Dev

Amazingly, this coverage was shown live on Grandstand at the time. It isn't nice viewing but I think it is important to watch. I didn't appreciate the scale of the disaster until I watched that footage. I'm 37.

Some footage of the fire at Valley Parade in 1985 which took 56 lives. It is incredible how quickly the fire took hold. It's pretty horrific viewing but well worth a look, it really gets you thinking. You need to hear the commentary as well for the full effect. EDIT: This is not easy viewing and can be quite upsetting. It brought a tear to my eye watching it. However, I think it is an important part of football history and while some people may find it upsetting, people will also find it informative. http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/Bradford_Fire_49330.html I'm 37.

It's not me that's boring these days, it's Saints! I think you're right though, I've been doing too much moaning on here lately so I'll give it a rest for a bit. I can't help it if thinking about Saints fills me with pessimism. I'm 37. P.S. It's Kev who is "Proud to be a toerag"!

Well said. I'm 37.

I'll be surprised if we win more than half of those games. I don't think we're better than several of those sides there and I foresee a whole load of draws. The period Radford has highlighted is very tough indeed and I really can't see us beating these teams. I'm 37.

I don't suppose it's based on a lot of evidence so feel free to disagree with me. It's just my opinion from what I've seen of him and heard about him that he'll go the same way as almost every other Saints youngster for years, i.e. he'll eventually leave us and disappear down the leagues never to be seen again. Baxter got Scotland under-19 call-ups but never made it. I think Jackson is likely to go the same way. I'm 37.

I wouldn't say it was Scotland's loss at all. From what I've seen of him he'll never be anywhere near good enough for international football, so it's hardly a big loss. Jackson may end up being a useful player for us but let's not kid ourselves on that he's ever going to be above average. I'm 37.

That's one of the most ludicrous policies I've ever come across! If that's true then it proves once and for all that these people are off their heads. The only socialist I know is completely mental - and I fully expect him to come on here and call me a Tory Boy in due course! I'm 37.

That Coldplay song "Fix You" is utter garbage - FACT. A friend of mine's dad claims that "I Predict A Riot" by Kaiser Chiefs sounds exactly like "Is Vic There?" by Department S. I can see a sort of resemblance but its not a total rip-off by any means. I'm 37.

Been a guy for years now called Gary Sunderland AFC Lamb. The guy is a bit of an idiot to be honest. Don't think I would ever change my own name, I'm quite happy with just masquerading under assorted other names on internet forums like this! I'm 37.

No! Obviously I concede now that we will go down, there is no doubt about it. However, at the time I expected all three promoted sides to stay up and have been quite astonished at how far off the pace we have found ourselves. Having seen them both against Sunderland last season, I knew West Ham and Wigan were good sides and were capable of staying up. I thought we would stay up as well - we beat both of them when I was there and we finished a massive 21 points ahead of West Ham. So how the hell do we find ourselves with only six points thus far? It's a mystery to me. There is no doubt that luck has played a part, both in terms of injuries and during matches. Injuries to key players like George McCartney, Stephen Elliott, Julio Arca and Stephen Wright were big setbacks to a side hoping to stay up. Elliott's injury was a big blow as he has been the only player that has looked capable of scoring goals for us, yet now he's out long-term with a back injury. McCartney has been out since pre-season and looks like being out for the entire season - this is of particular annoyance to me since I have his name and number on the back of my strip! We can't afford to miss these players - we have only got a handful of Premiership-quality players and to have four of them out injured long term is very unfortunate. During matches, no-one can deny that we've had less than our fair share of luck. I've lost count of the number of games where teams have undeservedly taken points from us. Everton and West Brom at home are good examples of this, both these teams scored goals deep into injury time despite being convincingly out-played for the previous ninety minutes. If we had the same amount of luck West Ham get we'd still have a chance of avoiding relegation. Despite this, for me the biggest reason for our poor position is that we have signed duds. Mick McCarthy was given a very small pot of money in the summer but he appears to have wasted the money he was given. Jon Stead, Andy Gray, Tommy Miller, Alan Stubbs, Nyron Nosworthy, Kelvin Davis, Justin Hoyte and Anthony Le Tallec were all brought in during the summer but have not proved up to the job. Only Hoyte has shown he knows how to play football and only Nosworthy has played with 100% commitment. Le Tallec is a disgrace to football and should simply be shot now - the rest can go to the glue factory. The lack of success of these summer signings has been the main reason why we are heading straight back down. The blame for this must rest with the manager. After performing miracles to take us to the semi-final of the FA Cup and then to comfortably win the Championship, his tenure as manager could be curtailed if we continue to lose persistently. The buck must stop with Mick McCarthy for his poor signings last summer and the terrible results he has had in the Premiership. The only thing keeping him in a job is that he still has the support of the players and the squad are fighting hard for him. We haven't been hammered by anyone except one nightmare against Portsmouth. The players are still behind him and this is keeping him in a job. Now that we can pretty much accept relegation, I'd keep him in the job and give him another crack at getting us out of the Championship. Sacking him now would achieve nothing. Still, recent history has proved that when we go down we tend to come back up fairly swiftly. This is something like our eighth relegation in thirty years, which is simply not good enough for a club of Sunderland's size. We should be a comfortable Premiership team instead of poorly supported mickey mouse clubs like Portsmouth, Wigan, Fulham, etc. It is galling to see some Russian billionaire investing in Portsmouth - why them? Why can we not find an investor like that? We'll be back though, and watching Sunderland lose every week has still been infinitely more enjoyable than watching Saints stutter along this season. I'm going down to West Brom vs. Sunderland on Saturday, I'm in the hospitality and will be sitting in the Director's Box, which should be an experience! I'm looking forward to it, I only hope we can get a result for once. We'll be back! I'm 37.

I watched the game for obvious reasons. It is my opinion that Robben did not deserve to be sent off but that he deserved his second yellow card. For several seasons now players have been told not to go into the crowd after scoring a goal, yet still they persist in doing so. The rule may or may not be a good one, but it is still a rule so the referee is going to apply it. Robben's first yellow card was never a booking, however. I can't remember him committing a foul prior to his booking, so it wasn't for persistent fouling. The tackle itself certainly wasn't dangerous either. At the time I thought it was the referee reacting to pressure from the crowd to book him. Robben's foul was from behind and was similar to a foul Jon Stead had been booked for only a few couple of minutes earlier. The Sunderland fans pressurised the referee into getting his cards out in order to equal things up. That's how I saw it anyway. It is my opinion that Robben did not deserve his first booking - he did not require to be cautioned for his play. Yet again though we've lost a game by the odd goal after playing quite well. Chelsea probably deserved to win the match despite not playing well, but I thought that with a little luck we could have stolen a point. We have had so little luck this season it's not funny. Hopefully we'll get that luck next week - it would be nice to stick a few goals past Chopper's boys, especially since I'll be in attendance. Can't see it happening though! I'm 37.

3-5-2 I think. I'm 37.

Why is the "Where are they now" topic locked? Who locked it and why? Was going to post in it about Vinny Arkins - he's just left Portadown to sign for Bohemians in order to be nearer his home in Dublin. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/4601450.stm I'm 37.

It won't be as difficult as you think. Once you miss a couple of weeks and the habit starts to go, you won't look back. It's sad to say but this is how fans drift away from clubs. I'm 37.

I would pay much more than the current prices if the team on the park was actually challenging to go up and playing some decent football. However, you couldn't pay me to watch some of the recent mediocrity. I used to go every week without fail, wherever the game was. Even at the start of the season I was at every match. Now, after our progressive slide into our current mess I just can't be bothered. I only made it to two games in December, both were away from home. It looks like I've already been to my only game in the whole of January. Matches are incredibly tedious these days. I'm 37.

George Galloway is a prick. I'm 37.

Thinks he's too good for Division 1? He is too good for Division 1! Why do you want to sell him? He'd be a huge loss and we would undoubtedly gain fewer points without him. How do you know he won't be here next year? He has a two year contract and thus it is up to us what he does next year. Perhaps if he was given more support from the fans he'd work a bit harder. I felt sorry for him at Airdrie - being abused by both sets of fans and most of the Airdrie team while carrying an injury. Seemed pretty harsh to me. I wish people would get off his back! I'm 37.

Absolutely agree. I can't believe the suggestion here that the cup tie is meaningless - it isn't the Challenge Cup, it's the Scottish Cup and I want to see Saints get as far as possible in it. I'm sure the club would want us to get through from a financial point of view also. It is very unfair indeed to say that Scotland is more interested in the World Cup than Saints - I can't see any evidence to suggest that this would be true. I'm 37.

I find it staggering that Jason Scotland is given so much criticism. It really is unbelievable. We have a midfield full of passengers like Sheerin, Janczyk and Henry yet Scotland is singled out for criticism? It's bonkers! Jason Scotland is a flair player. He offers a bit of spark to the side, something that none of our other players have and very few players in this division have. We look at our most dangerous when he gets the ball and runs at defences and he's pretty good at holding the ball up too. It seems to me that he can be made to look greedy by the terrible midfield we have. If we had midfielders who could get forward quicker and give him more support, I'm sure you would see Scotland pass to them. Sadly, our midfield is crap and they rarely make good runs for Jason to pick out. I do not expect Scotland to run around like a headless chicken chasing players down. It's not in his game and I respect that because of his ability with the ball at his feet. He contributes so much to the side when he has the ball that it doesn't matter if he doesn't put his foot into every challenge. We have other players in other positions whose job it is to win the ball. We can afford to have one Jason Scotland in the team to provide a spark but we obviously couldn't have eleven Jason Scotland's in the side. That's where the rest of the team come in. If they did their jobs properly we wouldn't have a problem. If we had a midfield that gave Scotland decent service and made themselves available in decent positions for a pass we wouldn't even be talking about this. That is what is wrong with our team at the moment, the lack of a decent midfield. The problem with our team is clearly not Jason Scotland. He is currently our best player. Calls for him to be dropped are ludicrous! What other options do we have? Jackson and Doris? Don't be daft. These players may be good in time but they should be used off the bench to get experience. They can hardly claim a starting spot solely on the basis that they'll run around a lot and put the foot in. I laugh at the people who suggest they should be starting first team matches. Jason Scotland is great - FACT. The only player we have that other teams are scared of. I'm 37.

Hee hee! You've been living in Perth too long! I'm 37.

The Champions League is rubbish, it is not a competition I have any interest in. I'd have it disbanded - it only makes the rich clubs richer and is bad for real, old-fashioned competitions like the FA Cup. I'm 37.

We are definitely going in the right direction when you compare things with last season. It can be frustrating though to see our inconsistency preventing us from living up to the potential that we have on paper. The season so far has been pretty much as expected for me - Owen has made a number of good improvements but there was just too much to turn around from last season. We need to push on now to get ourselves into a position where we can win the league next season. I'm 37.

That would be an upset of monumental proportions - it doesn't bear thinking about! We'll win comfortably I think. Even in our last relegation disaster season we managed to win 7-0 away at Cambridge and we didn't exactly win often that season either. Unfortunately the way things are going just now you just have a suspicion that the non-league team could get a result. Please no! Reading will win - FACT. I'm 37.

Twas great - what a free kick! I was there instead of Brechin and it was nice to see the team play with some fight instead of the recent catastrophes. If we'd played like that in previous weeks against poor teams like Birmingham, Villa and Portsmouth we'd be in a better position than we are now. Spurs are a different proposition, they really are a quality team. All the fight in the world couldn't quite make up for the gulf in class. Good to see Saints get a decent result. Unfortunately I missed Scotsport this morning again, I've still never managed to see it at the earlier time it has. Wish it would go back to the late afternoon slot. I'm 37.