What's it all about for you?

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I was listening to the phone in after the Arsenal game last night and a fair proportion of callers happened to be requesting the heads of the "mercenaries" they claimed had just bottled it after conceding the second goal. Now some of them also happened to mention how they resented the fact that Viera, or his agent, had used the offer of an alleged £120,000 a week from Barca as a bargaining tool in his negotiations with their board. As the claims and counter claims developed it became apparent that a fair proportion of the fans wanted to see Ray Parlour in the side even if it were at the expense of one of their superstars. This got me to thinking how pleased I am to be a Sunderland supporter at present. Think about it, no gutless superstars hiding on Saturday afternoons but all too visible in post and pre match interviews spouting the tired old excuses for yet another "inexplicable" defeat. Nobody on wages that are so ridiculously out of step with performance they generate the sort of resentment that became apparent over our last 2 seasons. Having pre and post match drinks and banter with real fans who have stuck with their team through everything despite being taunted and ridiculed by johnny come lately glory hunting tosspots that wouldn't know a footballer if he were stood in their living room wearing his strip. Even the blood and thunder style of football suits me fine. Error driven the excitement may be but at least it gets the old juices flowing. I'm not saying our club shouldn't show ambition, don't get me wrong, winning the Premier or Champs League would be something special, and if by some miracle it could be done with a smattering of home produced talent in the side even more so, but as things stand in the game at present I couldn't give a toss about the Champions League.

Look at it like this, if you were a Chelsea fan and over the next few years you won every honour in the game what would it really mean to you? Would you feel a sense of acheivement? Would you feel proud?. IMO it says a lot about the modern game and some of it's supporters that some fans would celebrate the fact that a guy with no connection to the club whatsoever has appeared out of the blue and bought them some trophies. Hand on heart it would mean nothing to me.

By the way, this isn't sour grapes and it's nothing to do with past seasons or recent results, it's about my love for the game and what it means to me and it's just that for the first time in a long while I'm looking forward to games and enjoying feeling proud to be a Sunderland fan again.
 


fantastic post. I'm loving this season so far, trying to guess which players are going to come through for us. Even losing at Stoke wasn't so bad, because we kept fighting second half and we looked like a proper football club again..........
 
Hell of a lot of Arsenal fans on phone in's are total nobs IMHO but I can't belive the majority arn't as happy as pigs in poo with there current squad even if they don't do it in europe.
 
Top post Cass. I've already said on here before that despite being relegated and having to put up with the shite from the Mags about the Nationwide blah, blah, blah, I'm enjoying this season enormously for the reasons you and others have already stated. The fact that there's more football to be seen (46 league games, early entry to the cup competitions). Add to that the fact that the league isn't a foregone conclusion (Wigan for the title?) and the corporate/money/star shite is all but done away with and this is 'proper' footy. Loving it. :)
 
Can you give me writing lessons?

Top post!

The match has changed for me over the years. When I was young and had no sense I bought er I went to the match with my mates and came home fufilled. Then I as got older I went for a jar or 2 and took the car now and again. Around the butcher era I gave up taking the car and had a dam good drink afore and after to lesson the pain. I had kids and went out with my mates less in general but despite the good years from '98 onwards, I've continued in the same vein of a dam good drink ever since.

My (total) passion for SAFC is coming back this season after going to the match and not looking forward to much apart from the crack with me mates. The Lads are on my mind a lot now, who'll play, who's injured, where are we in the table etc. For the previous 18 months (my sabatical from this board) I still went the home games but with little hope of any positive signs.

The SST and then the good results have cheered me up no end.

Haway the Lads.
 
ned_werby said:
Top post Cass. I've already said on here before that despite being relegated and having to put up with the shite from the Mags about the Nationwide blah, blah, blah, I'm enjoying this season enormously for the reasons you and others have already stated. The fact that there's more football to be seen (46 league games, early entry to the cup competitions). Add to that the fact that the league isn't a foregone conclusion (Wigan for the title?) and the corporate/money/star shite is all but done away with and this is 'proper' footy. Loving it. :)

Couldn't agree more, I found myself during pre-season looking forward to this season more than ever because I knew we'd be back down to the fans he gave a shit and wanted to come and cheer the team on no matter what. Also, the prospect of coming back up and knowing I'm one of a few who've stood by the team and that as the stadium fills up, half of them in there couldn't honestly call themselves die hard fans.

The thing about players coming through is so true as well. Mag friends of mine thought I was mad when the final score came through after the Stoke game and I was like "at least Kyle scored again" because for a lot of them they wouldnt understand the concept of young lads trying their hearts out just to get near the first team and then finally coming good - not since the days of clark, watson etc. has this applied to them
 
Arsenal fans are suddenly in the huff when in reality they have been batting well above their station for about 6 years. With Man Utds cash they should have been miles behind but Wenger has played a blinder and they have kept level and even won the double a couple of times.
 
First Class post Cass !

For me, it's all about the feeling I had coming out of the game after Saturday's Palace game, I can honestly say hand on heart I've never felt so good after a match in years.

To get that feeling on a Saturday afternoon, to be with your mates, to enjoy the craic, that's the hokey cokey of it all !! :D :D
 
toontoon said:
Arsenal fans are suddenly in the huff when in reality they have been batting well above their station for about 6 years. With Man Utds cash they should have been miles behind but Wenger has played a blinder and they have kept level and even won the double a couple of times.

Fair comment, but as a Mag what does the game mean to you?
 
Nice Cass, straight from the heart is nice to hear.
It has become very clear that the club wasn't only going downhill because of financial problems and standards on the field. We had lost something a lot more important to the fans, an involvement with the players, a connection that showed an affinity between the 2 most important factors in the club, the paying supporter and the commited player. Im seeing this relationship being built again and the fight is for a common cause. Can't wait for Saturday to sing my heart out for the lads.
 
cassandra said:
toontoon said:
Arsenal fans are suddenly in the huff when in reality they have been batting well above their station for about 6 years. With Man Utds cash they should have been miles behind but Wenger has played a blinder and they have kept level and even won the double a couple of times.

Fair comment, but as a Mag what does the game mean to you?


The game probably means too much to me, get myself worked up and let it spoil my day/weekend when it shouldnt, waste so much of my cash/free time following them around.

Think most of us are sick of the over paid pricks but then you have to say what is normal pay for a footballer, most of SAFC lot will be on over £100k a year I would guess and they still only work about 20 hours a week.

I still enjoy the games though the sanitised home game now is pretty dull, not much atmosphere and clueless ***** who boo them off of they are not winning at half time / full time yet never contribute to the atmosphere but are the first to call up radio 5.

I still go for drinks with the same people pre and post match that I have done for about 12 years and this is the real reason I go up as otherwise I wouldnt see them living so far away, if I am not able to drink (ie have to drive myself up midweek) then usually I dont make the trip.

I just want to see us win something at some point ever as I am now up to season number 22.

Dont think I could ever give the game up but at the same time I will think long and hard about introducing any kids I have as the way the game has gone I dont know if it will still be worth going in 10 years or so.
 
T-Total said:
I've never felt so good after a match in years.

To get that feeling on a Saturday afternoon, to be with your mates, to enjoy the craic, that's the hokey cokey of it all !! :D :D

I know exactly what you mean mate. It's been a long, long time since I saw so many supporters look so happy after a game. With all of that last-minute excitement the place was buzzing! :p

To me it's all about trying to get back home as often as I can to coincide with a game. To meet up with my best mates in the pub before the match and to go out around the town on the night afterwards.

I got into properly supporting The Lads relatively late for one reason or another, but my feelings for the team, club and my fellow fans is so strong now I couldn't imagine living without it!
 
Its about the endless anticipation and the hope that one day all will come good and the silverware will come back. Its about "enjoying" the bad times as best you can withuot giving up on the club, because enduring those bad times will make any success much richer to savour.

Its about believing in something that you know is never going to change. Its knowing that when I'm 75 and Sunderland win a game, there are peope out there that I won't have seen or talked too for 50 years that will see that result and think, Monster will be happy at the moment, wonder what he's doing now.
 
Some quality replies lads, many thanks.

I'm filling up here, what with the Jarrow Marchers post and some of your own heartfelt comments about our club; it's all too much for me.
 
Ah the magic of match days.
I love the whole thing. Nowadays I tend to drive up to my folks' on Frdiay night to spend the evening with them. Bus into town in the morning for opening time dunno whether it's just me but the city centre seems to have a buzz of anticipation on match days.Into the pub for pre match discussions/predictions and a few drinks with friends and family. Quarter to three I take my seat in SJP (When I first got my ticket didn't know any of the people sitting around me, as my family and friends are scattered all around the ground, but now I know them well enough to have a bit of banter) After the usual rollercoaster of emotions of the game it's back to The Strawberry for post match euphoria/postmortem .Then back to my folks' to further analyse the match with my Dad and watch it on the premiership.

This Saturday's match is my first one this season cos of holidays etc. And I can't wait :D
 
Wordy buggers :wink:

Footy isn't life and death for me I'm afraid. Life and death is, things like falling in love :oops: or meeting up with good friends or a birth in the family as happened to me last week.

Footy to me is soap opera in many ways. We win, I'm happy, we lose, I don't take it too much to heart. The interest comes from what's happening at the club. That's why to me in many ways the best season was 97-98, a rollercoaster, starting from despair, developing into joy and hope ultimately to fail at the final hurdle in a classic finale. 98-99 was fun, but almost became too much of a stroll (not that I was complaining of course).

The times I've felt most detached from the game are the dull periods. The final year under Reid when the regime had clearly failed but was still in power was the worst. Even got more enjoyment out of last season, where a story - albeit a horrible one - was developing.

Three own goals in 7 minutes, one league point until August - it was a sad tale, but in a bizarre way an interesting one all the same. And now we're back and on the march, learning how to play passing football with a manager who has much to prove to his critics. It's fun and interesting and I love it.

But it's only football, not life and death. Entertainment!
 
for me the actual game is only 50% of the deal

meeting my mates and a having a few sherberts and talking crap before and after the game... bimbling about avrious pubs post match meeting up with old faces from yesteryear.. marvelous

to be honest if i got in my car went to the game and went home again i doubt i would have stuck at it for 22 seasons....

there is no finer feeling than watching your team give someone a damn good twatting and then heading of to the pub knowing your going to have a damn good night on the back of it...
 
TheRef said:
T-Total said:
I've never felt so good after a match in years.

To get that feeling on a Saturday afternoon, to be with your mates, to enjoy the craic, that's the hokey cokey of it all !! :D :D

I know exactly what you mean mate. It's been a long, long time since I saw so many supporters look so happy after a game. With all of that last-minute excitement the place was buzzing! :p

To me it's all about trying to get back home as often as I can to coincide with a game. To meet up with my best mates in the pub before the match and to go out around the town on the night afterwards.

I got into properly supporting The Lads relatively late for one reason or another, but my feelings for the team, club and my fellow fans is so strong now I couldn't imagine living without it!

Uncanny! I could have written this exact wording myself, and I too could not imagine life without it. The thing that really gets to me is that as Marcus Stewart stuck the penalty away, I was going absolutely mental with people I have never met before in my life. In my comparitively short association with the club I can honestly say that I have made some of the closest friends I have as a direct result.
 
toontoon said:
I still enjoy the games though the sanitised home game now is pretty dull, not much atmosphere and clueless ***** who boo them off of they are not winning at half time / full time yet never contribute to the atmosphere but are the first to call up radio 5.

Your general "Your On Sky Sports" caller too. There is a whole subsection of the supporting populus

Dont think I could ever give the game up but at the same time I will think long and hard about introducing any kids I have as the way the game has gone I dont know if it will still be worth going in 10 years or so.

No matter how angry football can make you. It's still has massive power over us all. I have been thinking about going to Australia but, as much as any other reasons I have, I'm worried about not getting my football fix. :cry:
 
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