After the sublime late, late show that saw off Boro (about which more later), what next? Northampton. Not exactly a footballing hotbed. Until, of course, Marco went there. Towards the end of his career he may have been, but he was still sharp enough for Danny Brothers**, Cobblers fan extraordinaire. “Never lost his touch” – a touch I heard described by a gobby policeman in the away end at Charlton v Sunderland, eve of Marco’s transfer to Crystal Palace, as “the touch of a walrus” – “one of the best I’ve seen in a Cobblers shirt”. And what about Sammo, another former Sunderland man, now a Northampton cult hero? Both eclipsed in Danny’s eyes by a certain Martin Smith, whom he regards as the most talented footballer he has seen in his team’s colours. Danny (on the left in the picture below), an aspiring writer who runs the website A Load of Cobblers, tells all as he previews Tuesday night’s Carling Cup clash between our clubs…….
One man looking forward to the Cobblers’ trip to Sunderland more than most is Town’s assistant manager, Ian Sampson. “Sammo” made 13 league appearances for the Black Cats before moving to Northampton initially on loan in 1993. After signing permanantly in 1994, Sammo went on to achieve cult status at the club, helping us to Wembley in 1997 for the Division Three (League Two) playoff final, as we saw off Swansea with an injury time free kick from John Frain.
A year later and Sammo was at Wembley again as he helped the Cobblers to the Division Two (League One) playoff final but this time it ended in disappointment. Grimsby Town edged us out and the following year we were relegated, but Sammo remained at the heart of the defence.
After an incredible 499 games, the defender retired in 2004 following another unsuccessful playoff campaign as we lost out in the League Two semi-finals, denying him the chance to make it 500 appearances in the final.
Throughout the second half of the nineties and early naughties, Ian Sampson has been Northampton Town. Remaining at the club first as youth team boss and now assistant manager, Sammo has Claret and White running through his blood and we can only thank Sunderland for letting him go and giving us the most loyal, hard working and committed players ever to pull on the Cobblers shirt.
Sammo watched on as the Cobblers saw off Bolton Wanderers at the Reebok Stadium in Round Two as Adebayo Akinfenwa struck twice to see off the Trotters and the cause the shock of the round, propelling us into a rare week of media spotlight. The draw wasn’t what we hoped for I must admit with another long mid-week trip but the Stadium of Light visit gives our fans another chance to taste life of a Premier League team.
We’d be silly to think that the Bolton result can happen again but you never know in football. One thing we would love to have behind us is 11 Ian Sampsons on the pitch. You certainly wouldn’t bet against us if we had eleven men like him on the pitch.
By tradition, Sunderland supporters couldn’t give a hoot about Middlesbrough. There may even have been an old County Durham bylaw making it a punishable offence to care. We are, in any case, too wound up in our collective scorn for – and, as of now, occasional amusement at – Newcastle, a feeling expressed in every way from friendly banter to homicidal malice. Boro, on the other hand, need Sunderland as rivals, perhaps to reassure themselves that they really are part of the North East and not “just a small club in Yorkshire”. Neil Darbyshire*, a top Fleet Street journalist, is a Boro lad, and – though he’ll hate me for saying so – an all-round good bloke. He professes a certain fondness for SAFC despite unfond memories of the sort of welcome he received as an away fan at Roker Park. Along the way, he had the good sense to adore Johnny Crossan, wish that he’d seen Wilf Mannion and struggle to forgive us for one player offloaded in the direction of Ayresome Park…….but how does he reckon Saturday’s viciously-timed (if you’re travelling from afar) game at the Stadium of Light will go?
I’d like to start this blog (my first on any subject and quite possibly my last) with a disclaimer. Although I regard myself as a man and boy Boro fan, I’ve been found seriously wanting in recent years, in terms of attending live matches.
In fact, I am exactly the kind of supporter dedicated fans rightly hold in lofty contempt – can’t manage to struggle to more than one or two games a season but never short of an opinion.
And to add insult to insult, whenever there is a cup final or other big game in the offing, a ticket always seems to materialise.
If you think I should be ashamed to be offering up my vapid meditations with such threadbare credentials, I agree.
But although I’m defensive, I suppose part of me thinks I have paid my dues in the past.
I know the horrors of coming back home over the Pennines from Oldham or Bury in a Beggs bus in the bleak mid winter, with no heating and a driver who had spent half the afternoon drinking bottles of Double Maxim on the back seat.
For years in the 60s and early 70s, I pitched up every other week at Ayresome Park with my Dad, infused with a hope and fervour that was often shaken but never quite extinguished.
I was a season ticket holder, a player in the Boro boys squad, and, for one glorious half-season, a ball boy.
Even now, it is quite common for me to read four or five newspaper accounts of a Boro game hoping for a better verdict and my weekend mood can be quite irrationally altered by whether the boys win or lose.
Whether all this is any qualification, you must judge for yourself, but the blogmeister, Mr Colin Randall, has asked me to drivel on for a bit, so here goes.
A point won or two lost? Pete Sixsmith thinks Wigan were there to be beaten, but pleads for patience as the new-look squad beds in. The crowd of fellow Boro fans Lee Cattermole proudly took to watch him play may not wish to read on. But stand by for a Rob Styles World Exclusive…..
The BBC got it right by making it the last game on Match of the Day and only giving it five minutes.
Rob Styles got it right by sending off the idiotic Lee Cattermole and generally having a decent game (never thought I would write those words. Respect to Rob!).
From today’s Wigan v Sunderland match report in The Observer
Pete Sixsmith, SalutSunderland.com ….
It was ultimately disappointing – if we’d pushed on in the second half, then we could have extended the lead and won. We sat far too deep, lost possession too easily and did not get enough people forward when we broke. That’s not to take anything away from Wigan, who played well, though it constantly amazes me how people like Lee Cattermole, who just go around kicking people, get signed by managers. We did have chances to extend the lead – Kirkland spread himself well to deny Cissé, but Murphy should have kept his head on a cross from Chimbonda with five minutes left. There’s a feeling Keane was looking to not lose, rather than trying to win. We’re still finding our way, trying to find the right formation and way to play, and there was some grumbling on the way out that this was a missed opportunity.
The fan’s player ratings Gordon 7; Chimbonda 6, Nosworthy 7, Ferdinand 8, McCartney 7; Malbranque 7 (Murphy n/a), Whitehead 6, Tainio 7, Richardson 6; Diouf 7; Cissé 6
This was the moment of comic cuts defending when Sunderland squandered a couple of points at Wigan on a day when, despite playing poorly for much of the game, we should have won.
Should have known it would not be a day for solid, workmanlike attention to duty and detail. In the UAE we were, after all, shunted by Showtime TV from its sports channels to Comedy Extra Live. Click on the picture of Kevin Kilbane and you’ll see what I mean.
The view from the away end at Wigan will be stern. Pete Sixsmith has already posted his verdict: “Little pleasure in watching this scrappy showing.” With his Soapbox column still to come, that may be the kindest thing he has to say about his afternoon at the JJB.
My verdict from Abu Dhabi, which survived in Sixer’s Sevens for only a couple of minutes before Pete’s text arrived, had not been much more upbeat: “Pending Sixer, what an awful second half.”
What was one of the things that happened when hooliganism was rampant in the English game? Restrictions on the sale of alcohol. What was one of the things that happened this week after trouble broke out at an international here in Abu Dhabi? A ban on water.
Two defeats in recent days, to North Korea and Saudi Arabia, have left the United Arab Emirates with little chance after all of reaching the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. And they have left UAE fans in angry mood.
Bernard Ramsdale. What a wonderful name for a passionate fan of Wigan Athletic. You get the impression that if he had been born something else, he would have changed the original name by deed poll. And Bernard, one of the mainstays of the independent Latics site Ye Olde Tree and Crown, seems a great character with a terrific fund of memories (including the anecdote, added as a comment to Pete Sixsmith’s latest Soapbox, about the SAFC fan who risked death for another pre-match pint. Not to mention the famed mudslide by our fans at Wigan’s pre-JJB home, Springfield Park. He has a soft spot for Sunderland, our Bernard*, sees both clubs holding down mid-table positions this season and advances a robust argument in favour of Wigan as a football, not Rugby League town…..and if you get a buzz from the words that follow, visit his excellent site for more
This weekend sees Wigan Athletic and Sunderland taking to the field in a relatively new fixture. The clubs have met only 11 times, but since Latics have only been in the Football League for 30 years this is hardly surprising.
What is surprising is the fact that little Wigan are now competing at the same level as Sunderland. We first met in Oct 1987 and both clubs were firmly ensconced in the old Third Division. Sunderland, managed by Lawrie McMenemy, were a big fish in a very small pond in those days and it was no surprise that Sunderland ran out easy 4-1 winners at Roker Park. The return fixture that season, played on 12th March 1988, saw Sunderland make their one and only trip to Springfield Park and the game ended in a 2-2 draw with your
super sub, Eric Gates, running all over the pitch and falling over should any Latics player get within a yard of him.
In fairness to the great man, he was playing at a level that was way below him, but he still made Cristiano Ronaldo seem like a thoroughly good sport!
Mind you, Gates wasn’t doing as much diving as the brilliant Sunderland supporters on the away end mud slide. In never to be forgotten scenes the away fans were executing some beautiful double somersaults and formation diving down the sodden Springfield Park slope. One guy in particular went down in Latics folklore as Eddie “the Eagle” Edwards mark two, by diving full length and landing in a gut clinching, stomach churning bellyflop.
Just one month later both clubs met at Wembley. This was made possible as both teams went on good winning runs that ensured a place at the Mercantile Credit Football Festival. The tournament was held to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Football League. Entry into it depended on a team’s performance for a set number of games during the season and both clubs went along as the Third Division representatives. We met on April 16 1988 in a game of just 20 minutes which ended in a goalless draw. Latics took the honours
courtesy of a 2-1 penalty shoot out. However, we failed to win through to the following days semi finals due to a shoot out loss to Sheffield Wednesday.
It was Dec 2003 when we next locked horns by which time we were competing in the Championship. We played each other four times over the next two seasons with the results being three draws and a Sunderland victory.
These were the days when Latics, led by Paul Jewell, were in the middle of their amazing rise up the Football League ladder, whilst Sunderland boss, Mick McCarthy, was clearly managing at the level he is best at. By the end of season 2004/05 both clubs had fought out an intriguing battle for the Championship title with Sunderland edging Latics into second place in the final reckoning.
However, the last game that we played at Championship level was at the JJB Stadium in April 2004 and the Mackems won by the only goal scored in the third minute by Marcus Stewart who was a mile offside in the build up. This was galling enough to the Latics faithful, but the result more or less also guaranteed Sunderland the league title.
Results in the lower leagues saw Sunderland having the upper hand, in fact Latics failed to win any of the six games that were played. Games played in the top flight though have, in the main, gone in Latics favour with the Blues winning three league games and losing just one.
Season 2005/06 saw Latics in the Premier League for the first time in their history and the games against Sunderland saw the Wiganers in the ascendancy.
As stated earlier McCarthy was seriously out of his depth in the top flight and us having beaten Sunderland 1-0 at the JJB Stadium in August 2005, by the time the return fixture came around on March 11 2006, Sunderland were already destined for relegation and had axed McCarthy, hoping for a change of fortunes.
Latics rolled up at the Stadium of Light and once again won 1-0 to ensure a losing start to the caretaker managership of Kevin Ball. That season saw Sunderland, West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City all relegated, whilst Latics, everyone’s favourites for the drop, finished in tenth spot and went on to reach the Carling Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium.
There was a season long gap before another meeting between our sides, by which time the Roy Keane revolution had started. and the game, played at the JJB Stadium, on Aug 18 2007 resulted in a very convincing 3-0 win for the Blues. Keane, who had performed a minor miracle the previous season after rectifying Niall Quinn’s balls up, was clearly not a very happy chappy!
A very easy 3-0 win in the FA Cup at the Stadium of Light was even less pleasing to him as Latics romped to victory using their reserves, but by the time the return fixture arrived in February of this year he had made his mark on the Sunderland team and Latics escaped with just a 2-0 beating which could have been a lot more.
The Latics managed to finish one place above Sunderland last season and both clubs do seem to have come a long way with regards to making a mark in the Premier League. Hopefully both teams can now go on from strength to strength.
The weekend internationals largely passed Salut! Sunderland by for Club vs Country reasons that have been explained before. Back to business this weekend, the game at Wigan giving us a chance to redeem ourselves after the two three-nils: last season’s abject surrender at the JJB and the more recent Man City debacle. We have a great Who Are They? in store from a Wigan fan, but first let’s allow Pete Sixsmith to go all soft over improbable Premier League survivors…
When I see the name of Wigan Athletic in the Premier League, I still have to give my head a real shake.
On their promotion – with us – in 2003, I confidently predicted that they would furnish us and most other clubs with a comfortable six points and that they would do well to avoid a real slide down the leagues after a chastening and embarrassing season with the big boys upstairs.
