Page 43 - 360633 LP236168 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (April 2022)

was moving on I knew I was starting to get more space and the counter was always on so when Dav gave the ball to Gabba, I just thought on your bike . It was a great ball and it was in-front of our fans, the relief was amazing. I couldn’t wait to get home to tell my mam!
This question gives me goosebumps even now. There was another right winger called Paul Mackenzie. We were the same age and both playing well. I can’t remember who we were playing but he got into the first team squad just before me, Denis Smith said I
was just as close as him, but he picked him.
I went home and cried me eyes out, not ashamed to say! But I didn’t have to wait much longer as I got in when we went to Bournemouth and won. I was on the bench but didn’t get on. But running out at Roker in the starting 11 is what I had dreamt of, and I’m so pleased to say I did, I couldn’t stop smiling walking towards the tunnel.
I loved it at Swansea, Reuben lived across the road from me and Corny was different class and a class captain. Then Westy turned up and Colin Pascoe and Paul Williams had
a brief spell. Fundamentally it was the end
of my career when I left after a season. I had a hernia operation and a badly damaged ankle which was to turn out worse than it looked so in the end I stopped and went into non-league.
What was it like to leave Sunderland?
In my opinion I wasn’t treated right after Denis left, Newcastle fans spoke to me more than Crosby. I just wasn’t in his plan (which happens) but I wasn’t made to feel part of the club. I found out I was leaving by the retained list that went out at the end of the season in the press. Also, what still bothers me to this day is I wanted to keep the shirt
I wore for the reserves against Liverpool
at Roker just a few days after the cup final. Bearing in mind I got stretchered off, I
was told point blank by Roger Jones that I couldn’t have it.
I have three stand out games. Obviously, my full debut, but I can’t get it on DVD, or on line. When we played Blackburn away and Monty (John MacPhail) scored the equaliser
with one min to go and also playing at St James Park and coming on as a sub that was special in the fact they binned me and a lot of players were still there when I went on, I just thought I had proven the coaches wrong.
I keep in touch with John Cornforth now and then. I used to bump into Kayzie quite often but not for a good while now.
Do you still attend games?
It’s been a while since I have actually been with Covid and my shift pattern at work, but I watch them as much as I can on the streams. I was never the kind of person to have a big opinion on the club as such but when you see the sacrifices our fans are willing to make to watch home and away it really makes me angry that the same kind of approach on the field is so lacking.
You’re pretty vocal on Twitter regarding SAFC; you obviously still have a lot of passion for the club. What is it like, having played for Sunderland in better times, watching them struggle now?
It’s unreal to see what is unfolding in front of our very eyes. Not one supporter would have ever thought we would be in this predicament, to be honest I don’t want to waste my breath on the people that are running our club now. I said it a while ago: see how much KLD wants to deliver. All I’m seeing is shit after shit on and off the pitch. I would love to see big Niall Quinn back with some sort of consortium, but I suppose it’s just a pipe dream for all of us. For four years at SAFC I went through relegation and promotion but never did any player not give 100% for the Lads.
What was it like to walk out in the starting 11 at Roker Park?
Are you still in touch with any of the former SAFC players?
Reuben Agboola, John Cornforth and Colin West were at Swansea with you, did that make it easier to settle in?
Of the 65 league appearances in your career, which is the stand out appearance or the game you remember most fondly?
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE258
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BY DANIEL MCCALLUM