Why Bruce is the pork of the town...

[Christmas Tree 4003]

Why Bruce is the pork of the town... and my North-East football resolutions

 

Simon Bird

 

So what will the New Year bring for our clubs in the frozen, under-achieving, frustrating, yet relentlessly passionate North East?

 

It is the time of year for setting hopelessly optimistic targets. To looks for refreshing new challenges to keep our brains and bodies in top gear.

 

I therefore look forward to the new stick-thin Steve Bruce - pork pies, crackling and beer banned from his fridge - patrolling the touchline in Milan next season.

 

Well, at least one of those wishes should come true. You can work out which.

 

 

But here's a clue. A quote Bruce from last week: "When I'm under pressure, I open the fridge: beers, pork pies, anything. I do like a pork pie with a can of beer. Pork sandwiches with a bit of mustard. Marvellous... With mustard, peas pudding and crackling and all that. Mmmmm. Lovely."

 

Milan it is then.

 

Or somewhere slightly less stylish - it will be the Europa League after all.

 

Anyway, the big hopes for 2011 are Sunderland. Yes, they may have been beaten 5-1 by Newcastle earlier in the season, but they have the potential to be unlikely, and still largely unheralded, candidates to squeeze into sixth come May.

 

But resolution No1 is: Don't go shouting about Europe from the roof-tops, Sunderland.

 

I recall my first season covering the North East ten years ago. A month into this job and Sunderland were second behind Manchester United, and played Fergie's men at the Stadium of Light.

 

Manchester United beat Peter Reid's men and it was downhill fast from there. Down to seventh in fact, no European breakthrough, and then it was relegation struggles for the next two seasons.

 

Being talked of as top six candidates heaped on the pressure back then, so Bruce is correct just to keep playing it cool in public. Top ten would be progress, yes, but this Premier League is so unpredictable, there is a massive opportunity there to be taken by Sunderland.

 

Resolution 2: All those Sunderland fans who are watching illegal broadcasts of games in the pub, please try and go back to the match instead.

 

I know it costs a lot in tough economic times, but when chairman Niall Quinn says Sunderland's progress depends on increasing the crowds, he means it.

 

Owner Ellis Short was sold the club with a promise that if he invested in the team, got it flying high, then the SoL would be packed like a decade ago. Instead crowds, although still impressive compared to many rivals, have not kept pace with the team's improvements.

 

Now on to Newcastle. There are plenty who reckon that survival would represent a decent season for the Geordies. And they'd be right.

 

I have to admit I spluttered earlier in the season when a top United official said the target within the boardroom was 11th place. But in hindsight, they may have got that right.

 

So resolution 3: Start to believe, Newcastle.

 

United have a decent squad, tight-knit lads who work hard for each other. Couple that with a bit more belief in themselves, and there is no reason why 11th can't be achieved.

 

Perhaps that is why Alan Pardew spoke on Sunday about Newcastle: "Going on the pitch in any match expecting to win." Perhaps that is why he has been put in charge instead of Chris Hughton. A bit more fighting talk was required to drive the club forward.

 

It would help, though, if the directors sanctioned a couple of new arrivals in January for Pardew. Transfer plans for this month under Hughton were to do NO business at all. So let's see if Pardew can twist arms.

 

On to Boro. Poor Boro. Four years since that famous UEFA Cup final, and they are fighting relegation in the Championship.

 

At least they now have the right boss in charge. Tony Mowbray will turn the club around.

 

If he had been given a £30 million wage bill to spend from scratch he is convinced Boro would be leading the league. Instead he has inherited Gordon Strachan's rabble.

 

Resolution 4: For Mowbray to be given the time and patience to completely overhaul his squad.

 

He has to sell before he can buy. Massive cuts have to be made in his dealings. But thankfully Mowbray is Boro's Kevin Keegan figure, and he will pull it off. By this time next year, expect a promotion challenge to be in full swing.

 

Of course all of this may be wildly optimistic.

 

But that is what New Year resolutions are for. And it's what being a football supporter is all about. Success? It is just around the corner. Isn't it?

[Tom 13915]

Resolution 2: All those Sunderland fans who are watching illegal broadcasts of games in the pub, please try and go back to the match instead.

 

Plenty of Newcastle fans do this too additional to watching online so I don't think it can really be used as an excuse. They are having the best season in years but people aren't arsed, it's just the way that club is. They can blame it on what they like, catchment, economic states, prices whatever but we are facing all the same obstacles and we don't have the same problems getting a crowd and we didn't last year when we got more than them.

 

At the end of the day 38'000 average or whatever is fairly decent, what ruffles their feathers is that we get significantly more. They will be lucky if the derby sells out tbh...