this is not about the great mans latest rant, which was the same as the one before and the one before that but what it is about is the clubs reputation. it is not a dig at the man but more about what next? he seems to have become disilluisioned with the club i hope he doesn't walk off. but do you think all the bickering about gates being made so public is helpfull to the good of the club. steve bruce is assembeling a superb squad and making waves in the greatest league in the world, but are snq comments doing more harm than good? does anyone think his comments may be off putting to any potential targets, is he making the club look unstable. we all sympathise with the chairman but should dirty laundry be made so public? dont see any other club with these statements and safc has better support than most 20 billy hughes i/f 335appearances 81 goals
i daresay he feels he's making an educated gamble on the reaction of the stayaway fans. i honestly don't know whether it's the right thing to do or not, because all those negatives are true, but if the fans come back then maybe it will pay off, maybe not. he is starting to sound a bit disillusioned, but when you consider that we have less fans in the ground now than when we got promoted, it's worrying, and you can see why he's questioning it. how can he continue to sell us as an investment when the crowds aren't materialising? of course, the stayaway fans amount to only ã1.8m per year, but the atmosphere of a packed stadium week-in-week-out would demonstrate that the passion of the fans deserves continued financial support.
He should be more patient. I'm a stay away fan since our 15 point season. I've only been back once since then. I don't watch games at a pub but pace the floor listening to updates on the tv. Why don't I go back? I've supported the lads since 1953/54 and will always do so. I can afford to go to games but choose not to until I am convinced that the Club has turned the corner, is being run professionally and can become a Premiership ever present. We've made great strides in recent times and it gladdens my heart to hear about it. But right now is a crucial time; do we squander the excellent season todate after a few poor results or do we kick on and finish top ten. I still need to be convinced. Over to you Niall.
Pontsafc I think there are lot of people who would be with you on that. This club has let people down so many times now - we're not talking years, or even decades. We're talking half a century - it's going to take at least two years to convince them to come back. It's especially hard for fans like yourself who remember the force Sunderland once were. Back in 1953/54, when you first went, we still had a logo on the front of the programme, underneath the titles won and the 1937 Cup win, which said "The only club never to have played in any other but the First Division". Since then, we've hardly ever been able to cut it in the top division. I'm greatly pleased by the present team, but, like you, I've seen it all before. There's still a little bit of me expects us to end this season in the bottom six or eight - the let-downs have gone on so long, that sort of thinking is in-built now. I think Niall will have to be patient. The dancing girls are not going to skip gleefully across Wearmouth Bridge after six good months any more.
There wasn't mobile phones that could keep you in touch or show the game, there wasn't satellite, i remember you watched tv on Sunday for free if you missed the match, now is the time of choice as the new generation grows their interests become varied, better to devote time to capturing these people than the old hands who have watched dross for years. Sunderland love the money sky raises for them, enjoy it but suffer the consequences also. if you want more money finish higher in the table this will bring 3 times more revenue in world wide rights than money at the gate.
Well written, sir! Too many false dawns. I don't blame anyone for sitting back and waiting to see. Mr Quinn, more than a lot of people, should be aware of this, given some of the abysmal **** that has been served up in the years since he retired.
Big kiss from me and I'm with you 100% the biggest money obtainable is by finishing higher by far more than gate money Spuds get 7 mill more than us, 1.3 for increased gates drop the prices do something for the unemployed and family days out, and above all the 200% increase hike thats put on eats and drinks
Sorry but you are either a supporter of SAFC, regardless of what division we are in, or not...none of this blocks about us turning the corner and I will come back when the club is 'run properly'...Bob Murray made some bad decisions during his tenure, however he built the SOL and the AOL, we would never have been able to attract owners nor players of the calibre we have had over the past 5 years was in not for him dragging our club into modernto the 21st century. So all these stay away fans with the bullshit excuses about waiting for the club to stop being a yo yo club and compete with the best in the land can just....well stay well away, forever.
Have I any reason to feel scared that Quinnie may be about to walk. He has not looked as happy as I would like to see when he is spotted on TV during live matches. Maybe to do with the results at the time, maybe to do with him not having his heart in it any more. Football is not an easy business if you feel pressure from the committment (supporters know all about that feeling) and maybe he has had enough ? Hope and pray I'm wrong.
He's a lonely man who wanders all around he's a lonely man who roams from town to town searchin',always seachin' for the fans he can't find??????????????????
First up, fair play to you for coming on and saying that, you could have/may still take a lot of flak for it. I've got to say my piece, so apologies if you don't agree with it. To 'support', not just in football, in any manner of speaking is defined as to help, aid and encourage, in any way you can. Forgive me, but i don't think you can say 'i'm still a supporter', a follower, maybe, a supporter? By dictionary definition, no. aI'm a lot younger than you, but i have been a supporter through the 2 worst seasons in the clubs history, i've seen the club relegated a staggering amount of times, i've seen us annhialated at home by the mags, lose at Wembley 3 times, in short i have followed one of the most turbulent football clubs not only in the land, but on the planet, in my 30 years on this planet. When we lost 5-1 at St James this season, i sat there for the entire second half in a daze, i never looked right to the Newcastle fans, but from the corner of my eye icould make out the taunts, see the hands raised, i could here their joy. i looked back (i was 2 rows from the front) and saw a sea of empty seats, i also so a load of red and white shirts, slumped in their seats but still there. We walked out in silence, you could have heard a pin drop on the stair wells, i live on Newcastle quayside, i walked through the city, mobs of them having the time of their lives, every step hurt, everywhere black and white shirts, you could sense the joy, the excitement and the disbelief. I got home, i could here them from my living room, this went on for 3 hours, at least. I didn't watch any football for 3 days, didn't read the sports pages, eventually on the Tuesday, i braved 606. I fead tales of anger and disbelief, but also heard hints of, 'we're not ****ing having this', shoots of life, shoots of we'll get through this. I posted an article about the Stoke game, i said, let's roar that team back to life, let's remind them why the majority of them saw Sunderland Association Football Club as a good career move. The support was almost unanimous. Stoke came, and despite a morgue like atmosphere and a shaky second half, we won 2-0. Wise men say was sang with lung bursting pride, the players who knew they'd let us down, knew they'd absolutely left us in tatters, stayed on the pitch longer and applauded the 4 corners of the ground. We stood tall, puffed our chests out and thought thank **** for that. I'm not buying what you say, although i don't doubt your beliefs in your words, it's clear as day that we are on solid ground now. Being a Sunderland fan is a birthright, and a privelige, as is being the fan of any club or association that can bring thousands of people together, unite families and strangers. Get yourself to the match mate, our club needs you. Bring your mates
****ing hell, BB, that may well be the best post I have ever read on either the old 606 or this site. Well, it probably isn't, but it has the old emotions going at this end. Really, really, stirring stuff. I'm not taking the piss, I'm going to have another ale and calm down. Top, top, top post.
Beak - good post. However, it's the customer's right to complain about bad service, and products tend to get better when they do. And, if products don't get better when you complain, you have the right not to continue buying that product. O.k., I can sincerely applaud your loyalty, but I also admire men like Pontsafc who have the guts to stand up and say 'Sunderland are a top class club and always have been. I won't accept the sh*t you've got the gall to serve up in a red and white shirt now'. I'm glad you didn't knock the man - he's proud of this club, just as you are y'know. He's just of an age that only knew one Sunderland - top class. And he's been served up less than that for a long time now. He has the right to complain and not buy.
BruceysBeak. Excellent post from a good and true supporter of SAFC. But you are not the exception, infact. You admirably describe the feeling which most of our fans feel. We would follow the club to hell and back. We know this to be true because we have demonstrated this many times. When all said and done though I reserve the rite to criticize when I believe the club are in the wrong. I have earned that rite though paying to watch crap for many years. The constant grief from up the road. The sleepless nights wondering where our next win would come from and the many ruined weekends that SAFC have put me through. SAFC has for me the best fans in the world, we have been let down over and over yet still bleed red and white and no one. Not even Niall has the rite to criticize us. Unfortunately in ten years Niall, Ellis and Bruce will probably have moved on to ventures new. Us poor buggers could very well still be having sleepless nights and wondering where our next win will be. One thing is for certain though. We will still bleed Red and White.
I did my best in the post to not have a go or a dig at anyone, and i've read it back and think it was fair. I'm pointing out that we've all had hardship as Sunderland fans, all under 5 years old at least, and that now IS the right time for people like pont to back the club. I was careful with my words, and stand by the 'follower' rather than 'supporter' line, it's these followers we need back, if they truly love the club, then help the club. Yeah, the club is like the girlfriend who really pisses you off but she has a hold on you. That lass probs becomes your wife, because no matter how hard you fight it, you know you'll always go back. Better to go back while the goings good, so if it does turn to **** again, you'll have a few good memories in case it does turn to **** again. That time is NOW, for the club.
What exactly do the club need to do to convince you? If we finish top ten are your back, until the next season when we finish eleventh then gone again? You either support them or you dont.
Got to say mate you've supported the lads a long time. You have lived through some of the bleakest times in our clubs history but our improvement year on year since the arrival of Quinn is plane to see. You are exactly the kind of fan the club needs back. I still think Quinn was wrong to criticize our fans in public but if I was in your position. I'd be down the ticket office ASAP.
