacking element, so it’s too early to say but things are looking good so far.
I think it’s good for the Premier League as well because the two seasons have been horrific, watching the teams promoted from the Championship just struggle. The last six teams have been nowhere near the points total that you would need to stay up.
I can see it being different this season. I can see at least one, if not more, of the promoted teams surviving. Certainly, of the three, most people would have Leeds to be the one that could survive.
Sunderland brought in 14 new players in the summer. Is there an element of risk when a club brings that many players through the door at once?
I think there’s always the risk of disruption and the risk of the group that got you promoted feeling like it’s unfair for their achievements, but if you are Sunderland, you had to be ruthless this summer. You’ve got to remember that they finished 24 points behind Leeds and Burnley last season.
What they’ve done in this transfer market shows ambition. It’s not quite on the same scale as Nottingham Forest, but remember when they got promoted, they completely overhauled the squad.
Forest were ruthless, and I think even now there’s only Ryan Yates left at the football club from the team that was promoted from the Championship at the time.
Sunderland have recognised that they need to be the same. They’ve shown ambition, they’ve spent good money, and as I say, Nottingham Forest have already shown it can be done.
The first season in the Premier League is a massive step for any promoted club, so trying to survive is a difficult task.
I think all the experience and quality they brought in will stand them well. I think they had to be ruthless to give themselves the best opportunity to survive. It helps that they’ve got off to a brilliant start as well.
The manager showed a lot of faith in the likes of Dan Neil, Chris Rigg, and Anthony Patterson while in the Championship. Will there be some concerns over their development with the new arrivals?
I think if you’ve been on this journey with Sunderland, the fans have loved the idea of this young team thriving, and they had the youngest team in the Championship last season.
They’ve enjoyed having academy players come through with Dan Neil and Chris Rigg, but Sunderland as a football club had to be ruthless, and you could even call it selfish as well.
They had to be selfish with the likes of those players who did so well in the Championship. Out of the three, it’s only Chris Rigg who’s got onto the pitch this season in the Premier League, and that was only for one minute at the end of a game.
Those three may have to suffer a little bit if the first three Premier League games are anything to go by. If that trend continues, you’d imagine they’d be pushing to be loaned out, especially the outfield players.
Whether or not they’d agreed to loan a goalkeeper out that’s so good is another question, so that would remain to be seen.
But what those three lads need to do in the meantime, in this disappointing period for them personally, is watch the standards raised at the football club.
Every day at training, the standards will be high and demands placed on the players. They’ll be learning from experienced players like Granit Xhaka, which will help them develop.
So, whilst they’ll be disappointed with the minutes they’re getting at the moment, hopefully they’ll be looking at the positive element of that and soaking it all up in training.
You can only be ready when you’re called upon. If the situation doesn’t change leading up to January, then maybe they can push for a loan move.
From what you’ve seen of Burnley so far, do you believe they have a chance of staying up this season?
Of the three promoted clubs, I think they’ll find it the most difficult, but there have been some promising signs.
Even the 3-0 loss on the opening day at Spurs, they made it really difficult for large spells of that game. It wasn’t really as easy as the score line suggests.
Then it was only a lapse in concentration at Old Trafford with a little shirt tug in the dying embers, where maybe fatigue was setting in, and that was costly in the end.
But they had a great win at home against a fellow promoted club, so I think they’ve been pretty good so far.
Especially when you look at the three promoted clubs from last season, none of them won a game until October, whereas this season they’ve all won.
Scott Parker isn’t daft. He knows how difficult it’s going to be for Burnley, and he knows that having a solid home record is crucial.
After the three Premier League games, every single point the promoted clubs have taken has been at home.
Sunderland have won both of theirs, Leeds have won one, drawn one, and Burnley have won their only home game. Those three will know how key the home form will be.
I looked at Burnley’s next three home games. Liverpool, anything you get from that is a bonus.
But then they have Nottingham Forest and Leeds coming to Turf Moor, and those are two games that they really have to take points from if they’re going to survive.
It’s ironic because if this Burnley team were in the Premier League last season, I would say they would make a much better fight of it than Leicester City, Southampton, and Ipswich Town did.
Preston North End were one of the clubs tipped for relegation before a ball was kicked, but do you think Paul Heckingbottom will keep the club up comfortably with his summer recruitment?
They’ve started really well and only had their first disappointment of the season when they lost at Portsmouth.
But that was on the back of beating Leicester and Ipswich at home, where they played really well against Leicester, especially. They’ll be focusing on the positives, and I think overall, it’s been a really good start for Preston North End.
They’ve got Middlesbrough at home next, which is obviously the biggest test in the Championship at the moment.
The recruitment has been solid from Preston, and although it’s very early days, I think given Paul Heckingbottom’s experience and the fact that he’s aided by Stuart McCall, who’s been around the block stands them well. I would be confident that they wouldn’t be in a relegation fight.
Anything in the top half, or even the top six if they managed to keep putting a run of form together, would be one heck of a season for them.
Marcelino Núñez may have ruffled a few feathers by swapping Norwich City for Ipswich Town. Brave move for him, and have Norwich actually got the better of the deal considering the price and his injury record?
In my opinion, Marcelino Nuñez is a top Championship player, despite the slow start while he was still a Norwich player.
I have to ask myself, who is going to finish higher in the Championship table out of Ipswich and Norwich, and I have to still fancy Ipswich to be challenging at the very top.
Given the strength of their squad compared to the two, there’s no doubt that Ipswich have a much better squad.
He’s made 107 appearances in the last three seasons, and he’s only had one or two minor niggles, which tells me that I wouldn’t be concerned about his physical condition.
Norwich have made a great profit on the player, so that’s the win from their side, but I think Ipswich have got themselves a top player.
He’s a player I rate very highly, and I remember having a good chat with Dean Smith before his first game, and he told me to watch this lad, especially if there’s a free kick around the edge of the area.
He’s since gone on to score quite a few, and one was actually against Ipswich, as I recall. I saw that game where Norwich beat Ipswich, and it was his free kick that won it.
I don’t have any worries about his injury record. He’s a top player, and I think he will be a terrific signing for Ipswich.
Jayson Molumby has started the season in fine form for West Brom, but was overlooked for Ireland in this international break – how frustrated will he have been to be left out?
I was really surprised that he was left out of the Ireland squad. He was so good last season, it was probably the best season he’s had in his career so far because he was really impressive.
He’s started this season in the same way, so given that the Republic of Ireland aren’t laden with depth in that midfield area, it was a shock to find out he wasn’t picked.
If I were Jayson Molumby, I would be really disappointed, but all he can do is keep his standards up and keep playing well.
Hopefully, another opportunity comes up in the future, and I think it would be hard to ignore him if he maintains this level of form.
But I would be very disappointed if I were him, especially not even being in the squad when I think he would actually make a huge difference.
Swansea City have added firepower to their attack in the shape of Adam Idah. Can he put behind a difficult Celtic spell to add those goals for his new club?
Swansea have started well; they’ve only lost to Middlesbrough on the opening day, which was quite a poor game with nothing in it really.
They clearly felt the need to boost their attacking options, and I’m not surprised because they only scored 51 goals in the league last season.
There were only eight teams that scored fewer than that, so if you’re only scoring 51 goals, then you’ve got no chance of doing well at this level.
They’ve brought in a few attackers, most notably Manuel Benson and Adam Idah.
It’s a big fee, paying £7 million for Idah, but what it says to me is that Swansea City look like they’re being quite ambitious, and that’s the first time you can say that in quite a while.
At 24 years old, I would suspect that Idah will want to prove himself. I feel like there is more to come from him, especially with the physical attributes that he’s got.
There’s no doubt that he’ll have to work harder for goals because he’s no longer playing for the best team in the league.
But when you analyse it, he got 20 goals in 53 games for Celtic last season, which isn’t bad.
I think if he applies himself, then he will be a good addition for Swansea; however, I do think it is a bit of an inflated transfer fee.
Dele Alli has been linked with several Championship clubs such as Swansea, Wrexham & Birmingham. Is that a risk worth taking considering his injury record and does the player himself need to find a club where he can enjoy football again?
It hasn’t really worked out since he left Spurs. He hasn’t shown the same quality at Everton, Besiktas, and Como. He only played eight minutes for Como last season in Serie A, so it just hasn’t happened for him.
For me, it’s a massive gamble for any club to take on a 29-year-old who has barely played in the past three or four seasons. I think it’s a tragic story because he’s such a talent, and I think the onus is solely on Dele Alli to find himself a club.
Whether that means going on trial and taking your chance should it come your way. If I were Dele Alli, I would be happy to do that.
It’s a tricky situation, but if you can get anything like the player that burst on the scene for MK Dons and then Spurs, where he excelled really, I think it’s a gamble worth taking.
The problem for the clubs linked with him is, you just don’t know what he’ll be like until he walks through the door.
The biggest onus of all, though, is on Dele Alli to find himself a club.
Do you think there’s an outside shout of returning to his roots at MK Dons? Possibly just to train again at a club.
I think he needs something to keep him going, and it’s interesting because Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has also been linked with a few clubs as well, who’s another talented player whose career has been blighted by injuries.
Dele Alli clearly wants to just play football. He gave this amazing and honest interview about the troubles he has had off the pitch, so you can’t help but feel for him.
But the onus is very much on him and his representatives to find an opportunity.
I suspect it would be an unpaid opportunity to start if you want to get your foot in the door of a decent standard club. I don’t think at the moment he can be asking to be paid, other than expenses maybe.
It’s an avenue that I would be prepared to go down if I were him, who’s desperate to get back in and get your career back on track.
He’s only 29 years old. If he can stay injury-free, then he could have four, five, or even more years of a football career if it all goes well.
Dylan Lawlor has had an impressive start to his career, and both Cardiff City and the Welsh national team. How far can he go, and can you see clubs circling around his signature in January?
He’s barely played so far in his career; it could be around 10 games so far, but he’s been involved in all six League One games this season.
I don’t know a lot about him, but he’s been that impressive that Craig Bellamy had no hesitation in starting him in a World Cup qualifier away in Kazakhstan.
I think it speaks volumes, and what’s more impressive is that it’s harder for a young defender to come into a team than for a more creative player.
Cardiff City have a really young team; it’s not as if he has experience around to guide Dylan Lawlor along the way in games. It makes it even more impressive, and Cardiff have been impressive so far with five clean sheets in six League One games.
To be gaining that level of experience already is brilliant for a young player, and I have no doubt that some of the bigger clubs will already be monitoring him.
It’s the nature of the game. When a young player breaks through and starts to play week in, week out, he’s at a great club to continue his development. Hopefully, he can stay focused, and Cardiff will be the beneficiaries of that.
How difficult is it to stay grounded when this attention is on a young player?
It depends on the individual. It depends on his surroundings and who’s behind him in terms of his parents and his family supporting. The coaching staff and the mentors around him as well, but you would think it wouldn’t be too difficult since he’s just started his career.
If he were to get a big move to a big club, then he wouldn’t likely be playing week in, week out like he is at Cardiff currently.
At the moment, he’s in the best place for his development in a team that is winning, where there’s a feel-good factor and a confidence that comes with winning games of football.
Now he’s a fully-fledged international as well, hopefully he’ll be grounded enough to just enjoy the journey because he’s at the very beginning of it.
Many expected Blackpool to be challenging at the top end of League One under Steve Bruce, but it’s not been the best start to the season. Can they turn it around?
I was one of those who would have had Blackpool down to have a good season, so to see them start so slowly is a surprise, and disappointing really.
There is a lot of work to be done, and maybe the international break has come at a good time for them. They didn’t have to play last weekend, so they’ve had time to work on things at the training ground.
The obvious area to improve for Blackpool is defensively, because they’ve conceded 13 goals in six games, which is relegation form.
It’s certainly not promotion form. Only Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United have conceded more, and neither of those clubs have started well, and they’ve played a game more than Blackpool.
Recruitment in the summer was strong, which is why most expected them to be challenging at the top end, rather than being at the bottom right now.
Given Steve Bruce’s experience, you would hope that he would be able to turn things around. As I said, the international break has probably come at a decent time for them.
How important will Steve Bruce be in keeping everyone calm during this difficult start to the season?
I think in general, when Steve Bruce has gone into a football club, he’s managed to get a reaction and it happened at Blackpool last season.
They would have had a reset during this international break, and he will have to galvanize the players during this period.
It’s something he’s probably done countless times during his career to countless teams and players that he’s managed, so it’s nothing new to him.
But at Blackpool, everyone knows what the ambitions are at the football club, and it’s certainly not to be in a relegation scrap. They have to be challenging for a playoff spot at the very least.
Steve Bruce will be well aware of that. It’s a results-based business, and he needs some positive results very soon because the ambition will be promotion.
Peterborough had a poor season last year and haven’t started great this term. Will the pressure be mounting on Darren Ferguson with the club bottom of League One?
I know Darren well; we were teammates at Wolves, and I know his pride will be hurt. But he’s got a brilliant relationship with Darragh MacAnthony and Barry Fry, so if anyone is putting pressure on anyone, then Darren Ferguson will be putting it on himself.
I can assure you of that. He’s one of those characters who, if he believes he can’t get Peterborough out of this hole that they’re in, then he’ll walk.
I have no doubts about that, but it’s such a difficult job knowing season after season that you’re going to lose your best players. When you look at the players they’ve lost, you can see why they’re in this situation.
They’ve lost Emmanuel Fernandez, Kwame Poku, Ricky Jade-Jones, Hector Kyprianou, and Malik Mothersille in just this summer. The window before they lost Harrison Burrows, Ronnie Edwards, and Ephron Mason-Clark.
If you keep all of them together, then what a team you would have at your disposal, but this isn’t the way Peterborough operates.
So, it’s a tough ask when you lose all that quality, and maybe they’re paying the price for running the football club that way in terms of losing all that quality.
Eventually, things like that can bite you on the backside, but I hope not for everybody connected with Peterborough.
Is it a case of not replacing those players properly?
It’s very hard to guarantee. You can bring as many players in as you like, which Peterborough have done, but the club operates in a way where they’re trying to find that next diamond.
You’re not always going to find that next diamond, and sometimes it’s going to take a bit more doing.
They’ve managed to keep up this model for years, and we’re going back a long time when you look at the conveyor belt of players who they’ve developed and sold on for big money.
It’s very impressive, but eventually, if you’re losing all that quality every season, then there’s got to come a point where it starts to bite you.
Maybe this is the season where it’s going to happen. I hope not, but maybe it is.
Grimsby Town are in the news for the giant-killing of Manchester United in the Carabao Cup and the controversy around playing an unregistered player, but they’ve made a great start to the league season, can they keep up the momentum?
100% they can keep up the momentum. They took all the plaudits from everybody that night because they were the better team.
They were doing well anyway prior to that result. If you look at their results, they’ve beaten Walsall away already, who are third, and they’ve beaten the pre-season favourites for the league in MK Dons.
I think this Grimsby team is the real deal, and it’s been impressive how David Artell has been able to lift them going into this season.
They missed out on a playoff spot last season by just two points, and I know how that can feel when you just miss out. You can feel disappointed, and then it’s hard to get going again the season after.
They had a poor end to last season as well. It was in their own hands, and they failed to win any of their final five games.
That makes the start they’ve had this season even more impressive, and when you look at the results, Walsall away, MK Dons away, and Manchester United at home.
If you can’t take confidence from those games, then I don’t know what you can take confidence from.
But it’s been very impressive so far, they’re just off the top of the table, and I would expect them to be able to maintain that level throughout the season.
What are your views of the three-up, three-down campaign in terms of relegation/promotion to and from the National League? Was it unfair that York failed to gain promotion despite having 96 points last season?
It was only a couple of seasons ago that Notts County got over 100 points and had to gain promotion through the playoffs as well.
It’s very unfortunate for York City that they didn’t manage to do it last season.
I am a big believer that before a season starts, you should know how many are going up, how many make the playoffs, and how many are going down.
My hope for York is that they can have another great campaign, and they’re unbeaten so far this season, albeit they’ve played a few games less.
But I do back the campaign. The National League is now fully professional. Most of the clubs are full-time, and I think the quality within the league means they’ve earned the right for three up, and three down.
It would be the same as the other leagues, but obviously, the third promoted side would still have to go through the playoffs.
I don’t see why it hasn’t been implemented yet, but hopefully it will be in the near future because I believe it should be.
