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The Official Sunderland v Bristol City Match Day Thread 14

havanatopia

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havanatopia

havanatopia

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40 years, 5 months and 9 days. Highfield Road. It was a fixture pile up at the end of the 1976/77 football league season and a rare Thursday evening kick off in Coventry that would bring the curtain down on the entire season for Coventry and Bristol City. City would be safe with a draw, but Coventry needed a win to be certain of survival unless our opponents today somehow construed to lose. It was such a big event that supposedly one Bristol judge adjourned his court early so that jurors would be able to get to the game.

Perhaps most of us have forgotten but the controversy that was to unravel was set in motion by Jimmy Hill; So large was the crowd eager to watch the battle at Highfield Road that the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes at his request. Coventry's well-known managing director, and future Match of the Day presenter, Jimmy Hill asked for a delay to ostensibly to let in fans who had been held up by traffic. How remarkably convenient that delay would turn out to be.

Coventry took an early 2-0 lead, but the Robins fought back and towards the end of the second half, the teams were tied at 2-2 when news came through that Sunderland had been beaten 2-0 by Everton in the match which had kicked off at the earlier regulation time. That would mean both City and Coventry would stay up if the score remained the same. According to the Friday edition of the Daily Mirror, Jimmy Hill then “raced to the announcer’s box with the result [from the Sunderland game], screaming ‘Get it on the board’ ”.

For the last five minutes City passed the ball about between defenders and goalkeeper without a single challenge from Coventry.

According to a contemporary report in the Guardian “what had been an intensely physical contest dissolved farcically”. The point apiece was enough to keep both teams in the top flight and send Sunderland down.

Sunderland understandably were not happy about what had happened and Jimmy Hill was reprimanded by the Football Association, but the scores and Sunderland’s relegation stood.

Many Sunderland fans held a lasting grudge against Jimmy Hill and when Sunderland played his then club Fulham, in 2008, he waved to the Sunderland fans in response to their less-than-friendly chants and had to be ushered away by police for his own safety.

While City were complicit, and understandably so, it was Jimmy Hill who set the wheels in motion. 

A year earlier of course both Sunderland and City had been promoted to the top flight with Sunderland winning their first ever Division 2 league title on what, today, looks a meagre ration of 56 points. They won the title mainly because of a virtually impenetrable Roker Park; winning 19 of their 21 home league fixtures and losing none. A phenomenal record. Conversely, they lost 10 away from home exactly double the number of defeats City suffered who were runners up on 53 points and ahead of West Bromwich Albion on goal difference. 

Three years after making history as the first postwar FA Cup winners from outside the top flight, Sunderland finally made their way back to the First Division after six years away by winning the Second Division title under the stewardship of Bob Stokoe. Little were they to know how they would spend only a year back.

Sunderland moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 and City are unbeaten there; admittedly we have only made one league visit drawing 1-1 in 1998. The Black Cats won the return fixture by a single goal in March of 1999 and our respective fortunes for that season could not have been more different:-

Pos    Team    Pl    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
1.    Sunderland    46    31    12    3    91    28    105
2.    Bradford City    46    26    9    11    82    47    87
3.    Ipswich Town    46    26    8    12    69    32    86
4.    Birmingham City    46    23    12    11    66    37    81
5.    Watford    46    21    14    11    65    56    77
6.    Bolton Wanderers    46    20    16    10    78    59    76
7.    Wolverhampton Wanderers    46    19    16    11    64    43    73
8.    Sheffield United    46    18    13    15    71    66    67
9.    Norwich City    46    15    17    14    62    61    62
10.    Huddersfield Town    46    15    16    15    62    71    61
11.    Grimsby Town    46    17    10    19    40    52    61
12.    West Bromwich Albion    46    16    11    19    69    76    59
13.    Barnsley    46    14    17    15    59    56    59
14.    Crystal Palace    46    14    16    16    58    71    58
15.    Tranmere Rovers    46    12    20    14    63    61    56
16.    Stockport County    46    12    17    17    49    60    53
17.    Swindon Town    46    13    11    22    59    81    50
18.    Crewe Alexandra    46    12    12    22    54    78    48
19.    Portsmouth    46    11    14    21    57    73    47
20.    Queens Park Rangers    46    12    11    23    52    61    47
21.    Port Vale    46    13    8    25    45    75    47
22.    Bury    46    10    17    19    35    60    47
23.    Oxford United    46    10    14    22    48    71    44
24.    Bristol City    46    9    15    22    57    80    42
 

It has been a long time then since we have locked horns with Sunderland. And after some truly shocking transfer decisions by the club many of which have been failures and financial disasters the club find themselves in a well publicised meltdown off the pitch; On it the aftershocks are clear for all to see. Sunderland, many say, will be lucky to avoid administration. 6 top flight titles, 2 FA Cups and now on the precipice. They love their football in the North East; I don't think there is any doubt they are more passionate than most but they have had their fair share of heartbreak, as a cumulative football lot, having lost 3 of their previously 6 league teams, Gateshead, Darlington and most recently Hartlepool all falling down the football pyramid. That Sunderland are in imminent danger is not in question but they will remain a dangerous wounded animal for any team that takes them lightly. As we have seen in this division, quite possibly the most exciting in world football, any team can beat any other. Leeds beating us and falling at home to the Blades last night, a case in point. 

I travelled through that part of England a few years back and that was not the first of my visits. The entire rural area, particularly up and down the coast, always struck me as ghostingly beautiful yet interspersed with large towns and conurbations that were blots on the landscape. I always think of the area when I listen to Tunnel of Love by Dire Straits when Mark Knopfler sings about Spanish City, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay. Spanish City a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach in fact immortalised the Dire Straits song by playing it every morning upon opening. 

image.png.9a599026f74786381513685a57323193.png

And now I'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
Searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
In any shooting gallery where promises are made
To rockaway rockaway from cullercoats and whitley bay out to rockaway.

MKnopfler.

The depression of the cities of the North East seems to make way for non stop beauty once past the ghastly town of Blyth and its river of the same name. I nearly bought a property in Blyth once; I dodged a bullet there I can tell you. All the way up the coast to Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and Berwick one cannot really find a greater beauty in contrast to what came before. The North East football map is a glue that binds those towns and cities together against depression and loss and without it there is a something missing for many communities. I have heard it, read about it and seen it. I would find the relegation, the administration even, of such a great club as Sunderland a truly sad loss to the game. I believe many would not have mourned the relegations of Manchester City or Leeds United to the third tier in recent times, many also not Sheffield United or Wednesday and the litany of other medium to large clubs with glorious histories of success; I think many more would mourn Sunderland's demise. And they have only ever spent 1 season in the 3rd tier in 1988/89 and went straight back up as Champions. The rest of their history, since 1880 has been in the top 2 divisions. City finished 5th that season by the way.

To the 2000 or so traveling today my hat, once again, is doffed to you. A remarkable effort for such a long and expensive journey. Help bring back the spoils folks. Do try and see some of the countryside especially north of Blyth, truly beautiful part of this great country.

Come on the Robins.

Edited by havanatopia
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Jerseybean

Jerseybean

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Posted

Great stuff Hav. Incredible to think that it was 40 odd years ago that I stood on the terraces at Highfield Road, among so many others, and witnessed what you describe unfolding. What a night that was!

You paint a delightful picture of the beauty of the North East which serves to reinforce my intention to, hopefully one day, visit the many areas of my homeland I have yet to see, including the NE.

In the meantime I’m about to dust off my Dire Straits collection and look forward to a good City performance and City winning, 2-1 I fancy.

Travel well and sing your hearts out the travelling Red Army.

CTID.

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weepywall

weepywall

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Could be tricky today me thinks. That winless run has to end sometime and we normally oblige. After 1 point from 2 home games if we are to be considered genuine contenders for the top 6 I think we need 4 points from these 2 away games and that is a tough ask, an early goal today though and we should take the points.

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GeordieRed

GeordieRed

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Posted

Wonderful and entertaining stuff as always from the Hav. I too was at Coventry all those years ago and still feel our relegation from the old first division to be but a blip and remain confident of our return - someday! 

I now live in Whitley Bay, and have done so for last 30 years, just a few hundred yards away from Spanish City which I'm pleased to say is finally being refurbished as is the whole of the Whitley Bay sea front. From Sunderland Its not too far up the A19 and through the Tyne Tunnel (toll £1.70] and worth a visit if you have time, The description of the North East coastline is accurate: fantastic scenery and a great part of the country. Me and my Geordie wife will be there today and as a current City supporter who was a born Newcastle fan she has two reasons for wanting a victory for the lads today. 

 

CTID

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havanatopia

havanatopia

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Posted (edited)
52 minutes ago, Fordy62 said:

Wow. Look at some of the teams in that 1998 table. Just shows how fragile football is!

You are particularly thinking of Tranmere and Stockport no doubt. I am reminded of those two whenever I see their respective scores in the lower non league echelons. A lot of clubs from an approximately 50 mile radius, those two included, have all fallen into non league football and many have yet to return or have started to yo yo such as Southport, Wrexham, Chester and Macclesfield. That is 6 teams. A cold wind blows in the north west just has it has done in north east.

Edited by havanatopia
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SoliCyder

SoliCyder

Posted
Posted

Having lived in the North East for a significant percentage of my adult life I can't echo enough the hope that Sunderland do not implode as they seem in danger of doing. And I say this as a Newcastle sympathiser. 

While there is undoubtedly much post-industrial blight there are also many great towns and cities in the NE - Newcastle, Durham, Hexham and Castle Barnard for example. The countryside is indeed as beautiful as eulogised by Havanatopia. 

As for the football today I'm going for 2-0 City. Will be tough but we're good enough to get the win methinks.

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BigTone

BigTone

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, havanatopia said:

40 years, 5 months and 9 days. Highfield Road. It was a fixture pile up at the end of the 1976/77 football league season and a rare Thursday evening kick off in Coventry that would bring the curtain down on the entire season for Coventry and Bristol City. City would be safe with a draw, but Coventry needed a win to be certain of survival unless our opponents today somehow construed to lose. It was such a big event that supposedly one Bristol judge adjourned his court early so that jurors would be able to get to the game.

Perhaps most of us have forgotten but the controversy that was to unravel was set in motion by Jimmy Hill; So large was the crowd eager to watch the battle at Highfield Road that the kick-off was delayed by 15 minutes at his request. Coventry's well-known managing director, and future Match of the Day presenter, Jimmy Hill asked for a delay to ostensibly to let in fans who had been held up by traffic. How remarkably convenient that delay would turn out to be.

Coventry took an early 2-0 lead, but the Robins fought back and towards the end of the second half, the teams were tied at 2-2 when news came through that Sunderland had been beaten 2-0 by Everton in the match which had kicked off at the earlier regulation time. That would mean both City and Coventry would stay up if the score remained the same. According to the Friday edition of the Daily Mirror, Jimmy Hill then “raced to the announcer’s box with the result [from the Sunderland game], screaming ‘Get it on the board’ ”.

For the last five minutes City passed the ball about between defenders and goalkeeper without a single challenge from Coventry.

According to a contemporary report in the Guardian “what had been an intensely physical contest dissolved farcically”. The point apiece was enough to keep both teams in the top flight and send Sunderland down.

Sunderland understandably were not happy about what had happened and Jimmy Hill was reprimanded by the Football Association, but the scores and Sunderland’s relegation stood.

Many Sunderland fans held a lasting grudge against Jimmy Hill and when Sunderland played his then club Fulham, in 2008, he waved to the Sunderland fans in response to their less-than-friendly chants and had to be ushered away by police for his own safety.

While City were complicit, and understandably so, it was Jimmy Hill who set the wheels in motion. 

A year earlier of course both Sunderland and City had been promoted to the top flight with Sunderland winning their first ever Division 2 league title on what, today, looks a meagre ration of 56 points. They won the title mainly because of a virtually impenetrable Roker Park; winning 19 of their 21 home league fixtures and losing none. A phenomenal record. Conversely, they lost 10 away from home exactly double the number of defeats City suffered who were runners up on 53 points and ahead of West Bromwich Albion on goal difference. 

Three years after making history as the first postwar FA Cup winners from outside the top flight, Sunderland finally made their way back to the First Division after six years away by winning the Second Division title under the stewardship of Bob Stokoe. Little were they to know how they would spend only a year back.

Sunderland moved to the Stadium of Light in 1997 and City are unbeaten there; admittedly we have only made one league visit drawing 1-1 in 1998. The Black Cats won the return fixture by a single goal in March of 1999 and our respective fortunes for that season could not have been more different:-

Pos    Team    Pl    W    D    L    F    A    Pts
1.    Sunderland    46    31    12    3    91    28    105
2.    Bradford City    46    26    9    11    82    47    87
3.    Ipswich Town    46    26    8    12    69    32    86
4.    Birmingham City    46    23    12    11    66    37    81
5.    Watford    46    21    14    11    65    56    77
6.    Bolton Wanderers    46    20    16    10    78    59    76
7.    Wolverhampton Wanderers    46    19    16    11    64    43    73
8.    Sheffield United    46    18    13    15    71    66    67
9.    Norwich City    46    15    17    14    62    61    62
10.    Huddersfield Town    46    15    16    15    62    71    61
11.    Grimsby Town    46    17    10    19    40    52    61
12.    West Bromwich Albion    46    16    11    19    69    76    59
13.    Barnsley    46    14    17    15    59    56    59
14.    Crystal Palace    46    14    16    16    58    71    58
15.    Tranmere Rovers    46    12    20    14    63    61    56
16.    Stockport County    46    12    17    17    49    60    53
17.    Swindon Town    46    13    11    22    59    81    50
18.    Crewe Alexandra    46    12    12    22    54    78    48
19.    Portsmouth    46    11    14    21    57    73    47
20.    Queens Park Rangers    46    12    11    23    52    61    47
21.    Port Vale    46    13    8    25    45    75    47
22.    Bury    46    10    17    19    35    60    47
23.    Oxford United    46    10    14    22    48    71    44
24.    Bristol City    46    9    15    22    57    80    42
 

It has been a long time then since we have locked horns with Sunderland. And after some truly shocking transfer decisions by the club many of which have been failures and financial disasters the club find themselves in a well publicised meltdown off the pitch; On it the aftershocks are clear for all to see. Sunderland, many say, will be lucky to avoid administration. 6 top flight titles, 2 FA Cups and now on the precipice. They love their football in the North East; I don't think there is any doubt they are more passionate than most but they have had their fair share of heartbreak, as a cumulative football lot, having lost 3 of their previously 6 league teams, Gateshead, Darlington and most recently Hartlepool all falling down the football pyramid. That Sunderland are in imminent danger is not in question but they will remain a dangerous wounded animal for any team that takes them lightly. As we have seen in this division, quite possibly the most exciting in world football, any team can beat any other. Leeds beating us and falling at home to the Blades last night, a case in point. 

I travelled through that part of England a few years back and that was not the first of my visits. The entire rural area, particularly up and down the coast, always struck me as ghostingly beautiful yet interspersed with large towns and conurbations that were blots on the landscape. I always think of the area when I listen to Tunnel of Love by Dire Straits when Mark Knopfler sings about Spanish City, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay. Spanish City a smaller version of Blackpool's Pleasure Beach in fact immortalised the Dire Straits song by playing it every morning upon opening. 

image.png.9a599026f74786381513685a57323193.png

And now I'm searching through these carousels and the carnival arcades
Searching everywhere from steeplechase to palisades
In any shooting gallery where promises are made
To rockaway rockaway from cullercoats and whitley bay out to rockaway.

MKnopfler.

The depression of the cities of the North East seems to make way for non stop beauty once past the ghastly town of Blyth and its river of the same name. I nearly bought a property in Blyth once; I dodged a bullet there I can tell you. All the way up the coast to Bamburgh, Lindisfarne and Berwick one cannot really find a greater beauty in contrast to what came before. The North East football map is a glue that binds those towns and cities together against depression and loss and without it there is a something missing for many communities. I have heard it, read about it and seen it. I would find the relegation, the administration even, of such a great club as Sunderland a truly sad loss to the game. I believe many would not have mourned the relegations of Manchester City or Leeds United to the third tier in recent times, many also not Sheffield United or Wednesday and the litany of other medium to large clubs with glorious histories of success; I think many more would mourn Sunderland's demise. And they have only ever spent 1 season in the 3rd tier in 1988/89 and went straight back up as Champions. The rest of their history, since 1880 has been in the top 2 divisions. City finished 5th that season by the way.

To the 2000 or so traveling today my hat, once again, is doffed to you. A remarkable effort for such a long and expensive journey. Help bring back the spoils folks. Do try and see some of the countryside especially north of Blyth, truly beautiful part of this great country.

Come on the Robins.

Condensed Version

Sunderland:

Come on you Reds !

1-0 City

 

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downendcity

downendcity

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Posted
18 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Usurper ! 

I spent minutes doing my matchday thread and you come along , all Mr high and bloody mighty with your " Official " one , rattled off , no doubt in two or three hours ! 

I don't know why I bother .

 

Doesn't the doctor prescribe it as therapy, along with the medication?

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Major Isewater

Major Isewater

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Posted
1 minute ago, Juan Kerr said:

After we beat Bradford in 1989, we lost our next game 1-0, to Chester bloody City! I never feel confident with City. :blink:

We are not the same club . 

I believe that we are harder , more professional than at anytime in the past.

The First Division side was known for it's " camaraderie " as much as for it's skill and application.

Things are different these days , everything is monitored and nothing is left to chance in the preparation. 

These lads are highly tuned athletes.

So, putting aside the vagaries of football, we shouldn't find ourselves basking in glory after our last win and should find a team chomping at the bit to put Sunderland to the sword . ( not literally that would be a red card of course ) 

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BanburyRed

BanburyRed

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Posted

Fair play and respect to those that have made the journey today. :clap: Having driven it a couple of times in the distant past it's a chuffing long way!!

Seem to remember a game at old Roker Park, bloody freezing, City contingent all coats n hats n scarves, Mackems on open terrace in t-shirts, calling us southern lightweights! Funny singing 'where's your famous Roker roar?' over the terrace fence at them, as well as waving £5/£10 notes.....happy days!

Fancy City today for at least a point, score first then pressure all on them, especially at home. They're fragile.

2-1 City......:city:

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