Countdown to Wembley: the dress rehearsal at Manchester City

Sobs in clover
Sobs in clover

This was the photo that made me ask our friend Paul “Sobs” Dobson whether Facebook might usefully introduce an “Envy” button.

But then Paul is a home and away stalwart and no one is more deserving of a ticket for Wembley on March 2.

Tonight will see him use the first of the pair you see, at the Etihad.

Monsieur Salut was moved to ask the question at ESPN: “Who’s afraid of big, bad Manchester City?”

The full article can be seen at http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/sunderland/id/2819?cc=5739.

But this will gives you a flavour of it:

Any rational pundit would suggest victories for City loom in both games and that Sunderland will do well to emerge with honour intact after evenly matched encounters.

But it comes as some relief to look forward to a fixture in which avoidance of comprehensive defeat would be bearable, avoidance of defeat at all a wonderful surprise and — be careful not to spill my medication, nurse — victory the stuff of wild dreams.

I am making no predictions. I always get them wrong in any case. But, as I say in that piece, tonight’s is a match where there really isn’t anything to lose – we are not expected to win or draw, the relegation battle will resume on less challenging battlegrounds and anything clawed from the match will be a huge bonus.

See the “Who are You?” questionnaire with Mark Barber, secretary of the Man City Disabled Supporters’ Association, at https://safc.blog/2014/02/manchester-city-v-sunderland-who-are-you-come-back-niall-and-reidy/

… and the friendly set of comments it attracted from City fans at the Blue Moon fan site forum., which also refers to a similar interview it carried with Adam Roper from www.sunderlandworld.com.

The banter has led to an invitation to appear on a pre-final edition of Across the Pond, an American iTunes Podcast “dedicated to crafting a new perspective on English Premier League football from across the pond”. M Salut has accepted.

They even understand what we mean by Ha’way the Lads.


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Jake flags the new feature allowing you to have your say on topic or off
Jake flags the new feature allowing you to have your say on topic or off

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M Salut by Matt
M Salut by Matt
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