An Entirely Personal View on this Bloody Message Board...

[Paris Mackem]

I log onto this message board every friggin day and it's starting to piss-me off something rotten. Feckin' doom & feckin gloom everywhere. What a miserable bunch of bar-stewards some of you are. Fecking abusing my club and every opposing supporter who logs on. We try and call ourselves the best supporters in the land but the posts by some of you on here just make that claim look feckin' stupid with your vitriolic outbursts against both our club and against the barcodes who frequent this site. Protests? The frigin close season ain't even finished yet and already you're talking about returning season tickets, staging protests and such like. Just Feck Off... but hold on, I'm confused...

Having said all that, I also agree with a lot of the posts that I have just criticised and that just pisses me off even more! I agree that unless platforms like this board existed and such posts could be aired, then perhaps things would not change. Catch-22.

I'm as pissed-off with the current non-activity as anyone. I want to see the ambition in the club that I have supported for 40 odd years. Bloody Reidy has taken untold shit and Yes, I think he deserves a lot of it but I still hold out the hope that people learn from their mistakes. You all say "look at this crap signing or that crap signing" and he can't be trusted with any more money - but Reidy must be conscious of his previous failures. I'm sure he's not oblivious to what goes on on this message board. I for one think that he is now trying his best not to repeat his mistakes and that he is doing his utmost to bring in quality before the season starts. I've nothing to back that up, just a gut feeling that if I was in his shoes, I would be busting a gut to do my best for the club and the fans. If he bought in more shite now then he'd be crucified. So if he doesn't bring in the quality then I'm with Roly, in October it's bye bye.

Get things into a bit of perspective, we still have a couple of weeks. If in that time Reidy brings in Keane, Sinclair & Campo or players of their ilk, then we'll all be made-up. If he doesn't make those sort of signings then I'll get me coat.
I've said before, this club is well-placed in every aspect to start going places. The outlook has not looked so rosy in the 40 years that I've been a supporter.

If they fail now it will be unforgivable.

So stop the shit, the club seems to be doing their best to make us a laughing stock at the moment although they still have a few weeks to make us eat our words. But my God, IMHO people on here are making the situation far far worse.

[Arthur (One Shoe) Lee]

Do you feel better after that tirade?

What you have to remember Paris Mackem is that this forum is for people to air their views - just as you have. Not everyone is going to agree with everything that's said on this board - and thank God for that.

You have some very valid points but appear to be (in your own words) 'confused'. There are some contradictory issues in your post but you're entitled to your opinion and I accept that.

People on here, in the main, are passionate about SAFC and I have no doubt that, even if we had qualified for the Champions League last season, there would STILL be people coming on here and criticising the club, the way it's run, the manager, the chairman and so on. We all want success at this club. It does no harm to let others know how you feel.

Keep the faith mate.

[Bob Fleming]

You say you hope Reidy can learn from his mistakes, I for one reckon tht is one thing he cannot and will do because he is so arrogant.

I think the ones spouting the doom and gloom are just the ones who are smelling the coffee.

This was an entirely personal point of view by the way.

[MKF]

Expectations are not managed appropriately, Murray is uncommunicative, and Reid is uni-dimensional. If these issues were addressed all of us would at least know where we stood - at the moment we're all getting pissed off because we don't really know what's going on and its frustrating as hell.

[Corvus]

Those who agree with us might not be right but we admire their astuteness. I can't remember who to acredit that quote to, but it's a lovely piece of humourous wisdom. Just think how boring it would be if every agreed on everything. Mostly, we are all pissed off at the moment, probrally none more than we old timers. I too have 40 odd seasons under my belt and what annoys me more than anything that amongst all the missed opportunities over the years, the biggest has just been missed. Just about 18 months ago, this club was standing on a doorstep of the promised land and they have bottled it, and in doing so have put us back years. The opening of the SOL (full credit to BM for that btw) and the success that followed gave Sunderland a higher profile than we have experienced in our lifetimes, but it all came to a halt 18 months ago and we have deterioated since. You're damn right I'm a miserable fucker, but having been let down like never before have I not a right to be. Have I not the right to criticize. I didn't create the expectation nor promise to drive it home. Those who did have failed to deliver and I am going to shout them down from the rooftops. Bob Murray doesn't have the balls to take this club to where it ought to be and Peter Reid lacks the abilty in his department. Bob Murray doesn't have the balls to sack Peter Reid. Peter Reid does not have the balls to take on Bob Murray the way John Gregory did with Doug Ellis. We are now stagnant and those in a position to effect change appear to be doing nothing. No pressure on Reid from Murray and no pressure on Murray from Reid. I don't want to be a critical miserable fucker, but until such time as I see tangible evidence that something is being done to turn things round, that's just the way I'm going to be. I love my football club, I have renewed my season ticket, I will support Sunderland until the day I die, it's in my blood, generations of it, loyalty to SAFC comes as natural as breathing. You can't just go building a wonderful new stadium, hint at a new culture and leave it at that, the job is only half done and I will remain miserable until I see the job on the way to completion.

Yet another rant bites the dust.

[Paris Mackem]

Fecking great post corvus, that's the passion I need to hear and one that reflects my own. Maybe I haven't reached the all time low yet but if something doesn't happen soon...

[smoker]

I for one don't subscribe to this "best supporters in the country" claim. What criteria did we ever fulfill to earn ourselves this title?

Did we travel 500 miles to Exeter in December on a Wednesday night to find out the pitch was frozen and the game abandoned?

Did we watch our team go bankrupt and out of the league and rebuild it from the depths of non league football?

Did we fight tooth and nail to save our club from foreign businessmen who wanted to move it fifty miles away and change its name?

The simple answer is no. When it comes to loyalty and dedication even the best, diehard Sunderland fan is an amateur compared to a Darlington, Aldershot or Wimbledon fan. We have had it easy in comparison.

Thing we do have in abundance is "passion" for our club. One week we are world-beaters and we'll follow them to the ends of the earth, the next we are total crap and we will never go back again - because our feelings are so intense, there is no in-between. Some people might call this "fickle" and they are probably right in a way, but the one thing we have is a desire - nay, a desparation - to see our club do well and it tends to cloud our judgement and objectivity.

[roberto]

One of the most moving series of posts I have seen on this board.

Exactly, there is a passion about our club that is hard to match. Best suppporters in the land? Don't know about that but who cares? This is our club and we are going to make this new world order a reality.

NOMINATED...............t hats exactly how i feel myself.

absolutely spot on. 3 years ago I could dream (for the first time ever) of SAFC fulfilling its potential. Now the meejah tells us we whinge at the overachievement of 17th place and 2 first round cup defeats at the hands of Div 1 opposition, while an average Mags side waltzes into the Champions League (the worst team ever to play in it? Discuss).

Oh bollox. Anyone got any cyanide? :(