Rade Prica: a comical miss, a comely miss – and goals

It would be an exaggeration to say that the signing of Rade Prica has been greeted as just the tonic every relegation-haunted Sunderland fan needed.

Some of the reactions on the Ready to Go and Blackcats forums show the Swedish international has a lot to prove to many fans. The poor lad has yet to run out in Sunderland colours and already has to overcome suspicions that he may be less priceless finisher, more wasteful prick.

Salut! Sunderland welcomes the sense of proportion shown by “Stephen FTM” at Blackcats:

“I was utterly uninspired when we signed Kevin Phillips. If Prica is even half as prolific then I’ll be delighted.”

It says something for the cynicism of football fans that the first thing I came across, loitering in Ready to Go’s Speakeasy chatroom, was the second of these YouTube clips. It captures a missed sitter of staggering ineptitude. So why not precede it with much more encouraging footage of an entertaining game in which he bags a couple of goals in assured style?

And if you still cannot make up your mind, the closing stages of Clip One are dominated by conscientiously full coverage of a streaker’s contribution to the proceedings. There is no word from the Stadium of Light on whether the young lady in question comes to Sunderland as part of the deal.