I laughed at my old man when he told me almost 40 years ago, as I started my Sunderland supporting career off aged 9, that we would never amount to anything but at that age you believe in miracles and I thought (remember it was the season after the 73 Cup win) that years of the good times were on there way. Even the next 10/15 years didn't dent my belief we would come and I just loved going to games but good as my carefree teenage years were, they gave way to much more cynical 20's and I started to come to realise we were in fact pretty ****ing ****e. It hurt to admit it but deep down I knew it was true. That said, I travelled the length and breadth of the UK following the team I love and despite the odd relegation here and there and promotions (even to the 3rd tier of English football, which was particularly painful but strangely not the lowest point of my SAFC years) I soldiered on manfully. I still wanted to believe even though I was beginning to realise my old man was wise beyind his years. You see, he had been going to watch us since the early 50's and although we had some great players during his time, we still never amounted to **** all really and he was 40 and knew what I know now. However, in my 30's, I saw the best football I have ever seen under Reid for those 3 seasons but sadly it was very short lived and we soon failed to build on them and then had the worst period of our time with 19 and 15 point relegations. That 15 points season was without doubt the lowest point in my life following the lads. The pain and humiliation were etched on my face and still hurt now tbh. If it were not for Quinny taking over the club I would have walked away at that point but he sold us a new vision and a new dream so I got back on the magic carpet and gave it my all. Now we have had 6 consecutive seasons in the top flight and the longest run in my lifetime. However, on at least 4 of them we have skirted with relegation and only twice have we done it more comfortably. Of course its an achievement for us to go 6 years without a relegation (hardly a fanfare needed mind) so I have to be slightly happy? Now we have at long last employed a real giant in the game. A manager with one of the most enviable track records outside the big 4 or 5 clubs and a history of making silk purses out of pigs ears AND a Sunderland fan as well. We are still ****e and on Saturday were well beaten by a load of ****e who will still be relegated despite that win. We have spent more on players, invested more in wages for them, even built a top class stadium and facilities for them but to no avail. We are still ****e. I don't have the answers lads and lasses and desperately don't want Mon to go but clearly things must improve for him to stay. Why do we always come to this point at SAFC? You know I have a theory. I reckon we could be bought by Multi-Zillionaire oil barons; sign Ronaldo, Messi, van Persie and £500m worth of other players as well; have the special one as manager and still be a pile of ****e in 6 months. Will we ever get out of the circle of failure? Will we ever amount to anything other than piles of rancid cow **** every year? If we can't do any better than Saturday with Short, MoN and the best paid and most heavily invested in team in our history, **** knows if we ever will tbh. I'm pig sick of decades of failure. Sick of having the piss ripped out of me every week and trying to defend the indefensible and mostly just sick of knowing it will never change.
Mine is on hold till the end of the season mate. Even if we stop up I'm 75% of the way to not renewing anyway and just picking and choosing my games. I'm sick of paying my £470 up front and seeing part time supporters get free tickets and cheap tickets? I'll still go to games but probably 10 or 12 games a season and not 18. If we cant do it under MoN then there is little hope we will ever amount to anything under anyone else. It will be my 40th year next season folloing SAFC and at least 30 of those seasons have been absolute and utter garbage. 2 or 3 were okay and 5 or 6 admitedly excellent. I'm tired of false hopes and false dawns. I'd rather spend that time with my daughter than waste it on a sunderland team not worthy of my dedication.
No, it is not just Sunderland fans. There are 20 Premier League teams, 24 Championship teams, 24 League 1 teams and 24 League 2 teams. That's 92 football clubs, vying for 2 bits of Silverware (Capital One Cup and FA Cup), and 91 football clubs (before we start including the non-league teams) who'll dream about winning the Premier League but not achieve it in any given year. There's a total of 4 league titles and 3 cups on offer, of which all premier league clubs are ruled out of competing for 3 league titles and 1 cup before competition even starts (Johnstone Paint Trophy). Even if all the premier league clubs could not be relegated, and each one took a turn to win the three domestic possibilities, it would take 7 years before everyone would have tasted silverware once "recently". That's before we discuss superior finances through marketing or sugar-daddies, superior status through previous competition wins and more marketing and the individuals capable of taking a team into that top bracket (and of course before we start discussing Europe!). Of course it's not just you Cest. You haven't picked well, like the vast majority of the country, if you want to follow a successful team. There'll be highs and lows and little moments, but the odds on Sunderland, Newcastle, Norwich, West Ham, Stoke etc winning something magnificent are long at best. As much as it hurts, I find celebrating the little things are what defines my top moments supporting the Mags. Are we going to win anything of note in my life-time? Most probably not, even though I'm a fairly young man. But silverware does not equal success in my eyes. Going home happy, reliving events with friends and family and discussing funny moments on here is what fuels my support. If we win a trophy, it'll be a fantastic day, but that shouldn't detract from the odd good days I enjoy now, even in a pretty horrible season like this... But alas, these are the words of a contented loser, when history remembers only victors. Thankfully I've made my peace with being forgotten already! So I will go on Thursday hoping for some more memorable moments to add to my collection, something that brings a smile to my face, and not expecting victory or letting defeat take such moments away.
Cest, I feel exactly the same, I began my affair with SAFC at the tender age of ten way back in 1959, and all your observations mirror my time supporting this massively underachieving club. We have chucked millions at it since Short came aboard and still no consistency, how many times have we faced underachieving clubs who cant put two wins together then play us and get a result, or forwards who have gone months without a goal and we show up and he bangs in one or two, its has happened so regularly that its come to be accepted it will automatically happen again. I dont know what the answer is, is the club cursed, it can't be the internal policies as we have had so many at the helm both as Chairman and Manager that they must have their own vision but it just never comes to anything. Are we to get excited that we avoid relegation year on year, although there is no guarantee we will be safe again this year, it is so demoralising. I dont get to the games these days, just suffer at home listening to media experts pull us to bits, and at the moment who can disagree with them. What is the answer, I honestly have no idea, I'm now in my mid sixties and am I ever going to see any success before my demise, I'm not holding my breath, I just feel sorry for the young ones starting out on their SAFC journey and pray they have a better time than I had in the last fifty odd years.
Cest, I feel exactly the same, I began my affair with SAFC at the tender age of ten way back in 1959, and all your observations mirror my time supporting this massively underachieving club. We have chucked millions at it since Short came aboard and still no consistency, how many times have we faced underachieving clubs who cant put two wins together then play us and get a result, or forwards who have gone months without a goal and we show up and he bangs in one or two, its has happened so regularly that its come to be accepted it will automatically happen again. I dont know what the answer is, is the club cursed, it can't be the internal policies as we have had so many at the helm both as Chairman and Manager that they must have their own vision but it just never comes to anything. Are we to get excited that we avoid relegation year on year, although there is no guarantee we will be safe again this year, it is so demoralising. I dont get to the games these days, just suffer at home listening to media experts pull us to bits, and at the moment who can disagree with them. What is the answer, I honestly have no idea, I'm now in my mid sixties and am I ever going to see any success before my demise, I'm not holding my breath, I just feel sorry for the young ones starting out on their SAFC journey and pray they have a better time than I had in the last fifty odd years.
My mate who I've sat with since Sol opened isn't renewing. Me and my brother are definately moving out of The Jeremy Kyle Stand so I might get the option of seeing what happens. I've never not considered not renewing before but if the worst happens id seriously consider not renewing. I have a one year old and i work every other Saturday so sometimes have to put holidays in to go to match. Id pick and choose me games.
Only 40 years Cest you ****ing part timer. Been going since about 1980 myself maybe 79 not too sure it's all been a bit of a blur really. We've had some ups trips to Wembley, Fizzy pop Champions etc but, these are far outweighed by the decades really of downs. 6 years in the PL is a good starting point and if we survive this one (I think we will by the way) then we should start to see some real improvement at SAFC. We are not only losing supporters like you, me and a few more on here but the young uns as well. They see the top teams winning week in week out and decide to follow one of them, whereas with us it's a case of another season of **** football and even ****ter results. Still, what else are we supposed to do on a Saturday afternoon?
Gandalf, It's not really about winning a trophy now and again even though that would be nice, it's playing 38 games in a season and turning up for more that half of them would be a start, just asking for a consistent team who give their all each game, I don't expect them to win every week but just want them too try and show some passion for the shirt they are wearing, when I think to how Charlie Hurley strutted round the pitch giving his all and being voted our best ever player, shows that the fans just want the players to come off the pitch with a sweat on which is something I dont see from some at the moment. Not much to ask for really is it.
The morning after the QPR game my 5 month old daughter woke me at about 4am and was wanting a bottle!!! I took her downstairs and switched the telly on and with very slim pickings on the goggle box at that time, i started watching Shooting Stars, whilst feeding my little bundle of joy! Anyway, seeing Tim Lovejoy (ex-soccer am) as one of the guests instantly reminded me of the plight of the team i support and lowered my mood. Then Bob Mortimor turned to Lovejoy and the coversation went something like this...... BM - 'Who do you support Tim?' TL - 'Chelsea' he answers proudly! BM - Ohh....I support Children in Need!.....I like to think that my money goes towards things like stopping children dying etc'.....What does your money go towards?? TL - 'Nightclubs' he answered jokingly but rather sheepishly! It really made me think, why do I devote a large portion of my mental state worrying about Sunderland when there are more important things to worry about!? Like my daughter who I had in my arms! Why do i still care when my team/and other teams are being represented by millionaires who generally dont give a ****! As a teenager I can understand why it mattered...but now 33 years old I was rather hoping on growing out of it!!! So much is wrong with football nowadays, why cant i just turn my back on it???? If football was politics there would have been a revolution by now and everyone involved from Sky TV/agents/players would have been sent to the guillotine!
This seems to be the consensus of opinion, but here is an alternative view...I went to my first game in the 1967-68 season, and in all the time since then, we have never had a sustained run of top league football that we are currently on at the present...In that time I have witnessed our team get relegated to the 3rd tier of English football, and also many dour struggles in the 2nd tier, so looking at the bigger picture, things are surely not as bad as some are making out..
Not as bad as the past 55 years but still olong way off getting it right we need to be well established in the top flight and challenge for bloody hell something
In the past we have merely been ****! Whats frustrating now is the following equation....... Good Stadium + Good Supporters + Good Owner + Good Manager + Some Good Players = ****!!!!
Judging success is entirely relative. As so many of you have said, its not about winning every week, or winning trophies, its about having a team you can be proud of and who you feel deserve your respect. I've been a Toon fan all my life, I'm only 24, but have witnessed amazing highs (Beating Barca, Manure 5:0, CL runs, Cup runs and finishing as high as 2nd and 3rd in the league) along with some really depressing lows (Relegation, stupid managerial changes, blowing millions of mercenaries). The Championship season was probably one of the most feel good season's I've had. I was living in Belfast and had to struggle to find streams or radio links most of the time, and on the rare occassions we were on in the pub, I'd be one of a handful, if not the only Toon fan in there. But I didn't care, I was proud of the shirt I was wearing and the players wearing it too. Being a football fan is illogical, its ridiculous and its painful. Whilst some people are lucky, and are born in the true 'catchment area' of the top teams - a stones throw from Old Trafford for example - most never get to taste the true feeling of unity and success when your team, your local team, defy the odds to win something of worth. Fair play to Swansea, they did it after staring their own demise in the face 10 years ago, and did it in a style any football fan would be proud of. All I can hope for, is that I get to witness the same for myself...I'd hate to think I never see Newcastle lift a cup or win a league in my time, but even if they don't, I don't see that it'll be a true waste, 'cause few things have ever made me feel as genuinely ecstatic as that bastard club!
Why? He has just said what every other safc fan is thinking ( except you ) I bet you live in a bungalow because you dont seem to have a lot up stairs.
