Hangover for Black Cats as pre-season party pooped by
IF you want a bit of atmosphere, Celtic are never a bad team to invite to a party.
But, while their fans added to the occasion as Sunderland celebrated 20 years at the Stadium of Light, the extra quality of their players totally spoilt it.
Largely deprived of quality competitive football north of Hadrian’s Wall, the Bhoys travel in huge numbers to any pre-season friendly or testimonial in England.
English fans might be apathetic about pre-season, but their Scottish counterparts rarely are when there is a chance of a sassenach scalp. Around 8,000 raucously filled a section of the south stand, which snaked all around into the east corner.
When Callum McGregor found the net from the penalty spot you would think he had just won the World Cup in a shoot-out, not put his side 4-0 up in a pre-season friendly for the Dafabet Cup. The noise the away fans made was completely out of keeping with the occasion, filling the Wearside air with Viking thunderclaps and the acrid smell of smoke bombs.
Their “Poznan” must have tested the south stand’s foundations by wobbling them in a way they will rarely if ever have been tested in their two decades.
But if the away fans brought a volume and enthusiasm unmatched by the home fans – not only in the ground, but in the city centres of Sunderland and Newcastle beforehand – their players spoilt the mood. This was meant to be a Sunderland party. In the end, that was largely forgotten.
If you had not bought your souvenir programme you could have been forgiven for forgetting what this game was meant to be all about.
Pre-season matches have been rare at the Stadium of Light for over a decade, taking a back seat to lucrative concerts. This year, that has changed in an attempt to correct Sunderland’s awful August/September record. Ironically, yesterday’s 5-0 hammering has