brummie

I wasn't saying they suffered from fixture congestion, they didn't benefit from being in Europe. It was of no benefit at all to us. The first year was nice, did ok, had a decent run, but I think it was the novelty. Watching us play MSK Zilina on a Wednesday night in November isn't that much fun, mind. O'Neill then showed what he thought of it when we played CSKA. The problem is that the EL lasts FOREVER. That season, we started in the Intertoto, so it went on even longer, and nobody really cares about it. Incidentally, there are currently 6 points between 16th and 17th in the league, which is insane. I haven't even entirely discounted our chances of finishing 6th.

He's a fucking idiot. "Boo hoo, they made an offer for my player, I'm going to shoot myself"

God, I keep saying this, but I can not believe how mongish RTG is. Is there a forum for the more serious, adult Sunderland fan? Just read this: So, Villa, since the inception of the PL, have finished in the top six in nine out of the eighteen seasons, ie 50 percent of them. That's finish in it, not be in it for a week in January. Sunderland have not even been in the PL full stop in ten of those seasons. What does that make Sunderland by comparison? Do these people not stop and think? I honestly never had a bad thought about Sunderland till this week, but some of the wailing and nonsense on that forum has really opened my eyes.

Well. If we hadn't signed him, we'd have drawn tonight. One chance, taken. That's the difference.

I can't breathe. The first home match I've missed this season and look what happens.

RTG has gone down.

Ha ha ha!

Yes, but the 45m is in a direct line from the front row to the pitch, I imagine. What a view that must be.

If ever one needed an example of why this country is a fucking mess and why football, in particular, in this country is living in a different world, it is the idea that we should spend hundreds of millions of pounds to build a massive new stadium to host an event for four weeks, then give it to a football club, who will knock the fucking thing down and build a new one. Insanity. And as for West Ham moving into a 60,000 seater stadium with seats in a different postcode to the pitch ... dear God alive.

I actually quite like Quinn, but in that interview the other day, he looked far from disappointed at the sale. Houllier was bang on the money, they are doing all this mud slinging to hide from their fans the fact they wanted to sell the player.

Houllier just said in his press conference on SSN that Lerner spoke to Short about it, then Paul Faulkner (our CEO) negotiated the deal with Niall Quinn, and all through that, Lerner and Faulkner were keeping Houllier up to date with what was happening in the deal. He then said he assumed Quinn would have kept Bruce up to date, but that doesn't seem to be the way it was at their end, but that's not his problem. He also said that every point in the negotiations, Sunderland had the chance to say no, but they didn't, they wanted to sell the player.

Interesting how willing they seem to be to sell their top players (which Kenwyne would've been at that time). Says volumes tbh. It's not so much that as the "woe is us" act when they subsequently do sell them.

Ha ha ha, talk about hypocritical - on two counts, tapping up Bent themselves, and negotiating with Spurs to sell them Jones then acting offended about it. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/article5594062.ece

The heroes and villains one

Delfonso or Delfonzo will do.

Nixon - don't get me wrong, I understand fully how Sunderland's fans feel. What i resent is the insinuations that: - Sunderland's hierarchy weren't negotiating with us to sell him for weeks before - Bent leaving them to come to us is somewhat like Torres leaving Liverpool and washing up at Bolton - We have somehow invented the action of attracting a player from another club with the offer of more money, rather than it being the fundamental principle of the entire league. There's a club competing for the title right now with an *entire fucking team* which was put together on that basis.

I was reading the Villa fanzine editor this morning on his website saying that, when they did the interview originally, at the end, the Sunderland bloke said to him (on air) "Do you want to bet a tenner you finish above us this season?" to which he said "Yeah, and do you fancy going double or quits on the same for every one of the next ten seasons, too?" At which point the Look North people said "Oh, sorry, there was something wrong with the sound there, need to do the piece again" and that time around, the Sunderland bloke didn't say it. The fact their biggest achievement is being 6th in January says it all really. He should have focused all his venom at Bent's decision to leave the club that took him from Spurs bench instead he picked the wrong fight, the cretin. The obvious points are: 1. "I knew something was wrong, but i couldn't put my finger on it" said Bruce. Bent submitted a transfer request in the summer, so not the biggest surprise. 2. "Well, the deal was done in less than 48 hours, what does that tell you about contact with the player" - yes, and unless Sunderland were negotiating to sell him before the Sunday, they also got their best deal in less than 48 hours. That beggars belief, so why didnt they tell SB this? 3. Steve Bruce of all people complaining of lack of loyalty. Steve Bruce. 4. At the end of the day, they didn't have to take the money but they did. From what I've seen and read since, Niall Quinn seems quite pleased they did. 5. They're going to go out this week and start sniffing around Wigan for N'Zogbia. They'll probably go about it the same way we did with Bent. Hypocrisy.

And, amidst all the over the top, ridiculous media reaction to this, what is forgotten is that we know this more than most clubs, having watched Barry fuck off for money (complaints from media about players moving for money then? Zero) and Milner go the following season.

I was reading the Villa fanzine editor this morning on his website saying that, when they did the interview originally, at the end, the Sunderland bloke said to him (on air) "Do you want to bet a tenner you finish above us this season?" to which he said "Yeah, and do you fancy going double or quits on the same for every one of the next ten seasons, too?" At which point the Look North people said "Oh, sorry, there was something wrong with the sound there, need to do the piece again" and that time around, the Sunderland bloke didn't say it.

Fuller is one of those players who, when he doesn't play for you, is quite easy to admire in certain ways (I think he's underrated), but at the same time, you'd shit the bed if you thought you'd wake up in the morning to find out you'd signed him.

I've just been reading a thread on that RTG place. Which Sunderland forum is the most mature, because that one seems to be the one that all the 11 year olds gravitate to. They seem to think that being 6th in January makes them some sort of Barcelona in waiting. We've *finished* top six 9 times in the 18 years since the PL started, and in half of those seasons, Sunderland weren't even in the top flight. I'm almost tempted to register there to point that out. Their fanzine editor called you relegation haunted. I watched that clip this morning on iplayer. Our fanzine editor called them "haunted by mediocrity" which made me chuckle. Then it cut to the Sunderland bloke shifting uneasily from foot to foot whilst looking at his mobile. The tit.

I've just been reading a thread on that RTG place. Which Sunderland forum is the most mature, because that one seems to be the one that all the 11 year olds gravitate to. They seem to think that being 6th in January makes them some sort of Barcelona in waiting. We've *finished* top six 9 times in the 18 years since the PL started, and in half of those seasons, Sunderland weren't even in the top flight. I'm almost tempted to register there to point that out.

http://www.toontastic.net/peasepud/stokoe-nam.jpg *actual tears of laughter*

He's a terrible pile of junk.

Mad as a pint of cake. Good player in there, but quite possibly too fooking mental. nufc written all over it. I would be so happy to sign him..... Long term replacement for Nolan.... I reckon you should play Ireland alongside Barton in the middle. That'd be the most mentally fragile pairing since Brady and Hindley.