Dreams become nightmares for our Man Utd and Ireland stars


This short posting is dedicated to David Meyler, our young Irish midfielder whose awful, accidental injury at Villa Park looks likely to cost him another lengthy period of treatment. The lad had done extremely well on his return from the last cruciate ligament injury and it is no surprise that he is, as Steve Bruce has said, devastated.

Dedicated to David, but started off as a routine piece – written before events at Aston Villa – about Danny Welbeck as one of Pete Sixsmith‘s regular offerings to the Stretford End Arising website’s running series on Manchester United’s loaned-out players. Danny also left the pitch on a stretcher last night and faces a nasty layoff of his own with a torn hamstring. Pete’s thoughts were entirely positive as he wrote the words that follow and Salut! Sunderland hopes to see both players make strong recoveries and make the words come true ….

In 12 months’ time, as he scores Sunderland’s 3rd goal in a tense Europa League victory over Ajax, Danny Welbeck will look back on December 2010 as the month he changed from a boy to a man.

He cemented a place in Steve Bruce’s first team, first of all partnering Darren Bent and then Asamoah Gyan. But the key to it was that he was the first choice while the other two scrapped it out for the privilege of partnering him.

December 2010 was a good month for him and his club. He scored against Bolton Wanderers, through being in the right place at the right time and contributed to an entertaining if frustrating game against Blackpool, which saw the Ian Holloway’s team, survive 33 shots at goal.

He had the crowd gasping with some sublime skills which reminded the ancient fans of Len Shackleton and he showed great pace and a willingness to contribute to the team ethos that Bruce was building at the Stadium of Light.

Now, 12 months on with the Glaziers desperately cutting costs at Old Trafford and new manager Joe Kinnear selling all and sundry, he is rejoicing in his role as Sunderland’s brightest young star. With his fellow England international Jordan Henderson and the new Republic of Ireland skipper, David Meyler, he has shown that the renaissance of this famous old club is well and truly up and running.

Well, a man can dream can’t he?

2 thoughts on “Dreams become nightmares for our Man Utd and Ireland stars”

  1. No idea if David ever visits the hallowed pages of Salut, but I think that we all share the same sense of concern and indeed for David’s awful injury last night.

    It’s so sad because David has obviously worked so hard to get back to physical fitness. His match sharpness was evident in an excellent performance against Blackburn.

    We all wish you well David, and hope that the prognosis is nothing like as bad as feared. Even if the injury does turn out to be as serious we all wish you well and look forward to seeing your return stronger than ever. Good luck!

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