Marcos Angeleri is one of the players who we’ve been led to believe should be interested in the forthcoming Premier League timetable, published today …
The fixture list is out, giving fans the chance to start making the plans they know Murdoch may ruin and sending those earnest football data people out on patrol.
Such is the crazy state of the law of the land that you’d get thrown in the Tower and have every last possession seized by bailiffs if you so much as thought of reproducing the list without permission.
And permission is not granted except on payment of a fat fee.
But no one can stop us mentioning, as plain facts which we hope are not yet subject to Football Data Company censorship, that we play Birmingham City at home on the Saturday that falls between Fri Aug 13 and Sun Aug 15. With its headline “Blues start at home to Mackems”, teamtalk.com was clearly trying especially hard to keep out of copyright trouble. We end the season at West Ham on the day after May 21.
The Wear/Tyne derby games are at St James’ Park on the second last day of October and the Stadium of Light – let’s be bold – on Jan 15.
Beyond that, it may be imprudent to go, though you can see the full list – without fear of getting into trouble – at the Sunderland Echo site. And in the full knowledge that several of the dates will be changed, and not always with great notice, for the convenience of the usual suspects.
The headline is wishful thinking, of course.
Steve Bruce is beavering away in the transfer market and the captures already made – Paraguay’s midfielder Cristian Riveros, the Belgium Under-21 goalkeeper Simon Mignolet (confirmed today) and apparently, though still unofficial, the Argentinian defender Marcos Angeleri (shown in the clip in the red and white stripes of Estudiantes) – should be followed by others.
The squad strengthened, we would be entitled to hope for a result from the opening game like the one we had in the corresponding fixture last season – 3-1. And that it would get us off to the start of our best Premier League season since Peter Reid’s two successive seventh top finishes.
Bruce knows the coming season is one that cries out for real progress to be made. I’d like to think that by the time we face West Ham at Upton Park, there isn’t the slightest prospect that we’ll turn in a performance resembling last season’s, or indeed the flat final-day display at Molineux.
It would also be nice to think Darren Bent was already poring over the list, pencilling in the games in which he expects to score the goals that will help him produce an even more impressive tally than the 24 from the 2009-2010 EPL.
Colin Randall
Watch Da Silva this season. He will show us exactly how good he is – I think!!!
Like your optimism… hopefully send the hammers down too. Although we never do well there do we?
Progress this year, I guess it depends whether we can get any defenders in to play with Turner… the rest are not up to it.
Tottenham and Chelsea both away just four days apart is one of the reasons I’m not particularly envious of people who do all the away matches.