Page 174 - 368603 LP250721 AWY AWY AWY Book (238pp A5)

to go a car pulled up and it was our man. I only speak a little Spanish but I understood that he said, “English punctuality.”
He was Horacio Palomba, club president since the early 60's, and for the next hour and a half he kindly explained all about the history of the club and its Sunderland connections. He spoke no English and so Facundo did all the interpreting but I could pick up a little of what he was saying. In the initial exchanges he was clearly establishing where I was from and I heard him ask, “Pueblo Sunderland?” to which Facundo replied in the affirmative.
One of the first things he did was show us into the bar/restaurant, which was already attracting a customer or two at that early hour, and I immediately saw three Sunderland shirts framed on the wall. They bore the names of Julio Arca and Nicolas Medina as well as one signed by the whole squad from around 2001. I hadn't realized that Arca and Medina had any connection with Sunderland Club but Horacio explained that they'd played for one of the club's junior soccer sides and had then moved on to Argentinos Juniors whence they arrived at the Stadium of Light, one to fame and eternal glory and the other to instant obscurity. The shirts had been sent by Sunderland manager Peter Reid who'd visited the club some years before and by the sound of it had rather enjoyed the hospitality because Horacio told us that after making a speech he consumed many beers and then started mouthing off about Maradonna's 'Hand of God' goal that he'd been on the receiving end of in the World Cup of
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