We need all the luck these bring, if Pauld is right
Picture: jonesarruda

It is just as well that Paul Wilson may have set the true standard, in terms of how much notice we need to take, for predictions appearing in the Guardian‘s online football pages about the prospects for Sunderland AFC under Roy Keane.

But this is a tale of three Pauls, not one, and one Mark. It starts with a Paul of our own, Paul Saleh, a Shields-born fan* who has been among fans posting pertinent pre-season comments to the ever-lively Blackcats forum,

He reported on a sarky piece (Guardian online – read on for more) about Keano’s activity in the transfer market, and admitted that this reflected his own feelings. “I like to err on the side of pessimism,” he said, “so that when good stuff happens, I enjoy it even more.”

This is where another fan, Mark (Sugden), came in, suggesting that “if anyone else had made the signings we’ve made, you’d think they’d gone bonkers”.

“Throw in a potential £9m for Craig Gordon and that’s 19 million for three players none of whom have proved it at the top level yet. Throw in a guy from Reading who couldn’t make their first team and an Aberdeen defender that at 28 has never made it to the Old Firm or played outwith Scotland. Then you’ve got a Norwich midfielder who nobody’s heard of.”

Being supporters, Pauls hopes for the “good stuff” to defeat his pessimism while Mark searches for a brighter assessment of the buys:

“…..maybe he (RK) sees potential in them all. Halford never got a chance at Reading, Anderson has been brilliant away from the glare of the Old Firm spotlight while Richardson just needs a run of games to prove his potential. As for Chopra, he’s a natural goalscorer who will be desperate to prove himself after leaving the Mags. Still haven’t heard of the Norwich bloke but he will turn into a revelation. Suppose we just have to trust the manager.”

But journalists like the Observer‘s Paul Wilson and our third Paul, the Guardian‘s chief sports writer Paul Doyle, do not need to search for silver linings.

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