Tough at bottom but win brings relief

LAST week was the worst seven days I’ve had for some time. We sent our penultimate magazine of the season to the printers, ready for release prior to Sunderland’s match against Hull.

There are must win, crunch clashes and there are fixtures like this. Hull at home could only be described as a definitely, definitely, must, must win game for both sides.

It’s stressful enough putting together a monthly publication and trying to keep it up to date in the busy world of football, but at Sunderland it’s often impossible. The pressure was building on Ricky Sbragia so much ahead of Phil Brown’s visit that we sent the magazine to print at the very, very last minute, just in case Saint Quinny became Big Bad Niall and made a brave decision regarding the tenure of the dug-out. He abstained and it will be a shock if Ricky gets his P45 before June.