Page 4 - 370167 LP253351 A Love Supreme Magazine - A5 48pp (Issue 260) v2

ALS - 1 HODGSONS BUILDING - STADIUM WAY - SUNDERLAND - SR5 1BT
editorial#260
ISSUE
Hello and welcome to issue 260 of A Love Supreme, bringing you news, views, opinions, and nonsense from SR5. Even by Sunderland standards, there’s been a lot going on since last we met. Issue 259 celebrated our return to the Championship and the anticipated period of stabil- ity and gradual transition that would surely follow our turning of that vital corner at Wembley in May. Then came the departure of Alex Neil. Given the terms of his contract, it would have been no real surprise when he eventually moved on, but the nature and timing of his departure understandably upset a lot of people, myself included.
A lot has been said along the lines of “you’d
do the same if you were offered more money”
but if you’re managing/coaching a team with
an important game imminent, anyone with any sense of loyalty or responsibility would reply to
a job offer on Thursday with “OK, I’ll see you
on Monday.” Anyhow, that’s in the dim and not
so distant past, even if it does seem a lifetime ago, and the club moved swiftly to appoint Tony Mowbray, admittedly, not to everyone’s approval, but the opinions of ex-professionals are that he’s a good football man who’ll keep us going in the right direction. Which he has, although admittedly with results that don’t quite match the quality of our performances on a few occasions.
We’re well into the World Cup that forced the unprecedented mid-season break, and it was
a bit of a blessing in disguise, as it’s allowed Ross Stewart to get closer to fitness and miss fewer games. To exacerbate Stewart’s enforced absence, we quickly lost the services of his large and large partner, Ellis Simms. It forced us to adapt and play, essentially, without a recognised striker for a number of games,
but, as we showed at Reading following Big Simms leaving the pitch, we managed. Two smashing goals from Patrick Roberts in a couple of minutes won the game, but the third, by Jack Clarke when he latched onto Dan Neil’s ball into the box at the end of a slick move
04 ALOVESUPREME ISSUE260