… could have kept us all on tenterhooks until a quarter of an hour before deadline. But it’s done: Sunderland AFC finally confirmed the signing of Asamoah Gyan from Rennes. Talk about cutting things fine …

Yes, we could have done with a much earlier announcement to put us all at ease.

But supporting Sunderland has always been something of a nerve-jangling experience and there must have seemed no reason to mess with that tradition. And, doubtless, every reason for the delay.
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In which we praise the efforts of Sunderland AFC, through its official website, edited by Stu Vose, to engage with fans in a non-official way …

It is a sad fact of life that professional football clubs treat fans, or rather those fans with little platforms (eg, in Sunderland’s case, from ALS to Salut! Sunderland) with a mixture of suspicion and disdain.

SAFC are no worse than the rest, perhaps in some ways better.

In our own experience, Celtic (and Martin O’Neill, then manager) simply didn’t have the courtesy to reply to written requests for a quick interview for 5573 (now Wear Down South), the magazine of the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association. When SuperKev was at Birmingham City, the club pompously made it clear that under no circumstances would players be permitted to speak to a jumped-up fanzine, even to the extent of answering a short list of questions.
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