Cmon, there has been a toxic atmosphere at the club for a while and it stems from bad decisions at the boardroom level, including them not backing managers when certain players were not toeing the line. That mismanagement has led to some woeful and utterly dreadful performances, both home and away. I still have awful memories of one of our players at a game against Norwich,, ambling away with his back to the ball when a throw in was being taken; he showed no interest in the game at all that day. The away supporters have been brilliant as have the home supporters, to put up with that sort of dross for so long and yet still go and pay for a ticket.
I was going from the reported match stats, are you saying they were wrong? Unfortunately I was not there, but I have been to many excruciatingly bad games in my time. I have supported Sunderland since I was about 8 and I'm approaching 61. I was a London Branch supporter for 2-years and traveled around the country to see them. I cannot get up to the Stadium of Light very often now, but have been to a few games. It doesn't lend itself to the same atmosphere that was at Roker Park and seating in grounds spoils it for me. I do not believe that the fans have had any real contributory factor. Admittidly it doesn't help when they boo, but they have paid for a ticket and expect some entertainment from their investment. The players are on huge wages and if they are going to start pointing fingers, then they shouldn't be there; tell them to go and get a job in Tesco's.
If the footballers want a positive atmosphere then they should act like professional footballers, get as fit as they possibly can, stay off of the pop, gel with the other players, listen to the Manager and run and show that they hunger for success for the fans.
The atmosphere will begin to change, passion is everything to the SAFC supporters and most clubs would be ecstatic with a crowd of 26,000+ ( unless you are telling me that was wrong) yet we get it when playing the bottom club.
If I turned up for work unprepared, lazy, sometimes boozed up from the night before, with a careless and arrogant attitude, I'd get more than boo'd at!