Sunderland, literally means Sundered or Separated Land in Old English, although the Venerable Bede referred to it as Vindobala meaning boundary-marker mound, though sounds much more like an Indian curry. Sunderland was originally three different settlements - Monkwearmouth on the north bank of the River Wear, Bishopwearmouth on the South Bank where the Bishop of Durham bears his habit, and of course the fishing settlement of Sunderland. However, we know them all as Mackems. In the 19th century, Sunderland was reknowned as the largest shipbuilding town in the world and made a quarter of the world's ships. The world's first steamship was launched there. Skipping forward to 1992 and it's a city twinned with of all the cities in the world - Washington DC! Can you Adam & Eve it! And if that's not enough, the sun always shines in Sunderland.
Cats and birds rarely get along, particularlly black cats. Sunderland's fair citizens have endured an uneasy truce with their local seagulls over the years, including outbreaks of war between the two during the 1980s. This included anti-nesting site measures which included installing netting or spikes to block access to the nesting sites. Buildings had devices like spikes or wires installed on rooftops and ledges to stop the birds from landing or building nests. Tensions still flare up and in March 2020, a Harris hawk called Horatio was recruited to patrol Mowbray Park, High Street West and Market Square four times a week until September to deter them from nesting. However none of this compared to what happened last April when a man pleaded guilty in the South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court for performing a sex act while kneeling over a captured seagull and watching pornography on his mobile phone.
The football club was founded in 1879 as The Sunderland District Teachers AFC by schoolteacher James Allen, and the following year changed its name to Sunderland AFC. In the early years, they mostly played in fields before finding home at Roker Park in 1898. They joined the Football League in 1890-91 and enjoyed considerable early success. and amassed an impressibe set of six league titles - 1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913 and 1936. On 5 April 1890, the Football League's founder, William McGregor, labelled Sunderland as "the team of all talents" stating that they had "a talented man in every position". They also won the 1937 FA Cup and the somewhat more contentious 1973 FA Cup, but let's not mention that one.
Post Second World War, they earned the reputation as 'The Bank of England Club' in lieu of the club's record-breaking transfer fees including Len Shackleton, the Clown Prince of Soccer' and Welsh international, Trevor Ford amongst others. Shackleton and Ford never gelled and in a piece of poetic irony, the Bank of England club went into financial freefall during the 1960s. Throughout the 20th century, the club was nicknamed the Rokermen or Rokerites, until they moved to the Stadium of Plight in 1997 when they became known as The Black Cats. The nickname may have become official in 2000 AD but black cats had a long history with Sunderland. A Sunderland supporter, Billy Morris, took a black cat in his chest pocket as a good luck charm to the 1937 FA Cup final in which Sunderland brought home the trophy for the first time.
The Sunderland mascot has the naff name of Samson the Cat who often leads the players out in matches. Samson was named CEO of the club by the managing directors in 2018. True story, as it was an attempt to persuade fans that the club was committed to change. Samson won the local Santa Dash in Christmas 2023 and regularly squares off against QPR's mascot, Jack the Cat.
Famous celebrities from Sunderland include
The Venerable Bede
Lauren Laverne
Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics
Steve Cram
James Bolan
Gina McKee
William Russell, who played a schoolteacher in the first episode of Doctor Who
Bryan Ferry
Bob Paisley
Bob Willis
WW2 Fighter Pilot Ace Joseph Robert Kayll, DSO, OBE, DFC, AE, DL
The Black Cats make the long lonely 93 mile journey to Elland Road where are fierce big cats lie in weight, still purring after the purfect win against Watford. Sunderland have three ex Leeds players in Niall Huggins, Leo Hjelde and Ian Poveda. Their youth academy is exemplorary and a role model for all academies with 17 year old midfielder Chris Rigg, 18 year old left wingerTom Watson, 19 year old forward Eliezer Mayenda all getting regular games. They have two players we should buy next year - 19 year attacking midfielder old Jobe Bellingham and 22 year old left back Dennis Cirkin. Sunderlands run of form is WDWDW and ours is WDWWW. Leeds United and Sunderland have played 20 games since 1996. Leeds have won 10 games, Sunderland have won 7, and drawn 3. Sunderland are a good team, no doubt about it, although a very young team. However, our forwards are on fire and capable of scoring at will so both the heart and head are saying win Win WIN.
I don't disagree with you that this is a better team than five years ago. But could Farke have done what Biesla did with the players Biesla had at his disposal, he turned Ayling, Cooper, Phillips, Klich into stars.