As Pickford prepares for an England debut, we’re reminded of the stupid decision to sell him

Six months have passed since Jordan Pickford left the motherland for pastures new, and I was just sat wondering, again, "What was the bloody point in that?"

I've said it a dozen times now - selling Jordan Pickford to Everton was bloody stupid.

Not only was it stupid, it was short sighted, and it was lazy, and time has only come round to prove me right.

When Martin Bain and co made the polarizing decision to strip our assets and hunt down any talent we had remaining in the squad, eliminating it by any means, we can't say we were shocked.

Clearly here was a boy grown to a man in front of our eyes - a fantastic 'keeper with feline reflexes and a delivery service that would make Amazon Prime blush (it really is very good, not worth the money but still, hands down a top, top service) and it went without saying that Sunderland AFC, in its current state of disarray, would be looking to cash in on the lads hard work.

@Everton on Twitter

As brilliant a talent as he is, we consoled ourself with the idea that 'keepers are far easier to replace than outfield players, and that we would use the profit from his sale to better the squad as a whole and therefore better ourselves.

What a crock of sh*t.

The quick-fix brigade took whatever money we have seen from Everton and managed to convert it into another series of abject failures.

Martin Bain strikes me as the sort of man that would hire a workman to hang a picture for him, like if he was left to his own devices his house would be held up by blu tac and like everything at the club, just about ready to fall down.

Thirty million British pounds sterling was the incredible, record-breaking fee for a Sunderland talisman. Not bad at all, all things considered, and if you're really down about losing a player you can always rely on dem monies to perk you up.

What could we do with 30 million pounds, eh? This is the Championship, and the average spend of successful clubs in this division per window is half that fee. So we've got a fair whack to give ourselves a proper go of this campaign then? Fantastic.

But wait. Where's the money?

Because just a few months after the sale of Pickford, when the transfer window had ended, we had spent less than two million pounds on new players. That's less than 10% of the fee.

SAFC.com

Well, what now? It must have been used to improve the club as a whole somehow, perhaps used to pay off debt and let us shake of the bonds they put on us; something that hamstrings us every single transfer window, with the watchful eye of our creditors looming over us like a storm cloud.

Well.. er, no. We're still in massive amounts of debt, and we're still getting rid of anything that isn't nailed down just to keep the lights on - as evidenced by the extremely distasteful and frankly unconscionable decision to allow our ladies team to drift from the upper echelons of the Super League to a distant memory in the space of two years.

But there's one last excuse there, one last reason you give me that it was a good idea to sell Jordan Pickford: Jordan himself!

Why, with all that talent in the England national squad, how would he ever get his big chance while he's still playing for Martin Bain’s little Sunderland?

Yeah, take a look at the Premier League table guys.

Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images

Joe Hart is sleeping between the sticks for relegation threatened West Ham, and Everton themselves are in the same sodding boat. Yet who's making his debut for England tonight?

Jordan Pickford.

So much for the cries of "too much competition" at the suggestion that England could do what they've done several times already and select a keeper from a Championship club.

Like everything that comes from Sunderland AFC these days, that decision was pathetic. The funds it garnered have been pissed away or misappropriated, the new opportunities it afforded Jordan Pickford are zero and Sunderland are in no better shape on the pitch or off it. When I watch another brilliant academy player shine for the national team, that's all that will be going through my head.

Good on him... but what a disaster Sunderland AFC is, to let someone like that go and have nothing to show for it. Shameful.

What I'm most sick of about this club these days is having someone p*ss on my head and tell me it's raining, so Martin Bain - could you kindly do me a favour and sod off, because not only are you embarrassing us, but you make yourself look like a complete tool as well.

If I wanted someone to butcher the club and humiliate the fans I'd hire a Mag to do it.