Who would have thought? Wembley not once but twice and in the same season.
Monsieur Salut is old enough to have been at the famous Bob Stokoe/Jimmy Montgomery/Ian Porterfield FA Cup final on May 5 1973. Sadly, the promised ticket didn’t materialise so the game was watched with plenty of beer to hand in a first-floor flat in Uxbridge.
Mme Salut heard the goal while walking back from shopping, unable to avoid my reaction (through an opened window) from some way short of our place. That night, I joined supporters from Shildon, where I and Pete Sixsmith grew up, to celebrate in a workingmen’s club in Wealdstone.
I have seen us several times at Wembley since but missing 5573 means I have yet to see us win there. Will that now change? I am back from France that week, by chance, and have hopes of a ticket. We’ll see.
But I do want to say this: it has been a torrid season, with so much necessary change at the club making promotion nowhere near a certainty. I share everyone’s disappointment at the rotten run-in that kept us out of an automatic slot. All that said, the owners, Jack Ross and an honest, passionate squad have done a grand job that, if completed on May 26, will represent an undoubted success for all of them.
Against Charlton Athletic, we have taken four points this season, Against Doncaster Rovers, we took all six. Playoffs are levellers but we have nothing to fear. Late update: Charlton have won on penalties .
Sixer’s train back from the Deep South pulled into Bank Top a little while ago. You should not have to wait too long for his account of last night, building on his immediate reaction – “Done it” – and his seven-worder, “Disciplined and controlled form start to finish”. It was not a classic, Pete added later, “but who cares?”.
Now we prepared for Donny or, much more likely, Charlton (again) in the playoff final.
Ha’way the Lads.
The eternal optimist says I was privalleged to be there in 73 and stood directly behind the goal when Porterfield scored in the 37th min and have also been to Wembley on each and every occasion since and when we scored in the 37th min again in the checkatrade thought it was to be a repeat as history does repeat itself but not to be but really fancy us to take Charlton this time round the players are well up for it . No one more than Grant but they all have it everything over the season and have been well pleased with not only ozturk but everyone who has been asked to come in and step up to the plate has done themselves and SAFC proud COME ON YOU REDS
Meanwhile, Charlton and Doncaster are wearing themselves and each other out playing extra time…
And what a hero we have in Grant Leadbitter, who played the full 90 minutes the day after his mother died of cancer. No one would have blamed him for missing the match but he played, he said, “because my mam and dad would be disappointed if I didn’t.”
I know Grant has always been a Sunderland fan but this was above and beyond anything anyone might have expected him to do. The attitude of the whole squad this season has been exemplary.
Whether they achieve success at Wembley or not we supporters should be proud of every single one of them.
Very proud we are – of every single one of them, as will be Grant’s mam and dad of him.