Steve Bruce Confirmed as New SAFC Manager

Steve Bruce has been confirmed as our new manager, he will be revealed later today to the media.

Steve has apparently penned a 2 and a half year contract for £2.5 million on £60,000 per week.

Having never really had a substantial war chest to bring players in let`s see what he can do for Sunderland AFC in the coming seasons. Geordie or not he is a manager with 11 years experience through several clubs and guided Wigan to a respectable 11th place this season.

Relegation Permutations

Just to get things absolutely sure i wanted something to refer to over the next not so arse jittery weeks as i originally thought, so i flung together a few permutations that will mean not one thing when we get summat against Pompey by the time Sunday 24th may comes around.

Update: May 22nd

Hull and the Mags both have to win for Sunderland to go down

Newcastle are praying that Hull get beat and they get at least a point to survive

Villa Park and the KC Stadium decides the last relegation spot, come on Villa!

Stick with Ricky Sbragia

How is this going to happen now?

Sunderland are embroiled in their usual bollox at the bottom of the table in the premiership how are we supposed to get out of it?

Well with 4 games to go we are still sticky to the point of arse wrenching, so what difference does it make? Well West Brom after yesterdays loss are looking mathematically up against it although still possible are candidates elect for the drop. The Mags shortly followed by the Boro are a close second but then again there are too may teams in the mix including SAFC that could be dragged into the mire.

i will not go into too many connotations because that would be frivolous, instead all i would suggest is that we still need 4 points from our remaining 4 games to give us a starting platform in the premiership for next season, if you disagree with me then please feel feel to comment, i am always the eternal optimist.

on a different slant it feels that Roy Keane is getting Ricky`s feathers ruffled with his recent comments about SAFC, to Rickys credit he came out of his corner fighting, as a SAFC fan i will back Ricky up in saying "You no longer have any association with SAFC" "Shut up" yes i may have dealt a game of roulette to you in the past the day before our game against Burnley when Carlos struck that wonder goal but right now you need to concentrate on Ipswich instead of blagging the media as a former Man Ure player looking for headlines coz you want to big the "Tractor Boys" up. With all respect to Ipswich Town FC because i have fond memories of our meetings and you are a cracking bunch of fans.

Alright then i digresss, Ricky was recently quoted as saying "It just seems that if he wants a bit of publicity, he says something - but why not talk about Ipswich? Why is he always talking about Sunderland?"

Without stating the obvious, Roy is looking at a slingshot for Ipswich with controversy, shock horror, and you know the media will sit up and take notice because of the nature of who he is, bless him. I wish Ipswich Town Football Club all the best, Roy will do you fine, but when the going gets tough aka known as the KK (Kevin Keegan syndrome) Roy will scarper.

Ricky knows more about why Roy left simply through the postion he is in, quite frankly i do not care right now, all i know is that Ricky is the man to motivate our lads, if it does not work out and we end up joining the Mags or Boro next season so be it, all i know is right now we should get behind Ricky Sbragia and his choices whether that be good or shite.

Sunderland Run in 09

Sunderland AFC`s run in looks a lot better than some of our rivals, although we do have to face Man Utd one more time finishing off with Chelsea on the the final day of our season, but i think we stand a good chance to get enough points from our remaining 4 aways and 4 home games.

West Ham has never been the happiest hunting ground for us through most seasons, but i think we bring a squad that can easily compete with the Hammers and with Djib still laying foundations to make his loan spell a permanent move i have got a good feeling about this one. Kenwynne may have had his head temporarily turned by Harry in recent weeks and months but again this is another player that is believing in Quinnys vision for our club and the lure of big bucks will certainly tempt him again i am sure, but King Kenwynne had enough about him to spurn the advances of other clubs and look to continue his great start to his career at Sunderland.

More rumours flying around that our rivals Newcastle will be entered into administration by Mr Ashley if they fail to stay up, again this is just a rumour for the hard to sell club, but a spell in the lower leagues may just ground their fans. For too long they have believed that they have sole right of position to be within Europe and with the gazillions of squid they have spent on player transfers you could understand their frustrations, but no club has a sole right to be anywhere.

Their continued revolving door of management will keep on swinging, Bobby Robson was their man and Freddy Shepard let the fella go after a bad start to the season, big mistake.

Great news for Jack Colback who has been called up to the u20`s squad for tonights friendly against Italy (we also have another 14 youth team players on international duty), the experience will do our reserves captain no end of good and let`s hope we get to see him at least in the full team squad soon.

It`s been a bit of an inconsistent season to say the least, sometimes brilliant football sometimes downright embarrasing but we have become used to that though by now, yes we need to kick on to the next level and with the backing of Ellis Short behind us along with the DC (yet more rumours of a total buy out by Short) we can still compete in the highest league in English football and get back to at least a level of consistency and shake that yoyo tag, no i do not expect us to be stomping into Europe anytime soon but a feeling of being able to hold our own without the maulings and defeats that clubs like Everton have reaped upon us would not go amiss.

Saturdays trip to London after a decent international break (i could well do with a cheap holiday myself)and the return of Kieron "the mag destroyer" Richardson to the squad will bring us 3 points via single goal from the Djib.

Newcastle v Sunderland February 2009

No Owen or Barton! and Charlie n`Zogbia refusing to play, all this plus a pretty mediocre side this season despite Joe K`s efforts it looks like we could potentially do the double over the mags for the first time since 1967.

Stats aside it looks like St James` Park will be a more uncomfortable place to be more for the home fans than ours. After the last match shenanigans from both sets of fans at the SoL will we be facing a similar display? I hope not. Passion yes, pitch invasions and other 1980`s behaviour is not acceptable in our modern game.

On a brighter note, Kenwyne shrugs of Harrys unsettling attempts to prize him away by instead committing to Sunderland fo a further 4 and half years. Not bad even if the £15million price tag may have sounded tempting it just goes to show the kind of committed chairman we have got in Niall to successfully have a player of KJ`s quality to stay, and another quality goal against Fulham that turned out to be the winner.

So this Sunday from 13.30pm there is only 3 points difference in the table and we will be playing a makeshift team made up of who knows what, we have got to be entering this game as favourites once again although bookies may have you think otherwise, i am yet again in my comfort zone, not feeling any apprehension although this will probably change a few degrees come kick off.

More good news, this blog will be welcoming a few guest authors over from my most haunted Sunderland Forum to give their slant on SAFC news and opinion, although blogging is entirely alien to them i am sure their banter will fit right in. So look out for ...... well you will have to wait and see.

Craig Burley

Oh Mr Burley, even i have the foresight never to insult another football fan irrespective of my views, they are equally as guilty as me for falling in love with their club and the game, but you Mr are guilty of not only alienating Sunderland fans but quite a chunk of Setantas paying and even free subscribers with your inane ramblings during your commentary on the Man Utd v SAFC match on Saturday gone.

It is one thing to voice an appreciation of a game well played but to show complete transaparency and cringeworthy comments the likes of which have not been heard since Mr Venables mucked up.

Hang your head Mr Burley there is no spade big enough to dig yourself out of this one, watch, listen express... but for gods sake in future you may be well advised to trap it.

You single handledly attacked every single Sunderland AFC fan, player, staff and neutral supporter with your belief that Sunderland AFC that were traveling to Old Trafford with any other intent than containment with your "Victory for football" comment.

Sunderland AFC is a team with a world following, Setanta would probably have had a word in your shell like by mow, and your recent blog trying to defend your views shows nothing more than an attempt to backtrack from what are your immediate footballing thoughts. The likes of which are, let`s see how an outsider to the top 4 can come and play against European champions for the sake of entertainment. You fool, Sunderland travelled to Old Trafford with one goal in mind. To counter anything that the £150+ team had to throw at them, and by god the lads nearly achieved it.

That match alone restored a lot of local and team pride in all of what Sunderland is trying to achieve, yet you belittled the match within your position as a paid Setanta commentator to profess that it was a "Victory for football". I dare say you have cost Setanta quite a few thousand subscribers for your complete lack of understanding of the game and your blather throughout the match.

I will ask you once again to defend your comments,

Yours

Littlewebby aka Safcblogger

To view Craigs latest post and the comments received, you are welcome to visit his blog within the Setanta website and judge for yourself.

No text will ever explain the feeling i have

Wear Tyne Derby

This has easily got to be the best chance in a long time for the lads to get a result against the unwashed.

We are currently sat in 12th place on 9 points with the mags down in the relegation zone on 6 points. Newcastle were lucky to come away on Monday night with a draw against Man City especially after going a goal and a man down after 12 minutes, they managed to claw it back for the draw. Saturday from 12.45pm onwards though is a different story and all league form goes out the window.

Considering that this will be our best chance to beat the mags since the 1980`s it would really crown a good start to the season so far if we managed to a)Turn them over b)For Grant Leadbitter to score the winner, or even Chopra to score the winner and run up to the away end and salute them with a couple of extended digits, highly unlikely but a nice thought all the same.

Joking Ear has got the mag lot playing together in spells but i think we have got the squad for Keano to choose from to actually take this result and send all Mackems crazy for the first time in over 20 years. Ordinarily i would be feeling nervous in the build up to the derby game but for some unknown reason i am unusually calm.

There are a few Mags where i work and one of them is the general manager who has remained unusually quiet in the build up, his typical Mag swagger has lost it`s edge and the usual world domination rants pre and post Keegan seemed to have dissappeared. Are the Mags actually starting to realise that the footballing world does not revolve around Sid James`s park? I doubt it, their clouded arrogance will continue right up to the day when Mike Ashley has cashed in on them and long after that to.

Sunderland FC Forums

Sunderland FC Forums

Sunderland FC forums pop up all the time over the world wobbly web, but very few have the staying power and before you know it they become desolate, disabled and/or abandoned.

There has been one dominant forum on the block since the summer of 2002, commonly known as the SMB (Sunderland Message Board) which forms part of the RTG Message Boards, which in turn is part of the Ready To Go website which has been online since 1998. The SMB forum has and still is a fantastic way for SAFC fans to share a bit of banter about footy related issues and some great off topic threads have been posted over the years.

Towards the end of 2007 though, the comfortable and familiar surroundings of the SMB took on a new focus, completely seperating footy only posts from the off topic stuff and the way this was done was to create a completely seperate forum, Pure Football, great if you want to concentrate purely on footy issues, but for those members that had become accustomed to the mix of footy and off topic stuff it became an issue.

Ready to Go experienced some technical issues during the transition and from this some of the regular members decided to get a forum together, funny thing is, the new kid on the block is turning out to be the new challenger to the crown of the Sunderland FC Forum to frequent, with its mix of the usual banter within the Talk Sport Discussion, there is also the sub forum where all the naughty posters have their threads sin binned for being a little too off tangent shall we say.

That particular mix of footy related and off topic stuff became the successful ingredient of the SMB, where "The Parsnip" was and still is the `Sin Bin` for crap posts.

So what has this new forum got what the other one has not?

Well the obvious praises to sing for the new one would be their Arcade, where you can play games to your hearts content, competing against other forum users within the tournaments or you can simply compete for the High Scores of individual games and eventually you may even become king of the Arcade by achieving the most high scores.

Besides the addictive arcade, there are another 5 sub forums, the `Talk Shite Discussion`, `Cricket`, `Travel` and `Tech Help` that`s only 4 i hear you say! well yes because i do not want to talk too much about the final sub forum `NSFW` because that one is password protected and involves savoury content that even i would not attempt to describe.

That said, their is even more! a vBookie to place wagers using the forum currency on upcoming sporting events, your very own free blog, live chat for those unable, working or exiled on match days a SAFC History section, Downloads and even more links than you can throw a cocker spaniel at within their directory.

So who is this new kid on the block?

The Sunderland FC Forum is Black Cat Chat get over there now and see what all the fuss is about.

RIP Hazey

Given the lack of opportunity lately to post new entries it is with sadness that i write this latest entry. One of the SMB`s greatest contributers has sadly lost his fight against Cancer.

Hazey passed away at 4am on the 6th of January after a painful fight against his cancer. Many of us Sunderland fans are united by the Sunderland Message Board and it is through this forum that we first learned of Hazeys condition, in his wisdom he went about setting up his own blog, Dull Ramblings which gives chapter after chapter of insight into the mind of one who had nothing but love to give including everything from his family to the creatures and all of nature he encountered, while at the same keeping us all informed in somewhat at times graphic detail.

A very touching comment PM`ed to Hazey which he happily posted goes a little something like;

"There was this Gadgy I knew of, but didn't know.
We were acquaitances via Footy on the tinternet.
The Bengal Lancer is claiming his Life, but not his Soul.
I now know him and I also now know in a different Life we could have been great Friends.
That's wrong, I know we are great Friends.
My Paraffin Mukka you will never know how much you have inspired me and you have really convinced me not to throw in my Mortal Towel.
Godspeed your tranquility Main Man.
(Liz, you are a very Lucky Lady.)
Hazey Lad you are humility personified and until I die I will be your humble Friend."

This about captures the mood of the majority of us who never had the opportunity to meet the bloke, thanks to Novice Poster of the SMB.

The last words within this post are the final entry he made on Thursday January the 8th 2008 from the vlog entry entitled "This really is a big bag of absolute cock...fucknuts, cuntblisters, WAAANNNNNNKKK! (and any other appropriate expletives of sufficient force)"

My love for all burns timeless, beyond this frail prison of a body. One day I shall burst forth leaving behind my tiny shell. Ill span the universe, al the while watching over you, from my ageless dominion. I’ll always be near, whispering words you can’t hear but you’ll always feel the warmth of my supernova heart.

Good night

From Graeme