Highlights of yesterday for me were as follows...

[DannyCullipLookalike'sDad]

And in no particular order

1. Fabulous degree of camaraderie between Brighton fans on the train, in the ground, in O'Neills pub in Newcastle.
2. Probably the best football stadium I've been to in this country ( apart from the Millenium Stadium, but that's in Wales ).
3. The friendliness of Sunderland fans.
4. Having a chat with Dick Knight on Kings Cross station waiting for the train up...top bloke; doesn't think very highly of Toughman - or Harty for that matter.
5. Having copious amounts of lager over the day and topped off by a Chicken Dansak at the Curry Inn in Haywards Heath.

Roll on Wednesday for the next instalment.

 

[fatboy]

I've never met so many nice people on a day out. I like Sunderland.

Unfortunately, on the way home I met two fit girls, once of which was my stalker. Being the bell end that I am, I decided to try and chat them both up, which resulted in me not getting either of their phone numbers.

And I've just been sick.

I have a pint glass from the staium of light.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Dick Knight lucky sod, I had Trinny and Susannah on my train Trinney quite tasty got their autographs for Mrs HB&B whiched cheered her up.

 

[Vicar!]

Indeed just missed my connection at Victoria, thus more fun in Weatherspoons. Cheers for the beer! See you at West Ham!

Vicar

 

[Sheebo]

are jordies nice then?

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Dick Knight lucky sod, I had Trinny and Susannah on my train Trinney quite tasty got their autographs for Mrs HB&B whiched cheered her up.

Did they tell you what not to wear?

 

[Yorkie]

.

I have a pint glass from the stadium of light.

I got two of those pint 'glasses' too. We asked the steward and were told as long as they were rinsed out with water and no trace of beer left we could take them with us (before the game so as not to have beer whilst in the seats)

Plastic pint pots ideal for barbecues.

 

[Blackadder]

Indeed just missed my connection at Victoria, thus more fun in Weatherspoons. Cheers for the beer! See you at West Ham!

Vicar

Nice to have met you on the train home Vicar.

I couldn't finish the curry with DCLAD.

Good to see so many fellow posters at Sunderland! (including a few who have posted on this thread)

Marvellous day out. Roll on Wednesday!

 

[Northstander]

Have to agree, The Sunderland fans some of the most pleasant I have come across.

After getting into the stadimu prior to it opening with "Le Premier Cru" who kindly picked me up on route, we laid out the giant flag much to shock of the Sunderland stewards watching.

Their faces were a picture at seeing the size of it.

We were were then allowed to park up right out the front of the stadium and decided we needed refreshment.


We walked for what felt like miles and came across some Sunderland fans. An elder man obviously taking his son and daughter (Who I mentioned to Le prem "She should on NSC)!!

And I have to say they were really nice and said "come with us for a drink". We entered the pub "Chaplins" of which I felt like Custer encircled by the indians. But overall a GREAT day with some great Fans!!

A credit to the city of Sunderland!!

 

[Parson Henry]

Nice to have met you on the train home Vicar.

I couldn't finish the curry with DCLAD.

Good to see so many fello posters at Sunderland! (including a few who have posted on this thread)

Marvellous day out. Roll on Wednesday!

Why didn't you order one for yourself? Seems strange to share a ruby murray?

 

[the uninformed]

Great day out. Have to agree, the Sunderland fans were all really friendly, had some good banter in the Colliery pub before and after the game.

 

[Blackadder]

Why didn't you order one for yourself? Seems strange to share a ruby murray?

I think I should have shared one with him! He didn't finish his either!

Agree about the Sunderland fans being very friendly. Spoke to quite a few before and after the game.

They were even patient, when a fellow Wearsider refused to get off the Metro after swearing at a member of the Metro Staff. One of the fans said "Howay man, we want's our tea! if these lads (us ) were Millwall fans you'd be kicked off!"

He was on our carriage and quietly refused to budge! In the end the police arrived and took the guy and his son off the train.

 

[the uninformed]

Forgot to mention, we had Harry Enfield on our carriage back to Kings Cross. Found him a lot funnier than his bloody screaming kids. Didn't help my hangover.

 

[Set of Tracksuits]

Sunderland seemed like a decent bunch of fans, the home support was so much better than others (Leicester and Watford in particular) that I've seen this season.

Highlights for me were:

Walking into the ground before kick-off (amazing sight)
Chatting with inebriated Sunderland fans at the B&B we stayed at, very friendly and knowledgable
Having a dip in the North Sea at 10.30 Sunday morning.

Lowlights included:

The A1 (just make it a motorway for God's sake) on Sunday with thousands of Newcastle fans.
Spending about an hour looking for "The Albion" pub before the game, without any success.

 

[Northstander]

haha we had no luck after seeing you, we came back over the bridge (AGAIN!!) and ended up in a Sunderland pub, no bother though and great fans I thought!!

My self Le Premier Cru got some much needed refreshment and got off to the game. Great Day

 

[Uncle Buck]

My vague memory of the day;

It was a good day, despite the complete lack of sleep. Standing at Hove station at 0545 with a bottle of Pimms and stilton was a tad odd, but I think the fact I was still half cut was a blessing at that hour. When we got to London I was starting to sober up, but as soon as the train pulled out of Kings Cross we put paid to that. The London Mackems could not believe the amount of booze or quality of food we had. We went straight from Newcastle to Sunderland, could not find the pub we were aiming for so found a bit of a dodgy back street boozer and then got the directions we need, except somebody decided to go to Debenhams. Eventually found this CAMRA pub, but it was tucked away in a load of houses. Few pints, metro to the ground and the sudden realisation that Jamie could not stand up and we had lost him somewhere. The game itself, well the Albion fans deserve credit, lots of them, lots of noise and when the usual suspects stopped trying to invent chants that nobody else got, all was well. I think if we had started with 2 up front in the first half we might have gone in at half time one up, they were not all that. Second half, well the goal was coming, it was just unfortunate that it happened after we went 4-4-2. The stewards all game were being difficult, constantly telling people to sit down and in the end they slung a couple out. We were sent to the wrong Metro station, so then had to walk about 10 minutes to the SOL station, and bearing in mind we were on the 1750, this was not helpful. Got to the Metro station, jumped on the train and then they refused to leave until one person got off, not sure what he had done, but the OB were called.

Got to Newcastle with about 7 minutes to spare, jumped on the train, then I made myself really popular. I offered to go to the buffet and got a load of requests. When I got there, I ordered 15 Stellas, 8 Smiths and 8 Carlsbergs and so effectively cleared them out, they had to order a restock at York. A few suggestions were made in my direction, but the irony was, I made money on it. When people ran out they came and bought cans off me!! Also my Mackem mate got on at Darlington, so we got him to pick some cider up. Journey was OK, a few of the Mackems came and sat with us lot as we seem to be more of a laugh than there normal travelling few. Oh and I won their prediction league. In the morning we paid £1.50 each to predict the Championship scores and a few other things and I won £40. Somebody else got the lowest score of the day.

Got back to London and Andy Shall called to say he was in Mables, about 5 minutes from Kings Cross, so off there for one beer. Alex and myself ended up leaving at closing time and we got in the pub at about 2115. Very nearly missed the 1205 from Victoria.

The GDC got offical recognition off the London Mackems, I think they liked the fact that we just went for a laugh and even though we had lost, nobody was stroppy on the way back. They also said it was one of the best turnouts of away fans since they were in the Premiership and the noisiest in a long time

 

[the uninformed]

Did anyone go to the Albion pub? I got there about 12ish, it was in the middle of a tower block council estate about a mile from the ground and was empty. Great. Thanks for that tip. We didn't hang around.

 

[Northstander]

I kept bumpin into people lookin for it, gave up in the end due to my thirst!!

 

[the uninformed]

You had a result TN. By the way, was nice to meet you and Yorkie inside the ground, sorry I was so mullered and not making much sense though.

 

[Hannibal smith]

The Idols bar was the way forward.

We got there about 12:30 for a £1.50 a pint of watered down Carlsberg and at about 1:45 it sprang into life. 3 Strippers got onto stage one after the other followed by a request from the 'host' for an away fan to come up on stage who would get a free lap dance. Naturally, it was a set up.

First of all he was made to down 3 pints in a row and they then got him to do a task which involved wearing a comedy beard and going to a pub over the road to ask for a free bottle of wine (it was sold on the basis the landlord always gives a free bottle of White or Red depending on which he feels like). When he got to the other Pub, I think they thought he should have be certified. Lastly he got his free lap dance but was blindfolded all the way through. The locals informed us it was normally a bloke that performed it - so he can count himself lucky he got away with that bit.

The Sunderland fans were the friendliest I have come across to date and the pre match entertainment my favourite beating the Frodo Baggins women in some dodgy Coventry back street pub 2 years ago.

Newcastle was a cracking night out but my god it was busy. And as for getting a cab at 2 in the morning....