Nightmare on Wearside: Sunderland’s decade from hell

23:48Budget's limited. You're picking them up off D-Wing and you knew so... I was going to wait for Adam to check. All we've got is bail money. He does look class. So yeah, so Big Sam's off. Big Sam's off. And in July 2016 he's replaced by Mr. David Moyes that's not a bad hire which yeah it was it was Moyes' first job first prem job since he'd been sacked by Man United so he was at a pretty low ab himself really he'd been at Real Sociedad for less than a season it also went badly so he you know he needed to rebuild his reputation Sunderland were not looking great either and he was just in a bad mood for the whole thing he was just a foul mood he was and it gets worse over the course of the season because he brings in some fresh legs, but it doesn't really work.

24:42And as Sunderland struggle at the foot of the table, it's fair to say that the pressure starts to get to him. And in April 2017, he's doing an interview with the BBC journalist Vicky Sparks, and he takes exception to one of her questions and responds like this. And the owner, Ellis Short, was here today. Does it put any extra pressure on you as a manager when you know the owner's in the stands watching on? No, none at all. That's brilliant, thank you very much. Nice to see you. Just getting a wee bit naughty at the end. Just watch yourself. You might get a look and you still might get a slap even though you're a woman.

25:16Can you just straighten your back please? Just do your back. Careful the next time you come in. It was in the heat of the moment and I deeply regret the comments I made. It's certainly not the person who I am. And I accept it was a mistake. I spoke to the BBC reporter who accepted my apology and hopefully we all move on.

25:40George Airey:Even added to like the 2015 what's that with all the breast jokes? Yeah. Just trying to one up the lads. Is that not right? It's pretty bad. I remember it, but like, is he trying to have a joke there or is he trying to threaten her? Both are bad. I mean, there's sort of some kind of like laughter in the background as if it's sort of a joke, but I think it's more awkward laughing and his face looks very serious. Yeah, he kind of doubles down on it as well. I think when he's like, you're getting a wee bit naughty at the end there, she's like, ah, like he's obviously complaining but grumbling. You could have left it there.

26:12Yeah. That would have been fine. Yeah. And then it might get a slap even though he's, is he just, at the start of that video, just as he's doing the interview, he looks almost like a corpse. Yeah. So jaded. He's got a smile on his face but he is seething behind the eyes. Yeah.

26:27George Airey:Yeah. That's what Sunderland will do to you. straight after saying it do you think he was like oh fuck I don't know I don't know the apologies point it didn't seem very remorseful the way it cuts straight to the apology in the video it's funny sort of when the Larry like the dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun yeah yeah it's a weird comment I don't know surely you've done enough interviews to know that that kind of thing is going to be picked up by the mics even in like 2001 that would have been like yeah just don't talk about it just don't don't throw it to slap journalists have a fight Well, David Moyes' mood is not improved at the end of April when Sunderland's relegation is confirmed after a 1-0 loss to Bournemouth.

27:09And he's sacked at the end of the season. And in comes Simon Grayson to replace him. Who's a man of integrity. Yeah, Simon Grayson. But he's been dealt a pretty tough hand. Such a tough hand. I mean, obviously David Moyes was a shit show and apparently he was just very unpleasant to be around at that time. But there was no fucking money for the team. I think you were buying you were getting like Paddy McNair from like the United yeah

27:32George Airey:you came pretty close to like I mean you see in Sunderland-Tiladay you come really close to like buying some alright players and then he just they just back out I think it's like just because they just like don't have the finances and they just didn't commit they just didn't commit to the ambition of going back up or I don't know I mean yeah it's complicated and it's about to get a lot worse so pre-season obviously they're heading into the championship morale's pretty low and pre-season Sunderland gets smashed 5-0 by Celtic and the fans are livid so when a group of them spot a drunk Darren Gibson at a wedding reception in a pub, they decide to confront him.

28:08And they're just like what's going on Darren? Basically. He sort of agrees with them he basically says the team are fucking shit I'm surrounded by teammates who don't want to be there. I do want to be there but that's shit and then they start naming players and he's like yep that's one. He doesn't want to be there he's just like turning on his teammates he actually ends up getting into a row with the fans because they're like, you're pissed out your head, mate. What are you doing? They're secretly filming. Yeah, I think this is where he's been stitched up. Filming that and putting it online. It's obviously bad.

28:37You shouldn't just be slagging off your teammates in the pub. But the fans for sharing that, they know that that's going to cause more of a storm, like destabilised. And in the video, it kind of looks like there's a moment where they suddenly show him the camera and they're just filming him in his face because he starts basically being like, I'll fight you kind of vibe. But it's a bit of a stitch up. Also, I get back to the buffet. Also, what do you want him to say? Because you're like, we're shit, they don't care. And he's like, you're right. I do care, but some people don't. What was he supposed to say?

29:05Yeah. I don't know. It was obviously indiscreet of Darren. I'm not sure it lifts the mood in the camp much. Although, despite Darren's outburst, the club are pretty confident that they can bounce back. You've got the parachute payments. You've still got some good players.

29:18George Airey:I mean, they invited a documentary crew in to document their rise back to the Premier League. That doesn't smell confidence. it's so good and that is why it's such a good documentary right because the cameras come for netflix and that sunderland think this is gonna be a story of promotion yeah yeah and unfortunately it chronicles the club's double relegation they drop down to league one at the first campaign uh it is a great watch um yeah there's i mean i again think some people get stitched up in it like jack robwell who's who's basically like pilloried for not just ripping up his own contract it's quite nice like some sort of like personal stories in there as well there are the odd moment that would imply the club isn't exactly being run in an efficient way more in season two than season one yeah season one I think you sort of see like there's a hopefulness to it yeah well there's a hopefulness in season two as well but in season two it's just sort of pure comedy like in a way and also yeah we'll get season two but that's when the charlatans arrive exactly season one is some honest good people doing their best and it falling to pieces there's quite a good early moment when there's like a club scout meeting and they're discussing transfer targets sure I've done the final thing I'm looking at Ibrahimovic at the bottom of this list have you found some money from somewhere the look on his face as well of just like what the fuck did you yeah oh man it's so sweet because they're also just dealing with a lot of like staff who've just been there for so long and it's so long and he's just trying to get into scout properly or whatever.

30:58George Airey:It's pretty laughable some of that stuff. Is their scouting job just basically googling who are the best players? Football manager. Has anyone got Messi's number? Is it unrealistic to say if they were in the Premier League that he could have been a target? He was pretty old by this point. He was. But I don't know. In 2017 he was still playing for PSG. Yeah. But he was old. I mean, they went for Will Grigg in the end. I don't think everybody wants to go to, like, championship. No, no, what's the doubt is. Before the season even kicks off, soccer fans are already making predictions. Who wins the league?

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32:47kind of funny and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook. Mental team. Who else was on the list? I think they got Will Grigg in the end. In many ways, the island's Ibrahimovic. Yeah.

33:17And as they sink towards the bottom of the table, first of all, Simon Grayson's replaced quite quickly on,

33:22George Airey:quite early on by Chris Coleman. Chris Coleman. I remember in the dock, he's a breath of fresh air. He is. And all the, I remember there's one fan, he's like, you wouldn't mind your Mrs. Weir going up next to Chris Coleman. You wouldn't catch her. I want to be cucked. Yeah, honestly, that was the feeling. All the Mack and Lasses were loving him. All the gents were loving him so much, though that they were just you know you know brilliant he's a good looking quite straight talking guy with a good cv yeah i mean he managed wales like yeah he took full of to mid table it was quite good that was good for the guy was good at the time yeah yeah so it was quite like all right at least we're getting someone legit yeah yeah and it was also after a huge run of just like losses losses losses and he came in and i think we won our first two under him and it was just like finally you know like yeah it's changing also we thought yeah because it doesn't last long doesn't last long does it he goes on a massive streak of defeats it's really ugly and soon the fans turn on there on chris coleman they no longer want him to bang their wife they don't yeah or he has done and they it wasn't exactly what they hoped for didn't even go down we're about to watch a scene we're about to watch a scene where Chris Coleman is confronted by fans outside the ground

34:52you're calling me a prick

34:52George Airey:I'm a married man with six kids

35:02why does that mean you're not a prick that's not mutually exclusive Chris by the end of the doc I sort of thought he was a bit of a prick was that unfair

35:10George Airey:I'm not that unfair I just thought he was a bit vain yeah yeah yeah but maybe that's unfair he likes playing into the kind of like the way that everyone saw him at the start people inside the club say that documentary was edited extremely unfairly and certain people were stitched up like Jack Robwell whose drum I'm really banging but yeah so it slowly chronicles this disastrous season which of course ends in relegation to League One but there is one scandal that the programme doesn't cover and that is Pugate. So we've had Breastgate but Pugate was a far bigger deal. So it's December 2017. Christmas is approaching.

35:48Decorations are up around the club and a 17-year-old Sunderland fan is forced to deny shitting on his seat in the stands after a photo does the rounds of him squatting with his trousers down and an eyewitness claims he squatted and curled one out. We're looking at the picture now. I will link to it it might even be the image for this episode God I do look different then don't I your hair has completely changed so yeah I mean he's he's naked from the waist down he's got a lovely sort of I guess it's a mohawk you'd call the haircut wouldn't you it's yeah it's a hell of a haircut I really like his expression as well it's not like he's not doing it for a laugh he's like he's like stony faced yeah it looks like he's sat on the bog.

36:36Yeah. It's one of stoic kind of like, you know, and also watching the game at the same time. Yeah. It doesn't look like, ah, ha ha. I'm going to take my trousers. Also, where are his trousers? They're just gone. It's just, they're on the pitch. Yeah. Um, so pretty quickly, this story is going viral. Um, the young lad, who I'm just going to call Callum, I'm not going to use his full name, do him that. Uh, he's forced to apologize, uh, but he does actually deny shitting. So he gives a series of interviews to the press,

37:05George Airey:which turns out to be quite misguided. This is what he says. I'm so regretful because I can't remember any of it at all. And for the record, I didn't actually have a shit. I honestly didn't have a shit. The club have even released a statement saying there was nothing wrong with the chair. And then the news report continues. Callum said he'd only eaten two chocolates from his advent calendar before drinking 12 bottles of beer and six pints of fruit cider on the way to the match. Only two. Because is he saying like, I was on an empty stomach boozing, yeah. Oh, that would teach you to go ahead in your advent calendar.

37:38Yeah, exactly.

37:39George Airey:Famously not on. Sun and advent calendars, they have full meals. I think it was 4th of December as well, so he was already, he hadn't even done a week of following. I actually think he probably got the advent calendar and ripped the back off and was just eating it like a box of jocks. Which is bad luck. Is it bad luck? Yeah. Thanks, Callum. Yeah. Learned your lesson. He won't be doing that again. It's such a good detail. All I'd eaten all day was two chocolates from my half and cow. And all that cider and beer. Yeah, strong by dark fruits. And a candy cane on the way. The story continues. Slice of Yule log.

38:15I think that's what he left on the chair, actually. Callum, the story continues, a season ticket holder, said he couldn't recall the incident, but believes he must have been so drunk he thought he was on the toilet. He said, I got to the ground, sat in my seat, and the next thing I remember was being in the holding cell in the stadium. They did him for it.

38:36George Airey:It's got a holding cell? Yeah. I didn't find out about the whole incident until half 11 at night when my friend told me it was all over Facebook. Gary Lineker had put it on his Twitter. That's not helping. That's not helping at all. And then he said, a lad who sat next to me put on Twitter saying it didn't happen. He said, I can confirm he didn't have a shit in his seat. He said, I can confirm he had a piss. I'd rather it be that, I'd rather it be that than having a shit on the seat but I'd rather it be nothing at all I mean I he was made a big mistake giving interviews I think he did sat down the hatches 15 minutes 15 minutes of fame yeah although now if you google him the first result if you google his whole name is I didn't have a poo a Sunderland lost a shamed teenager says he can't remember incident which is not what you want when you're applying for a job yeah poor fellow employers are trying to find your LinkedIn did.

39:32Although I think you've got any character references. Could he form a, oh, the guardian. Stephen Fletcher says my pupil. I do actually think if I was the employer, just have some sympathy. He was 17. He got a bit drunk. He shouldn't have given the interviews. He's got a great mohawk. Yeah. I think he's doing all right now. I had a Google. Yeah. Where's he at now? Well, I don't want to reveal his job. That's true. We're doxing anonymity. Yeah. it looked like a good job it looked like things were right good you're pleased to hear that is good you survived Fugate yeah it is a real shame that Sunderland and I didn't cover that incident I know Sunderland and I'm dying for a shit

40:14it would have been a nice like mood lifter around Christmas it would be yeah you know how the Premier League has that like tone shift where it'll be like and the world watched on in horror as like the Twin Towers were crashed into by terrorists. But it switches to like Kevin Phillips scored 24 goals. That like weird vibe shift. Or it's just as the credits roll you know they sometimes have bloopers. You could call it a blooper. I don't think he's shat to be fair. No he pissed. He pissed. It's with like the Toy Story theme tune. Yeah where they have the like little box. He just flashes up the stadium.

40:56stadium of shite oh yeah yeah there it is um anyway season two of sunlin till i die sadly again no no fecal episodes but it does introduce us to the club's new owner stuart donald who at that point's engaged to a retired stripper they go on to get married we also are introduced to the club's new director charlie meth fan and charlie he's quite a character he crops up a lot in this series and series he's sort of the the anti-hero yeah yeah but you're you're not rooting for it salmon trousers he's always going salmon yeah that's very much his vibe um and we begin to get a picture of him right from the first episode So at this point, the club are in League One.

41:47They're mired in financial and footballing crisis. And Methven decides to haul his team into the office. And, you know, they're probably wondering, does he want to discuss transfer strategy, stadium budgets? But instead, he wants to discuss the pre-match music, which he wants to be, I quote, like a massive rain, a bit like Ibiza. sorry got a clip this is how I do it I love the DJ is you've got to try and throw people up and you've got to try and get the atmosphere

42:20George Airey:building through a track if you try and think about the atmosphere that Chris and I agree that we're trying great we want it to be rocking in there and a bit a little bit mad a little bit like people some of the fans take pride in the back this place is going to be a bit noisier a bit more in your face one thing I would say is that it doesn't matter what you play unless you get a new PA system

42:44George Airey:just wanted to be a bit more rocky in there yeah he's such a guy that guy's that guy's really on board with this oh yeah maybe we're gonna get get some fucking function once again have you seen the video of him like walking around the stadium just listening to it he's just sort of walking around like nodding his head can anyone challenge me on that yeah Oh, man. Yeah. Yeah. So do they change the music? They do. Is it still that now? It's not that now it's ready to go. But I guess it kind of paved the way for this, for it to be ready to go now, which is a banger. Well, baby, I'm ready to go. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

43:21George Airey:Or like, also they do, for kind of falling in love with you. So it kind of did change it. It's from Ibiza. Yeah, no, it's not. I feel like, but like, I don't know, to change Dance of the Night, that was heavy. Like, that was a heavy tune. and they're kind of right I guess but I think a lot of people were pretty upset by that because well they're more just like can you please sign a strike exactly exactly just spent 6 million on this new subwoofer I know you've been on holiday and I've eaten this I'm in your salmon tricino I think he talks about this prolific career as a DJ that he's had like when I was a DJ yeah you know this is what I'd play to warm up the crowd you know just like I would love to see a Charlie Metam DJ so oh man yeah maybe that's the the spin-off series, his next career.

44:07In another episode, he gets asked about his personal philosophy, which he describes as fearlessly going for it in life, in business and sport. Begets precisely the positivity and desire required to be a winner.

44:22George Airey:Yeah, man. Sounds a lot like management speech, Charlie. And I know you hate that. Yeah, it's business guru bullshit. And unsurprisingly, that doesn't go down well with the industrious shit-building locals. Private Eye wrote about Charlie Methven. Given that he is a brill-creamed, parmatan, Thatcher-worshipping, old Etonian hoo-ray, wearsiders were not expected to make Charlie their darling. It is such a funny combination of person and... I mean, he's David Brent. Yeah, man. But with this, like, even more obnoxious, like, yeah. He's like David Brent and Nigel Farage, like, sort of together. Because he's just...

45:01George Airey:He's just a caricature, man. like yeah yeah like a toad doing the producers were just like yeah because you need a villain yeah because it literally like it's like the office like you look and then there was cut to the weird side isn't there just sort of slowly nodding like this like he is everything that like is so even the motivational speech yeah do you think that the producers planted him i mean it's sort of like when uh on like an episode of love island they throw someone in who they're usually really going to piss over on off. Why don't you go in here? Yeah, they introduced him to Stuart Donoghue because he was like a PR guru, which makes a lot of sense.

45:3890s cokey London, you're at like Quo Vadis, being brash, and there it's fine. But then I think this was a great evolution. Yeah. And even by those standards, he does his absolute best to piss off the Maccams. So he goes along to this fan meeting at the Stadium of Light and he tells the audience that they lack the understanding of business that people in the South have because there are less entrepreneurs up North.

46:08George Airey:It's terrible, man. It's terrible. He compared the Sunderland fans to like drunk girls as well. Did he? Yeah, he says like the bunch of drunk girls out. It's like the number one thing you do, do not do, it's like Sunderland fans, it's like insult them. Yeah. You know what I mean? Take the piss out of them, of course. Yeah, his clothes have been here for like over a hundred years. You just walk in just, insult them but that was the problem both him and Donald they just came in and like treated Sunderland as if it was Oxford United I mean as if it was like a second tier club but they just didn't respect that it was a fucking because apparently they just took the parachute payments to basically pay off Ellis Short the previous owner so that's why Sunderland's not like bouncing back straight away but like I don't know there's that and then there's just like going to a fan forum and just insulting how did you not realise he also called fans parasites for watching matches in the past because they're not buying tickets they're not buying tickets when he tries to get like the record league one thing and he's just like trying to get all the fans to come on boxing day as well and he's like I don't think they they didn't quite reach the quote he wanted and he's just like if it's 200 off if it's 200 off just doesn't matter just go with it just say it's 200 more just say it's fine it's fine and he just like fires fires the girl who was responsible for marketing the match straight after they just cut cut to her like it's terrible he was a predator man because also when they arrived they just sacked everyone yeah they sacked like 25 staff members and everyone was like no no you gotta do like a redundancy hearing and stuff and they were just like oh got sued for quite a lot I think yeah yeah parasites for what's like the game in the pub I suck honestly it's like if it's like he was purposefully going out there trying to turn everyone against him he's just quite tone deaf because isn't he now at Charlton is he?

47:54yeah Yeah. And he wrote a really funny like Christmas letter to the employees of the club. It was New Year, I think. And it was like, I recently went to the Michael Jackson musical and it was like, I think if we can all. And he's like, Michael Jackson has one song, Man in the Mirror, which invites us to look at ourselves, which is particularly ironic. And he's like, if we could all just apply a bit of Michael Jackson's logic next year, look at who's staring back in the mirror. And I think we can make this a better place or something like that. And then he quotes the whole lyrics. I'm starting with the man in the lyric.

48:27No message in a bit. He's fucking cheesy. But give that guy just a permanent documentary. We do need people like that. Great entertainment. Just not in your football club. Not in the football club. But yeah, unsurprisingly, his management style doesn't go down too well with Sunderland fans. And in December 2019, his boss, Stuart Donald, decides to sell the club. He's only been there for 19 months, but the backlash from the fans has been too much to handle. And, you know, the results have been terrible as well. It ends up taking him a whole year to sell the club, during which time he calls into BBC Radio Newcastle to name his asking price and tell listeners that he's desperately trying to get out.

49:16Which something tells me this guy is not the greatest dealmaker. in December 2020 he does finally find a buyer though it's 22 year old nepo billionaire Kirill Louis-Dreyfus so he's from a bit of a sort of aristocratic I guess French family a lot of money, they previously owned Marseille and what is his cousin the actress, the American actress, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, she's in like Seinfeld Curb Your Enthusiasm, no way she's in Veep, I didn't know that I think they're her second cousin, something like that it's like a big family Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. I think that's true.

49:52George Airey:Yeah. And he's, yeah, he's 22. Yeah. So I remember seeing him on the dock and you're like, this is going to go badly. Yeah. But it's also like, I mean, it was his dad who ran Marseille and like, he was like a legend there. And I think he's, his dad was like, obviously just taught him everything he knew. Like you can see in the dark in the third season, sort of the story of Kirill and like, he's just there the whole time watching his dad like manage this club. And I think, I don't know. I mean, we're back in the Premier League. he's been on thin ice a couple of times, but no, the fans favor him pretty well.

50:22George Airey:Him and Christian Speakman have worked pretty well. Um, and yeah, things do pick up pretty quickly. So in 2021, Sunderland win the EFL trophy. Yeah. Papa John. Yeah, man. I remember there was a year where Rotherham won it. And, um, one of the Chuckle brothers, the one who's Paul Chuckle, who's a Rotherham fan arrived on a Papa John's motorbike to deliver the trophy. this is what it's all about yeah man I think bigger crowd than the Super Bowl that year though so really anyway so that's like glory yeah it's huge I always think of the fan being like why is it never us it's you it was the change and then in 2022 Sunderland are promoted back to the championship so now there's momentum and things are looking good and then that January the club draw the old enemy Newcastle in the third round of the FA Cup it was perfect couldn't write it couldn't write it and that's the first derby in eight years yeah yeah Yeah, I think you hadn't, we'd been on like a winning streak or like you hadn't beaten us in like 10, 15 years.

51:22George Airey:I mean, yeah, I remember all those derbies would always go Sunderland's way. Yeah. Not this one. Not this one, no. So obviously like Newcastle, first time in eight years, Sunderland are on the way back up, silver wave and promoted. Yeah, man. And the fans are plotting to turn the stadium in light into a bear pit. You know, the kind of bear pit you'd usually reserve for Viking marauders or Korean shit builders. but the club officials took a slightly more hospitable approach they decided the Black Cats bar which is in the away end they decided to redecorate in Newcastle colours and they even plastered it with signs saying Howe the Lad spelled in the Newcastle section I know so we're looking at it it says keep the black and white flying high which is like it's not really very good no was this a bit of a thing of like they're just like we welcome away team you know how like it's become a bit of a thing in football the stadiums are actually like meant to be a good experience.

52:13So like, when away fans come, we don't just want it to be that they're like smoking in the bogs and stuff. We want it to feel like nice.

52:20George Airey:Yeah. It's all doing well for Norwich, but not fucking Newcastle. Yeah, exactly. Don't roll the fucking black and white carpet out. Yeah, come on. So they really did. Actually, an even funnier bit is that the Wi-Fi went down at halftime so the card machines wouldn't work. So they just started handing out free pints to the Newcastle fans. If you're trying to piss off your own fans, Newcastle fans can believe it. Yeah. And obviously, Sunderland do lose the tie. So yeah, Sunderland lose it. Although, in better news, it is the first time they've sold out the Stadium of Light since the Beyonce concert at the Crown.

52:51George Airey:I love it, man. Beyonce. I mean, Beyonce is a big... Yeah, it's huge. A huge artist for a huge club. Yeah, exactly. You know? It's a very big stadium as well, isn't it? Massive. $49 ,000. We got a message from someone asking if we'd be interested in doing a live show at the Black Cats bar. Really? Yeah, yeah. Is that the one? Yeah, I think that's the same bar. I don't know what it holds Did Beyonce play St. James' Park as well? No, I don't think so That's right You'll never sing that That's right You'll never sing Crazy in Love Exactly Crazy in Love 15 Grammy Awards You'll never sing that If you like it Then you should have put a ring on it

53:32George Airey:Big artist Yeah I don't think St. James' Park Really does that many No Sam Fender Obviously Yeah Anyway that Newcastle defeat does trigger a mini crisis at the club because things have been going well but suddenly you know people are starting to think to know about this and at that point the club decide to sack manager Michael Beal I mean he'd actually only been there for 63 days he was rubbish the whole way through yeah it was a calamity he was terrible he was terrible sorry Michael Beal and a week later it emerges that Michael had been using a secret Twitter account to try and sway public opinion in his favour.

54:13Maybe if he'd spent more time on set-piece drills and less on running sock puppets online, it would have gone well. So basically, there's this account called player underscore ID, which had been posting a string of very strident defences of Beal's reign, because the fans were just, from minute one, had been slagging him off. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, the account insisted that Sunderland are going to struggle to replace him because they've got a toxic fan base and got no transfer funds, which, you know, it was a bit suspicious, this account. And the Sunderland podcast, What The Folk, shout out to those guys, they decided to investigate and discovered that this account had also been defending Michael Beale's disappointing reign as Rangers manager.

54:55It was a bit weird. You're like, is it a Michael Beale fan account? Which is possible. I'm sure he's got his devotees. And then they scrolled a bit further back and the What The Folk podcast found that this Twitter account had originally been set up to promote a podcast hosted by none other than Michael Beal.

55:13George Airey:Of course. Could still be a fan account. Just a really loyal one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just love the idea. It's like, you're only in the job for 63 days. You've got a long list of tasks to complete. How have you got the time to be tweeting out? Yeah. Could be a jilted co-host that's just trying to win him back. Yeah, yeah. There was a really good, like, there was a Reddit discussion explaining how all this unfolded. And the top comment was someone saying, I don't think that's a burner account. just an honest fan who knows the truth and the username of that message was Bikel Meal so good yeah man really good really good just so petty yeah is that gonna keep you in a job no it's just like when Ed Balls typed in his own name it's just kind of that kind of like internet but this one's more conniving yeah it's terrible he's been swept up he's like worked for Cambridge Analytica as they tried they tried to influence the US he's like could have got like a Russian bot farm and he's just going to do it myself it's part of QAnon this one player idea it's a pound shot Cambridge analytics

56:18actually it's not just Michael the fans are turning on because as this blip continues they're even turning on the owner Kyrel Louis Dreyfuss who's brought you so much success already

56:26George Airey:you've gone back up you won the EFL trophy I was surprised by this but there's a photo taken at a game in the same month February 2016 and it's zoomed in on a fan in the row in front who's typing out a Facebook post that he's going to post. I'll read it out. It says Get these money-grabbing French cunts out of our SAFC. Folks forget our oldest enemy are those same French cunts who invaded our island in 1066. Long memory. They surrendered to Hitler's Nazis in 1939 and formed an alliance with him which resulted in thousands of British forces losing their lives to a nation of cowards. Wow. Some rivalries never die, huh?

57:08Is that just...

57:09George Airey:Yeah. Also, it had to be a Facebook post, didn't it? Yeah. It was only going to one place. That's not going on TikTok. No. I just like it. It's like fucking William the Conqueror, like the Vichy Republic. We never forget the battle of Hastings. There was a direct line from that to us not getting enough transfer funds this season. Yeah. Unappointed Michael Beal. God. It's a good overreaction. That's brilliant. You can imagine that fans disgust when the club hires French gaffer Regis Lubris. Am I pronouncing that right? Regis Lubris. Regis Lubris, yeah. Reggie. Reggie, as we call him. Reggie. In the summer of 2024.

57:47And, you know, I think the knives are already out for Kyrie Lourdes-Drafus. Who's this French cun?

57:51George Airey:Yeah. He wasn't unknown totally, but it was like, we've been after Will Still, I think, and everyone wanted Will Still, and it was like, we can get Will Still. He's also a bit of a French cun. yeah isn't he from Essex yeah but he speaks French that's enough that's enough we never forget has he not forgotten Agincourt Napoleon bastard no no no but we won it yeah we'll still and then got Reggie but yeah who did a pretty good job didn't he it was unbelievable so all is forgotten the Battle of Trafalgar is put behind us Waterloo it's all forgiven because Reggie leads Sunderland into the playoffs and excitement in the city is at an all-time high because you are within two, three matches of returning to the Premier League.

58:36And for one young fan before the semi-final against Coventry, excitement was a little bit too high. Was it Callum? No, it might be Callum's brother. We're watching a clip. He's climbed a lamppost. Oh, yeah. Him and his mates, teenage lads, and he is necking a can. He smashed it down. He's about nine, I reckon. And then... A few moments later. He's just puked everywhere.

59:03George Airey:We'll link to the clip. But it's these Sunderland kids, man. It's like, it's entrenched from a young age. When I was at Trafalgar. The Battle of Trafalgar. The Battle of Trafalgar, of course. He has a bloody French. No one like, you got all like, I remember just, there's these families. The whole families are there and like, there's these kids, there must have been like six, seven, just fucking singing like, Shira is a wanker, he wears a wanker's hat. She's like, come on. Are they boozing? What? Are they boozing? Oh, probably. That kid, how old are you thinking that kid is? Also, he's got quite a sort of Agincourt haircut.

59:34It's like a, what do you call that haircut? A bowl, pudding bowl. Like the tonsure? Yeah, it's quite sort of medieval. Yeah, absolutely. Why is he drinky as well? Because it's sort of, Can we flip back to the clip? It doesn't quite look beer can shaped. I'm wondering if it's like, is it like a monster energy or something like that? Yeah, it looks like, no, is it a pre-mixed? He necks it. I reckon he's 10 or 11. He's just in a gilet, no clothes underneath. he's got an air horn as well and then he just pukes all over the people standing behind he had at least

1:00:03George Airey:three Aban calendar chockers yeah his Shrek calendar has been ripped he's ripped the back off but all that excitement does prove to be justified so two last minute winners takes London all the way so in the semi-final there's a late winner yeah yeah it was yeah in both actually in the first leg and the second leg but the second leg it was like 120 seconds. It's extra time, injury time. Extra injury time, Dan Ballard. And have you seen the goal? No. It's unbelievable. He literally, he jumps for it and he folds himself over like a paper clip. He literally hits the ball with his head between his legs.

1:00:44George Airey:Get it up. Get it up. It's unbelievable. I've watched about 100 times. This is an equaliser. Yeah, yeah. Because we were winning on aggregate. Right. So that's all we're doing. Oh, Off the bar makes it so much better. When you see, you get a close-up on him. Look at the crowd. Honestly, the limbs, man. I was in... They just bundled. Who, they play Coventry? It was Coventry, yeah. I was in Southwark Brewery, which is like the Sunderland pub in the UK. In London, sorry. The Sunderland pub. More entrepreneurs down there. but it was like it was insane it was like the whole place turned to water all the tables there was all these standing tables and I just remember the whole place just like it was like being in the sea all these tables were rocking around like everyone was just shirtless I mean that's what being a football fan is all about it was like seven minutes eight minutes of just pure ecstasy man like it was it was the best like goal I've ever seen so that's sent to Wembley for the final game away what do they call they was trying to call this the like the richest game in football the most money's on the line this is the record right this is the highest one it's ever been right really prize money I think so it might be I don't know it was more than last year probably just I think every year because the TV money goes up every year but more than money there's something bigger at stake which is redemption from Sunderland we've just talked about a crazy decade where they sunk to the lowest lows you've got Pugate Breastgate Nonsense League One football and then the slow climb up the blip is it going to happen are these French owners the ones for us and then you're at Wembley and the scores are locked it was 1-1 meander I think 76 minute and then this happens

1:02:34we're deep into injury time now

1:02:40George Airey:what a place there look at it it's a great goal after we'd sold him as well we knew he was leaving that's why I said it would be some farewell yeah yeah where was he going? he's going Brighton right so he's going up yeah yeah no yeah he's going up he knew he was going up and like what a parting gift yeah and I think like fans didn't hate him for it like everyone understood but like there was a kind of little bit of like you know and he's like oh Tommy Watson he's leaving the club but like I'm just like I'm so stoked for him man because like to leave your like because he's from I think he's from Hepburn maybe I'm wrong sorry Tommy and like you know you're growing up you've been part of this club you've come through it and then like you're leaving just as it kind of goes as it gets to this place where it's really kind of fighting for redemption but then to just take him up with you.

1:03:25George Airey:I just think like what a finish. Can't leave him on a bigger high. You can't. You can't. He'll always be a legend. And it's such a fitting way for the story to kind of conclude. It was poetic. It was poetic. Yeah that is poetic. After like what was it? I think yeah eight years and like three or four playoff finals. Like. Alright well we'll look forward to it and maybe we'll do another chapter on this story in a couple of years. I'm sure there's going to be more drama. There will be. George thanks a lot. have loved it. Yeah. It's great to have, you know, the, the, the, the, the original market.

1:03:56Yeah. People, people in Suffolk will know you from, you're the guy who walks around Ipswich. Oh, absolutely. Like painted.

1:04:06George Airey:We're side George. That's what they call me. And the Toon Army Jack. Toon Army Jack. Yeah. Jack the mic. I mean, after this ends of the course, we're going to have a fist fight to really settle it once and for all. Yeah. But yeah. No, thanks, guys. Thanks, lovely. Come on again, please. Oh, yeah. And Zach, thanks a lot. Thank you. Thanks a lot for listening.

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