Norwich fan at kick off: “Watching on TV. Can we just not get thrashed?
Pete Sixsmith reports on three good points towards – er- the safety by Christmas we knew under Peter Reid, or at any rate in two of his seasons …
By my calculations, only another 34 points needed before we can sleep in our beds, secure in the knowledge that Wear Tyne derbies will be off the agenda for at least another year.
“…Sunderland will be OK – you have a good manager and, though I hate to say it, a good strike force….”
A good win for each side on Saturday sets us up nicely for tonight’s encounter at Carrow Road. Next up from the ranks of Canaries is Scott Johnson*, again discovered at the Wrath of the Barclay fan site, who maintains the “Delia should stick to the kitchen” theme, thanks Salut! Sunderland for understating the scale of that opening day defeat at home to Colchester and offers an olive branch to Ipswich …
That 6-1 tonking on day one was a real shock. What’s up with Norwich?
It’s been a constant downward ever since we won the Championship really. Our owners were more than happy to portray the club as “little old Norwich” who were simply glad to be there to make up the numbers. It was a mindset that never left us a chance to survive. There’s a story does the rounds here that Bobby Robson (RIP, despite both our two clubs rivalries) was at a dinner just after promotion, and Delia told him our transfer budget for the season. He just laughed, and said ‘no chance’. We spent far too much of our money earned that season on off-field activities, a ploy that as STILL left us £20m in debt. Since then, it’s been a constant case of spending too much on other stuff, selling the good players and replacing them with inferior yet expensive replacements. The final straw was relegation last season.
Bryan Gunn (club legend, unfortunately now permanently tarred with relegation and our heaviest EVER home defeat) was only appointed temporary manager until the end of last season after the departure of Glenn Roeder (boo, hiss ?) and should never had got the job on a permanent basis due to not being good enough to manage. The fact he did so showed a) the ‘cosy’ mentality of our owners and b) the state of our finances. Oh, and c) his daughter set up a Facebook group. That said, he still brought in 12 new players, and we went all pre-season unbeaten, including beating Wigan and Palace.With regard to our first game this season, gawd love you for keeping it to 6 (a Salut! Sunderland lapse of memory, now correct)- if only our defence had…it was actually 7 ! Unfortunately, as has also been shown in other games, our defence and confidence are so fragile, once we concede one it’s going to be backs against the wall. Too many of our players didn’t perform, the first two goals came from errors, the heads went down and Colchester got their tails up. They looked like scoring every time they attacked….to be fair, they did.
OK, Tuesday night brought us back down to earth with a bump. Chelski were just streets, if not boulevards or trunks roads, ahead of us in class. Blackburn, at this stage of our development, should be a fairer test of Bruce’s squad….
Last season, we seemed to play Rovers every other week, presenting us with a real test to find enough of their fans to preview each of the games. One who expressed himself in particularly robust terms was Vinjay, owner of the Rovers fan site www.brfcattitude.com, though his commitment to the cause of Blackburn Rovers is equalled by his resolve to remain anonymous. His loathing for Roy Keane cannot offend us any more, but he still comes up with some challenging thoughts on Big Sam, Steve Bruce, club owners and cheating ….
Big Sam saved you quite comfortably in the end, Is he the man to take you forward?
I wasn’t surprised he ultimately prevented disaster. Always felt he was capable of that goal. The job he has done has been slightly overrated in my view. If Portsmouth can survive with a failed championship level manager and Brian Kidd in charge it wasn’t such a momentous task.
Just as well we have Blackburn on Saturday, as good a chance as we could have to bounce back. A preview Rovers fan’s preview will appear by tomorrow. “Complete and utter massacre. Can’t ever remember us being so completely overrun at home by another side. Frankly depressing …” was one Sunderland supporter’s harsh verdict on the 3-1 home defeat by Chelsea. Pete Sixsmith takes a more philosophical view of the gulf in class between the two teams …
Well, it could have been worse. But for some dogged defending and our visitors taking their foot off the pedal with 10 minutes left, we could have been looking at a repeat of Saturday night’s fiasco at Goodison. As it was, we were privileged to watch a master class in how to swat awkward opponents when they are annoying you.
Again, we got off to a flier and Bent took his goal really well. He picked up the ball that Kenwyne had forced out of the defender, moved quickly onto goal and slotted it past Cech in a manner completely unbeknown to the likes of Chopra and Murphy. This was after Chelsea had started well but had been pushed on to the back foot by some ferocious tackling from Cattermole and Cana.
Pete Sixsmith pays a moving tribute to a pal and fellow Sunderland fan who has met a cruel end. There is an update on the police investigation in the footnote …
Stephen Wilson was a very good friend of mine. He was a Sunderland supporter par excellence, a well known and highly thought of Sunday footballer, a proud member of the Wilson/Barker clan – and now he is lying in a hospital morgue after a senseless death outside a pub in Bishop Auckland.
…”Steve Bruce has done well in overcoming the won’t-play-in-the-North-East arrogance of so many players, or is it their Wags?…”
We’ll get onto Chelsea in a minute. First, though, be aware that Laurent Blanc has been up to his idiotic tricks again, saying Marouane Chamakh could go only to a “big English club” and no such club is there for him. We are no longer chasing Chamakh, according to Bruce (though I see he has already scored three goals for Bordeaux in their opening two Ligue 1 games), but the jibe is aimed at Sunderland. Consider our likely attendance tomorrow night against Chelsea, compare it with the pathetic 32,000 who watched the first Bordeaux home game and then work out which is the bigger club.
So we made a great start at the Reebok, and could not be mentally more ready for tomorrow night. Most bets will nevertheless be on an away win. David Millward*, lifelong Blue, ducks the issue but agrees that this could be Chelsea’s year for the title. Here is how he answered our questions …
There’s been plenty of backing for Chelsea as champions this season. What do you say?
Logic says this could be true. Much depends on whether Ancelotti is a Hiddink or a Mourinho. First signs are encouraging. He has not mucked about with the side. The game against Manure showed they have not lost their competitive cynicism and, from a distance, Ancelotti looks like Hiddink – little grey haired fat man in a suit.
Pete Sixmith reflects on a great day out and that rarity: three points from an opening game away from home…
Where were you on the August 19 1989? If you were at the County Ground, Swindon, you saw our last away win on the opening day of the season. Eric Gates and Warren Hawke scored on a day that featured such luminaries as Tony Cullen and John Cornforth. I was in Greensboro, North Carolina and I remember making frantic transAtlantic phone calls in order to get the score in those pre internet days.
