Swansea City v. Sunderland Barclays Premier League Saturday 1st September 2012 Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Kick-off 3pm Welcome one and all to the official match-day thread for the above encounter. As we all know everything there is to know about Swansea City, I thought we should have an in-depth look at our opponents. Sunderland - the place Sunderland is a Swansea-sized city (population 180,000) at the mouth of the River Wear on the north-east coast of England, sandwiched between its more illustrious neighbour - Newcastle-upon-Tyne - and Hartlepool. Sunderland grew as a coal-trading port and started shipbuilding as early as the 14th century. Famous ships to be built on Wearside include Nelsonâs flagship, HMS Victory, the Titanic and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. In the middle ages, before couples eloped to Gretna Green to get married, they would head off to modern-day Sunderland. âWhat God has joined together let no man put asunderâ comes from the marriage ceremony and the place soon became known as Asunder-land, which was eventually shortened to just Sunderland. Like Swansea, Sunderland was a key target for the German Luftwaffe during WW2 causing damage and destruction to homes and local industry. In 1986 the Nissan car factory was opened and is now the largest car plant in the UK and the most productive in Europe. Sunderland received city status in 1992. In 2011 the city council contemplated changing the name of their city to Sunderland-le-Hole to be like its nearby neighbour Hetton-le-Hole. The motion was scrapped due to fear that visitors might think that Sunderland was, well....a bit of a hole. People from Sunderland are called Mackems. The origin of the name seems to date back to the 19th century when Geordie shipyard workers on Tyneside would call their Wearside counterparts âMackemsâ (make-ems). The Mackems would make the ship and the Geordies would fit it out - a job that was perceived to be far more skillful. Famous people from Sunderland (ones I've heard of) Kate Adie (BBC news reporter) James Bolam (actor) Lauren Laverne (presenter) Gina McKee (actress) Prince Charles (heir to the throne) Bob Paisley (football manager) Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) Bob Willis (cricketer) Sunderland - the manager Martin OâNeill (OBE) age 60. He spent most of his playing career at Nottingham Forest where he won the European Cup in 1980. Has managed Wycombe, Norwich, Leicester, Celtic and Aston Villa before joining Sunderland in December 2011. Known as MON. Profile Born: Montreal 1952 Home address: The Monastery, Sunderland, SU1 1AA Most memorable game: Monopoly Favourite animals: Monkey, *****ose Favourite painting: Monarch of the Glen Favourite food: Monosodium Glutamate Sunderland - the stadium Having played at Roker Park for 100 years from 1897 to 1997, Sunderland then moved to their new home at the Stadium of Light. The stadium is named after the famous Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, home of Benfica and Sporting Lisbon. It was a condition of the cities of Sunderland and Lisbon becoming twinned with each other that the new stadium would be called the same as theirs. With a capacity of 49,000 the Stadium of Light is (surprisingly) the 5th largest football stadium in England. (Behind Wembley, Old Trafford, The Emirates and St James Park). Thereâs a rumour going round that during the summer, a clever granite salesman from Sunderland persuaded the club to scrap their expensive undersoil heating and install a 6â thick layer of granite instead. Although this keeps the pitch from freezing, the club failed to realise that 6â of impervious igneous rock would mean the pitch floods every time it rains. Sunderland - last season Sunderland started the 2011-2012 season with Steve Bruce in charge. Incredibly, Bruce signed 30 players (including loans) during his two and a half years at the helm. Sunderland were in 16th position after 14 games and following a 1-2 home defeat to Wigan, Bruce was sacked on the 30th November 2011. He was replaced by Martin OâNeill who made an immediate impact, with the Black Cats climbing to 8th place after 23 games. Their season tailed off towards the end with Sunderland failing to win any of their last 8 games (W0 D5 L3). Meetings between the two teams last season Saturday 27th August 2011 - Swansea 0 Sunderland 0. The third game of last season and strangely enough it will also be the third game of this season. With the Swans still finding their feet in the Premier League most felt the Swans could have nicked this one. Saturday 21st January 2012 - Sunderland 2 Swansea 0. The Swans dominated the game in terms of their trademark possession stats, but two wonder strikes from Sessegnon and Gardner meant Swansea came away with no points. Sunderland not606ers claimed it was their easiest win of the season leading to a degree of animosity between the two sets of fans on the forum. Saturday's Game Premier League results so far this season: QPR 0 Swansea 5 Swansea 3 West Ham 0 Arsenal 0 Sunderland 0 Sunderland P Reading P (that bloody granite!) Swanseaâs team pretty much picks itself at the moment with the new summer signings of Michu, De Guzman and Chico Flores having slotted seamlessly into the first team. The recent addition of record signing Ki Sung-Yeung from Celtic poses a bit of a selection problem - will he replace Britton, De Guzman or Michu - or none of them? I fancy him to start on the bench this weekend. It was looking like a very quiet summer transfer-wise for Sunderland with the only addition to their squad being Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar from Aston Villa after his contract expired. Then wham-bam, in the space of a day or so OâNeill took on Louis Saha after his contract at Tottenham expired, signed Steven Fletcher from Wolves for £14 million and Adam Johnson from Manchester City for an undisclosed fee. Due to Sunderlandâs postponed game last weekend, the latter two have yet to make a league appearance but will presumably start on Saturday. Possible line-ups ......................Swansea............................VORM................................ RANGEL........CHICO.........WILLIAMS........TAYLOR .............BRITTON................DE GUZMAN.......... DYER....................MICHU...............ROUTLEDGE ..................................GRAHAM...................... ---------------------------------------------------------- FLETCHER...............SESSEGNON...............JOHNSON COLBACK...............CATTERMOLE..............LARSSON BARDSLEY........CUELLAR.........O'SHEA........RICHARDSON ............................MIGNOLET................................ .....................Sunderland Sunderland fans - struggling with your possible new-look line-up: feel free to comment My Prediction The Swans are on a roll - 2 wins, 8 goals scored, none conceded. Sunderland have to integrate some new signings. It's got to be a Swansea victory. I'll go for 3-1.
Sunderland, one of the teams I just love us to stuff! Bloody horrible team and fans, want at least 3-0 against this lot please!...............
Excellent effort Aswan. I see this as our toughest test of the season so far, the lad Sessegnon is a quality player and we need to keep the reigns on him. Richardson looks like he'll be on his way so won't feature. I'm going for a Swans win, I think it will be a close game. 2-1 or 1-0 not much in it.
a good thread mate I am going for a 2-0 win for the Swans, to take us top of the league going into the international break one thing I am sure of though its not going to be a 0-0, its been 24 games since we've had one in the league
Good effort, AD. I really want to win this one as I agree with you that they were one of the few sets of fans we had any real trouble with last season. Horrible bunch by and large. I think the lack of a league game for them last week might help us though they played a cup game since. Normally I think this would be a tough one but we've been great so far and I'm feeling optimistic. 2-0 Swans.
Nice one, Aswan, an enjoyable read. I've said elsewhere that I think this will be a tough game and we will do well to get a result. We are definitely capable of it but we will have to compete all over the park and match their industry. Speaking of industry, Aswan, The Titanic was built in the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast so the Mackems can't claim that one!!
As said above, well done Aswan. This game will test our mettle, the first two did`nt offer much resistance once we went ahead. Sunderland are a much tougher nut to crack and O`Neill is a good manager and will have them up for the game. Tough game to get anything from, so long as we don`t lose this one. Hoping that we`ll win & go top, but we must not lose, if only for our followers in Denmark
The only way we will lose this is if we.... dont turn up played with 9 men remove their goal post Only joking monkey men ....Im confident we can win this 4-0 if we keep the same side.....
Aswan, Have to say what a brilliant thread you've come up with 10/10 from me. 2-0 to the Swans by the way
The monkey men are in hartlepool which is closer to Middlesbrough. Makems aren't known for hanging monkeys. But I've been ring before.
A great thread Aswan. I am looking forward to this one - should be areally tough game with the Swans winning 1-0 after a scrappy goal which goes in off the bum of Danny G. Whats all this nonsense about the Sunderland fans? They're a good bunch of working class lads - just like most of our fans
Were you around last year on here after the away defeat PGF? Some were OK but most were terrible. Their take that it was their "easiest of the season" was rubbish of course, but it did the trick because it got most of us pissed off.
Don't judge a whole set of fans by the ones who sit behind a keyboard! The Mackems have a good travelling support who are always vociferous.
Aye gobby T*8tS! Hard game this will be pleased if we scrape a win AND we have got to watch their new winger!
I know aswan. I think they are bringing 1000 which is unlike them - but times are hard and the recession is biting. There were plenty of empty seats in the Southampton v Wigan game on Saturday - the Saints first home game of the season.
Cracking stuff Aswan. On paper we should win this. They haven't played as much as us (so shouldn't be in as good a groove) and have some new faces arrived this week to integrate (I know we have Ki but only expect him to be a sub whereas I can see Sunderland's new signings starting).... ....but, Martin O'Neill is a great manager that will have them specifically set up to nullify us and their new signings are the type who can get them a goal regardless of how well Sunderland play (remember what Adam Johnson did to us the last time against Middlesborough in the Championship?). So I'm going for a draw. I think Sunderland will be in the top 10 come the end of the season. Good luck you Mackems!
Hi folks. Don't let me derail your thread, but I just wanted to offer congratulations on an excellent start to the season. Great to see you continuing to do things your own way. Sincerely hope the rest of the season is enjoyable for you.
What a top bloke you are Clingo. Good luck to you and your team for the future. Say hello to Aber dude for me
