It was in Tian’anmen Square or on the Great Wall that the seeds of the latest contribution to Who Are You? were sown. The Thomas Cook top sort of gave it away that Dan Wild* was a Manchester City fan. He may be the first classics and ancient history graduate to visit China with a tour group and leave without seeing the terracotta warriors (it was an additional part of the itinerary, not included in the holiday he and his wife, Lesley-Ann, had won). Dan offers a bowdlerised version of Niall Quinn’s Disco Pants, thinks it’ll be 2-1 to City or 4-0 to us on Sunday and welcomes the Eastlands revolution and all those dirhams …

So, are Citeh the truly Manchester club or does everyone overdo the idea that most United fans couldn’t even place it on a map?  

I don’t think people overdo the idea. There are, obviously, a heck of a lot of United fans in Manchester, but (owing, alas, to their success) the vast majority of fans come from far and wide and most of whom without a doubt will never have seen a live game, many of whom probably won’t even have been to England! City lack the global fan base, hence us regarding ourselves as the ‘local club’ where most fans will have been to games live close to the city. 

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Thirty hours ago, Pete Sixsmith were discussing whether we had a clear shared viewpoint on Steve Bruce. Should we, without actually seeking his dismissal, withdraw the support we’ve given him so far? Should there be a good cop/bad cop debate between us on these pages? One home win against Bolton and life seems altogether different, as Pete declares before pausing for more rational thought …

The gloom has lifted. The light shines brightly. The route to European qualification is ahead and I can see clearly now the rain has gone.

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Introducing James Mayne (if the current choice of first name sticks*), one of Sunderland’s youngest fans, who had to fight off dodgy approaches from Blackburn Rovers – and a “beat Bolton or else” ultimatum for his first match – before establishing his Mackem credentials. He is pictured sleeping it off after celebrating the win …

Whatever Ellis Short says to him today, Steve Bruce knows his job is safe for now from those snipers who had been on alert to go into service for Salut! Sunderland.

Six more points from the next two homes games and he’ll have repaired most of the harm done by the atrocious run. Even four points would be an acceptable return. Hopes springs eternal.

But Steve is not the only one with reason to be relieved about last night’s ultimately comfortable dismissal of Bolton.

Step forward young, as in two days young, James Mayne.
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Beating fellow strugglers is a start, not a transformation. But Sunderland fans can allow themselves a huge sigh of relief this morning – and dare to hope that the corner has been turned at last …

Salut! Sunderland is tucking into some humble pie with nothing short of relish.

We demanded nothing less than a win and got one. We hoped the victory would be convincing and it was – see this link. We admitted for the first time that yet another failure, even a draw, would raise questions about Steve Bruce’s managership. And that failure didn’t materialise.
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Sixer’s Sevens is Pete Sixsmith’s pithy summing up of each Sunderland game. Sixer does not mince his words; his seven-word verdict has not always made for pretty reading. Let’s hope for a run of upbeat Sevens inspired by Steve Bruce’s much strengthened squad. The verdict is posted as soon as possible, but be tolerant of any delay. An asterisk denotes a “holding” preview/verdict pending arrival of Sixer’s own or one from a supersub (Colin Randall or Malcolm Dawson). …

Mar 9 2010 Sunderland 4 (1) Bolton 0 (0) Comfortable in the end – what a relief

Feb 28 2010 Sunderland (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0 Well, at least we got a point

Feb 20 2010 Arsenal (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 Seen worse, but the slide goes on
 
Feb 09 2010 Portsmouth (0) 1 Sunderland (1) 1 Self destructive challenges mean still no win*

Feb 06 2010 Sunderland (0) 1 Wigan Athletic (1) 1  More endeavour still fails to conjure win*

Feb 01 2010 Sunderland (0) 0 Stoke City (0) 0  A game that defines the word ‘turgid’

Jan 27 2010 Everton (2) 2 Sunderland (0) 0 Hard to find the good in Goodison

Jan 23 2010 FA Cup 4th round: Portsmouth (1) 2 Sunderland (1) 1 Defensive clangers set off the Pompey chimes

Jan 16 2010 Chelsea 7 (4) Sunderland (2 (0) Embarrassing? Not quite as good as that*

Jan 02 2010  Sunderland (1) 3  Barrow (0) 0  A competent performance but lacking clinical finishing  

Dec 28 2009 Blackburn Rovers (0) 2 Sunderland (0) 2 Brilliant Bent should be furious with defenders

Dec 26 2009 Sunderland (1) 1 Everton (0) 1 Incapable – again – of closing a game down

Dec 19 2009 Man City (3) 4 Sunderland (2) 3 Third rate defending leads to dismal defeat

Dec 15 2009 Sunderland (0) 0 Aston Villa (1) 2 Competed, but well beaten by superior opponents

Dec 12 2009 Sunderland (1) 1 Portsmouth (0) 1 A horrible game that exposed our weaknesses

Dec 6 2009 Fulham 1 (0) Sunderland 0 (0) Blustering fightback insufficient after wretched first half

Nov 28 2009 Wigan 1 (0) Sunderland (0) 0 Complete failure to show last week’s qualities

Nov 21 2009 Sunderland 1 (0) Arsenal 0 (0) A compelling, absorbing and absolutely wonderful win

Nov 7 2009 Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland Ref’s inability to apply rules costs dear

Oct 31 2009 Sunderland (1) 2 West Ham (2) 2 Fabulous fightback foils Hammers and rotten ref

Oct 27 2009 Carling Cup: Penalty shootout: Sunderland (0) 1 Aston Villa (0) 3 Two glorious chances spurned equals penalty misery

Oct 24 2009 Birmingham (1) 2 Sunderland (0) 1 Not even beachballs would have helped today

Oct 17 2009 Sunderland v Liverpool :Fabulous team performance personified by superb Cana

Oct 3 2009 Manchester United (0) 2 v Sunderland (1) 2 Take your pick:Feels like a defeat but it shouldn’t or Jammy, jammy Manchester United in injury time

Sept 27 2009 Sunderland 5 (1) v Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 (0)Not as easy as the scoreline suggests

Sept 22 2009 Carling Cup: Sunderland (2) 2 Birmingham City (0) Ninety minutes for once free of stress

Sept 19 2009 Burnley (1) 3 v Sunderland (1) 1 Outfought and out-thought in dismal second half
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The world, for the purposes of this initiative, is restricted to the listenership of BBC Radio Newcastle, that station with a funny name but a heart, occasionally, in the right place. One of the station’s presenters, Martin Emmerson, launches an appeal for Sunderland fans willing to express their views on air …

With the business end of the football season here once again, we’re offering Sunderland fans the chance to have their say about the team.

Why not join us for Total Sport each week night from 5.30pm to 7.30pm and have your say with Marco Gabbiadini?

We are always looking for supporters to add to our Fans’ Forum list – which we have had up and running for 10 years now – so if you’d like the chance to be a radio regular then e-mail me with your details and we’ll add you to the list.

Martin.Emmerson@bbc.co.uk

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Long is what we’ve had to wait for a win, if we agree that beating a team 100 or so places below us, in the cup, doesn’t really count. Short is Ellis, due to join tonight’s endurance test – watching Sunderland at home to Bolton – before meeting his manager, Steve Bruce, tomorrow.
The message to fans is simple: get behind the Lads. They need you to urge them on to an important victory. But the message to Sunderland AFC is even clearer: the time for understanding is running out …

Only a fool would deny that Steve Bruce has been unlucky with injuries this season.

We go into tonight’s massively important game against Bolton with Andy Reid, Lee Cattermole, Kieran Richardson and Jordan Henderson unavailable or doubtful.

With what is left – especially with Steed Malbranque only just emerging from the doghouse after being disciplined for a breach of curfew during the recent Arsenal trip AND likely to be offloaded anyway – you wonder from where Darren Bent and Kenwyne Jones can expect a semblance of service.
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This is not a clash of football’s elite. Sunderland and Bolton may command top 10 places for Facebook visits (with Sunderland at the top), but that is where our league table successes begin and end.
You’d expect Wanderers fans to be cock-a-hoop after that great result at Upton Park, itself coming on the heels of victory against Wolves. Chris Mann* from the Burnden Aces fans site – who has already previewed SAFC v Bolton for Salut! Sunderland, only for the game to be snowed off – welcomes the brighter outlook but predicts something Sunderland supporters have forgotten the feeling of – a home win at the Stadium of Light tomorrow night …

Salut! Sunderland: So now, despite your great win at Upton Park, it’s a six pointer. We didn’t expect to be having those at the wrong end of the table this season. Did you?

The fans would rather not be battling it out at the wrong end of the table, but after the first few games we could all see we were in for yet another long season! Back-to-back wins for the first time in a year have helped ease the suicidal mood around the place. A week ago we were looking doomed, it’s amazing what a couple of games can do in this poor league.
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A sad, deluded Wanderers fan expressed the fear, in a comment to the last posting here, that Bolton had a habit of losing to “rubbish teams”. He probably thought he was insulting us; little did he know plenty of Sunderland fans would regard that as a relatively kind description of what they’ve been watching since the back end of November. Pete Sixsmith chooses a non-League warm-up to what he hopes will not be another heap of rubbish…

Another Saturday afternoon and I ain’t got no football, as Sam Cooke might have sung had he been a Sunderland fan.

This is the second of three successive Saturdays without a game and with another one coming up at the end of the month, that give us four out of five blanks on the day we associate with watching our beloved red and white striped shirts struggling to avoid relegation.
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West Ham 1 Bolton 2. Highly unwelcome news from the East End. Please let that be the end of the Wanderers’ revival …

Rapidhammer, one of my partners in crime at FootballUnited.com, has just posted a match report headed “I hate Bolton”.

Since I had come to regard the Hammers as certainties to climb out of trouble, I hate them tonight. This was surely a home banker. How could they do it to us?
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