I’m absolutely gutted for Darren Bent. It’s just been officially confirmed by the FA that Bent hasn’t made the 23-man England squad for the World Cup.

Despite the fact that Darren has scored 24 Premier League goals this season, playing in every one of Sunderland’s games, Fabio has opted to take Emile Heskey instead… a strange decision considering Mr Capello’s assertion that he “will pick players based on form”. I’m not sure how 3 league goals constitutes good form, but there you have it.

Darren tweeted this earlier:

Am gutted. But thank you for all your support this season.

I really hope Benty can overcome the disappointment and prove his doubters wrong (again) by banging more goals in for us next season. Keep your chin up DB.

Tags: Darren Bent,England,football,World Cup
Categories: Sport
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Well, the Premier League fixtures have been announced! We open the season away at Bolton on Saturday 15th August before playing host to Chelsea at the Stadium of Light the following Tuesday. We have a home fixture on Boxing Day for the 8th season in a row, this time against Everton. Our final home game of the campaign will be against Man Utd on 1st May. We end the season on Sunday 9th May with a trip to newly promoted Wolves.

Feel free to subscribe to my Google Calendar, which contains all this season’s Sunderland AFC fixtures:

Ha’way the lads!

Tags: football,SAFC,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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How many more times are Sunderland going to be on the receiving end of some absolutely appalling refereeing decisions? Yesterday we beat Stoke 2-0 at the Stadium of Light, although it wasn’t until the last quarter of an hour that we took the lead. We should have been ahead at half time but thanks to what I can describe at best as “incompetent”, Rob Styles and his assistant failed to spot one of the most blatant handballs you are ever likely to see!

Luckily we went on to win the game, but these poor decisions are costing us points almost every week now. Considering the Premier League is supposed to be “the best league in the world”, surely it’s about time the standard of refereeing was closely examined?

Tags: football,SAFC,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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Woohoo! Congratulations to Roy Keane, all the players, Niall Quinn, the Drumaville consortium and all the backroom staff – Sunderland AFC secured their Premiership status today with a 3-2 win over Middlesbrough.

As Birmingham only managed a draw at home to Liverpool, we are now seven points clear of the relegation zone with only six points to play for. Let’s hope we can bring in some quality players in the summer that will help take us to the next level. (Top ten finish?).

Good luck for next season lads!

Tags: football,Niall Quinn,Roy Keane,SAFC,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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Andy Reid’s winner against West Ham deep into injury time could well be the goal that keeps Sunderland in the Premier League.

Our 2-1 victory today at the Stadium of Light moves us up into 13th place, just above Newcastle. The atmosphere was superb, the crowd of 45,690 fans being very vocal. We are now seven points clear of the relegation zone with six games left to play, (three away and three at home).

We started the game very poorly and went a goal down after some poor defensive work with less than twenty minutes on the clock, Freddie Ljungberg firing in from the right side of the box. This seemed to spark us into action and we were level again ten minutes later, Kenwyne Jones tapping into an empty net from Daryl Murphy’s flick on following some good work from Keiran Richardson. Before half time, Craig Gordon kept us on level terms with an absolutely stunning fingertip save from Carlton Cole’s curling shot.

The second half was all Sunderland. We came out of the blocks quickly and had a number of decent chances on goal, including a clearance off the line from a Danny Collins’ header. With eighty-odd minutes on the clock, I thought we’d blown it when Murphy shot over an almost open goal from about ten yards out. However, with five minutes injury time signalled we kept on pushing and eventually got the goal we deserved in the final minute of the game. Anton Ferdinand failed to clear Carlos Edwards’ cross, his header flicking the ball towards Andy Reid. With almost the last kick of the game, Reid let the ball drop and unleashed a powerful left-foot volley into the back of the net.

We’ve now managed back-to-back victories in the Premier League for the first time since 2001, following last week’s win at Villa. Let’s hope we can continue this run of good form and make it three in a row at Fulham next week. Ha’way the lads!

Tags: Andy Reid,football,SAFC,Sunderland,West Ham
Categories: Sport
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This little snippet of commentary from North East radio station Metro FM is one of the greatest sound bites ever!

It was 18th November 2000 and the final whistle had just been blown at St. James’ Park, sealing a 2-1 win away from home for Sunderland AFC against Newcastle United, our local rivals. Simon Crabtree, the Metro FM commentator, gave an end of match speech reminiscent of Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien’s 1981 “Maggie Thatcher” rant. It went like this…

“There is the final whistle! Ant and Dec, Sting, Alan Shearer, Sir John Hall, Jimmy Nail, Donna Air, Bobby Robson, Robson Green, Jackie Milburn, Tony Blair… can you hear me Tony Blair? Your boys have taken one hell of a beating!”

Reading the words on screen doesn’t do it justice – you have to listen to the man himself. Cue Crabbers:

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Tags: football,Newcastle,NUFC,SAFC,Sunderland,Tony Blair
Categories: Funny, Sport
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Listen to Brian Moore’s commentary on Ian Porterfield’s winning goal in the 1973 FA Cup Final. This makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time I hear it!

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Tags: 1973,FA Cup,football,Ian Porterfield,SAFC,Sunderland
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I was greatly saddened this evening to learn of the untimely death of one of the greatest heroes in Sunderland AFC’s proud history, Mr Ian Porterfield. My most sincere condolences go to Ian’s wife Glenda and the rest of his family.

I hadn’t been born when we won the FA Cup in ‘73, but I have watched the DVD many times and have heard wonderful memories of the match from family members.

Ian Porterfield – you will always be remembered as a true legend that will go down in Sunderland AFC folklore forever.

R.I.P.

Tags: 1973,FA Cup,football,Ian Porterfield,SAFC,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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Just a quick post to say congratulations to Michael Chopra for scoring an injury time winner in his debut against Spurs.

My daughter and I were at the match and had a great day, made even better when Chops put the ball in the back of the net! Hopefully that strike will have won over any doubters that were unhappy with the Geordie’s transfer to SAFC

Tags: football,Michael Chopra,SAFC,Spurs,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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Sunderland AFC have just announced their squad list for the 2007-08 season:

Interestingly, our goalkeeping coach Raimond Van Der Gouw has been registered as a player and has been given squad number 17. The former Man Utd ‘keeper will act as cover, although with four ‘keepers already on the books it might be a sign that one of them could be leaving shortly.

Also of note is that the number 3 shirt – traditionally associated with the left back position – hasn’t been allocated. Could this mean that we have a new LB lined up?

Edit: I have updated this list to include new signings made after the squad numbers were originally announced. Note that Raimond Van Der Gouw no longer has a shirt number, Ian Harte has filled the number 3 slot, Danny Higginbotham has taken Stern John’s shirt (14) and Kenwyne Jones gets Van Der Gouw’s number (17).

Tags: football,SAFC,Sunderland
Categories: Sport
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