I'm not a hooligan Mr Quinn

[Riviera]

This club has been pretty well cleaned up, from top to bottom, over the years and Niall Quinn has done as much as anyone to make Sunderland a respected club throughout the country.
I totally respect the man and believe he's been one of the best things ever to happen to SAFC.

Newcastle, on the other hand, is a disgrace of a club that I'm sure we'd all be secretly ashamed of it was ours. The players seem out of control, the fans hate the owner and the feeling seems mutual.

Having said all of that I would have just one thing to say to Quinn if I had the chance. Nothing to do with signings, nothing to do with bringing back a terraced area or moving the away fans,nothing to do with spending and investment.

The only thing I would ask is that he allows innocent people to watch their club play football as we're all able to do. This is Quinn's 'fly in the ointment' as far as I'm concerned.

It's bad enough that the accused are consumed by thoughts of what will happen in court and the effect this whole sorry affair has already had on their lives.
Over the years, during the low points of my life, sometimes the only thing that's always been there and always kept me going, was my support for SAFC.

These lads are suffering one of these low points.

It must be even more hurtful because it arrived entirely due to the fact that they'd been out to support their club. It's a source of shame, for me, that the club can't support them.

I'm sending these few words, and this link, to the club and I thought it might make a small difference if they actually looked at this website and saw what the ordinary fans feel about the situation. Even if some of us believe some of the lads, in question, may have not been models of society, they surely deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt until they've been judged in a court of law.

This isn't democracy Mr Quinn, this is dictatorship.

The lads, in question, may be monsters, they may be angels or they may be just like most of us ............ decent enough lads who like a drink with their mates, get excited at the match and, although far from perfect, aren't savages who deserve to excluded from the society, in which they live, until they've been given their day in court.

The feeling that the club has let some of us down will last longer than they may believe especially for the 'innocent until proven guilty' who must feel totally betrayed.

If I knew any of these lads personally, which I don't, I'd have to withold my support until they're allowed back or received an apology if found not guilty. As things stand I'll be at the derby match, feeling guilty myself, but I'll find a second to think of them and wish they could be with us.

Perhaps one of us will be innocently caught up in a bit of bother, in Newcastle, and find ourselves in the same situation ....... we know it's always a possibilty.
It's not right and the club should rethink it's position.