Chance to seal it.

A relegation that looked close to odds on a few weeks ago can be banished into improbability if we beat Southampton tomorrow. We have not got the best record against them recently at home, so it might be regarded a a mini hoodoo, another one!

We have a lot of players missing through suspension and injury and Southampton are playing well. A draw would suit them. It would suit as a well I think, and I would take it now if it was offered. 

Pessimism I know, but it's hard to shake off after fifty years of calamity!

As St Luke said: It's the repenting not the sinning that counts.

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.  St Luke 15:7

St Luke was right of course, there is always room for contrition and forgiveness.

And this week another "sinner" has repenteth.

 Michael Portillo is the latest of the erstwhile Euro enthusiasts to see the light and recognise the damage being inflicted on Britain as a result of it's membership of the EU

He has now publicly recognised that being a member of the EU, far from being inevitable and the "only way forward", is in fact a brake on it's interests and will damage the country in the long term. He has concluded

Michael Portillo has repented.

that Britain will be better off out. These "better off outers" are growing in number among those members of the establishment who would once never hear a word said against the sacred project. Recently Nigel Lawson, the former chancellor has come out with similar arguments.

Nigel Lawson has repented.

 Others will follow. Some will lurk in the background, hoping the tide turns back in their favour, but they may have a long wait. Some, such as Max Hastings will come to the full conclusion that their senses are leading them to;  not only is the EU bad for Britain, which Hastings belatedly conceded a couple of years ago, but that we have to actually leave this backward looking organism as any meaningful reform of it is impossible.

Max Hastings has nearly repented. Keep thinking
 Max, you're almost there.

The next inevitable step will be for members of the current establishment to voice the same doubts, and come publicly to the same inevitable conclusions. There are a lot of vested interests  involved, and they will fight tooth and nail to retain their position, snouting at the EU trough. But their time is coming to an end, and it would be better for them to let it happen peacefully.

Hundreds of millions of people are becoming increasingly frustrated, and they will not be placated forever with a bit of a welfare handout from Berlin every year or so.



                                                                                                                                                                                                     

A great point!

Sunderland 1-1 Stoke

The hoodoo hangs over us still.

Eighteen Premier League games now on a Monday without a win, but it could have been so very much worse. 1-0 down inside ten minutes, a man sent off and not playing at all well for almost all of the first half.

But a superb rally in the second half. We probably should have even won, hitting the post and having the best of the chances after our equaliser. A terrific wholehearted effort , in particular by Adam Johnson who looked an England player tonight.

 It's only a point, and by itself is not likely to be enough, but the boost the players will get from that result and second half performance might spur us to get enough to scrape to safety.

Too close to call though and not just for us. But at least we are fighting.

 We are not down yet.

Another Hoodoo to shoot down?

We play Stoke City tonight.

 At home. They are now safe and have nothing to play for. We beat them twice last season, should have beat them twice the season before, and have already drew away with them this season. Stoke have won only two out of seventeen games away from home this season. We have only lost six from seventeen at home, and that includes games against Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal, from whom we are very unlikely to take points in any case. We really HAVE to win, certainly not get beat.

Setting out the prospects for the game like this, Why should I possibly assume we will get on the wrong side of things?

That the game is being played on a Monday is the reason.

 We have not won a premier league game on a Monday for eleven years, during which agonising time we have apparently had seventeen attempts! This had slipped by me, maybe I'm becoming inured to the pain of seeing us not win these games, although last Monday hurt quite enough to remember for another eleven years.

We need a result tonight though. So come on lads, tear up another hoodoo.