I was going to do one of those clever invite the opposition blogs. You know, chat to my Sunderland supporting mate about how he sees Arsenal, what his own side’s strengths and weaknesses are and generally give the P.A. readership, erudite and urbane as you all are, the chance to see the world through their eyes.
Problem is he’s a bit blinkered with hatred for us (doubtlessly born out of jealousy) and tends to answer even the most ambiguous questions with a long drawn out “Aye”. Only the subtlest alteration in stress or inflection gives you a clue to his thinking. Wouldn’t have read well so I scrapped that idea.
Unperturbed and determined to pursue some semblance of the plan I searched for a few Sunderland blogs online so I could quote extensively from the comments they attracted. Unfortunately the first one I came to had me screaming at the monitor after they talked about Per’s injury which lead to their goal the last time we played up there. They seemed to suggest he was somehow inept or bumbling not to have stopped whichever clodhopping Sunderland player it was that lurched passed him as he lay injured on the floor. I fought down the bile and ploughed on. The next site I came to had robbed my idea. Well, ok it’s a pretty well worn and old idea but I had thought of using it so that much was down to me. This Black Cats blog had interviewed a man who shall remain nameless but writes for a leading allegedly Arsenal supporting blog. He used the platform of today’s opponents supporters blog to display disloyalty, dishonesty, dishonour and generally bleat in the most abject way about how miserable he was that we lost to Birmingham in the widdley diddley cup final and how it wasn’t fair that nasty old Arsene wouldn’t change his ways having singularly failed to replace any of the hundred stars he’s sold in the last two weeks. You catch my drift. I was angrier than ever by now so shut down my search and just started to think about Arsenal versus Sunderland without any outside help thank you very much.
Sunderland to me is two memories. The first shared by many of my generation features a trilby hatted man with a flapping mac and red tights who looked like a nineteen fifties car mechanic and part time Butlins Redcoat in his best clothes on a day out, doing a funny hop skip and bouncy jump across the hallowed turf of Wembley. Bob Stokoe had just witnessed his fabulously coiffured and bewhiskered Sunderland team hand out an unlikely FA cup final defeat to an infamous Leeds United team who were in their pomp back in 1973. The nation cheered as the red and white striped journeymen who had come down to London as little more than sacrificial lambs bullied Leeds (not many did that) and kept them at bay, thanks in no small part to some truly incredible goal keeping from Jim Montgomery. The double save from Trevor Cherry’s header and Lorimer’s follow up shot was so ridiculously good that even as I watch the youtube video now, knowing what will happen, I’m still convinced it goes in. Brian Moore commentating for ITV at the time was equally bewildered, shouting “And a goal … NO.. my goodness I thought Lorimer had got that one”. I’ll draw a veil over the fact that Sunderland knocked us out of the FA Cup in the semis to deny us our rightful chance of revenge against a hated Leeds side who had somehow beaten us in the previous year’s final. It’s a measure of how much Leeds were despised in the early seventies that despite the indignity of being dumped out of the cup by second division opposition I still wanted them to go on and win the cup.
My other memory when I think of Sunderland, shared only by me and my immediate family, is being driven around Roker Park about a dozen times on our way to a bizarre holiday destination somewhere on the North East coast. Mum was wrestling with a Bartholomew’s road atlas and Dad was becoming increasingly exasperated as no matter how many different escape routes she plotted for us the magnetic force of Roker Park pulled us back into it’s orbit. 
Of course Sunderland left their historic home back in 1997 exactly a hundred years after building it on what was originally farm land. Like Arsenal they built and moved into a new shiny stadium and despite the financial implications and inevitable stresses of a stadium move they stuck with the same manager and continued to play in an attractive, exciting style and remained firmly among the elite of European football, their beautiful pitch with it’s flawless playing surface being the envy of other less fortunate clubs.
Oh wait.
Sunderland like many others who’ve built new stadia have struggled to find consistent success. Or even consistent top flight status. In fact the last time they achieved consistent success was between 1891 and 1895 when they won the league three times in four seasons. That 1973 triumph against Leeds was their last ever trophy.
Strangely though, as I was trawling the blogosphere to find Sunderland quotes for my abortive article and whenever I speak to my Sunderland supporting friend the mood was and is always positive. The passion and support and self belief are everywhere self evident. One blog had at least five of the current Sunderland first team better than their opposite numbers in our team. And it’s been forty years without a trophy. Seventy seven years since they won the league. Something to ponder the next time you have to read or listen to some whining anti Arsenal ‘fan’ bitching because Sky told him to about seven years, and trophy droughts.
Modern day Sunderland as far as we’re concerned means packed defences and a lack of ambition at our place and a deliberately ploughed pitch with knee high grass at their place. I feel embarrassed for those passionate loyal supporters having to stand up and shout for a side that showed such a craven lack of self belief and desire at the Emirates or for a club that along with Milan should hang their heads for deliberately creating an unplayable surface just to stop their visitors producing decent football. Having said that their fans have been known to stand and applaud some of our players on occasions so hats off to them for that. O’Neill as a manager has always been an annoying waspish presence on the touchline but he knows how to organise his teams and does have some good players. It’ll be vital Theo has a good game to keep their speedy left back penned in his own half, but if we show the same patience we employed against the Orcs and the bravura with which West Ham and Liverpool were put to the sword we have enough to beat them.
Of course as Per can testify, sometimes a deep hoof print in the wrong place at the wrong time can make a mockery of even the best laid plans.
Positively Arsenal 
Shotta – I’ve been called many many things but that’s a first. I’m getting a T-Shirt made.
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..while smashing the neighbors ferrari… 🙂
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Nice.
The Scouse idiot who does color commentary on my feed is completely itnoring the fact that Sunderland is kicking lumps out of Jack and Aaron. He says Arsenal is looking for cheap cards from the ref.
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steww@ 3:58 pm – There is a clown on my Fox Soccer (US) disputing the the kicking Jack and Walcott took and blaming AW for our players protests.
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Ha! My Russian comms just gibber in Russian and say the players names in English. Perfect.
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*my Fox Soccer feed*. See Gains. He got it right.
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Well, fair play to Sunderland. they haven’t succeeded to play any bit of football, but at least they’ve kicked Jack out of the game. And that half brain commentating on my dodgy stream is talking about how easily Jack goes down all the time.
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Jack Wilshere gets a knock on his bad thigh and the commentator sees nothing in it. Cunt!!!!!
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I suppose now Jack and Theo are England heroes the media have to blame Arsene when they get kicked. You could not fucking make it up. Now they’ve kicked him off the pitch.
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Wasn’t Jack hit when he we went for the 1-2?
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Oh bloody brilliant, now Aaron isdown after Larsson kicked him. Good job, referee.
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And now Larsson kicks Arteta. It’s a proper like for like replacement. One thug for another.
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They kick Jack because they hope he’ll react, given his known temper. I think injuring him isn’t their first aim, they actually want him sent off for retaliating. A referee who refuses to see the persistent fouling is complicit in this.
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no shotta he cheated ..he went down easy to trick the ref ..;) wenger’s dark arts…
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Now its official. Time to kick Arsenal.
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Santi quieter this half. When he is buzzing we come to life in a wholly different way.
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oh shit…
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Oh wow, and now Jenkinson is off. Sunderland players however have a licence to kick us all over the place.
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Well. There’s a surprise. After all the hideous fouls against us it’s an Arsenal player gets sent off.
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Oh that commentator on Fox Soccer Plus IS a proper c+nt. Whenever one of our players gets kicked it’s either “arsenal going down easily” or “looks like he got the ball to me” but when one of their players goes down he somehow never says something like that.
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Bad challenge by Jenks. Made it easy for the ref.
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Theo gets his lip split open but I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.
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@shotta
Unfortunately, yes. Shouldn’t be an excuse for the double standards applied by the referee for almost the whole night.
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Evil February 9, 2013 at 4:22 pm
lol..and the sunderland player holding his leg…haha..as if fouled…
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Bloke slapped Theo then clearly dived and won a free kick.
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ramsey = swiss army knife.
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the post. f me.
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Oh and now that c*nt on Fox Soccer again. “Not sure if that was worthy of a yellow card” He’s like Stewart Robson.
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lmao that cunt of a commentator aint convinced for the foul and yellow on giroud..ahaha
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evil…i feel for you man..im listening to the same twat i think..
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@Hunter
Non-english commentators are the best. At least you don’t know if they are bitching like that guy all the time.
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Ah, the Sp*d loanee is out. He has had a decent game so I am happy to see the back of him.
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Awesome Szcz! World class save after world class save!
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Supporting Arsenal is for the faint hearted. Thank you Positively Arsenal.
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4 more minutes. Come on you Reds. Come on!
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Arsene just said “Fuck’s sake”
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hahaha mignolet..chill out man…. youaint chasing the world cup ..haha ..
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I’m dead. Well deserved. Next time, please use our chances, boys.
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Who said we can’t fight? Christ we rode our luck at times but should have put it out of sight with those chances at the end. First half free flowing beautiful bewildering football. Second half, true grit.
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FUCK YEAH!!!!’!!!!!!!!!
The whole 11 is my man of the match. They all worked their bollocks off and got the much needed win.
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Ye! Yes! Did you guys hear me across the Caribbean? Mental strength and all that guff. This is my fucking team.
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evil? would you say that commentator was routing for a sunderland equaliser ?
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Steww – Larry nearly f*cked up at the end. He needs to read Positively Arsenal. 🙂
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I heard you Shotta. We raised the roof!
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ahh steww “but should have put it out of sight” where is the fun in that?
its nice to see the hobbit looking bastard giving it his all, with his defenders on the half way line and his keeper charging in for the last corner(s), all the sunderland fans pressing and then all of them failling
good times….
p.s… ignore my last, wenger to rip into them for failling to make it 4-0 at ht.
🙂
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Kitchen Sink February 9, 2013 at 2:45 pm
Welcome aboard sorry missed your post in moderation while watching the match but glad you found us.
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Don’t be selfish Larry. We win as a team. Pass when someone has a better chance. Love you.
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Shotta – I thought Larry and Theo had some interference on their transmitters today, they weren’t quite clicking like they usually do but both Santi and Larry can be forgiven for blasting sky high now it’s over. As Hunter says 4 – 0 gets boring if you have it every game.
Toughing out 1 – 0 wins against violent Northern opposition either side of an international break? Yes we can.
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Where the hell is Kitchen Sink? That is someone I had a lot of time for.
BTW: Where the hell is George? Time to gloat.
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and yes its gotta to be said…fantastic atmoshpere on the blog..we were all bricking it im sure but we never showed it. from 70′ till 94′ my heart rate was replicating the link stream…. d d d stop..dd stop..pause..freeze…d d d X ZHHCCRRR..d.d…crrhhhh ssswww z.claxon kapow bouf..1-0 the end..exhale.
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