These next three months, you remember them forever.
And how it goes is up to us.
There's no guarantees we'll be smiling at the end of it.
From where we are, all of us, man to man, we've all got parts to play, honestly.
We need everybody.
It's how do we get them all ready for the situation we're in?
And the answer is: you've gotta push yourself,
you've gotta sacrifice, you've gotta suffer, and then you get good things.
What a wretched, wretched season!
Now, we're suffering. It's painful. It's hard. It's a grind.
But, we know at the end of it, there could be something really special...
that's worth suffering for.
Today, is, Sunderland away against Bristol City.
I have me radio,
so I can listen to the live coverage directly from Bristol.
I don't think Sunderland has played there for about 20 years.
Bristol will be a kind of hike from here.
You're talking five hours there, five hours back.
It's a draining, tiring day,
but emotionally, it can be absolutely fantastic.
We don't have a choice
but to accept what Coleman's done in the transfer market,
considering he hasn't got any money.
The question is now:
will these players be good enough to do what he wants them to do?
It does feel as though he's scrabbling around in the dark.
That's tricky when you're trying to put your own philosophy
and your own stamp on things, isn't it?
'Cause ideally, you'd wanna go into a transfer market
and sign players who would fit into that whole process.
I don't think he's been able to do that.
Mentally, I think the squad he's got are pretty shot to bits.
So, adding these, hopefully, will lift things a little bit.
Hopefully, they'll complement each other, and there'll be an improvement.
Sunderland! Sunderland!
This is on the radio. These are the Sunderland fans.
I am Sunderland!
No matter what, 3 o'clock on a Saturday,
you'll have the radio on, or you'll go to the match,
and that's the way it is if I'm honest. It's just pure passion.
Best support in the country, man. Sunderland team are going and show for it.
Come on, boys. Come on.
Somebody's gotta step up to the plate.
There's a lot of them hiding behind the scenes.
They've gotta take some sort of responsibility for what's happening.
A lot of fans come down here, spending good money.
Let's go, boys!
The cavalry has arrived.
You can't throw them all in straight away, can you?
-I think we have to. -Yeah?
I think he's looking... Even if we just get them on the pitch,
'cause they've arrived, they wanna play.
That's why they came. Chris said they've come
with a bit of a smile on their face. Go play them.
The games are running out, and Chris Coleman is only too mindful
that Sunderland have to take games by the scruff of their neck
and score first.
Sunderland FC
We're by far the greatest team
The world has ever seen
Bristol City will get us underway.
Ashley Fletcher holding it up.
Trying to slip it away from Wright who recovers the situation for Bristol.
On the far left-hand side, crashing the ball against Asoro.
Good break for Fletcher.
Fletcher shoots.
And that's sailed over the crossbar.
Nil-nil here at Ashton Gate, three minutes into the game.
The free kick will be taken by Marlon Pack.
Whips this in!
Camp didn't come for it.
-Bristol City... -Getting beat.
...knock it home in the fourth minute.
Four minutes gone.
-Terrible! -Shocking.
Just don't concede again before halftime.
Smith back through the middle here to Reid,
running through the center. Finds Diédhiou has backed out.
Diédhiou now one-on-one with the keeper.
Gets around him!
2-0!
Game over.
There's no way you're coming back from that.
I tell you what, our defending is a joke.
Bristol City, look at them break. Looking for Kent.
Kent in the penalty area, pulling it across to Diédhiou,
and it's 3-0 in the 37th minute.
You are fucking shite!
Fucking shite!
You can hear the Sunderland boos. The fact that it's every week...
you're starting to become accustomed to it, which is wrong.
We shouldn't have to become accustomed to it.
We've got some of the best supporters in the country.
Fuck off, yes, man!
Fucking shite!
Fuck off!
You can fuck off yourself!
Jog on!
Get away with that!
-Fuck off with that! -Fuck off with that!
Hey!
Three-nil down, what a turnout for the second half for Sunderland fans.
I'm still gonna go back and listen to this. I've still gotta go back...
This is what Saturday is all about. This is loyalty.
There's no point being fickle, and switching the radio off,
and saying that's that.
So, I'll go and sit down, you know?
It's the Championship. Anything can happen.
So, they are going to four at the back for the second half here.
Browning swinging it out wide right to Asoro.
He's brought this down well. Lays it off behind to Honeyman.
Down the right again to Jones.
Seventieth minute now. Three-nil down.
Here's his cross. And a header off the bar and put in by Browning!
Come on, lads!
Cattermole's header off the bar. It came back down off the bar.
That's given the Sunderland fans something to celebrate.
Oh, yeah!
Hopefully, that gives them a bit of heart,
and they can go on, and just make a game of it.
Now, Cattermole drives it in low, and it's put in the corner!
McGeady!
-3-2. -Get in! Come on!
Come on, Harry! 3-2!
And the unlikeliest of comebacks is possibly on the cards.
We are Sunderland! We are Sunderland!
Listen to the Sunderland fans. How's that for you?
So, now, it's gonna be interesting, very, very interesting.
We win 4-3, I'm running around the block naked, I'm telling you.
Fletcher plays it...
He's crashed up LuaLua, but he's recovered.
He's got the ball here on the left side of midfield.
LuaLua taking on Pack.
He's gonna shoot, and the goalkeeper pounded it down.
He's missed! He's missed!
All Fletcher had to do is smash it home.
Absolutely unbelievable.
Asoro, now, trying to come past Bryan onto his right into the penalty area.
Can he put it back? A backheel!
It's in!
It's three-all!
-It's three-all! -Get in there!
Get in there! Come on!
Nobody saw that coming at half-time.
It's over.
It's over. 3-3,
and Sunderland have got the most unlikely point from this game.
We are Sunderland!
They'll take the point, and they'll take something from the fightback.
I'm more than happy with that. Might watch the Championship tonight, no?
Chick flick is gonna have to wait tonight.
Aiden McGeady runs down the wing for me
The vast majority of the time, it absolutely ruins your weekend.
You come out, and I'm in a mood because we've lost.
Today, it's happy. I can go home and be a bit happier tonight now.
-Enjoy my drink for a change. -Tonight, she won't be whinging,
so tonight is easy for me.
I just get her a glass of wine, and everything in the world will be rosy.
Normally, I spend a Saturday night trying to cheer her up.
I think I need two bottles of wine tonight, not just one.
Got to say, good fightback,
but is a point good enough for the situation we're in?
You've gotta start getting three points.
It's the game after the Bristol City game where you've gotta...
That's gone. That result is gone.
They haven't won a game since Boxing Day at Nottingham Forest.
They need wins. They've got to find a win somewhere.
They conceded three goals. They can't keep on conceding goals.
If they want to survive, they need to start keeping clean sheets again.
The problem we've had,
and we've had it all season, is the goalkeeper situation.
We've gotta carry on Camp, haven't we? Let's be honest, he's a shocker.
It's been a hell of a year.
My knee collided with the oncoming player, immediately, the knee blew up,
and I knew something was wrong.
I questioned whether or not I'd get back and play again.
On deadline day, it was just "Come in and...
and compete, and try and make a difference,
and see where it takes you."
That was all I needed to hear.
Steele's confidence is just shot to bits.
-Thanks. -I'll probably speak to you anyway.
I can’t wait to get going, to be fair, to Derby County.
So, in my mind I’m going there
because I wanna fall back in love with football...
and I wanna go somewhere that’s gonna help me do that.
It's a strange thing...
because it wasn't even a really hard ball or hard strike.
It was just a ball. You will get thousands a week.
This time, it hit my finger in a completely wrong way.
This is the result.
He's gone down in a lot of pain.
He's got a finger that doesn't look particularly in the right position.
I think it's as bad as we've ever seen. It's shattered.
He needs an operation to put it right. It's not gonna heal on its own.
That's what it should look like, and that's what it does look like.
I don't think it needs too much explanation.
It is a bad injury.
It is something that they don't see that often.
It's shattered, so it needs surgery.
And there is a small chance that they still have to cut it open,
but it all depends.
Hello.
His middle phalanx, the in-between bit, just really exploded at the base,
so it's a really hard job to get it all fixed and into position.
It's a really bad fracture, but we don't wanna disappoint him.
It's gonna be a bit of a trial for me to get a good result.
This one is different.
Look at the X-ray. The fragments that were loosely distributed around the joint
are now being put to place.
So, we can move his finger a little bit.
He needs to be able to move straight away, so the joint can keep its alignment.
Then we hope he can punch a ball,
when you actually need to flex the finger, and catch, and throw,
which is totally important for a keeper.
It's freaking me out.
All right, what we got? We're all good?
So, Robbin saw his surgeon yesterday, and all fairly positive news.
Therefore, we're probably looking at that ten-week mark
before he's doing anything functional.
And then it's gonna be a case of working over the summer.
We want our players available.
We have a few injured, unfortunately, at the moment.
Sooner we get everyone back, the better.
We need bodies. We need bodies back out on the pitch.
We've had horrendous luck with injuries this year,
especially in the last two months.
The injury list getting any smaller?
There could be a couple back by this Friday, all being well.
Jonny is progressing but probably slowly at the moment.
He's gym-based this week. He's doing all of his strength stuff.
He's a good player. He's a good footballer at this level as well.
He gets a lot of fouls. That's why he gets injured a lot.
He gets kicked a lot.
But he entices it. He attracts it.
So, yeah... No, he's a good boy.
Long injury, and one I wanted to avoid this year,
'cause it's a big opportunity to come to a club like this and play games.
I didn't come here to sit on the injury table.
I wanted to be out there contributing to the good results and scoring goals.
Knowing Jonny, from what we do, with soft tissue stuff,
even when he's being fit, and he's had hamstring problems,
he can worry about them certainly.
And that can... It always has an impact if you're a little bit worried about it.
I had a chat with him yesterday. He didn't seem very happy at all.
He's not very positive.
Do you think that's 'cause of the accumulation of injuries
or this particular one?
I think a bit of both.
-He seems a bit depressed, I think. -Yeah, he's had a lot of injuries.
The emotions I go through...
Some days, I'm so down, thinking my season is over.
I think that has a lot to do with living on my own.
Sometimes, I do have time to think about things.
I don't have anyone here that I live with.
I thought about getting a dog just to keep me company.
My agent mentioned seeing a psychologist. I'm open to anything that's gonna help me.
If you're not mentally right, you might as well not turn out.
If you don't believe you're gonna do well, you might as well not even bother.
I'm open to it, and hopefully, I can get something from it.
So, why are you here today?
To help me as a player, really.
No, not just a player, in fact. As a person.
In my six, seven years since turning pro,
I've had a lot of ups and downs. I think that sometimes I do struggle...
maybe just being stronger, believing in myself, I think, at all times.
I think there's times when I've had knock-backs.
You mentioned something about being stronger.
What is strong, you know? What is it?
Stronger in the fact...
to kind of keep believing I am good enough to be where I am,
I guess.
That lack of confidence is only natural, in my opinion, obviously,
because you are back from injury. It's bloody hard.
So, I can understand that there's that trend...
of lacking belief.
I am scared...
to kind of lose the ball.
Go on.
Scared to miss.
Scared of failure.
Can you describe a person in your life that has made you feel not scared
when you've made an error?
Chris Coleman.
Okay.
Mick McCarthy.
So, it's interesting already. You really like encouragement, don't you?
Yeah.
If I'm an outsider looking in,
and I'm zooming out, and you're zooming in,
and I wanna get the best out of Jonny Williams,
encourage you. Fair point?
Completely and utterly believing in who you are.
We are down to the bare bones.
The whole weight of the place... It's such a big football club,
and when it's in the negative, the whole weight of that, you feel that.
And it is sleepless nights.
You suffer... I wouldn't say depression, but you get down.
You end up in a negative mood, and you quickly gotta shake that off.
Because you gotta walk in, and puff your chest out,
and say good morning to everybody, and get on with your job.
Try and pick the players up.
Chris will be positive, but he knows...
He's a football guy,
and he'll just be hoping, we get by hook or by crook,
we get a 1-0 win or anything just to get three points.
It's a very important seven days for us.
We've got this game today against Brentford.
We've got Bolton away on Tuesday night, and Middlesbrough at home next Saturday.
From now on, every game is a big game because the position we are in.
The only thing that matters is winning today.
Even if we play shit and we get three points, I don't care.
They've gotta weather this. They cannot afford to concede a goal.
There's a big hole there.
In the box! In the box!
It's cut out by O'Shea but won back here by Maupay.
He's trying to work an opening. Lays it off to Mokotjo
who scores from 20 yards!
The South African has given Brentford the lead.
We haven't looked comfortable since the start, have we?
We've not been able to get hold of the ball,
somebody put a foot on it. We've been panicking.
He squares it, and it's 2-0.
Maupay just turns it in from three yards.
If it was a boxing fight, the towel would have been thrown in.
Did you see it?
When are they gonna show the spirit they showed at Bristol last week?
Another miserable afternoon.
Sunderland wondering, yet again, where to go from here.
Jonny is on strict no-contact.
Nobody touches Jonny, or you'll have to answer to the gaffer.
I wasn't able to be touched today.
Just getting me back integrated into things.
So, yeah, they'll let me loose on Friday.
Take the ball. Good!
-Good. Well done! -Good!
Get that, well done! Good! Good! Shot! Check on it!
Good! Kick!
I wanna stay out there as much as I can
from now on through the rest of the season.
Good! Nice and solid!
Got a hard week coming up now.
Got a reserve game lined up, and then hopefully back in fully,
and help the boys get out of this relegation battle.
Good!
Delighted for him.
Surgeon is really pleased with how he's been doing.
He's really missed it, being out of it, so it's great to have him back in.
Good. Great going, Jonny. Touch!
Everyone, through!
Set! Good! Set!
Touch! Play! Good boy!
It's been a good day. And I'm off to play FIFA.
So, yeah.
I love Sunderland, and I'll always be a supporter,
and I'll always come, whatever what happens.
It's in there. Home and away, you'll always come.
You'll always come to the games.
Twenty-two years, I've never missed an away game.
It's my club. I'll die for them.
We're shit. Who gives a fuck? It's still Sunderland.
I've sort of fell away a bit in the last three or four years.
Why is that?
'Cause we're rubbish.
Sunderland are gonna get relegated for two seasons in a row.
If you don't know anything about football, that's like... shit!
But really bad shit!
Audiences like you laughing at yourself.
They don't mind you being self-effacing.
And that's the life of a Sunderland fan, isn't it?
You can't go about being Charlie Big Balls.
You've gotta be honest and say,
"Things are bad, and they probably always will be."
Get rid of the owner and bring in Robert De Niro.
He doesn't have to say a fucking word. He's intimidating them already.
''We play a team on Saturday.
They've got a striker. They've got a fucking striker.
I want him dead. I want his family dead.
I want his house burned to the fucking ground,
to the fucking ground.''
As coach, Al Pacino.
''You know... What's your name, son?''
Lays it to Cattermole.
''Lee Cattermole. Lee Motherfucking Fuck You Cattermole.
Any more stray mother-fucking passes, you get my boot up your ass.''
It's whipped in by Morais.
No, no, no!
-Into the corner. -What are you doing?
Who's gonna claim that?
Finally, the new mascot, Joe Pesci from Goodfellas.
''You're fucking beautiful, but keep it up and I'll fucking kill you...''
Maja and Koné, they’re all throwing themselves at it in the end.
Thank you very much. There we go. Feel good.
Take care! Good night! Bye!
And that is probably it.
And such a sloppy goal to lose the game to!
Bolton Wanderers opened up a seven-point gap on Sunderland.
So, you come in in the morning.
You've got Andy, who's your boy, who always opens the door for us.
Hey, man, how are you? All right?
Who's gonna have a hip operation. It's been canceled. Poor bugger!
Or Leanne, who's the first one...
Always, "Good morning, boss. Good morning."
-You can take that in. -I don't want that.
Joyce, "Make sure you come and have some lunch. You need some food."
And Patrick.
If I don't go in for lunch,
Patrick is knocking on my door. "You need some food."
It's like genuine people, who care, and they can't help it.
And they're great people. The problem with that is...
when you're losing, and you're playing poorly,
I look at them, and I think, "I've let you..."
-We're letting them down. -"We're letting you down."
You're allowed a cuppa.
If you win, they've won the lottery.
They don't actually care about money. Sunderland have won a game of football.
If you lose, and you keep losing, it affects them so badly. It really does.
I'm on a right downer when we get beat.
You can feel the weight of that, and that can be quite heavy.
Look at you, still here. It's 'cause you love them?
You don't have to be here, do you?
-No, I don't have to be here. -No.
See?
This is how we feel about our club.
Can only get better.
I've just been saying that, Andy.
-Cannot get any worse, can it? -No.
I'm back involved with the first team, so I couldn't be happier, to be honest.
It's a lot sooner than I expected,
with the injury, when I first heard the news, so...
to be back in the match day squad is a great bonus for me.
-Good luck, mate. -Cheers!
We're playing Middlesbrough. They're a lot softer than Derby,
but there's nobody here, you know?
People are starting to think they've had enough.
But, you still have your die-hards coming, like myself included.
Anyway, it's the kind of day for it.
We both need the points. They're three points off the playoffs.
We're four points from safety now.
So, it's a huge game for both clubs, absolutely massive.
They're in touching distance of pulling themselves
out of the bottom three with 10, 12 games left.
It's a huge opportunity.
And psychologically, at this stage of the season,
what a big win it would be if they could beat Middlesbrough.
Sunderland then are gonna get the game underway.
They're attacking the south end of the stadium in the first half.
As the ball is swept up and down the left-hand side
straight into the path of Asoro, who shoots.
Just over the crossbar from 22 yards, in the opening minute of the game.
In it comes towards Maja. Header back across the six yard bar.
Yes!
Shot in by Asoro.
Joel Asoro has given Sunderland the lead in the 10th minute.
Bamford is trying to dig it out.
He scores! Bamford has drilled it into the bottom right corner.
Reaction here from Assombalonga. He's gone over to the goalkeeper.
-And the goalkeeper-- -Penalty.
The penalty has been given.
Leadbitter with the kick. Bottom right corner.
And Middlesbrough now lead, 2-1.
Silly! Absolutely. Shot themselves in the foot.
There's gonna be a change here. Look. Sunderland. It's gonna be Williams.
Williams is on.
It looked to me like he was fouled at the edge of the penalty area,
but the referee says no.
The crowd behind him. Williams now to Cattermole.
He's trying to get away. Williams on the left-hand side.
He's got Maja outside of him. Williams still going.
Oviedo running at Downing.
Getting him into the penalty area. Pulling it back for Williams. Goal!
Williams has scored!
Good play. Great finish.
Slides away on his knees!
It's 2-2, and Jonny Williams has just whipped it in.
Low ball under the keeper, and Sunderland are back on terms.
What a good finish that was!
Bešić going through the middle.
Bamford looking to make a run into the box.
Bamford takes it on his right, on his left, and he's scores!
You've gotta look at him. Bamford has restored Middlesbrough's lead.
In the last minute,
Oviedo from the right-hand side with the corner kick.
It hangs in the air.
Up goes McManaman!
He scores! McManaman has scored!
He's equalized for Sunderland in the last minute.
And Sunderland have snatched a point at the death here.
Fantastic finish by McManaman, but is it enough?
Matthews bringing it forward now down the right-hand side.
-The referee is looking at his watch. -That's it.
His whistle blows. It's over. It's a point apiece,
and it's finished here. Sunderland 3, Middlesbrough 3.
Was mayhem, wasn't it?
Cor blimey!
It's sort of normal for since we've been here, isn't it?
It's always something.
Now, we're bottom.
The pressure gets bigger and bigger. But I think the last two games,
to be fair to the lads, the players,
they really have rolled their sleeves up and met the challenge,
and that's all you can do at the end of the day.
But I went round, and I thanked the fans today, after the game.
'Cause they stayed till the end.
We were losing 3-2. They could have gone,
and they got something to shout about at the end, which was brilliant.
It felt like a win, you know? Not just a point.
That's called fight, determination, spirit...
and onto the next one.
'Cause it ain't over till the fat lady sings.
The weather is once again affecting the North East,
making travel difficult and closing hundreds of schools.
An Amber Weather Warning remains in force today,
with frequent and heavy snow showers forecast
for the North East.
Just get them chaps going now as high as you can.
Bounce up! High!
At the very least, Chris Coleman gets what the club is about.
He is somebody who has put his reputation on the line
to come here,
and regardless of what's going on on the pitch,
at least his intentions are good.
We've had so many people pass through and treat the place with contempt.
-Like they're doing us a favor. -Yeah. Chris hasn't done that.
The vast majority of supporters are still with him,
and he's doing the best he can for the club going forward.
Maybe it isn't the manager. Maybe the problems are so deep-rooted...
that they can't overcome the underlying issues.
If you're afraid of giving everything you've got
because there's no guarantees of taking everything,
then these moments are not gonna be for you. You're gonna be uncomfortable.
If you're not afraid of defeat and failure...
on the back of you absolutely maxing out and emptying,
what you've got, you’re giving it,
then these moments are for you, and you enjoy it.