I thought I would do something a little different as many might want a break (to say the least!) from me posting my opinions of the weekend fixtures and I wanted to do something a little different.
To all those non-football fans out there, you will be solely disappointed! Sorry!
I will start with a little story to get this blog going...
Until two years ago, I never understood why people liked football. To me, it just seemed very overrated as people like Wayne Rooney, Christiano Ronaldo were paid large sums of money to kick a ball around a pitch and, at the time, I felt anyone could do it just as easily. While my opinion on football has massively changed, today I still feel that the money being paid to footballers could be better used elsewhere.
My late mother was (and no doubt still is!) a massive Sunderland supporter and she constantly tried to get into football, taking me to the odd match but, still, I remained uninterested. One of the funniest childhood memories I remember having was taunting her by saying 'black and white army' (referring to Sunderland's arch rivals Newcastle United) and she looked at me as if to say: "Say that one more time and I will slap you across the face!"
Her brother, and indeed my uncle, along with his wife and two children (one of whom just turned one year old so she will not understand it yet) are all big SAFC fans. Even after my mother's passing, they tried to get me interested in football but again I still could not enjoy it. Sunderland would be my team, should I support anyone, but I just couldn't get into it.
My foster family who I now live with (one of who is a massive Newcastle fan) and my friends are to take the credit (and in some people's eyes, the blame!) for converting me into a football fan. During the 2010-2011 football season, I really started to get into football as a whole. Watching Sunderland's Halloween horror in 2010 (yeah I'd rather forget about that) and the famous 3-0 win at current European Champions Chelsea were the two first real games I watched as a Sunderland fan.
Since then, I have been a massive Black Cats supporter (with Blackpool also being my second team ironically since their relegation in 2011) and currently have a season ticket to the Stadium of Light. Whether or not that is something to be proud of at the minute leads onto the next topic.
During the 2011-2012 season, I was experiencing my first as a season card holder as I loved the atmosphere of being at a match when I previously went to the Stadium. I loved it, even when Steve Bruce was still manager and we were not doing so well I still loved being at the ground. Although, I admit I was enjoying it more when Martin O'Niell first took charge. That lasted the whole of the season and I could not wait for my second outing the following campaign.
All those who have me as a friend on Facebook have seen me going on rants about Sunderland and how they have played this time around. In this blog, I wanted to go into a little more detail in the hope that people understand where I am coming from and understand my frustration.
After the 0-0 home draw with bottom club QPR, I had decided I'd had enough of seeing this defensive and frail play from my team every time I come to watch them. I even went as far to say I was considering boycotting the next home game. Obviously I was expecting fans to curse me or to try and persuade me to go to the match. To be fair, the response I got was understanding and I appreciated that enormously.
Some people felt they had to remind me that it was part of being a supporter and you have to take the bad, as well as the good. I know that, believe me if I wasn't a loyal supporter I would have switched teams long ago. You don't necassarily have to be at the ground to support your team.
I want you to imagine the following scenario and hopefully this will summarise how I feel:
Your best friend is a chef at a resturant and really wants you to go and try out their food. One day you decide to go and try it out, thinking it will be good. When you get there and your food arrives on your plate, the end product is absolutely shit! It is, in fact, one of the worst things you have ever tasted and you never want to eat it again in your life. You feel incredibly ripped off and feel like asking for your money back, but you can't. Your friend later asks you what you thought of the food, with an enthusiastic smile on their face, almost as if hoping you like it and hoping you will go back again. What do you do?
That is similar to how I feel about Sunderland right now. I have paid £280 for a season card and that figure will rise to £400 or maybe more than that. And so far this season, almost every single time I have come to the ground, I have left feeling disappointed and wanting my money back. This, simply, is not good enough. In the most recent home game against Chelsea, I did see an improvement in the performance and good to see us score at home. The problem, though, was that we had to wait until we were 3-0 down to do it!
For us, that makes our next game against Reading at home a must-win. And below is my prediction for the match.
In the Black Cats' 3-1 defeat by Chelsea, I felt they were far too slow in closing down Torres and Mata etc. Chelsea looked a very dangerous threat and probably just about deserved the win. Johnson's goal was good but they waited until they were 3-0 down to do it. Martin O'Niell will want to put that loss behind him, however, and look to winning this match, which they simply have to do to climb out of the bottom three. Reading, meanwhile, were outclassed and dominated at Southampton and didn't really create any real scoring chances. They were comfortably beaten and were probably lucky it was only 1-0. This is a must-win game for both teams and I can see a winner in this one.
My Score: 2-1
After the 0-0 home draw with bottom club QPR, I had decided I'd had enough of seeing this defensive and frail play from my team every time I come to watch them. I even went as far to say I was considering boycotting the next home game. Obviously I was expecting fans to curse me or to try and persuade me to go to the match. To be fair, the response I got was understanding and I appreciated that enormously.
Some people felt they had to remind me that it was part of being a supporter and you have to take the bad, as well as the good. I know that, believe me if I wasn't a loyal supporter I would have switched teams long ago. You don't necassarily have to be at the ground to support your team.
I want you to imagine the following scenario and hopefully this will summarise how I feel:
Your best friend is a chef at a resturant and really wants you to go and try out their food. One day you decide to go and try it out, thinking it will be good. When you get there and your food arrives on your plate, the end product is absolutely shit! It is, in fact, one of the worst things you have ever tasted and you never want to eat it again in your life. You feel incredibly ripped off and feel like asking for your money back, but you can't. Your friend later asks you what you thought of the food, with an enthusiastic smile on their face, almost as if hoping you like it and hoping you will go back again. What do you do?
That is similar to how I feel about Sunderland right now. I have paid £280 for a season card and that figure will rise to £400 or maybe more than that. And so far this season, almost every single time I have come to the ground, I have left feeling disappointed and wanting my money back. This, simply, is not good enough. In the most recent home game against Chelsea, I did see an improvement in the performance and good to see us score at home. The problem, though, was that we had to wait until we were 3-0 down to do it!
For us, that makes our next game against Reading at home a must-win. And below is my prediction for the match.
Sunderland v Reading
In the Black Cats' 3-1 defeat by Chelsea, I felt they were far too slow in closing down Torres and Mata etc. Chelsea looked a very dangerous threat and probably just about deserved the win. Johnson's goal was good but they waited until they were 3-0 down to do it. Martin O'Niell will want to put that loss behind him, however, and look to winning this match, which they simply have to do to climb out of the bottom three. Reading, meanwhile, were outclassed and dominated at Southampton and didn't really create any real scoring chances. They were comfortably beaten and were probably lucky it was only 1-0. This is a must-win game for both teams and I can see a winner in this one.
My Score: 2-1
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