I won’t go on about Frickley. For one reason, a man of my obvious limitations couldn’t possibly have been there, and for another, because every man and his dog has been doing so all week.
Suffice it to say it must have been quite a performance. Well done.
As, to be fair, was the previous midweek up at North Shields. There is no doubt in my mind that North Shields will be there or thereabouts come the end of the season but my spies tell me that although it finished in a bit of an Alamo performance as Shields tried to win it at the death, before then we had played a very full part and could have scored more than one goal ourselves. Coming after the disappointment of the Northallerton game both of these matches were very good news.
Obviously we have a new team this season, with a lot of youngsters, but it is a pleasure to watch them starting to really come together. And with Sparky having a real August golden patch with goals right, left and centre, overall things look good down at Sunderland LGV Park.
There will be ups and downs this season, we know that, and the club is quite prepared for them and the need to be patient. Or so the fat lad tells me. However in football it is a good deal harder to be patient if things are going wrong, just ask Chelsea last season, or Arsenal in a couple of weeks for that matter, as Arteta gets his cards. Not that RCA entertain any particular plan to win the Champions League this season, but you see what I mean. So all good, a decent start, and hopefully with this young side, more to come.
I did notice however that the esteemed Mr Amos was having a go at us and the rest of the Wearside Northern League clubs in his blog the other day about the dearth of crowds at our grounds. Small but beautifully presented I would say. And he might want to consider this point; given how competitive most of us are with crowds much smaller than the average, how good might we all be if we regularly pulled in 300 or 400 hundred? Given the depth of football talent in this old town of ours, maybe a good bit better than some older, better supported clubs? Maybe then they would have to go and find their own players instead of just pinching ours. I jest of course. Anyway, be careful what you wish for is what I say …
And to be fair someone from Northallerton was good enough to comment kindly through Mike’s blog on the state of the ground and the pitch.
Meanwhile over at the SoL, where of course the majority of football supporting people in these parts spend their leisure time, all seems sunshine and light, although the compulsion on the part of a lot of people to try and put the club right, through social media, fan blogs and the rest on team selection, transfer business and most all else, despite clearly not having a scooby, remains in full evidence. I am fairly neutral on this, but it seems to me the club has a plan, pretty much for the first time since Peter Reid left, so maybe the best bet is just to watch and support. I maybe wrong of course, I sometimes am.
Seems to me there is a distinct possiblity of the old Wear/Tyne derbies being resurrected next season, with both old clubs in the Championship. They would draw decent crowds I’m guessing …