To Darren Bent from Danny Blanchflower

While never a legend himself Willie McPheat did something that scared the shit out of the greatest ever player to pull on a Spurs shirt.
He equalized against Tottenham before 60,000 people jammed inside Roker Park in 1961.
Danny Blanchflower later said he'd never heard anything that equaled the intensity of that roar. Never before and never since had he been scared of a crowd.

But that day he was.

It was the sixth round of what was then the world's greatest knock-out competition, the F.A. Cup, and Second Division Sunderland, who'd already knocked out Arsenal and Liverpool, took on the biggest name in English football at the time: Tottenham.
Spurs hung on for a draw and in the replay demolished the team which had so nearly stopped their drive to the double.

Times change.
But some things don't
Danny Blanchflower died a while ago.
Pity, he might have a few words for Darren Bent.
The Stadium of Light isn't Roker Park. The Clock Stand paddock with its mix of humour and savagery is long gone.
But the people are the same.
And, for perhaps only this game, the Bruce-outers and the Bruce-inners may come together.
Because you screwed us Darren.
You told us you wanted to be here. You scored those goals and kissed the badge. We believed in you.
It was, perhaps, the final nail in the coffin for naivety.

Much better our current centre forward who says he's here to be in the shop window so he can go to a Champion's League club next season. Good on him. We know where he stands: the more goals he scores for us the better contract he wins. That's life in modern football and all power to him.
Because he isn't a hypocrite.
Darren, with your annoying little shuffle as you take penalty kicks and your kiss the badge bullshit, are the opposite.
You want it both ways. You want the fans' love but you'll take a quick plane to Turkey for more cash.
The environment has changed: everyone sits now and stewards throw people out for the slightest thing.
But, just maybe, the passion behind that roar which greeted Willie McPheat's moment in the sun and scared the hell out of Danny Blanchflower is still there in the throats of the people you lied to Darren.
Let's hope so.

Sharkey's Shadow
(Our Canadian Correspondent)