Sunderland have now played their 28th league game out of 46 this season. We're still in a handy position, chasing down those automatic spots, and are harbouring ambitions of a return to the Premiership. I mean, wouldn't it be absolutely marvellous to get back there after so many seasons away? Slowly but surely, the Black Cats are clawing their way back and there is a genuine sense that something special is bubbling under the SoL's surface.
BIG GAMES AHEAD
Granted every game from now is a huge game, but there are certain ones that stick out the most for us. Two eye-catching fixtures are away from home. First of all, Leeds at Elland Road. If we can come away with a win there then we will have taken a stupendous four points from six out of a promotion rival, as we have done with Burnley. That's as good as anybody could ask. Leeds are very strong on home turf, though. But if we can get that bit of luck in front of goal, which sometimes does desert us, and French baguette-hands (aka Illan Meslier) has more clangers up his sleeves then anything is genuinely possible. We showed at Burnley we can scare the home side and get their home support rattled, so we need to do it in West Yorkshire.
The other huge away game, in my eyes, is at the Smogside Stadium. Pride is on the agenda. Boro are sometimes hot but sometimes they're colder than the leftover turkey at Christmas. Again, like Leeds, we need to be on it from the first whistle to the last. Get the Smoggies rattled on their own patch, and they can possibly panic. Granted they have some firepower, probably generated through Carrick's contacts here and there, but we have the resolve to deal with it. This is definitely not going to be a game for the faint-hearted, another where we need to stand up and be counted.
THE WINDOW
The month of January is one for Sunderland where we are in an awkward spot as regards recruitment, both in and out. Granted we have brought in Enzo Le Fée, and he was really good at Burnley before an even better display at Derby, despite the lack of game time at Roma. Imagine how bloody good he can be once he's really up to the speed of things in the English leagues compared to what he's seen in his native France and also in Italy. I would like to see a couple of more additions to be fair, but the main thing is that any newcomer has to be an upgrade on what we have ideally. We don't need to settle for sloppy seconds to be fair.
The focus on outgoings has to be keeping hold of both Jobe and Riggy. They are the most saleable assets on the books at present, you could easily get £25 million in these overinflated (and let's be fair, it is, so blame Bosman all you like etc.) markets for each of the two. Keep hold of them then it shows that we are not going to let our star players go on the cheap option. Okay, Jack Clarke went for a bit less than we wanted to, however we got a brilliant deal for the Loch Ness Drogba. Both of these guys though were running down contracts and would have left for nothing, zilch, nada if we had forced them to honour their contracts to the bitter end or in the last six months. I wonder if JC feels pushed away, thanks to Harte maybe, as he's clearly struggling with the PL at the moment.
THE FUTURE
We also need to start to look at the future of Sunderland AFC. The club has a training complex that is probably equipped as good as anyone for the top flight. In fact a lot of training grounds are massively improved from the days when teams used to train in public parkland. I mean, I remember watching a documentary on Sir Alex Ferguson and when he was still at Aberdeen. The Dons trained in what looked like a public park, no airs nor grace about it. Just goes to show how things and football have changed...
With average attendances at the moment in the Championship for the SoL being a shade over 40K, one can only but speculate how large this might grow in seasons to come depending on the on-pitch performance. There is apparent potential to expand, and with the football seen as part of the local fabric then I would not be surprised if KLD has been exploring these options. I might sound biased, but of all the newer stadia I've attended the SoL has that certain charm and charisma about it. The roar when it is whipped up to a frenzy is something else, something that other new stadia lack in abundance.
