Colin Randall appreciates David Sullivan’s obvious and genuine commitment to West Ham – backed up by tears on TalkSport – but hopes any revival in the club’s fortunes is modest …

Without holding the slightest thing against West Ham or most of its supporters, I make no secret of my wish that the club David Sullivan has inherited remains locked in a relegation scrap for the rest of the season.
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Health warning: to be avoided by persons of a sensitive disposition who also support Leeds United.

But think back to the first Saturday of May, 37 years ago. Every street deserted, people glued to their TV sets if not actually at Wembley. All the devotion, fervour and pride captured in the selection of photos we have reproduced with kind permission of the Sunderland Echo – and the renowned Tyne Tees documentary, clips of which appear here from YouTube (complete with the Mackem lass showing off those knickers). Leeds fans who stray into these parts will be pleased to hear this is our last look at the fascinating new book by a Sunderland-supporting BBC journalist, Lance Hardy, on the epic 1973 FA Cup Final. Interview by Colin Randall …

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That, in case anyone needs a clue, is our Premier League record since Oct 24.

So if Steve Bruce needs more than a simple “get lost” to offer Rafa should reports of a Liverpool bid for loan deal for Kenwyne Jones contain even a hint of truth, that might be a good place to start. I am not sure how it’s pronounced but it tells a striking story when written down (I realise it should really be LDLWLLDLLDDL, but X for a draw would sound better).
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Week after week, Salut! Sunderland asks the same question of a fan of the next team we’re about to play.

It runs like this:

The Eduardo question: last game of the season and you need three points for the title or to win the Champions League final/win the title/stay up. In the last second, your man goes down in the box and everyone in the ground except the ref knows he dived. You get the penalty and win. You take it gladly, you take it guiltily or you’re so ashamed you almost wish you hadn’t won?

The responses are mixed. Some will will take it gladly – “after all those terrible decisions against us” – and some will take it guiltily. Not many would settle for the high moral ground AND failure.

But as the season develops, does the question need a new name?

Match of the Day tonight showed a new Eduardo. Here was a man given a golden opportunity to launch into the sort of dive he perfected against Celtic. And he didn’t so much as go down as the Bolton keeper challenged.

Fabregas, meanwhile, rightly acclaimed on the programme as a world class player, took two dives, one eyebrow-raising, the other probably no more than opportunistic. No card, no mention on MOTD and, in truth, no contest when Eduardo’s theatrics are recalled.

So whose name needs to appear in the question if we decide to change it? Ngog’s? Drogba’s? A new candidate entirely?

Answers on a postcard, or below.

Colin Randall

OK, I try to be a generous soul. I let people in ahead of me in traffic, help around the house and give to good causes even when feeling skint. Even so, there are limits. No explanation is needed for all the marks of four or five out of 10 I gave Sunderland players, in today’s Observer, after the debacle of Stamford Bridge. They were for men who are not yet/not currently or never will be good enough. But how one earth did I conjure a couple of sixes? …

Click here to see my match report – Chelsea 7 Sunderland 2: an appreciation

But first let us allow a Chelsea fan to speak::

Trizia Fiorellino, Chelsea Supporters Club –
We could have had ten or twelve goals – they were absolutely awful. Anelka was outstanding and it seems Carlo now knows that the diamond is not the only system to play. We played more free-flowing football in the style of when Hiddink was manager, with Ashley Cole coming down the wing and putting in crosses in the first half and Zhirkov in the second half. The players passed better and all seem to be of the same mindset. Zhirkov, Ashley Cole and Belletti were standouts.

The fan’s player ratings:

Cech 7; Ivanovic 8, Carvalho 8, Terry 8 (Alex ht 7), A Cole 9 (Zhirkov ht 9); Ballack 7, Belletti 9, Lampard 8; J Cole 7, Anelka 10, Malouda 8

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Niall Quinn and Steve Bruce are apparently the guests on Goals on Sunday, on Sky tomorrow. How will they explain away this humiliation? Colin Randall is still apoplectic after another shambolic away performance …

“Appreciate,” gloated the lippy teenager in blue as she walked past the Sunderland end on the way back to her front-row seat after a wander into the concourse nearly stopped her seeing the fourth goal.
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At badminton the other night – I live on the wild side – a Chelsea fan accused me of gamesmanship. He wasn’t suggesting I’d tampered with the shuttle but that I was trying to lull him towards false feelings of security by expressing fears that Sunderland might be facing a cricket score away at Chelsea. I needn’t have worried, if one of these crystal ball gazers turns out to be correct …

Over at the Blackcats e-mail group that provides such wisdom and entertainment, Jeremy, in Ontario, was worried about the shortage of banter. Were we just going to fax Chelsea the points to save having to turn up?

If so, I replied, could someone please save me turning up, too, and let me know in advance what to say when The Observer comes on for the fan’s verdict at 5pm?

Back came two versions of the same game. Take your pick, though Sunderland fans will prefer the offering from the Scottish islands.

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Like the look of Chelsea? Gasp in admiration at Man United’s trophy cupboard? Fine, then let’s become a supporter. We can always find out where the place is later. Colin Randall, conscious of his own origins as far due south of Wearside as is possible without falling into the sea, takes a whimsical look at the hoops we should expect to go through before being regarded as genuine supporters of our chosen clubs …

Photograph of the Roker Park queues for1973 Cup Final tickets reproduced by kind permission of the Sunderland Echo

What are the tests a supporter should pass to qualify as a real fan of the team he or she follows, as opposed to a bandwagon jumper?

I have my own set of rules.
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Click on the clip and enjoy the fun.

Some day soon, we will probably arrange these videos so that they appear in a permanent link list in one of the sidebars (not least because the clips themselves don’t fit there).
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There were no neutrals. Everyone outside Leeds wanted Sunderland to win the 1973 FA Cup Final. Continuing our coverage of Lance Hardy’s new book** on the sensational upset our Lads caused at Wembley, Pete Sixsmith wallows in the memory of a quite different world …

Photos from 1973 by kind permission of the Sunderland Echo

Patrick Vieira on £150,000 a week; Kenwyne Jones valued at £40m; Manchester United with debts of £750m and tickets for Saturday at Chelsea at a tad under £50.

Money, money, money. I don’t think the game has ever been so wrapped up in finance and it somewhat dissipates the pleasure of watching a simple football match.

There were days when football, and everything around it, was much more innocent. I was reminded of this as I read Lance Hardy’s excellent book, Stokoe, Sunderland and ’73.

The title tells you everything you need to know; it’s a book about the greatest FA Cup victory in living memory, the manager who engineerd it, the players who delivered it and the fans who witnessed it and who have never quite got over it.

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