How high will the dead black cat bounce?

[WA Villan]

Davey, I know you are high on the win today, but realistically you struggled, and should have been 2-0 down against a very poor side. MON is a decent manager no more, and you will find that out in time. Greatness should be reserved for just that, greatness.

Point honestly taken Jim, and yes, i'm certainly buzzing mate, of that there is no doubt. But, he's still great to me! He was great to me when he was at Leicester, what he achieved with practically nowt! He was great even more so when he was at Villa, maybe assisted due to my soft spot for them, and now he's at my hometown club, which he supported as a boy. Today was thrilling, Roy of the Rovers stuff, for the first time in a long long time Jim, I feel great about my hometown football club. For that alone, i think Martin O' Neill is great! 

Steady Dave, Steady

[Davey B]

Davey, he;s a good manager who will restore a bit of pride.  The fact you'll reach 7th or 8th and that'll be that isn't what you want to hear tonight. But it's what will happen. 

In three seasons you'll be 6th or 7th and feeling somewhat disillusioned.

I understand where you are coming from Rigadon! I hope and pray that one day i can actually be "spoiled" enough by my beloved Sunderland to be actually disillusioned in that manner! As someone has mentioned on a thread on here, we are still regarded as a bit of a yoyo club, so the disillusionment has been of quite a bit different nature for us! One serious trophy in my lifetime when to be truthfull I was too young to even understand what it was all about! I remember despite my second team affection for them, watching Villa more so in the early 80's, on TV with envy! Peter Withe, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, winning game after game, trophies, domestic and European, in style, a lovely ground, fantastic strip, wishing one day i could see Sunderland do that. Sunderland then even changed their strips from the Red n White stripes to the nightmare and effeminate Le Coq Sportif pyjama strip, white shirt, red pin stripes, with very pinkish red satin type shorts. I still cringe thinking about that strip. It was the first Sunderland kit i refused to buy. That's disillusion!

Davey, he;s a good manager who will restore a bit of pride.  The fact you'll reach 7th or 8th and that'll be that isn't what you want to hear tonight. But it's what will happen. 

In three seasons you'll be 6th or 7th and feeling somewhat disillusioned.

I understand where you are coming from Rigadon! I hope and pray that one day i can actually be "spoiled" enough by my beloved Sunderland to be actually disillusioned in that manner! As someone has mentioned on a thread on here, we are still regarded as a bit of a yoyo club, so the disillusionment has been of quite a bit different nature for us! One serious trophy in my lifetime when to be truthfull I was too young to even understand what it was all about! I remember despite my second team affection for them, watching Villa more so in the early 80's, on TV with envy! Peter Withe, Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, winning game after game, trophies, domestic and European, in style, a lovely ground, fantastic strip, wishing one day i could see Sunderland do that. Sunderland then even changed their strips from the Red n White stripes to the nightmare and effeminate Le Coq Sportif pyjama strip, white shirt, red pin stripes, with very pinkish red satin type shorts. I still cringe thinking about that strip. It was the first Sunderland kit i refused to buy. That's disillusion!

Davey, I hate that kit for a different reason. IIRC you wore it to Villa Park on the first day of the 1982-83 season and beat us 3-1, with a young Ally McCoist in the team - he may even have scored, but my aging memory isn't what it used to be.

Our youth team paraded the European Cup before kick off and did a lap of the ground. To a man, the Sunderland supporters rose and aplauded them when they passed in front of the Witton End and Witton Lane stands where your fellas were congregated - a really sporting gesture.

Enjoy the rollercoaster - you will have a much higher media profile in the coming months.

Cheers Pat! 

[Davey B]

Top 8 at best , certainly not a top 6 club.sunderland have won one fa cup in the last 50 yrs and i think finished in the top 6 once in the last 50 yrs so top 10 will be an achievement and i expect them to establish themselves in the top half

 ...... This is the point i've been trying to get over in quite a few of my early posts, under Bruce the media were giving us SAFC fans stick for "unrealistic expectations." What you are saying here is basically what we feel should be the current level we are competing at, with a cup run every now and again thrown in, and a tilt for European football once we get established properly! I've yet to hear a single comment from one of our lot saying we should win the Premiership or the Champions League!

We twice finished 7th under Peter Reid, when a little outlay at the time, on a few quality players to compliment the squad we already had could have easily given us the above in my opinion. One FA Cup win in the last 50 years in 1973, a few cup runs with appearances in finals in 1985, 1992, and a zillion relegation and promotion experiences are basically our footballing CV. So, i agree with what you are saying Eastie. When we get there regularly, 7th - 8th, is when the "itchiness" for the next step will no doubt kick in for us. Then we'll find out if our owners, our management, our team, and ourselves i suppose, can (cliche alert!) actually awaken this comatosed (not sleeping) giant!     

[Davey B]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

Give it a couple of years and the Mackems will get tired of the Geordies taking the piss out of their caveman football.

.... Tired of the deluded buffooons now SOV, listening to them at work they are apparently going for Champions League this year! One was so annoyed about the results at the weekend (Cheers Norwich!  ) that he wanted to bet me £20, then quickly upped it to £50, that they finished above us this season. He couldn't respond when i asked him why he didn't offer the bet at the begining of the season when everything was at a level start and they were nervous about us! 12 points currently split us, and although i'm not a gambling man I was seriously tempted to take it actually, but we are Sunderland, a great start under our new gaffer, but we still have issues that need resolving. I'll be a lot more confident when MON has brought in his players, and has "got into" our club properly.

[Davey B]

Davey, I know you are high on the win today, but realistically you struggled, and should have been 2-0 down against a very poor side. MON is a decent manager no more, and you will find that out in time. Greatness should be reserved for just that, greatness.

Point honestly taken Jim, and yes, i'm certainly buzzing mate, of that there is no doubt. But, he's still great to me! He was great to me when he was at Leicester, what he achieved with practically nowt! He was great even more so when he was at Villa, maybe assisted due to my soft spot for them, and now he's at my hometown club, which he supported as a boy. Today was thrilling, Roy of the Rovers stuff, for the first time in a long long time Jim, I feel great about my hometown football club. For that alone, i think Martin O' Neill is great! 

Christ, he's been brainwashed already!

Give it a month and you'll be back saying stuff like "does he always play Nicklas Bendtner at right back?"

  Brainwashed, lol. Aye, maybe's! Think its more relief that we are on the up again though, MON has lifted the doom and gloom around the place. Early days, but i'm still over the moon he's here, he's the right man for us at the right time. I know all good things must come to an end, but right now, he's here, he's changing things for the better, and to me, he's great! 

[Davey B]

I can sum this up succinctly:

Martin O Neill is a c***.

I'm pleased to say "He's OUR c###" though! 

[SoccerHQ]

Top 8 at best , certainly not a top 6 club.sunderland have won one fa cup in the last 50 yrs and i think finished in the top 6 once in the last 50 yrs so top 10 will be an achievement and i expect them to establish themselves in the top half

 ...... This is the point i've been trying to get over in quite a few of my early posts, under Bruce the media were giving us SAFC fans stick for "unrealistic expectations." What you are saying here is basically what we feel should be the current level we are competing at, with a cup run every now and again thrown in, and a tilt for European football once we get established properly! I've yet to hear a single comment from one of our lot saying we should win the Premiership or the Champions League!

We twice finished 7th under Peter Reid, when a little outlay at the time, on a few quality players to compliment the squad we already had could have easily given us the above in my opinion. One FA Cup win in the last 50 years in 1973, a few cup runs with appearances in finals in 1985, 1992, and a zillion relegation and promotion experiences are basically our footballing CV. So, i agree with what you are saying Eastie. When we get there regularly, 7th - 8th, is when the "itchiness" for the next step will no doubt kick in for us. Then we'll find out if our owners, our management, our team, and ourselves i suppose, can (cliche alert!) actually awaken this comatosed (not sleeping) giant!     

Yeah that's a fair point. The reason you were giving Bruce stick was that he was well on his way to establishing you as a bottom 5 club which given Sunderland's spending in the summer shouldn't be the scenario.

[Davey B]

Top 8 at best , certainly not a top 6 club.sunderland have won one fa cup in the last 50 yrs and i think finished in the top 6 once in the last 50 yrs so top 10 will be an achievement and i expect them to establish themselves in the top half

 ...... This is the point i've been trying to get over in quite a few of my early posts, under Bruce the media were giving us SAFC fans stick for "unrealistic expectations." What you are saying here is basically what we feel should be the current level we are competing at, with a cup run every now and again thrown in, and a tilt for European football once we get established properly! I've yet to hear a single comment from one of our lot saying we should win the Premiership or the Champions League!

We twice finished 7th under Peter Reid, when a little outlay at the time, on a few quality players to compliment the squad we already had could have easily given us the above in my opinion. One FA Cup win in the last 50 years in 1973, a few cup runs with appearances in finals in 1985, 1992, and a zillion relegation and promotion experiences are basically our footballing CV. So, i agree with what you are saying Eastie. When we get there regularly, 7th - 8th, is when the "itchiness" for the next step will no doubt kick in for us. Then we'll find out if our owners, our management, our team, and ourselves i suppose, can (cliche alert!) actually awaken this comatosed (not sleeping) giant!     

Yeah that's a fair point. The reason you were giving Bruce stick was that he was well on his way to establishing you as a bottom 5 club which given Sunderland's spending in the summer shouldn't be the scenario.

Exactly that, we were going back to yoyo-ville! We have suffered enough of that in my lifetime, sacking Bruce and bringing in MON was the right action by our owner, i don't think we could have brought in anyone more perfectly suited for us to be honest. Regardless of the bitterness some of your lads hold towards MON, i don't think anyone can give a better "acheivable" man to do our job at this time! 

[SoccerHQ]

Mark Hughes and team Tafia say hello btw.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

Give it a couple of years and the Mackems will get tired of the Geordies taking the piss out of their caveman football.

.... Tired of the deluded buffooons now SOV, listening to them at work they are apparently going for Champions League this year! One was so annoyed about the results at the weekend (Cheers Norwich!  ) that he wanted to bet me £20, then quickly upped it to £50, that they finished above us this season. He couldn't respond when i asked him why he didn't offer the bet at the begining of the season when everything was at a level start and they were nervous about us! 12 points currently split us, and although i'm not a gambling man I was seriously tempted to take it actually, but we are Sunderland, a great start under our new gaffer, but we still have issues that need resolving. I'll be a lot more confident when MON has brought in his players, and has "got into" our club properly.

Fear not, you'll have plenty of ugly wins this season to piss off the Barcodes.
Send them my regards..

[Davey B]

Mark Hughes and team Tafia say hello btw.

Hughes isn't a good as MON in my opinion, .... Tafia has lossed me marra??   

[Davey B]

They will improve year on year, go close to achieving something, then in year five, he will piss off and leave them in the mire. His CV says so. Not just with us.

Give it a couple of years and the Mackems will get tired of the Geordies taking the piss out of their caveman football.

.... Tired of the deluded buffooons now SOV, listening to them at work they are apparently going for Champions League this year! One was so annoyed about the results at the weekend (Cheers Norwich!  ) that he wanted to bet me £20, then quickly upped it to £50, that they finished above us this season. He couldn't respond when i asked him why he didn't offer the bet at the begining of the season when everything was at a level start and they were nervous about us! 12 points currently split us, and although i'm not a gambling man I was seriously tempted to take it actually, but we are Sunderland, a great start under our new gaffer, but we still have issues that need resolving. I'll be a lot more confident when MON has brought in his players, and has "got into" our club properly.

Fear not, you'll have plenty of ugly wins this season to piss off the Barcodes.
Send them my regards..

I give you now, an IOU for a pint!    Cheerio, Cheerio, Cheerio!!!!! Class marra! Absolutely class!