Too much talk in Ricky’s blunderland
Or if you’re Ricky Sbragia’s Sunderland, you could always just roll over and die.
Last Sunday, against Everton, that’s exactly what we did do. So comfortable was the victory for David Moyes’ men that the only way we could have made it less physically demanding on them is if we’d made the goals and the ball out of cotton wool. Ricky came out again and said he wasn’t happy, but it’s the same story every week.
It’s as if he’s not pointed out to the players that we only need one more win to keep us up. Maybe if they were told that three points will make sure their salaries aren’t reduced in the summer they might break into a sweat. Perhaps if the side was picked by a more experienced manager with some leadership qualities we’d not be worrying about it now anyway.
The only thing that Ricky has done right in the last week is to put Roy Keane in his place. Our former boss is still sniping at us, whining that he’s going to sue the club, that Andy Reid’s too fat, that the water here is too thin and that our grass is far too emerald. Okay, I might have made a couple of those up, but it’s like listening to a spoilt child the way he constantly twists on with very little provocation.
Anyway, Sbragia hit back and accused Keane of trying to get some publicity. He also asked the valid question: “Why is he always talking about Sunderland? He’s not here and we don’t talk about him, but for some reason he keeps coming back. Maybe he still thinks he is the manager. I think he should just really concentrate on Ipswich.”
He even offered a thinly-veiled threat towards Keano: “He knows the reason he left Sunderland and I know exactly why he left. I wouldn’t want to go into print and say exactly what I know about what he said and what he did. I could go into more detail, but I won’t.”
Well get you Ricky! I thought our gaffer must have grown some balls and had we not put in such an insipid performance against Everton I’d have thought Spag Bol had suddenly become some sort of Churchillian leader ready to guide his troops over the finishing line. What is it he knows about Roy? Did he try to buy even worse players than those that actually arrived? Were his suits actually from Penneys not Paris? Does he employ a dog walker rather than doing it himself? Or is it something more sinister? It’ll be interesting to see if the threat shuts him up or not.
Perhaps even more confusing than Ricky’s transformation from gentle wall flower to screaming Mafioso, was Niall Quinn coming out once more and talking about the possibility of Ellis Short buying the club in the summer. I’m not sure who Niall is trying to kid, but Short is the majority shareholder already, so he effectively has the ultimate say. I don’t know what’s in it for anyone, denying the person that owns the club has any say in how it’s ran. Anyway, Quinny reckons if we stay up this season, it’ll be the last time we look over our shoulders and that “we are ready to take this club to a new level.” I can only hope Ricky suffers from vertigo. If he’s still manager at the start of next season it’ll be a sick joke on the almost 30,000 who have already paid for 2009/10 season tickets.
We’re still hanging on to our top flight status due to the teams below us being even more pathetic than ourselves. Everyone below us lost again, but with Newcastle hosting Middlesbrough next Monday that can’t be repeated. However, a draw between those two would virtually guarantee us safety, but I’m ashamed to be looking at results like that in order to stay up.
We need one more win and have three games to get it. We’re taking 5,000 fans to Bolton on Saturday; hopefully they can spur the side onto a less pedestrian performance because the manager certainly can’t.
A little less conversation, a little more action please, Ricky.
* Martyn McFadden, www.a-love-supreme.com
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