Glory hunters ...

[FTM Dave]

Agree completely with RAW, who beat me to it. I was going to write that, when a lass you really fancy starts stripping off and puts her hand down your trousers, do you really answer "it's too much effort love, I'll just sit down and look at pictures of nude women on my phone instead"? To me that's the difference between being at the ground shouting & bawling support for a team you grew up with, rather than the plastic Scousers Smug wrote about in front of the TV.

My son is 20 now and has never lived in Britain. We'd always gone to a few games each year, but as he's working now and we have different times that we can take holidays I ended up coming back in August on my tod and he with a mate in September for matches.

When asked by locals which Italian team he supports he always answers that he's not that interested in Italian football (which means he's massively interested but doesn't have the emotional connection to a team) but that Sunderland is his team. I mean, who wants to be bothered with Juventus when you can get yourself to SAFC v MK Dons as he did

I'll show off and say I've done my fatherly duty to pass on the important values of life

 

[Ozzymac]

You are more understanding then me then mate.. This is totally alien to my mindset.. It is like the difference between having sex with a woman you love and a plastic half inflated blow up doll..

Both have their advantages though marra, The doll doesn't want to talk about feelings afterwards

 

[Makemstine Roger]

I saw the picture of Jordan Henderson in the crowd supporting the lads at wembley,i found it awesome.

 

[Evil Jimmy Krankie]

This is an interesting concept this. Most of us on here support Sunderland due to some tangible link to the club or the city and look down on 'supporters' of clubs like Liverpool or Man Utd who have no such tangible link (although I'm sure these people justify themselves to themselves somehow). Yet there are some amongst our number who consider League 1 to be a "pub league" or similar disdainful epithets. Are we not therefore guilty of a similar bias? Considering League 1 to be below us, in a similar way to these people considering their local clubs to be beneath them, must make us a form of glory hunter too.

To, for example, a Bromley supporter, League 1 would be considered being in the 'big time' but some of our number look down upon it. The club is, overall, where it deserves to be, so why do some of us consider it a "pub league"? If we're more virtuous for supporting Sunderland, with our tangible links, than a supporter of Liverpool who lives in Surrey and has been to Anfield once, surely a supporter of Consett or Sunderland RCA, or South Shields, or Canvey Island, or Bradford Park Avenue, or Blyth Spartans, or Kingstonian, or Bowers & Pitsea is more virtuous than us. No?

Yes of course we, as fans, are guilty of that bias. It goes without saying.
As a supporter I find it slightly embarrassing that a great club, with a fantastic history and a support most clubs in the world would be envious of, finds itself in the position it does.

I’m sure you remember the 100 Years in the Football League video. There is a clip of the team celebrating promotion back to what is now The Championship. Gordon Armstrong can be seen kissing the trophy and can clearly be seen saying “Division three.” I found it bewildering that they should be celebrating that standard of mediocrity.
I’ve said it before that Sunderland have been mismanaged from top to bottom for the best part of 70 years. And we as supporters, whilst being unable to change it, have appeared to accept it.

We rip the piss out of Newcastle, and rightfully so, but at least Sir John Hall (no relation) saw the cash cow that the Premier League was and did his best to ensure the team he was involved in were part of it. If there is any truth in the rumour that he was a season ticket holder at Sunderland, we should have moved heaven and earth to get him on board at Sunderland.

Sunderland should not be in League 1. The fact that we are should be a source of embarrassment for everyone involved, past and present, in getting us there and keeping us there.

 

[Evil Jimmy Krankie]

I was born in Taplow, near Slough. Dad was born in Houghton-le-Spring and lived in Outram Street and moved to Slough just before outbreak of 2nd world war. We used to frequently visit NE on family holidays and stay at such places as Crimdon Dene caravan site or with relatives. Dad was a liker of NE Football and had no bias, he used to talk quite a bit about the likes of Crook Town and Bishop Auckland. As a kid he used to take me to watch Slough Town. It was one of his cousins that got me hooked on SAFC, on one of our visits to NE he gave me some old SAFC memorabila from early 60s, took me to Roker Park and the rest is history. I moved to NE in '86 and one of the main reasons was that I could get a season ticket at Roker Park.

Mind I still have 'southern' accent although daughter is broad NE

HTL

My son was born in Northampton, lived the first six years of his life there until we emigrated. He has a very non-descript accent. I made sure of his allegiance before we left by writing to SNQ asking if my lad could meet him. SNQ responded by making him the mascot for the day. He’s still Sunderland daft even if he is the only MLF at RAAF Wagga Wagga.

 

[The Norton Cat]

Yes of course we, as fans, are guilty of that bias. It goes without saying.
As a supporter I find it slightly embarrassing that a great club, with a fantastic history and a support most clubs in the world would be envious of, finds itself in the position it does.

I’m sure you remember the 100 Years in the Football League video. There is a clip of the team celebrating promotion back to what is now The Championship. Gordon Armstrong can be seen kissing the trophy and can clearly be seen saying “Division three.” I found it bewildering that they should be celebrating that standard of mediocrity.
I’ve said it before that Sunderland have been mismanaged from top to bottom for the best part of 70 years. And we as supporters, whilst being unable to change it, have appeared to accept it.

We rip the piss out of Newcastle, and rightfully so, but at least Sir John Hall (no relation) saw the cash cow that the Premier League was and did his best to ensure the team he was involved in were part of it. If there is any truth in the rumour that he was a season ticket holder at Sunderland, we should have moved heaven and earth to get him on board at Sunderland.

Sunderland should not be in League 1. The fact that they are should be a source of embarrassment for everyone involved, past and present, in getting us there and keeping us there.

There's a difference between being disappointed that a club with the history of SAFC has fallen to the level it has and deriding the league that we're in though. After all, the club is where it deserves to be on merit.
Does our history make us better than Wycombe or Gillingham or Tranmere? Not in real terms, on the level playing field of League 1, it doesn't. The supporters of those other clubs love their club just as much as we do, even if they are fewer in number.
You're right, we should be disappointed at where the club is. But considering it to be beneath us is bad sportsmanship. You have to take the rough with the smooth. Otherwise, you might as well put your Liverpool shirt on, sit in a pub in Slough, and enjoy 'your' team winning the title.

 

[Evil Jimmy Krankie]

There's a difference between being disappointed that a club with the history of SAFC has fallen to the level it has and deriding the league that we're in though. After all, the club is where it deserves to be on merit.
Does our history make us better than Wycombe or Gillingham or Tranmere? Not in real terms, on the level playing field of League 1, it doesn't. The supporters of those other clubs love their club just as much as we do, even if they are fewer in number.
You're right, we should be disappointed at where the club is. But considering it to be beneath us is bad sportsmanship. You have to take the rough with the smooth. Otherwise, you might as well put your Liverpool shirt on, sit in a pub in Slough, and enjoy 'your' team winning the title.

I never said disappointed, even though I am. I’m embarrassed that a club of our size is in this league. Those charged with looking after the club ought to hang their heads at how they allowed it to happen under their stewardship.

 

[The Norton Cat]

I never said disappointed, even though I am. I’m embarrassed that a club of our size is in this league. Those charged with looking after the club ought to hang their heads at how they allowed it to happen under their stewardship.

I know you didn't, I was paraphrasing. The people in charge of the club should be ashamed that they've mismanaged it to the extent that two relegations occurred within a short period of time. I find it strange that any supporter would be embarrassed by it though. Surely we're all proud to support our club, no matter how awful it is on the pitch or in the boardroom?

 

[Evil Jimmy Krankie]

I know you didn't, I was paraphrasing. The people in charge of the club should be ashamed that they've mismanaged it to the extent that two relegations occurred within a short period of time. I find it strange that any supporter would be embarrassed by it though. Surely we're all proud to support our club, no matter how awful it is on the pitch or in the boardroom?

Call it embarrassment by association then!! I’ve always been proud to support the club and will always tell anyone who asks that I’m a supporter of the greatest team in the world (in my mind anyway!) and that I come from the best city in the world.

Yes, the last two relegations haven’t done us any favours, but I actually meant mismanagement over a much longer period. Going back to my comment about the great unwashed up the road, one thing you can never level at them is their ability to keep themselves in the limelight.

As I said earlier, Sir John Hall understood the relevance of the EPL and how it would impact the way in which teams are viewed. We on the other hand didn’t and that was a massive failing and which we have been paying for for nearly thirty years.

 

[The Goon]

I was born and raised, and still live, in the East Midlands. As I child I had 3 options. 1 Mansfield Town, a club that I watch often and have a big soft spot for. 2 Tottenham Hotspur, Mam's side are spurs fans and tried to recruit me. 3 Sunderland, I was taken to see the lads by me dad, who, cleverly, never tried to force me into a red and white shirt, but made the trips great fun. In the end, for me, it boiled down to this; although raised in Mansfield, it's never truly felt like home. I have friends of course, but I've never really 'got' the people. Spurs fans were like aliens and left me cold. When I first started going to Sunderland matches and visiting family in durham I just felt at home. It felt like I'd rejoined my lost tribe.
25 years later I don't regret my choice one bit. Through bad times and worse Sunderland is MY club.

Anyway, this is just a long winded observation to say that I just don't get how people just attach themselves to a club that is none of their business. It can't actually mean anything to them and they're viewed as pathetic frauds by real fans.

To be honest, I pity them.