View from the Avenue: how Sunderland benefit from the Checkatrade distraction

A few days when size mattered, writes Monsieur Salut: first we had Salut! Sunderland passing a grand total of 4m visits since launch. John McCormick, our associate editor, got so close to capturing the moment (see above) that he wins the promised special-ish prize, Art of Football’s Jermain Defoe five-in-a-row print. Then we had more than 34,000 people at the SoL for a League One fixture from which Sunderland took maximum points. Meanwhile England conceded 31 second-half points after leading 31-7 against Scotland in rugby and could only draw and – no offence intended – another ‘only draw’ was the start of UKIP’s little Leave means Grieve Leave march from Sunderland to London, which could only draw 300 hardy souls.

Amid all this number-crunching, Paul Summerside contributes his first piece for a while. It’s short and sweet but lends an opportunity to reproduce John Mac’s 4,000,005 photo …

It has long been argued that points on the board are better than games in hand. It is not a view I share.

A game you play with a weakened team in a rainy gale could easily result in dropped points, in effect costing you points.

Our success in getting to sample those “Cheesy Chips’, combined with an international week, means that by the time we play another league game, we will have three games in hand on the top two.

That’s a full two weeks off, a cup final and a week to recover … while our rivals have the chance to drop even more points.

While that also means a very busy April schedule, it gives Jack Ross the chance to clear up all the minor injury niggles, and will herald the return of Chris Maguire.

Make no bones about it, we are a better side with Maguire in it, as wide man or a No 10, and along with McGeady, he will be a key man in the run in.

So my advice to fans and players alike is simple.

Put your feet up and relax for a couple of weeks. Enjoy the day out at Wembley regardless of the result. Be loud and proud. Come back fit and firing on all cylinders, for the rollercoaster run in that awaits us.