Home Match Update

Sunderland AFC will take on Wigan Athletic at the Stadium of Light next weekend in what will be the Black Cats’ first fixture on home turf for almost a month. Blackburn Rovers will be Sunderland’s next visitors on Saturday 25th March, followed by Fulham on Saturday 8th April.

Tickets for all of these fixtures are on sale now, priced from £8 for juniors and £20 for adults.

The Wear-Tyne derby takes place at the Stadium of Light on Easter Monday (17th April) and season ticket holders are being given first opportunity to buy additional tickets for the fixture ahead of general sale.

Prices for this fixture start from £10 for juniors and £25 for adults and season ticket holders can apply for additional tickets until Saturday March 11th 2006, voucher 28 required.

Tickets will be released on general sale for this game on Tuesday 14th March.

In order to ensure the safety and security of all supporters, only those with a membership number or an individual purchase history (acquired from making previous purchases this season or in past seasons) will be permitted to buy tickets for the Newcastle United fixture.

The TICKET HOTLINE number is 0845-671-1973 and a 24 hour telephone service is available on 08705-862-015. Tickets are also available via the Club’s official website, www.safc.com, 24 hours a day.

Black Cats Bar

I have received notification from SAFC (the caring club) that our branch application for tickets to the Black Cats Bar has been un-successful as it is first come first served and all remaining matches are sold out for the BCB. Sorry about this guys but having been on the phone a few times I can't get any joy other than an offer for a free ticket for any remaining matches (excl. NUFC) or a free padded seat at the front of the North Stand upper but no access to the bar.

Again apologies but we were late to apply - should have done it at the start of the season (they say).

Give it some thought what you want to do and let me know ..... perhaps we can give a free ticket to Huyton for our last home match in the Premiership????

Jim Gilling
FTM

Message from Mick ..... and the pain goes on and on and....

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

Up until Birmingham scoring, they had only had one shot. There was not a lot in it in first half.
But when you concede a goal on 39 minutes, it does knock the stuffing out of you. We started well in the second half, we had a chance early on then.
Kelvin Davis was superb. He made two or three great saves.
They got a goal from a free-kick, and I'm not so sure it was a free-kick. When it was put in Danny Collins was barged in the back.
I'm not too happy about the goal - the way it was conceived and finished; but after that they have had more chances to be fair.
We always had the opportunity at 1-0 and they were nervous up until the end. We were still in the game because of that.
We didn't really have any goal threat. Stephen Elliott made an impact as did Rory Delap, but we didn't have too many goalmouth chances.
Rory's a good player and he proved today what a good player he will be for us.
It gets harder to talk about it [the defeats]. I don't think there was too much between the teams today and I don't think there has been between us and the teams above us. But you can always argue the points difference.
You need to have a goal threat to win games, which we didn't really have that today.

All the best,

Mick

My next away game?

After attending 8 out of our first 10 away games up till till Xmas, I've missed the last 4 and might only go to one other in the rest of the season! What's gone wrong?

Well apart from the obvious footballing reasons I've now found reasons/excuses NOT TO GO whereas previously I looked for reasons TO GO. The reason for this posting at this time is that I nearly weakened and went to Birmingham. I actually phoned Clive on Friday night to ask him if had any spare tickets but he wasn't in and I didn't leave a message or follow the call up. I'm glad I didn't go now after watching it on MOTD as our performance looked truly awful and how MMc can come on the tv with those same excuses I don't know. We have the worst team in Premiership history - end of story.

What about the rest of the season? Here's my prognosis

Sun Mar 5 Manchester City - Intended to go but now not going. If the game had been on Saturday as originally intended I'd have gone as I'd have liked to have seen Man City's new stadium but I'd rather go and watch Ferryhill U12's play and the games clash with the switch to Sunday so I'm going to watch Ferryhill - at least you see some passion and committment from the young 'uns.
Sat Mar 18 Bolton Wanderers - Intended to go but now not going. Our Tess is in a dog show down on Leicester and Julie has asked me to take them down so that's what I'm going to do. Going to a bloody dog show instead of the game - who'd have believed it!
Sat Apr 1 Everton - Undecided. Said I wasn't going to go to this one at the start of the season as I don't like Goodison and the last time we were there the view was terrible.
Fri Apr 14 Manchester United - Not going now. Game has been switched to a evening KO on the Good Friday and is on tv so I'll save myself the journey and expense for what is likely to be an embarrassing defeat.
Sat Apr 22 Portsmouth - Undecided. I've never been to Fratton Park so thought I might go to this game and meet up with Thirla but it's a long, long journey and I'm struggling to get motivated.
May 7 Aston Villa - Billy awayday!


So there you have it - a catalogue of excuses for not going to away games.
Am I pleased about it? Not really, it's very sad. A bit like Jimmy and his 'no shirt' posting it's not what I want but is what is happening.
Am I pleased I'm not going? DEFINITELY! It's bad enough having to go the the home games without having the misery of a long journey home from an away game.

I'm back .... may the blogging begin!

Well guys I am back from a few trips away the first to Cologne on business the second to Tenerife to celebrate Mrs Gilligans ??th birthday.
Cologne was as good as usual my "friendly bar" behind the railway station has new owners and Polish girls instead of Africans so may be first port of call for me and Miller when we go out for the World Cup. At least I accomplished one thing while I was out there a block booking for me and Miller in a backpackers hostel at 70Euro per night for a two bedded room, compared with 150 -300 Euro per night in some seedy looking hotels. We still need a room for 1 night in Frankfurt and two nights when England play in Cologne but I am confident in finding us a room for these nights even if it is bedding down with a Polish girl!!!!!!
Tenerife was different - the usual touts for timeshares, not much sun the weather out there has been bad for the last three months and the rain has washed away a few roads, drinks, food and entertainment still as good as ever. The BIG difference this time is that after 44 years of supporting our great team that this year I was ashamed to take a Sunderland top with me to show where I was from and who I supported. Yes guys while sitting among Everton, Spurs and Wigan fans watching the Spurs v Wigan game on Sunday I had no shirt to wear. This about sums up what everyone feels about this years performance and what has happened to our club over the last few seasons.
I hope that we will bounce back and once again I can pack my shirts again for my hols but unfortunately it will be in the Championship next year and like the last time we played in this league I was not that interested in watching the Premiership on the box ..... and you try to find a pub abroad that wants to show the Championship instead of Premiership matches, they are there but in small numbers.
This week it's off to Anfield to see England play - taking Miller, Clive and son of Clive David with me so should be a good game ..... now where is my club and country shirt?????

Keep the faith and keep blogging

Jim Gilling
FTM

Almost 2 weeks without a blog

Top blogging!!!!

Message from Mick - as we hit double point figures

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

We deserved a point, absolutely. I thought that until they scored it looked like a 0-0. We'd been equally as good as them, we matched them. We made it tough for Spurs.
Maybe the difference between us and the sides above is that when we get the opportunity to score, and we had a chance in the second half, we don't take it.
It's another point, the more we get the better
I'm delighted for Daryl Murphy, it's fantastic, he's got that in him. He scores goals, he's quick and powerful and really we should have had more out of him by now. Maybe that will give him the belief and confidence. He's a handful when he's bang at it.
I'm also delighted for Grant Leadbitter. He was fantastic when he came on, different class. He rattled Edgar Davids with his first touch and set a tone and tempo; he was great.
I don't ever intend to send our supporters home feeling grumpy and ill with me and the team. It's a nicer feeling to have them shouting and cheering and they were brilliant today.
They turned up in numbers, it's a fantastic effort. How many other clubs in our position would get that attendance? They deserve better.
In terms of effort from the players, they can't give any more.
It was a great tussle between two big, strong, powerful players [Kyle and Dawson]. We've missed Kyler. Back-fours sometimes have had easy rides against us. When the big man is playing, it doesn't happen.
George [McCartney] has a sore hip from playing and training. It's not linked to his other injury.

All the best,

Mick

SAFC v SPURS

A reminder that this match is now on Sunday February 12th kick off 1.30pm - due to Sky.

The coach will leave Kelloe Greyhound 11.20am / Coxhoe Londis Shop 11.25am / West Cornforth 11.30am.

We need you to travel on the coach so leave that car at home and support your branch.


Jim Gilling
GOSBSD

Memories 1998-1999 Season

Seems though we are heading in this direction memories of the Championship this week several years ago.

Bristol City 0 Sunderland 1

A controversial late penalty from Kevin Phillips kept Sunderland firmly on course for the First Division championship.
The striker went down under a challenge from City goalkeeper Steve Phillips after 89 minutes and got up to confidently net from the spot.
It spelt heartbreak for the young goalkeeper, whose side had fought back from being outplayed in the opening half to contribute fully to a blood and thunder contest.
City chairman Scott Davidson was so incensed by the penalty verdict that he rushed onto the pitch after the game to remonstrate with referee Robert Styles.
Davidson will be reported to the Football Association for his conduct, but would have had the sympathy of home fans in the 15,000 crowd.
Struggling City had looked likely to be swept aside in the opening 20 minutes as Sunderland produced a string of quick, incisive moves.
But they couldn't find the finishing touch and goalkeeper Phillips did well to keep out shots from Allan Johnston and Nicky Summerbee.
Sunderland goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen made his first contribution by diving bravely to thwart Steve Torpey in the 13th minute.
And after the break Sorensen was the busier goalkeeper as he dived to keep out a low shot from Ade Akinbiyi and then showed remarkable reflexes to block a Brian Tinnion volley.
City had dug deep to bridge the gap in quality between the teams, illustrated by a 36-point gap between them in the First Division table.
But all their hard work was wasted when Phillips misjudged a rush from his line with a minute left and fouled his namesake as the Sunderland striker was moving away from goal.
City were convinced Phillips got the ball before the man, but referee Styles saw it otherwise.
Sunderland boss Peter Reid breathed a sigh of relief as it looked as though all his side's early dominance would count for nothing.
City had been forced to reshuffle their defence after 32 minutes when left-back Mickey Bell limped off with a recurrence of a knee injury and Hungarian international centre-back Bilmos Sebok made his debut as a substitute.
It was a tough first assignment for the £400,000 signing from Ujpest Dosza as Niall Quinn was dominating in the air and causing havoc with his flick-ons.
Teams:
Bristol City: Phillips, Brennan, Bell (Sebok 32), Locke, Shail, Carey, Murray, Tistimetanu, Akinbiyi, Torpey (Andersen 81),Tinnion.
Subs Not Used: Brown.
Booked: Torpey.
Sunderland: Sorensen, Makin, Gray, Ball, Melville, Butler, Summerbee, Clark, Quinn (Dichio 77), Phillips, Johnston.
Subs Not Used: Bridges, Craddock.
Booked: Gray, Ball, Clark.
Goals: Phillips 89 pen.
Att: 15,736

Message from Mick - same old story we gave it our all but were not good enough (again)

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

I've no arguments about the sending off. It's two silly challenges. Sometimes you get a severe reprimand instead of a red card in that situation - I've seen players get that - but I'm not going to defend it.
It has changed the game because I thought we had started well.
We played well with 10 men. We played better with 10 men today than we did with 11 men on Tuesday. Perhaps it's a ploy we should use more often.
I wanted Wrighty on the pitch; I wanted to shake things up a bit and he's been terrific in training but perhaps he got found out a bit because he has been out for so long.
I thought we had nicked a point. Apart from a header from [Dean] Ashton they've not had any real attempts on goal, so I thought it was going to be our day.
Our lads have given gutsy displays all season. It might turn out that we've not been good enough; but what has never been in question is the workrate and pride in the shirt and the club, and that was in evidence today.
I've never had a cause to dig them [the players] out for that.
It was a remarkable performance by Kevin Kyle, considering how long he has been out. He put in a shift against those two centre-backs - and came back for every corner.
It's pleasing to see him back; his all-round performance was great and he'll get goals.
I've just said to the players that not one of them should start to feel sorry for themselves because that will get us nowhere. It's a tough time but you get it in football. I've been there.
You think losing a game like that is a failure and it's a piece of nonsense.
If it turns out we're not good enough, we'll just keep plugging away, trying to make it as pleasurable as we possibly can by playing like that.
There's a good team spirit here and it's fostered by all of us. It's vital. We would not have been promoted last season without that.
I've seen teams in our position fall apart. We've not fallen apart and we're not digging at each other.
We didn't come up for the jolly-up and to enjoy it; we came up to do better than we've done; but considering the knockbacks they've had, to keep going as well as they have, it's a good group of guys.

All the best,


Mick

West Ham Away - a brief account

Had a canny day down in London yesterday.

The Millermen, Stevie Walton and the grandbairn descended on London for the umpteenth time this season just knowing we were gonna lose again. Had a few J.Smiths on the usual 7.42am train, made our way to Liverpool Street as Davey said theres "loadsa pubs there" - just a pity none of them were actually open. So after the most disgusting pint ever in the station's wetherspoons we decided to go to our "West Ham Local" in Mile End.

We arrived at the Matter of Time (sorry Jim, I was sure it was called Live and Let Live!!!) at around 12.15 - and decided to move onto the stella as you can never go wrong with the old favourite. We all had a fiver in on the 1.30 at Sanddown, came in at 9/1 and that paid for our beer, bait and tube for the day so it wasnt all a waste of time and money! But just imagine if it had lost, Stevie wouldnt have let me forget that for a while!!

5 stellas+ later we made our way to Upton Park and got into the stadium for 3.04pm, missing Stephen Wrights first booking of the day - clearly wasnt match fit as their left winger (Etherington?) tore strips off him a couple of times and was soon to be brought down again which led to an early bath for our No.2. In all honesty I thought we'd matched them all through the game and thought we would hang on for an unlikely point but Sunderland being Sunderland we let them in a couple of times and they scored through 2 poor mistakes. On 87 minutes we're on Green Street making our way back to the tube station.

Back into Mile End for 5.10pm we have another few beers (have to mention young david, 6 pints of Strongbow and sober as a judge). At 6.30 we make our way to Kings Cross, Stevie was desperate for some Flying Scotsman action but I aint missing my train again! We visit the local convenience store for the last time this season, stock up for the ride home - back on the John Smiths though.

At Peterborough the 7pm train had been stopped as there was fighting between Sheff Wed, Hull and Sunderland fans. Good job we got the 7.30! Almost home for 10.30, my own full pint is spilled all over my jeans which makes my decision to stay out or go home much easier - back to Kella for Miller and the hangover is on the way tomorrow.

See you in the championship......

Message from Mick - the agony and misery goes on but for how long?

Dear Coxhoe Branch,

It was a very, very slow start by us. It gave them the initiative and they didn't lose it. We never really recovered.
We had a good spell in the second half and had two good chances to hit back. Had one of them gone in, it might have been a different game, a different performance from both teams.
But we decided to roll a ball into midfield, lost it and Jimmy scored a fantastic goal, which killed it completely and took the heart and soul out of the place.
I ain't walking away, no chance. The players don't do it deliberately, they're finding it tough. A lot of them have come from humble backgrounds.
It's a tough league and it's proving a problem for us, yet we've put in some terrific performances. We've got to keep believing and scrapping.
It was awful today and so was Saturday. I didn't expect the two performances, it's huge disappointment.
Whatever we've done all season, we've played well and competed for the most part; but you can't give two goals away like that, not in this league.
The pressure is constant. What do you do about it? You keep on fighting tooth and nail to try to change it. That's the only way I know how.
Kyle has been missed and so has Stephen Elliott. The [other] strikers have not got a good enough return.

All the best,


Mick