In the end, it was a disappointing result because, having shot ourselves in a foot now riddled with self-inflicted bullet wounds, we’d put ourselves in a winning position. But to gain a draw when forced to play with 10 men for three quarters of the game, as Pete Sixsmith says in his one-line verdict elsewhere, shows character …
Asamaoh Gyan
cost an awful lot of money. He repaid a small chunk of it with a finish of delightful aplomb after magnificent play on the right from Jordan Henderson.
This posting has been affected by technical problems but has still managed to inspire some lively responses comparing the Roy Keane and Peter Reid eras of the recent history of Sunderland AFC. The comments have also been re-posted (though the little thumbs-up marks already awarded are, sadly, missing!).
It is now four years ago – give or take a couple of weeks – since Keano signed his contract at the Stadium of Light. He took over a squad of misfits and underachievers who had lost their first five games, including a league cup game at Bury, then the lowest of all Football League clubs. No wonder that after being talked through the players’ strengths and weaknesses, he joked that he should have held out for twice as much money -and set about replacing as many as he could. Pete Sixsmith looks back on the appointment as right decision, right time …
When Niall Quinn and the Drumaville consortium took over, we were promised a “magic carpet ride”.
After dispiriting defeats at Southend and Bury, the magic carpet was distinctly threadbare and we looked like a team heading for the third level of English football.
Quinny then decided that managing footballers was not as easy as breeding racehorses and decided to appoint a world class manger”. We now know that O’Neill had been indecisive (I believe SAFC had something like seven meetings with him – ed) and Allardyce had bottled out of leaving his comfort zone at the Reebok.
It could be subtitled “and how Sunderland missed out on N’Zogbia” – read on for a fascinating account of the aborted deal. We’ve said it before, or something like it. If Bernard Ramsdale* didn’t exist as an outstanding example of the (proper) Lancashire football supporter, he’d need to be invented. A past winner of our annual Who Are You? awards, he returns from a little rest – from Salut! Sunderland duties but not much else – with some more pearls ahead of Wigan v SAFC on Saturday. Bernard, landlord of Ye Olde Tree and Crown fan site, has tremendous humour and a refreshingly down-to-earth outlook. It really is a great read. But don’t expect a non-stop bundle of laughs; Bernard lives with the distressing consequences of an awful family tragedy …
Raymond Domenech cut a pathetic figure as French team coach in South Africa, humiliated by his players during the Mutiny of Knysna and then bringing his country into further disrepute with an act of gross discourtesy as France tumbled out of the World Cup. The players have been punished; now it’s his turn …
France also had a weekend off for internationals and probably wishes it hadn’t after yet again failing to score (in Friday’s 1-0 defeat by Belarus in Paris). But the big news is the dismissal of by the French Football Federation of Raymond Domenech for his part in the scandal of Les Bleus in South Africa.
Image: Mrs Logic
The boss has taken to the hills. I have abandoned computer screens and the Med for a long weekend in the Alps.
There may or may not be any new postings in my absence. Rather depends on whether Pete Sixsmith or any of the other regular or occasional contributors writes anything – and whether Joan Dawson finds time to make them appear here.
Sixer is embarking on a quick course on how to post articles for himself but threatens to be a slow learner, so don’t hold your breath just yet.
So how about a spot of fun just before anything nasty happens at Wigan to spoil all the excitement of the past few days?
School still out for what remains of summer. A good afternoon at the cricket. Heartening news – in the nick of time – on the transfer front. Sounds like a perfect day. What then possessed Pete Sixsmith to go and ruin it by watching the Reserves soundly spanked by the Mags? …
After a long, languid day spent in good company, watching good cricket at the EICGAD it was off to the Stadium with a spring in my step as I caught the news of Asamoah Gyan’s signing, courtesy of Simon Pride and Marco Gabbiadini on BBC Radio Newcastle.
It was a late one, but all good things come to those who wait and I assume that Gyan and Bruce were ironing out a few minor snags in the lead up to the closing of the window.
He looks a very good player, though not a prolific goalscorer. If Bruce has been tracking him, he may well see him as a Heskey type in that he will take the weight off the major scorer (Bent) and enable the midfielders to pick up lay offs and crack a few in. In theory……..
Pete Sixsmith’s doleful report from the Wear/Tyne derby game is on its way, but first things first. We’ve welcomed Asamoah Gyan. And as we look forward to potentially exciting times, let us now wish our departing Shields lad Martyn Waghorn every success at Leicester – maybe he’ll come back as a record £14m signing after banging in 30 goals for them – …
The Mackem diaspora is split into two camps this morning, one much bigger than the other.
… could have kept us all on tenterhooks until a quarter of an hour before deadline. But it’s done: Sunderland AFC finally confirmed the signing of Asamoah Gyan from Rennes. Talk about cutting things fine …
Yes, we could have done with a much earlier announcement to put us all at ease.
But supporting Sunderland has always been something of a nerve-jangling experience and there must have seemed no reason to mess with that tradition. And, doubtless, every reason for the delay.
In which we praise the efforts of Sunderland AFC, through its official website, edited by Stu Vose, to engage with fans in a non-official way …
It is a sad fact of life that professional football clubs treat fans, or rather those fans with little platforms (eg, in Sunderland’s case, from ALS to Salut! Sunderland) with a mixture of suspicion and disdain.
SAFC are no worse than the rest, perhaps in some ways better.
In our own experience, Celtic (and Martin O’Neill, then manager) simply didn’t have the courtesy to reply to written requests for a quick interview for 5573 (now Wear Down South), the magazine of the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association. When SuperKev was at Birmingham City, the club pompously made it clear that under no circumstances would players be permitted to speak to a jumped-up fanzine, even to the extent of answering a short list of questions.
Transfer deadline day and the excitement mounts. Unless things go horribly wrong – medical, gazumping etc – Asamoah Gyan should be a Sunderland player by tonight. The French daily Ouest-France, having got it wrong yesterday (saying Gyan was staying) now quotes the Rennes manager Frédéric Antonetti as confirming, after today’s training session, his departure in our direction. Let’s hope the goalscoring celebration dance in this clip will be repeated many times in our colours. Are other deals, in or out of the Stadium of Light, in the offing too?…
Of course we could just wait until 6pm, by which time there has to be a decision and therefore, presumably, an announcement.
But it wouldn’t be as much fun.