A Week in the Life of a Sunderland Fan: The Rollercoaster of Bolton, Lee Johnson, Defoe, Keane… and Doncaster

Authored by Colin Makepeace, a veteran fan attending games for 46 years

A week in the life of a Sunderland Fan is a long long time! Our great support drove down to Bolton last week to see one of the worst performances in the clubs history a 6 0 humping by a side just outside the bottom 4 in L1!! To a man all 11 players downed tools and didn’t perform one bit, we couldn’t pass, tackle or show any passion whatsoever so when Sunday came and LJ was sacked did it really come as any surprise to any fan? My answer now is a huge YES!! 

I`m going to get into the reason I believe LJ was sacked and that is for the PR stunt that is DEFOE. Pinning our hopes on the back of a 39yr old forward instead of sticking to the plan KLD set out with LJ giving him 2 transfer windows and reacting to the fact he didn’t want Defoe but KLD and KS did, the axe fell without a plan going forward. We`re now drifting without a man in charge a week after sacking LJ, who is running this club? 

So to yesterday and the visit of bottom of the table Doncaster to the SOL. 38k fans packed into the SOL to welcome home a Sunderland legend of some 5yrs ago, the PR stunt had certainly paid off in terms of getting bums on seats, but the reality of the team sheet was the beginning of the pisstake PR stunt to lure SAFC fans back. On the back of a 6-0 humping our mickey mouse backroom staff of Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor who btw I`m shocked has any role at the club at all tbh, made 1 change to the starting 11!! UNBELIEVABLE!!

I`m not going to go into the performance as we were all there to see it first hand but for a reaction like that to be allowed to happen as we were bullied all over the pitch was simply embarrassing to every single fan!! The January transfer window brought in 6 players 5 of whom sat on the bench warming their little bums bless them while the likes of Gooch, Embleton, Neil, Cirkin and the hapless Winchester who again was told to play a role he`s not suited to, toiled away to little but no effect whatsoever!! What a way to welcome back that was for the extra 10k that turned up and to the 5k that went to Bolton another kick in the nuts was delivered as we lost 1-2 to said bottom club, a club we had beaten easily not 2 months ago.  

As I sit here on a Sunday morning reflecting on the week gone by I`m left asking the questions what on earth are we doing. KLD spent the last day of the transfer window bringing in Defoe when that could`ve been done outside the window!! Instead of that why was the fullback area not filled as we`ve not got any at the club IMO. Yes a midfielder was bought which we needed badly but no striker to help or rest Stewart, someone along the lines of a Cole Stockton for example would`ve been more important than Defoe who could`ve arrived anytime.

Yes, a lift he has given but that was short lived. In the meantime it’s a week since we sacked LJ and we`re no closer to seeing a new man in place than we were last Monday!! Roy Keane is the fans choice and it appears to be KLD`s so WHY isn’t it done!! A certain WBA sacked their coach on Tuesday and had Brue in charge by Wednesday!! We muck about without a plan of action in place looking like we don’t have a clue what on earth were doing!! 

So I ask KLD get this mess sorted out ASAP you’ve already lost the extra 10k your PR stunt brought in and you`ll lose plenty more if the team continue to put in that shit show of yesterday!! You’ve made a rod for your own back if Keane doesn’t come now and you will look very silly if he doesn’t!! Imagine giving the job to say Warnock, Neil, McCann or Lennon now when the support is all behind Keane….I see yet another shambles coming. 

Its time to bring in leaders both on and off the pitch, we need a strong manager to get this team toughened up for the last 16 games to stop being so nice and soft and we need to find a captain on the pitch which we simply don’t have!! 

Over to you KLD we`re all waiting!!