Niall Quinn - SAFC Blog

SAFC v West Brom: Quinn’s players’ revolt, Keano revolted by players

April 8, 2011 by Colin Randall

Back in 2006, Sunderland ended a dreadful losing run by beating West Brom (then Championship leaders) 2-0 at home. Just the sort of result that we could all do with tomorrow after, er, another dreadful run. By all accounts, though, we were lucky to get a team out that day …

A quick postscript to the Niall Quinn interview in which he admits that he faced an instant players’ revolt after taking over, briefly, as manager of Sunderland in 2006, when we had just been relegated – with a record low, which Derby County later beat, of 15 points.

When Liverpool rained heavily on the Ellis Short parade

March 22, 2011 by Colin Randall

Oh dear. Safc.com was proud as punch to announce that Ellis Short was about to give one of his rare interviews.

And the day we lost 2-0 in utterly deflating fashion at home to Liverpool was the day he chose to deliver a message some Sunderland supporters would now regard as ridiculously upbeat.

“We will be doing everything we can to win those games,” he said of the four remaining home ties after Liverpool: WBA, Bolton, Wigan and Fulham, stressing the need for big crowds. “We are not looking behind us any more at what can happen at the end of the season. We are looking ahead at how far up the table we can climb.”

He also spoke of the match he was about to watch.

It was to be played in front of a near-full house but broadcast internationally {and legally) so that the world would see a packed stadium with passionate supporters. We know what happened next: a damp squib, our fans reduced to silence and early exit when a bright start evaporated, with a little help from abysmal match officials, into abject surrender.

SAFC v Liverpool: boy from Kop who proudly wore Newcastle No 9

March 17, 2011 by Colin Randall

‘I’m the real Mighty Quinn’

The star in our Who Are You? hot seat ahead of the sell-out Sunderland v Liverpool clash on Sunday is Mick Quinn, interviewed by phone and text messages. Growing up in Liverpool, this Quinny supported the Reds from the Kop, but had to travel far afield to make a career as a burly, aggressive centre forward. Now a radio presenter with TalkSport, he says his passion is deeper than ever, though three years on Tyneside also left him with lasting affection for Newcastle United …

Salut! Sunderland: Roy Hodgson has gone, Torres too. But is it fair to assume Sunderland will be facing a totally different challenge from Liverpool than when we nearly beat them at Anfield?

Completey different. Everything looks more positive with Kenny putting a smile back on everyone’s faces. Before they were pretty downcast for one reason or another, with players looking as if they were not enjoying it. But they look a completely changed side now.

The Premier League is King? You’re having a laugh

March 15, 2011 by Colin Randall

The controversy stirred by Niall Quinn over stayaway, see-it-in-the-pub supporters, quickly followed by his candid admission that Sunderland AFC are not serious Premier title challengers, set Jeremy Robson thinking. Where the thought process led him is not calculated to please those for whom English football sits at the top of the world …

The Emperor’s underpants are looking shabby.

We’ve been told the English Premier League is the best in the world. As much as we all love the league and our teams that participate in it, as well as the premier league betting that comes with it, to call it the very best league in the world may be a slight over-exaggeration at this point.

Commentators and summarisers wax lyrical over games which barely stir the pulse. Millions of pounds are handed over with little thought for not even mediocre players who really couldn’t justify a place in the car park, let alone the starting XI.

Salut!’s week: a worthy point at Arsenal and the West Ham rip-off

March 12, 2011 by Colin Randall

Another review of the week gone by for the busy reader who appreciates a regular digest of what’s been going on here (and ps: see our FA Cup wishlist) …

Among Salut! Sunderland‘s pet hates, a weekend without football ranks high.

There are FA Cup 6th round ties this weekend, and important FA Youth Cup games (the FA’s own site originally had Liverpool and Man Utd having to play their 6th round tie before the winners beetled off down the M6 to London for the first leg of a semi final at Chelsea three hours later: the semi has now been put back to Wednesday).

And Sunderland’s ladies’ team carry our best wishes in their FA Women’s Cup 5th round game against Lincoln City.

Sunderland v Liverpool: a turn-up for the books

March 11, 2011 by Colin Randall

The Anfield dressing room, home of Liverpool FC, and the shirts of Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Fabio Aurelio and Andrea Dossena Ben Sutherland

In which Niall Quinn gets close to an apology for the D for Despise outburst …

Sunderland will play Liverpool to a packed house of almost 49,000 a week on Sunday, a terrific piece of news made better because the match is live on television.

The response to the lingering attraction of Kenny Dalglish’s club, and our own hugely encouraging season (for all the blips), is so much more welcome because of the recent controversy caused by Niall Quinn’s attack on supporters who watch games on illegal pub broadcasts.

Changing places: Newcastle and other away fans (plus their prison cells)

March 9, 2011 by Colin Randall

Shayne Kaye

So you didn’t know the Stadium of Light had a secondary role as part of HM Prison Service? Read on …

From the Sunderland Echo‘s Graeme Anderson comes as welcome a spot of news as we’ve seen since, well, Danny Welbeck returned from injury.

Sunderland, he says, are considering how to move away fans to a different part of the Stadium of Light than the large, usually too large, section of the South stand they are currently allocated.

How Ashley Cole, Wayne Rooney and £££££ threaten football passion

March 9, 2011 by Colin Randall

Two comments at the Blackcats list, admittedly posted after the awful defeat at Everton, raised some gloomy thoughts about the state of football, and our relationship, as supporters, with the game.

The exchange covered cheating, money, arrogance, role models and recent controversies concerning Ashley Cole and Wayne Rooney.

Ellis Short: the Mackem passion of a ‘perfect owner’

March 8, 2011 by Colin Randall

If Ellis Short does not quite observe a Trappist vow of silence, he is a man of few words, in public at least. But now he plans a rare interview about his ownership of – and plans for – Sunderland AFC …

You’d almost think the Pope, the Queen or Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali were about to bare their souls to the world live on network TV.

The North-eastern press is solemnly reporting that Ellis Short, esteemed owner of Sunderland AFC, is – to quote the Sunderland Echo – to “make another address to the club’s fans in the near future”.

Soapbox: forget moaning Fergie, smug Lampard. Just pity Plymouth

March 2, 2011 by Colin Randall

Right: a busy run-up to Arsenal at Saturday lies in prospect with at least two Who are You? features lined up. A good time, then, to let Pete Sixsmith get a few things off his chest about the state of modern football …

It’s a bright and breezy Wednesday and I have spent the day with ten 16-year-olds while suffering from a cold that has made me feel that my head is in a vice.

The papers and the internet are full of the usual Ferguson complaints about referees and there are pics of the incredibly smug Frank Lampard banging in the winning penalty at Stamford Bridge last night.