Are most neutrals supporting Sunderland?

[Flatulent_Bob]

I would imagine that they are for the sake of variety in the PL and desire to see the Tyne-Wear derby back.

We shouldn't particularly care, though for those watching on TV the commentary will bound to be quite annoying!

I think I would if I were neutral. A perceived big club with a solid following and good backing from their board, against a team that sold their best players and stank the place out last time. Again, if I were neutral you wouldn’t really want that happening again.

I personally have more questions as to why she’s appearing on your timeline given her normal “content”

 

[LBA_Blade]

Either way between Leeds, Burnley and us/Sunderland can anyone be competitive, the answer is probably no can anyone potentially scrape for survival the answer is hopefulness up until around Easter. Just to throw it out there it is the Africa Cup of Nations is this year into next (Dec/Jan) although some of those are 3rd/4th round FA Cup weekends it sometimes can have an effect on teams that rely on the African continent qualified teams and players. Fulham were affected last time around with 2 or 3 of their starting 11 going. Salah at Liverpool used to be with Egypt. I don’t follow it too much to know exactly who is affected.

 

[The Crab]

I actually like it when we are playing against opposition who are overwhelmingly supported by the rest of the football fraternity. Makes it all the more sweeter if we stick it up em and piss on their hopes. Bursting their collective hopes and then sit back and watch the hatred spew from their little angelic mouths.

Unlike the Pigs who seemingly fall over themselves to want to be liked (desperately trying to get approval from fans of other much bigger clubs to offset their insecurities about themselves), I hate United being overly liked by opposition supporters. It means we are dangerous as a football club and regularly piss off others. Hopefully another example coming up next weekend.

To the original question, of course most other fans will want Sunderland. Young team, overachieving, manager generally not actively disliked like Wilder, narrative bring a huge club been away from the PL far too long.... I will piss myself laughing if we nail these at Wembley and destroy the medias collective circle jerk over them.

P.s who the feck is Emily H? I've probably dropped more intelligence down the pan with my morning bowel movement.

Emily H is probably someone who’s fulfilment in life is fed by social media likes.

It’s an escape from her job at the nail bar or working in McDonalds. The love of her life is a wannabe roadman who drives a Seat Leon that can’t go over speed bumps without leaving a bit of car behind. It makes stupid popping noises that give his fellow roadmen a semi in tescos car park. The only thing faster than his car is any salient thought that speeds through Emily’s head.

Continents have been formed in less time than it takes Emily to put her slap on, she makes stupid pouting selfies with her equally vacuous friends, not enough combined brain cells to cover a small water biscuit.

I may have used some not so artistic license here…

 

[Weasel]

Emily H is probably someone who’s fulfilment in life is fed by social media likes.

It’s an escape from her job at the nail bar or working in McDonalds. The love of her life is a wannabe roadman who drives a Seat Leon that can’t go over speed bumps without leaving a bit of car behind. It makes stupid popping noises that give his fellow roadmen a semi in tescos car park. The only thing faster than his car is any salient thought that speeds through Emily’s head.

Continents have been formed in less time than it takes Emily to put her slap on, she makes stupid pouring selfies with her equally vacuous friends, not enough combined brain cells to cover a small water biscuit.

I may have used some not so artistic license here…

She sounds a real catch then.

One of my lads is currently going out with a young lady. Nice lass. Got the looks etc. Ive seen clips / pictures of her on her phone with her girly pals all in a gaggle of bleached hair and false nails and eyelashes (longer than Indiana Jones bullwhip) all with the gormless look on their faces as they pose for a selfie, with inverted Churchill two fingers victory sign, and all with tongues out. It seems to be the in thing to look a gormless tw@t on a selfie apparently. Fed by idiots like Emily no doubt.

 

[The Crab]

She sounds a real catch then.

If you’re partial to false tits and lips like a couple of Zeppelins, yeah I agree…

 

[Booker4]

Yes, neutrals will want Sunderland to win and rightly so. Very strongly. Why would anyone want to see another season of us in the PL? We've been a stain on it 2 seasons in a row

It's not our fault we weren't good enough in many ways. Nor Southampton this season. And I think you'll find from now on every season they'll be two or three of the promoted teams relegated straight back and the bottom one probably less than 15 points. If the neutrals wants a more competitive league they need to be looking at the PL as an organisation and not the promoted teams who have one transfer window to get up to speed and often risking bankrupting the club to potentially stay up like Forest did.

So the likes of Jamie O'Hara can go screw themselves. As a football club were generally respected as a football club, particularly our passionate fans and Bramall Lane regularly comes up top as an away ground in the Championship. Location wise Sheffield is a lot easier to get to than Sunderland too I might add.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

Who cares who neutral are supporting. If they're not at Wembley then they have zero influence on the match.

 

[espoo blade]

The reality is that most people won’t even have any interest in it.

This. Went for a beer with a bunch of teammates from my over 45s team here in Finland the other night. When I mentioned the play-off final they hadn't any clue about it even though they know I'm a Blade. The dutch lads were too preoccupied with the Eredivisie title race (big PSV fans) and the english lads about the upcoming Europa League final. Barely two shits given about the Championship play-off final

 

[ChipButtyBlade]

Hamza's Army

 

[Inter_blade83]

I prepare myself now. Time has taught me that it's wise

If we lose it won't really impact me as 1) I expect it and 2) I've been preparing myself for that ever since we lost to Oxford. If we win it will be an incredible shock - like a 200/1 coming in on the national. It won't be the result of a coin flip landing our way in my mind. The Hull and Man City semis didn't effect me negatively at all.

I'll have a great day regardless. It's strange as up to the Huddersfield Play off game and in the derbies (not the fake ones, the Sheff derby) I still get very nervous.

I'm the same. I've been asked by neutrals and a mackem how I think it will go. I've said I expect us to lose. It's just what we do in big games. The mackem said exactly the same, they shit the bed too when it matters. So should mean two sets of fans surprised to win tbh.

We should win. Everything says we should win, and for that reason I've prepared myself for defeat already.

I'll cry, but only if we win, as I've never seen us win a massive game before.

 

[Bell4]

Emily H is probably someone who’s fulfilment in life is fed by social media likes.

It’s an escape from her job at the nail bar or working in McDonalds. The love of her life is a wannabe roadman who drives a Seat Leon that can’t go over speed bumps without leaving a bit of car behind. It makes stupid popping noises that give his fellow roadmen a semi in tescos car park. The only thing faster than his car is any salient thought that speeds through Emily’s head.

Continents have been formed in less time than it takes Emily to put her slap on, she makes stupid pouting selfies with her equally vacuous friends, not enough combined brain cells to cover a small water biscuit.

I may have used some not so artistic license here…

I’ve just realised that I totally qualify to be her totty

 

[nopigfansintown]

I'm the same. I've been asked by neutrals and a mackem how I think it will go. I've said I expect us to lose. It's just what we do in big games. The mackem said exactly the same, they shit the bed too when it matters. So should mean two sets of fans surprised to win tbh.

We should win. Everything says we should win, and for that reason I've prepared myself for defeat already.

I'll cry, but only if we win, as I've never seen us win a massive game before.

I think I may do something crazy if that happens. Even though it's a logical possibility my brain can't really compute it.

 

[Gin&Juice]

Clive Mendonca and David Hopkin on the co-comms.

 

[CarlMcBlade]

Who the f### wants to visit Sunlan…Sheffield and BL in particular is consistently voted one of the best away trips for football fans from up and down the country…Yes, last seasons pitiful display probably didn’t endear us to many neutrals, but finishing on 90 points makes us worthy promotion candidates.

 

[3Cheers4Ramirez]

It's not our fault we weren't good enough in many ways. Nor Southampton this season. And I think you'll find from now on every season they'll be two or three of the promoted teams relegated straight back and the bottom one probably less than 15 points. If the neutrals wants a more competitive league they need to be looking at the PL as an organisation and not the promoted teams who have one transfer window to get up to speed and often risking bankrupting the club to potentially stay up like Forest did.

So the likes of Jamie O'Hara can go screw themselves. As a football club were generally respected as a football club, particularly our passionate fans and Bramall Lane regularly comes up top as an away ground in the Championship. Location wise Sheffield is a lot easier to get to than Sunderland too I might add.

I know. But with our abject double 20th seasons we've stuck in people's minds as a waste of space. Before us, the PL wasn't seen as the impossible task it is now. We used to resent Norwich's presence in a similar way

If Southampton are to come back up and do the same again, there won't be such a strong feeling (leaving aside their relative 'darling club' status) because it's now fully dawned on people what the PL is

 

[Gin&Juice]

Sunderland are a bigger club than us. Plus they've not been in the PL in about 9 years. To a neutral we’re some boring yo-yo club, so I get the sentiment.

 

[Shadota]

I would imagine that they are for the sake of variety in the PL and desire to see the Tyne-Wear derby back.

I have no idea who the person is in that tweet, so I'll skip past that.

I'm more interested in the concept of PL variety. While yes, we've been in the PL more recently than Sunderland, it's certainly not variety when 17 teams remain the same every single year.

We're at a point where the disparity between the newly promoted PL sides, and those that are already there, is so vast, that to have any meaningful chance of survival, you need to do a Forest and exceed PSR. Which is a comical position to be in - to stay in the PL, you need to risk a points deduction causing you to get relegated.

 

[Sheffsteel]

It's not our fault we weren't good enough in many ways. Nor Southampton this season. And I think you'll find from now on every season they'll be two or three of the promoted teams relegated straight back and the bottom one probably less than 15 points. If the neutrals wants a more competitive league they need to be looking at the PL as an organisation and not the promoted teams who have one transfer window to get up to speed and often risking bankrupting the club to potentially stay up like Forest did.

Neutrals and Sky want a more competitive league but the owners and fans of bottom half PL teams would prefer a closed shop.
Teams like Everton, Wolves seem to flirt with relegation every year…..so their fans would prefer no relegations.

It’s not been given enough publicity but the owners of the PL have brought in a few rules recently to ensure the gap widens.
This is a clever and sneaky way to bring in a closed shop via the back door.

The recent rule changes mean Championship clubs have a much less chance of staying up are, some might say an impossible task.

1: The change from being able to bring on 2 subs from a bench of 5 to being able to use 5 subs from a bench of 7.
In the past the task was for promoted clubs to spend big so the first 11 were high quality and strong, costing about £50 to £100 mill.
However that’s no longer good enough, in order to compete you need 20 players, all at PL quality, this costs £200 to £300 million.

2: The new time added on at the end rule so most matches last 100 minutes.
Weaker promoted teams traditionally use a bit of gamesmanship slowing down the game going down injured, when under pressure.
The PL want a fair open contest with no gamesmanship, sounds good but it just means the better teams stand a greater chance of winning.

3: Next season they are bringing in the goalkeeper must release the ball within 8 seconds otherwise he concedes a corner rule.
This means no longer will we see Burnley’s James Trafford, make a save and fall on the ball taking 30 seconds to eventually release it,
Again this is a tactic for over worked defences to take a breather….but this just gives the better teams a stronger chance of winning.

No one can really contest these rule changes because it will make the game better to watch but it just means the theoretically better team will win.
What’s the next rule change? Teams aren’t allowed to “park the bus”, they must try to attack every 5 minutes otherwise they concede a penalty?

Now clubs like Everton and Wolves no longer fear relegation because they know that if they are relegated they have a 90% chance of being promoted from the Championship because they have such strong squads. Think gaining 100 points in the Championship will become common practice for the relegated clubs.

 

[FMBlade1]

Neutrals and Sky want a more competitive league but the owners and fans of bottom half PL teams would prefer a closed shop.
Teams like Everton, Wolves seem to flirt with relegation every year…..so their fans would prefer no relegations.

It’s not been given enough publicity but the owners of the PL have brought in a few rules recently to ensure the gap widens.
This is a clever and sneaky way to bring in a closed shop via the back door.

The recent rule changes mean Championship clubs have a much less chance of staying up are, some might say an impossible task.

1: The change from being able to bring on 2 subs from a bench of 5 to being able to use 5 subs from a bench of 7.
In the past the task was for promoted clubs to spend big so the first 11 were high quality and strong, costing about £50 to £100 mill.
However that’s no longer good enough, in order to compete you need 20 players, all at PL quality, this costs £200 to £300 million.

2: The new time added on at the end rule so most matches last 100 minutes.
Weaker promoted teams traditionally use a bit of gamesmanship slowing down the game going down injured, when under pressure.
The PL want a fair open contest with no gamesmanship, sounds good but it just means the better teams stand a greater chance of winning.

3: Next season they are bringing in the goalkeeper must release the ball within 8 seconds otherwise he concedes a corner rule.
This means no longer will we see Burnley’s James Trafford, make a save and fall on the ball taking 30 seconds to eventually release it,
Again this is a tactic for over worked defences to take a breather….but this just gives the better teams a stronger chance of winning.

No one can really contest these rule changes because it will make the game better to watch but it just means the theoretically better team will win.
What’s the next rule change? Teams aren’t allowed to “park the bus”, they must try to attack every 5 minutes otherwise they concede a penalty?

Now clubs like Everton and Wolves no longer fear relegation because they know that if they are relegated they have a 90% chance of being promoted from the Championship because they have such strong squads. Think gaining 100 points in the Championship will become common practice for the relegated clubs.

Great post.

The penny dropped for me when I saw clubs like Bournemouth and Fulham bring fully fit £20 million players from the bench in the last 20 minutes against us/weaker teams.

When we bought Brewster in the PL we could not afford for him to be a flop. Other clubs can.

 

[Rufus Smalls]

Yes, neutrals will want Sunderland to win and rightly so. Very strongly. Why would anyone want to see another season of us in the PL? We've been a stain on it 2 seasons in a row

I really dislike the phrase “we’ve been a stain” on the Premier League.

We got there on merit. We won outright promotion from the division below so deserved the right to be there.

The fact that the Premier League have purposely turned itself into a closed shop for all but the very rich clubs is not our fault.

If we get there again next season I’ll still be attending and shouting up for the lads on the pitch, irrespective of how we get on and what any other twat outside of our club thinks of us.

 

[10-0 win]

Lutons downfall in perspective was immense

 

[The Crab]

I’ve just realised that I totally qualify to be her totty

Fantastic, if you could take a break from revving the bollocks off your Leon and nip in and get me a loaf that’d be great…

 

[Jon Bon II]

Not bothered what she thinks. Never heard if her

Neither had I, so I've just had a look at her Twitter. I like her. Like a young Katie Hopkins.

 

[MKY]

I really dislike the phrase “we’ve been a stain” on the Premier League.

We got there on merit. We won outright promotion from the division below so deserved the right to be there.

The fact that the Premier League have purposely turned itself into a closed shop for all but the very rich clubs is not our fault.

If we get there again next season I’ll still be attending and shouting up for the lads on the pitch, irrespective of how we get on and what any other twat outside of our club thinks of us.

“really dislike the phrase “we’ve been a stain” on the Premier League.”
What this actually means is that thanks to the inequality that the EPL was set up to perpetuate, promoted clubs can no longer compete. It’s finally come home to roost over the past couple of seasons. Closed shop. Old boys club. Either that or you have to be bankrolled by foreign billionaires.
Any other season Man Utd & Tottenham would be in relegation trouble, yet there’s a 16pt gap to 3rd from bottom Ipswich. So yes, if we go up we may well ‘stink out the league’ again with our brand of peasant football. Fuk em.

 

[Grey Blade]

Neither had I, so I've just had a look at her Twitter. I like her. Like a young Katie Hopkins.

Haven't got round to checking her out - not sure I'll bother!

 

[JPBrods]

It seems we are the straw that broke the camel's back in regards to Yo-Yo teams.

 

[Tony_Kaufman]

This. Went for a beer with a bunch of teammates from my over 45s team here in Finland the other night. When I mentioned the play-off final they hadn't any clue about it even though they know I'm a Blade. The dutch lads were too preoccupied with the Eredivisie title race (big PSV fans) and the english lads about the upcoming Europa League final. Barely two shits given about the Championship play-off final

In fairness we're the same over here. We pay attention to the Bundesliga, La Liga, Seria A, Ligue 1, MLS etc but who pays attention to their second tier leagues and below?

 

[Muttley]

100% correct.

It makes me wonder why we are even bothering next weekend.
I obviously want to see us win at Wembley, but from that point it's a case of prepare for misery.

 

[Danny_Blade]

Sunderland is a big club but if they were to go up instead of us then what? They would then probably start yo-yoing between the two leagues. Yes they have a billionaire owner but it's no guarantee they'd stay up. Chances are they too would just be hoping to try and beat Derby's record.

Any neutrals preferring Sunderland that's fine by me, but if they are to prevail they'll only be in the same boat as us, Leeds, Burnley, Southampton, Ipswich, Leicester and Norwich etc.

 

[Rusty view]

This. Went for a beer with a bunch of teammates from my over 45s team here in Finland the other night. When I mentioned the play-off final they hadn't any clue about it even though they know I'm a Blade. The dutch lads were too preoccupied with the Eredivisie title race (big PSV fans) and the english lads about the upcoming Europa League final. Barely two shits given about the Championship play-off final

Only cos Wenesday aren't in them. Then the whole (flat) world would be aware.