With no game this weekend, we gathered a trio of ALS scribes to discuss The Play offs, The Last Roar at Roker and Friday’s Ticketmaster debacle…
So, the season is over. Do you see the play offs as a negative or a positive? Have we failed to reach the top two for the third season in the third tier, or would you have happily accepted the play offs at the turn of the year?
GARY BURRELL
I see it as a huge disappointment. Mainly due to the fact that only five weeks ago I was completely convinced we were going to win the League! We were on such a great run, despite not always playing that well, that yet again I was sucked into a world where logic does not exist and I fell into the trap of believing were going to finish the season as Champions. I’m still furious with myself to be honest. After all these years I still fall for this shit! I just hate the Play-Offs, I’m convinced we’re going to lose and I’m fed up.
DANIEL HUNTER
This is a tough question, when Lee Johnson took over I’d have happily took the play offs considering how poorly we had played under Parkinson. However, the fact we had the title in our hands with eight games left and blew it can only be seen as a negative. This may be controversial, but I would be somewhat okay if we didn’t go up this season, we need a new squad desperately and starting a Championship season with an entirely new squad is a recipe for disaster, just look at our last Championship campaign. If we go up to the Championship we need to make sure we don’t come back down again. So if we rebuild in the summer, win League One next season and go into the Championship with a ready-made squad I’d be far happier.
SOBS
How you feel about ending the season in the play-offs depends entirely on whether you’re a glass half full or glass half empty person – or, indeed, a “well, at least there’s a glass” person. Undoubtedly, we’ve failed to reach the top two for three consecutive seasons – that’s in the statistics, it’s history now, and that can’t and shouldn’t change. Of course that’s a major disappointment, but less so this term than two years ago. Bouncing straight back would have created almost instant momentum, off-field things would (should) have clicked into place, and we would (should) have been on an upward trajectory for the past two years. Who knows where we’d be in that trajectory, but at least we’d have been on it? Failing last year can be written off, in my opinion, as the season simply didn’t happen and final positions were calculated with an algorithm that the current government would probably have laughed off as not fit for purpose. If I’d been asked in August about my feelings on “only” achieving a place in the play-offs (“if”? I was asked loads of times) I’d have taken it grudgingly. Again, if I’d been asked at turn of the year, I’d have given the same answer. A guarantee of a shot at promotion is not as good as actually having it in the bag, but with the way things were panning out last summer, I’d have been happy with a guarantee that the club would still exist at the end of the season. Given where we were a couple of months ago, it’s a failure. Given where we were seven months ago, it’s a success. Look at Donny and Charlton – that could easily have been us. You have to be in it to win it, and we are.
We played our last ever game at Roker Park 24 years ago this week. Did you enjoy the nostalgia trip?
GARY BURRELL
I adored Roker Park. My first Sunderland game was in 1987 and I have rose-tinted views of the beautiful old place every time I wander down memory lane. Yet I didn’t go to that last ever game against Liverpool as I was so pissed off that we’d been relegated. Bit daft really with hindsight, but I couldn’t bring myself to go and watch them in a ‘meaningless’ game after leaving Selhurst Park a broken man only days earlier. As a general rule though, hook me up on a Roker Park drip for the rest of my days and I’ll live a happy and fulfilled life. I can’t get enough.
DANIEL HUNTER
I feel like I’m too young to answer this question considering I was born two years after Roker Park closed! However, from the photos and videos I have seen it looked amazing and I’m gutted I never got to experience the famous Roker Roar. I do have one of the old seats from the stadium in my garden and so does my grandad so I do have a slim connection to the ground.
SOBS
The last game at Roker was nearly quarter of a century ago, a lifetime and many of our fans weren’t even born when the old place was finally closed to prevent it falling to pieces. The nostalgia trip has been enjoyable, of course it has – probably because I’m a nostalgic sort who’s got more to look back on than forward to. Warts and all, it’s where Sunderland fans of my generation, and generations before that, grew up, learned about football, about loyalty in the face of adversity, about how to cope with success and failure, being part of something away from your biological family, and forged lifelong friendships. Publicising and broadcasting the things that went on there has also been a great reminder to the younger fans, those who didn’t experience Roker, of what the club has done, the part the crowd played in those things, and the players who might not be known away from Wearside but who were integral parts of our club’s history. Oh, and let’s not forget the Roker Roar. In typical Sunderland style, the last game was played two days after relegation, but it still attracted our largest home crowd of the season, which tells you a lot. It all puts flesh on the bones of the stories your dad and granddad have been churning out. History exists, you might as well have a look at it. As someone once sang… the only thing to look forward to is the past.
Did you manage to get a ticket for the Lincoln game at the SOL? If So what are your match day plans. If not where will you watch the game?
GARY BURRELL
Are you deliberately trying to piss me off here? I came to this conclusion long ago, but yesterday reiterated the fact that I DESPISE the emotional hold this football club has over me. I did not renew my Season Card last Summer as I was sure we’d not be allowed into the Stadium during the 20/21 campaign, but I now have my seat back again for next season. I knew this meant any chance of attending the Lincoln game were going to be slim to say the least. As of Thursday night I was nice and relaxed and completely fine to watch both Semi-Final legs in the pub or at home. Yet by 9am on Friday morning the Red & White demons had kicked in and I was absolutely desperate for a ticket for me and my son By 9.40am, I was at my desk at work, laptop and phone at the ready and around number 400 in the Ticketmaster queue. Once I entered the site to select my seats for the game, I had a huge rush of adrenaline. I was so excited to text my son and tell him the news that we were going to that game! An hour later, after the single worst online ticket experience I’ve ever had, I was ready to smash up the office up and was absolutely devastated we aren’t going to the game. I’ll never learn. Ever. They say it’s the hope etc....
DANIEL HUNTER
I didn’t get a ticket for the game but after seeing all the carry on with Ticketmaster on Friday morning I’m glad I didn’t bother. I’m at work when the game is on so I won’t be watching, so hopefully we win the tie in the first leg at Sincil Bank, if not I’ll have to keep on sneaking into the back room at work to check the score!
SOBS
Sitting nervously poised over a keyboard, fingers being exercised and passwords checked, is a far less acceptable option, to me at least, than queuing outside the ground – overnight if need be – for a match ticket. If you’re there in person, it’s your fault it you don’t get a ticket, for being too late, choosing the wrong turnstile to queue at, falling asleep and missing your turn, whatever. If you’re internet connection buggers up while you’re trying to negotiate Ticketmaster (booo hiss!), or you simply get lost in the ether or click the wrong button, there’s not much you can do about it. Anyway, enough of that – as we speak, I’ve not got a ticket, having spat my dummy out a year ago and not bought one for the season just gone. I’m working on gaining entry, as I feel compelled to continue the Sunderland fan’s ability to get in where a draught couldn’t. If that fails, I’ll be sitting with my usual home crowd in the Bay Hoss – the big telly is already booked. If it succeeds, I’ll try to replicate my usual home game experience – Isis, Roker End Cafe, match.
