Phil Johnson

The Poll Recount: Liverpool’s penalty, Suarez’s hands, Richardson’s card

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Graham Poll offers his thoughts on the weekend controversies in each Monday’s Mail. Sometimes we agree, sometimes not. This occasional column will explore those of his verdicts that find us at odds with our own …

Today, Graham Poll insists Kieran Richardson should have been sent off when Phil Dowd awarded the penalty to Liverpool. He mocks the perfectly plausible argument that Suraez, as Dowd saw it, was heading away from goal and may even have pushed the ball too far to be able to control it. He was emphatically not making a simple tour round Mignolet to tap the ball home, much as he may have wished.

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Sulley Muntari, Inter Milan and us: I am the greatest, or not

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Long ago, the much-missed Sunderland fanzine It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand ran a funny spoof interview imagining SAFC’s direct negotiations on a new contract for Allan “Magic” Johnston. With each reply, the player’s asking price went up. I thought of that piece when I read two other spoof interviews, this time with our own – for now? for longer? – Sulley Muntari, much in our affections for his winner at Bolton.

From deep in Thailand, Phil Johnson*, a Mackem exile who clearly has far too much time on his hands, was trawling Inter Milan fan sites when he came across this; it’s hardly a dependable portrayal of our on-loan player’s character, but at least gives an idea of how some Inter fans saw him. This was the work of a young supporter who invented Muntari quotes about being on €6m a year, paying the club €10,000 for each red card he received and showing no shortage of self-esteem. Steve Bruce talks of a decision being made at the end of the season on whether to extend or convert the loan; perhaps this will help SAFC prepare for the negotiations

At the ForzaInter fan site – where you will also find some anti-SAFC banter, plus a poll showing 75 per cent of Inter fans in favour of offloading Muntari – the author is described in his profile as an 19-year-old Israeli who calls himself Inter Siamo Noi. These are edited extracts from the piece that so amused Phil ..

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