[Amelia Chaffinch]

Or dogs v cats

Of 

Public (or rather animal) safety announcement ...

our furry friends should not be out at night at this time of year.

Sunderland have had a rough few years since Sam Allardyce resigned for national glory as England manager (oops) in July '16. David Moyes came in and had a stinker and, the club having survived relegation the season afore under Allardyce, failed to stay up this time and headed for the Championship as we were going up, up, up for the 2017/18 season. Moyes resigned (whatever) and in came our old friend Simon Grayson. He was booted out and Chris Coleman took over. All this to no avail as the club headed into back to back relegations. They started life in League One under Jack Ross (St Midden, Hibernian ['mon the hibees], and now Dundee Utd). With him they got to the EFL Trophy final at Wemberlee and lost on pens to Portsmouth ('mon the Cowleys) and were back at Wemberlee a  short while later only to lose to Charlton Athletic (he's electric) in the play-off final. So another season in L1 beckoned 2019/20. The one where Ross got sacked. Although he might say "WE WERE ON A BREAK"!

In comes Phil The Chair Parkinson. They finished 8th. He stayed for the 2020/21 season but was gone by November and in came the diminuative Lee Johnson. They got  to the play-off semis but went out to Lincoln City. They kept faith with the wee man but he was dismissed after a 6-0 thraiping at Bolton (I'm a wanderer, a Bolton wanderer, I roam around and around). In came Alex Neil who took them to the play-offs. They dispensed with the Wendies 2-1 on aggregate in the semis and beat Wycombe Wanderers at Wemberlee 2-0. And, now with them back in the Championship, we play them in the league for the first time this century. ALTHOUGH we played them once on 23rd Sept 2003 when we pulled off a great 4-2 victory on their own turf in the Carling Cup. They were in the Championship and we were League 2. Our goals came from Tony Carss, Jon Stead, Andy Holdsworth and Andy Booth.

Jacko, Jacko!

With Alex Neil leaving for Stoke City in August 2022, Sunderland appointed Tony Mowbray as manager.

Standings

Currently Sunderland aren't having the best of runs and they are 16th. The only fixture on Tuesday evening that could see them dropping a place before we play on Wednesday is if Hull beat Middlesbrough. Similarly a win for West Brom on Tuesday v Blackpool would see us back at the bottom.

Our head to head stats aren't great but for that win in the Carling Cup.

Who's knocking them in?

None yet for Alex Pritchard who has played for both and in the current Sunderland squad. Marcus Stewart and Jon Stead have also played for both. Our thoughts continue to be with Marcus.

So how is Tony Mowbray likely to set them up? The last 2 matches he's gone with a 4-2-3-1.

He used it against Burnley at home and lost 2-4. He stuck with it for the next away at Luton in which they came away with a 1-1 draw.

Famous fans include Steve Cram, Jordan Henderson, Lauren Laverne, George Clarke and Alan Price (who is 80 for goodness sake). For the younger ones amongst you, Alan Price was in The Animals and they sang about a pub in Norristhorpe called the Rising Sun.

And something we've often wanted to say at the John Smiths

And this one he did after The Animals is one of my favourites

Lauren Laverne once said on Mock The Week "How many pounds sterling is Simon Cowell paid to cut the cultural throat of our nation and drink its still warm blood?" It remains one of my favourite quotes of all time.

I tried to find a clip of Steve Cram dressed as an onion on It's A Royal Knockout being chased unsuccessfully by Meatloaf. Unfortunately I couldn't. That was one of my favourite TV moments of all time. I suspect a lot of have disappeared because of Stuart Hall's involvement.

Operation yewtree caught up with the dirty old git.

I don't know why I can no longer use spacing between my paragraphs. It's been like this for a while now. I hope it's readable.

                                                        I'll be back with manager ramblings later.                                                      

As Snoots says, Ollie is out.

Tony Mowbray:

https://www.safc.com/news/team-news/2022...field-away

[theo_luddite]

I don't know why I can no longer use spacing between my paragraphs. It's been like this for a while now. I hope it's readable.

Well yes it is readable, but if hitting the enter key

a

few times

when you want

to put the spaces in

isn't working I can't see

anything in settings to fix that either.

You're getting good at these headers tho' but bonny lass.

[jjamez]

was talking before the game on saturday in the car, we felt that MF was going to stick with a 4-2-3-1 and the suggestion was made that jon russell would be a decent candidate to go in the AM slot. Why? he lacks that athleticism to be in a midfield 2 and the holding role with the systems we play. However, does he have ability on the ball? undoubtedly, can he pick passes, yes, can he score, well he took his goals against Cardiff and Luton well so I'd say yes to that too, he also offers a bit of presence in both boxes at set pieces which helps us no end. It would also free him up to try keeping the ball, where if he gets caught theres more cover on. release the JR's

[Lord Snooty]

I like Jon Russell, but he's the kind of player that riles Town fans who have no patience. The minute he makes one small mistake, they're on his back, similarly to the way the destroyed Phillip Billing's confidence a few years ago. Not that I'm saying JR is as good as PB, by the way.

I'd love to see him back in the starting XI, maybe if he could be played as Bournemouth play Billabong now in a more attacking role.

[ritchiebaby]

Steve Cram being chased unsuccessfully by Steve Ovett and Seb Coe.

Mind you, the Meat thought two out of three ain't bad, so it might have been him chasing.

[Lord Snooty]

Lauren Laverne once said on Mock The Week "How many pounds sterling is Simon Cowell paid to cut the cultural throat of our nation and drink its still warm blood?" It remains one of my favourite quotes of all time.

[WakeyTerrier]

We discussed Russell as the attacking Midfielder rather than a defensive midfielder last season. He certainly has the skill and vision to see a passfurther up the pitch, defensive wise he just needs too much time on the ball.

Talking of midfielders, It's only reading this that i remembered that Alex Pritchard plays for Blunderland. Interesting to see what reception he gets

[Lord Snooty]

Turton out for the season.

[Amelia Chaffinch]

Big man's press conference added to OP.

[theo_luddite]

Halifax Town's game v Dorking tonight called off due to flooded pitch. Yorkshire Water still have a hosepipe ban in place - you couldn't make it up.