Tomorrow's all about Darren Bent
FORGET the race for fourth place in the Premier League or the fight for top-flight safety.
Tomorrow the spotlight will be firmly focused on Darren Bent going up against his former employees.
Spurs decided to cash in on the England striker last summer, and to be honest, everyone on Wearside owes them a debt of thanks for that decision.
Bent has been in superb form this season, and as the second-top-scoring Englishman in the Premier League this season, all the talk has been about whether he has done enough to convince Fabio Capello to name him in his World Cup squad.
I guess even talk of that will be put aside tomorrow, as people ask the question: Can Bent put one over his former boss Harry Redknapp?
Happy Harry, of course, suggested his missus was a better finisher than the Sunderland man, after he missed a sitter last season.
Personally, I hope Bent puts in the sort of display to make the Spurs boss eat his words.
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce has said the frontman has nothing to prove, and that's certainly the case on Wearside, given his displays in a red and white shirt this term.
But I'm sure Bent would take great delight in helping the Black Cats to victory this weekend.
Easier said than done, but with a finisher like Bent (or better still, Mrs Redknapp), you always have a chance.
As a kid, I used to have a soft spot for Spurs. I never supported them – I think I would have probably been cast out of the house had I chosen anyone but the red and whites.
However, I did try to watch them on the TV whenever possible.
The reason for this is that when I was young – and still naive enough to think I could become a professional footballer – I wanted to be just like Glen Hoddle.
I used to love the way he could pass the ball 40 yards to feet, the way he created time for himself and, completely unflustered, delivered the right pass time after time (I even used to wear my shirt over my football shorts like he did).
Sadly, the football dream didn't come true for yours truly (I was more like Vinny Jones without the skill ... if that's possible), but if I could have been anyone when I was growing up, it would have probably have been Hoddle.
Failing that, I would have been Gary Rowell (I used to have his name on the back of my Sunderland shirt).
As the years passed, and Hoddle moved on, my brief dalliance with the London side became a distant memory.
Nowadays, I am very much less enamoured with Spurs, for reasons I won't go into (I couldn't afford the legal fees).
Still, I don't harbour any animosity towards the men from White Hart
Lane, at least not until 3pm tomorrow ... when I hope they have a terrible time.
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Weather for South Shields
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 4 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
