Staying up, Losing Game, Ricky Goes, I LOVE LIFE!

By: Stephen | May 24th, 2009

I don’t wish ill on people (Well other than those Geordies who will be playing in a lesser league next year, and should become the next Leeds). But hey Ricky isn’t our manager anymore, so that’s all good. However, I wish the man all the best. Did I mention that Sunderland is staying up, Crapcastle and Borro are going down? Well, I just did again, and trust me, I’m so happy. The only issue, is there won’t be any derby’s next year. Damn.

The last From The Gaffer Ricky From SAFC.com

“I’ve decided to stand down as manager because I was thinking about Sunderland Football Club and they need to take the next step and get a bigger name, it’s as simple as that.

“The supporters have been absolutely brilliant all season but today they’ve been out of this world. We have to give them more on the pitch. We’ve been too near the relegation zone for too long and they’ve still kept coming back. It’s about time we moved up the table and became a force in the division. I thought we would have been safe earlier on.

“I’ve got no regrets about taking the job. I could have ducked the offer, but you can’t refuse a job like this. People may make an issue of my record and how many games we’ve won, but we’ve stayed in the Premier League and that’s all that matters.

“I’ve enjoyed it when we’ve won. If it had been somebody else apart from Niall, I probably wouldn’t have taken the job, but I always thought we were good enough to stay up. All my decisions have been for Sunderland. I’ve been here as a coach for many years. I just think we’ve got to kick on, make another appointment and look forward to next year.”

Sunderland:

Fulop, Bardsley, Davenport, Ferdinand, Collins, Malbranque (Healy 78), Whitehead, Tainio (Reid 65), Leadbitter, Richardson (Murphy 87), Jones.
Subs Not Used: Colgan, Edwards, Cisse, McShane.

Booked: Bardsley.

Goals: Richardson 53, Jones 90.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Ashley Cole, Essien (Kalou 65), Mikel (Mancienne 78), Belletti (Ballack 27), Malouda, Drogba, Anelka.
Subs Not Used: Hilario, Di Santo, Sinclair, Stoch.

Booked: Ashley Cole.

Goals: Anelka 47, Kalou 74, Ashley Cole 86.

Att: 42,468

Ref: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).