An emotional final day
RELIEF, ecstasy, pure unadulterated joy. It was hard not to get swept away by the emotions at the Stadium of Light yesterday as we survived by the skin of our teeth.
Having lost 3-2 to Chelsea we needed others to do us a favour, and they duly obliged.
At the final whistle defeat was treated like a cup final win, like we had achieved some amazing feat of footballing brilliance.
Of course, we hadn't. We had survived by the narrowest of margins, and not due to anything we did, but thanks to what others did or didn't do.
And yet I still cheered as other results came in, and I went home as happy as I would have been had we beaten the Blues.
And I still applauded the players as they trailed round the pitch on their lap of honour.
There will be those who argue that maybe a lap of honour wasn't warranted given the way they have played for much of the season, but I think the fans and the players just needed to celebrate and let off steam after their great escape.
To be fair we made a better fist of giving Chelsea a game than I had expected.
OK, so maybe the Blues had one eye on the FA Cup final next week, but we made a game of it, even if we did lose.
Thankfully, it didn't matter, and we live to fight another day in the Premier League.
Our survival came at the cost of our bitter rivals Newcastle United.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't allow myself a small smile at that fact, but not for me the massive wind-ups that take place when something like this occurs.
There will be no renditions of 'We'll Meet Again', or 'Let's All Laugh at Shearer' in the Foster's household.
As many United fans will have discovered yesterday, getting one over on your rivals is great at the time, but all too often it can come back to bite you on the behind.
And, to be honest, even before the last game of the season I wasn't giving it the big 'un, saying I hope it's the Geordies and not us.
I didn't care who went down, as long as it wasn't us.
* I think it's fair to say that I haven't been Ricky Sbragia's biggest fan since he took over the manager's job at Sunderland, so I won't be a hypocrite now and say I am sad to see him go.
However, I will say thanks for all the hard work (even if I didn't always agree with the decisions he made), and applaud him for the dignity with which he called time on his reign as Sunderland boss.
Whether you were a Ricky fan or a critic (and I was in the latter camp) there can be no argument that he gave it his best and didn't hide.
Fair play to him. He stood up to be counted, and he walked away when he realised he'd done all he could. For that he deserves our respect.
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Weather for South Shields
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: East
