Papy Djilobodji

Bye bye Papy – Papy bye bye

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Malcolm Dawson writes……..in the briefest of statements the club has announced that it has reached an agreement with Papy Djilobodji that will finally bring an end to his employment at SAFC and bring closure to a saga which seems to epitomise the way the club had been badly run and the contrast in policy and attitudes that this current regime has brought to Sunderland AFC.

The statement in full reads: “Sunderland AFC has reached an agreement with Papy Djilobodji for his departure, his employment having terminated on 21 September 2018.” I would suspect the terms of the agreement precludes the club saying much more at this time, but a costly court case has been avoided and hopefully the matter has been resolved to the benefit of the club rather than the player.

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One Papy too many: adieu Monsieur Djilobodji

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Papy before his grandfatherly fall from fitness…

Charlatan or downtrodden victim: what, asks Monsieur Salut, are we to make of Papy Djilobodji, effectively sacked today by SAFC?

As a supporter of Sunderland AFC for more than half a century, I have reacted to a stream of under-performing players with a weary sense of resignation, blaming the club for acquiring them more than the players for being so useless. Provided, that is, that the player/s in question at least tried as best they could to justify inclusion in the squad.

If a player is not only way below par but also demonstrates an attitude betraying greed, unprofessionalism and stupidity, my finger of blame starts to pop in the other direction.

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Sixer’s Carlisle Soapbox: At least our name’s in the douli for the next round

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Malcolm Dawson writes……….Pete Sixsmith made the trip across the Pennines to Brunton Park last night and saw us win our way through to the next round of the competition which I still call the League Cup. We got through but was it a comfortable victory or a fortunate one? Here’s what Pete thinks.

Carlisle United (away) Caraboa Cup

Tomorrow is the day when the English Football League draws the next round of this competition that has been ticking over since the 1960-61 season.

Our first game in it was at Griffin Park, Brentford on the 26th October. We lost 4-3 after having been 3-1 up at half time thanks to goals from Ian Lawther, Willie McPheat and Amby Fogarty. Later that week, the draw for the next round was made at the Football League headquarters in Lytham St Annes, at the posh end of Blackpool and I presume that the Football League panjandrums who drew it included Alan Hardaker, the formidable secretary of the League and Barnsley Chairman Joe Richards who was the President of the League at the time.

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A key moment in SAFC’s West Brom no-show – and Papy’s little problem

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Happier days for Sunderland AFC, and the Echo

One bright spot on a dark day for SAFC supporters was the introduction of the Sunderland Echo’s new chief football writer, Phil Smith, to listeners to Barnes and Benno in the buildup to the limp display at West Brom.

Phil is a Sunderland supporter, not the first to occupy this particular journalistic hot seat or cover the SAFC beat for other media outlets. Like Graeme Anderson and the late, hugely missed Ian Laws before him (not forgetting Chris Young and Nick Barnes’s predecessor as BBC Radio Newcastle commentator Martin Emmerson), he came across as man brimming with passion for the club and sharing the pain of the rest of us. (Not so sure about Chris’s prior allegiance but he writes about the club, even since departing for more glamorous pursuits in LA, in a way suggesting SAFC got under his skin Niall-style.)

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Chirpy Chirpy – no. Cheap Cheap – no. But what about Middle of the Road?

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John McCormick: bored
John McCormick.

There are times when contributors to this site hark back to the music of yesterday, and today is no exception. The transfer window’s  shut (you can insert any other vowel of your choice if you wish) leaving me feeling underwhelmed, and a song from 1971 or thereabouts is in my mind. Not because I like it (I didn’t then and still don’t now). Not because it got to number 1 (it did, but then so did Benny Hill with a song about a milkman). It’s because of the refrain which starts the song and echoes throughout it.

Only, not quite. The song, “Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep” begins, “Where’s your momma gone?”, but my mind is playing it as “where’s the money gone?”

It has gone, and it’s a lot of money, which explains a great deal.

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