David Kelly

I did wonder whether the Tall Ships informaiton center in ter earlier photo might have aged it a bit but I've no doubt that it stayed on that site years after it was appropriate. And for anyone who's not had the pleasure of visiting the bright lights of Sunderland, I know it looks similar to Shields Road or Wallsend High Street but I can confirm this slap bang in the middle of the 'city' centre about 200m from The Bridges.

Having the misfortune to have to visit that area on occassion in a previous life, I'm guessing that photo was taken within the last 6 months despite looking like it should be form the early 80's (car aside).

John Hendrie equalising, Bessant pulling off a world class save and then Mirandinha milking it at the Kop. Not a bad first away game as a 12 year old.

My feelings on Kane used to be the same as Rayvin in his first few premier league seasons. None of the goals he was scoring looked particularly good. They didn't have the elegance of Henry or the power of Shearer. Lots of them seemed to be scuffed in and I just couldn't see how it was sustainable in the longer term. Then scored more, and more and more and aside from those years when he just couldn't score in August, he has never stopped scoring. The shear weight of those goals makes it impossible to ignore him. It can appear to be luck for so long, but when it relentlessly keeps on happening you have to accept it's more than that. I'd add that also when I watch him these days I see him dropping deep collecting the ball nearly always doing something positive with it. Not in an exciting looking way but just in a supremely competent way. He'll never be remembered for beauty (in any sense) but he will be remembered as a great striker.

Well yeah i'd definitely go along with that. A couple of draws that we should have turned into wins already this season (year even) would have had us sitting pretty in 4th with games in hand.

Interesting that you say we don't have the consistency when we've just seen Liverpool beat Man Utd 7-0 one week and then lose to Bournemouth the next. Spurs have also recently lost to Wolves and Sheffield Utd. I don't necessarily disagree that we won't finish in the top four, but looking at those two teams consistency as being our biggest obstacle to overcome doesn't quite stack up for me. Both of their performances all season have been up and down like a whore's drawers.

Of course we have a chance. We've lost two games all season (not counting the reserves losing to Sheffield), they have a big game against Barca tonight and lets be honest, there have been times this season where they have been absolute shite. Yes our form has been a bit off recently (in comparison to where it was before the turn of the year) and Pope is obviously a loss. But Bruno is back, Maxi found a bit form on Saturday and Wilson and Willock should both be available. No reason not to think we have a good chance even if they are favourites. And then there's a weekend away with the lads to look forward to so I'm absolutely excited as fuck.

It's not out of the question these days but in a day night game I'm confident they wouldn't think they'll need that long.

My mate who took over my dads ticket used to have his own for years up to about three years ago when he chucked it because of Ashley. At that point he had a load of points too and he asked if he could get them back and added to the ticket he has now. They told him that they can't do that. Still not sure why they left my dads points on though.

It was apparently the second earliest declaration in the first innings of a test.

I'm not sure if they technically are but when I lost my dad last year we managed to get his season ticket transferred to my mate, and they left my dads points on the ticket. I suspect this was an oversight though. Mind he had ridiculously few points considering he'd went to shit loads of away games whan he was younger in the pre Shepherd days. I know someone else who took over a guy's tickets and kept all his points. This bloke used to go to every game so there were hundreds of points.

Personally I'd like to see a small portion of the away tickets saved for general sale each match. At least then people without points would have a chance of starting to build up some points. The problem with the way it is now is it's not allowing for the next generation of away supporters to have a chance to get tickets. And I know for a fact you get people who have hundreds of points getting tickets for every game and selling them to other people just to keep their points increasing. Most of the away games I've been to in the last few years have been on someone elses tickets.

My pal's had a season ticket for 30 years and is in the same boat. It doesn't appear that the ballot section has been well done at all. I'm hearing lots of people who were in the first section of the ballot didn't get a ticket. I'm all for finding ways for more people to get a chance for tickets for both home and away games, but it's more than a little harsh to think that people who have spent years supporting the club through thin and thin have missed out to people who's shown very little interest in the past (I appreciate that this isn't the case with everyone) or cunts who just buying tickets to get themselves more points and then selling them on. I also think the club should have better explained how the ballot process was going to work. I think, justifiably, most people in the first section of the ballot will have expected a ticket and may have made plans/incurred costs on that basis. At least if they had just said it's basically a free ballot and the sections are just so that we can ensure there's no problems for anyone trying to apply, then those people could have made a more informed choice as to whether they would risk their money.

If, as it appears, they were keeping some back from each ballot for the next, they may as well have done all the ballots together. Then even if they wanted to make sure a certain percentage from each section would get a ticket, they surely could have gave each application a weighting. Then at least they wouldn't have had to wait as long before people found out. I know a lot of people who booked trains and hotels weeks ago and just made the decision that they would go down anyway but not everyone is in the position to do that. I realise it's not possible to get all of this done as soon as we qualified but they really needed to get things concluded quicker than they have. Hopefully this is the first of many occasions like this and the club get slicker at it going forward.

Fuck off you backwards fucking child.