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ALS: SAFC Fanzine IN PRINT. ONLINE. IN STORE. FANZINE/AWAY TRAVEL/FAN SHOP: ALL @ ALSHQ OPPOSITE SOL. NO 1 INDEPENDENT FAN VENT SINCE 1989. NINE TIMES UK FANZINE OF THE YEAR

Following Sunderland AFC is easy. Being emotionally attached to them is a bloody nightmare. But then, we don’t need to tell you about that because you get it; you’re one of us. We know you’re one of us because you’re supposed to be doing something else now. Obviously, we don’t know what that something else is – we’re not psychic – but whether it’s working, shopping, cleaning, decorating or reinvig

orating that flailing relationship, the point is that you’re not doing it. You’re on here reading stuff about Sunderland, which means you’re all right by us. The world is littered with people like you and us, people whose day to day lives - the bits that happen in between watching the lads – are only made bearable by devoting as much of them as we can get away with talking about, thinking about, reading about and fantasising about a team that last won a major trophy in 1973. We’re all in it for the ride and not the destination, and we’re all on the same side, however tortuous that journey becomes. At the back end of the 1980s, football fanzines began to sweep the country and in 1989 we were presented with a new vehicle on which to enjoy some of this ride – A Love Supreme. ALS was a place we could all go to celebrate and commiserate being a Sunderland fan. Win, lose or draw, the pages of the fanzine became solace for many of us as we stumbled our way through our day to day lives, punctuated by the ups and downs of more match days than any of us care to remember. In the years since its inception, a stupidly ridiculous number of Sunderland fans have expressed their love for God’s own football team in their own way through its pages. Some of it was funny, some of it deadly serious, some of it critical, some of it complimentary, but all of it was heartfelt. Even the most biting, radical, critical stuff, written by fans at the depth of despair comes from the bottom of their heart, no matter how hard it is for many of us to swallow.

XMAS CLOTHING. LOOK NO FURTHER. ALS OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9-5
30/11/2025

XMAS CLOTHING. LOOK NO FURTHER. ALS OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9-5

XMAS CLOTHING. LOOK NO FURTHER. ALS OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9-5
30/11/2025

XMAS CLOTHING. LOOK NO FURTHER. ALS OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY 9-5

Brian Brobbey 💪
30/11/2025

Brian Brobbey 💪

After yesterday’s comeback, how are we feeling about Liverpool on Wednesday? 🤔
30/11/2025

After yesterday’s comeback, how are we feeling about Liverpool on Wednesday? 🤔

RLB POST B'MOUTHRegis Le Bris praised his side's character after yesterday's victory against Bournemouth, singling out E...
30/11/2025

RLB POST B'MOUTH

Regis Le Bris praised his side's character after yesterday's victory against Bournemouth, singling out Enzo Le Fee who scored the penalty to spark the comeback.

ENZO GAMECHANGER
"Yeah, I'm really pleased because it was my belief from the beginning. I think he can be really strong in this league, for this club, in the middle of the pitch. But he's struggled so far in this position, sometimes it's a question of confidence, of flow of the game. We didn't find a solution so far, but (on Saturday) it was the case. So I'm happy for him and happy for us."

MIDFIELD THREE
"It's important because if you play with three creative midfielders for the opponents, it's really tough to manage this part of the pitch. Because they play with two, plus two forwards, so we had an overload in this part of the pitch. And they are able to change their positions, so it's not only one position it's fluid for Noah, Granit and Enzo. So it's really tough for them, for the opponent, to catch the right references."

WILL BROBBEY START V LIVERPOOL?
"We don't know, we'll see. I think it's important to give your best with the minutes you have. And so far he's doing well. I think we feel that he's improving his level, his fitness, his confidence and his references with his teammates, game after game."

POOR START
“In this league, especially, you can’t control everything. The scenario will go wrong at times and if you don’t have the foundations, the character, the connection within the team, a bad scenario and you give up. And it was the case today, so it started poorly for us."

UNPREDICTABLE
“But because of the foundations we created together, it’s still possible to think that you can be back in the game, and it was the case. So it’s really important because the scenario in football is still unpredictable and when it goes wrong, you still have to stay in the game and to create the next opportunity, one goal.”

SURVIVAL STILL THE AIM
"Still our first target, we want to reach 40 points. When it will be done – as soon as possible – maybe we will have another objective, but that remains the case.”

OTD: BRUCE SACKEDOn this day in 2011, notorious Mag Steve Bruce was relieved of his duties as manager of Sunderland AFC ...
30/11/2025

OTD: BRUCE SACKED
On this day in 2011, notorious Mag Steve Bruce was relieved of his duties as manager of Sunderland AFC after 98 matches in charge.

Bruce has somehow made a career out of managing the club rivals of a club he's managed previously. But at this time he hadn’t done that on Tyne & Wear yet, he was just a Mag in charge of Sunderland. Despite the baggage of being an obvious Geordie, a native of Wallsend, as one man famously rambled, he had actually done a great job at Wigan Athletic. Wigan, who we know all too well from experience in recent years, were once in the Premier League just like us. Unlike us, they were far exceeding expectations by being there. Bruce had stabilised them and had a keen eye for recruitment working within a tight budget.

Naturally, he wanted to demonstrate this transfer acumen and when he came in he made several changes to the squad. Some of his signings were really good to be fair to him. He brought in Lee Cattermole, Darren Bent, Stephane Sessegnon, Simon Mignolet and others. Not all of his signings were great though, some were poor. For example Connor Wickham.

We finished the first season under Bruce in 10th, which looking back, appears to be a massive achievement. Looking back you might ask, where did it go wrong? Surely we should've pushed for Europe? Alas, it wasn't to be. It's easy to become nostalgic for Bruce's team in his first season, what with Asamoah Gyan, Danny Welbeck, and Bent up front and Frazier Campbell providing depth. Our best attack in years. But, things fell apart.

Fresh off the back of our top half finish you would think we’d start the season well like we did in the previous two seasons but that wasn’t the case. We had lost Bent and Welbeck went back to United. He loaned out one of our best players in Asamoah Gyan which didn’t help, although the player was the main instigator in that move. After a torrid run of five wins, seven draws and 16 losses in his last 28 games he was rightfully sacked. He claimed he was dismissed for not being accepted but at the time the majority of the fans were on his side. He even tried to claim he was sacked for being a Mag. All he did was put us on the list of clubs that he’s left with a sour taste on the tongue.

Since his time on Wearside, the anthropomorphic pie crust somehow wormed his way into his boyhood club after a string of fairly average managerial gigs. He wasn’t appreciated on Tyneside and was shipped out the door as soon as a Saudi takeover was on. After joining the Mags it meant he had managed both sides of three rivals (Sheffield United & Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham & Aston Villa and then us and them). The epitome of a snake- sometimes in football there are things you don’t do for any amount of money.

Any early promise faded away and when your football is dour, you're overweight, you look like a figure a child has described to you from a nightmare and, crucially, you're a Geordie in charge of Sunderland Association Football Club, these factors will come back to haunt you on the terraces when performances inevitably go to the dogs.

PLAYER RATINGS: BOURNEMOUTHBY BEN HARDIESunderland came back from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium ...
29/11/2025

PLAYER RATINGS: BOURNEMOUTH
BY BEN HARDIE

Sunderland came back from two goals down to beat Bournemouth 3-2 at the Stadium of Light, ensuring we wouldn’t go the entirety of November without a victory and securing our first home win against the Cherries since 1989. Two goals in the first fifteen minutes looked to have sunk us but an Enzo Le Fee penalty before the break gave us some hope. This was followed up by a first Sunderland goal from Bertrand Traore to equalise seconds after the break and then super substitute Brian Brobbey won the affair with around 20 minutes left on the clock.

ROBIN ROEFS: 8.5/10
Not at fault for either goal in my view and made four saves, plus had good distribution and command of his box. Standard Robin Roefs’ performance we’ve come to expect at this point.

NORDI MUKIELE: 7/10
Had a really good game and was rarely bested at any point. Unfortunately, he did cause their first goal by slipping over, so I’ve knocked his score down a bit.

DAN BALLARD: 7.5/10
Nothing glaringly bad from him, despite the two goals conceded. He did especially well in the air and looked solid throughout.

OMAR ALDERETE: 7.5/10
He also did well in the air and rarely put a foot wrong, we’re a much better side with him in the team.

REINILDO: 8.5/10
Really good work ethic from him and he won the penalty that got us back into the affair.

GRANIT XHAKA: 8.5/10
He assisted the equaliser and was generally solid. My main criticism of him is that he seemed to always take a second too long to decide what to do with the ball.

NOAH SADIKI: 7.5/10
Sadiki worked his socks off, as usual, and ended up going down and receiving treatment after the full time whistle. Hopefully, that’s nothing too serious. The ball didn’t seem to fall to him very often though.

BERTRAND TRAORE: 8/10
Quite an odd game from him. Obviously, fantastic to see him get off the mark with a good strike but he wasn’t strong enough at other times. Still, a good performance overall.

ENZO LE FEE: 9.5/10
There were one or two moments when he made the wrong choice or didn’t execute something perfectly but I can’t complain about the performance at all. He did well with the penalty, giving the goalkeeper no chance, and he assisted the winner from a corner.

CHEMSDINE TALBI: 6/10
He wasn’t given a chance to shine today, with us concentrating most of our play down the opposite wing. However, he did cause their second goal with a misplaced pass and had one or two sloppy moments when he did get the ball at his feet.

WILSON ISIDOR: 6.5/10
Had one good chance but there was a bit of a dearth of service. At the same time, he could have worked for it a bit more at times.

SUBS:
TRAI HUME: 8/10
Put in some good tackles to relieve pressure late on and was eager to get forward. Sometimes, he was attempting to play it forward when perhaps the smarter thing to have done would have been to play it behind him.

BRIAN BROBBEY: 8.5/10
He’s got to start the next game I think, he’s now scored twice from the bench and has been stronger at winning the ball. He did get unlucky today, the ball always seemed to fall away from him, aside from when it mattered of course!

ROMAINE MUNDLE: 8/10
The runs he made contributed massively to us winning by drawing attention away from our box. Also got unlucky once or twice when the ball just seemed allergic to him.

LUTSHAREL GEERTRUIDA: N/A
Came on late on to make sure we held on and he did well.

SOBS V CHERRIESBY SOBSWow. Quote of the day, as I left the ground? "I'd love to have watched that as a neutral."The Lads...
29/11/2025

SOBS V CHERRIES
BY SOBS

Wow. Quote of the day, as I left the ground? "I'd love to have watched that as a neutral."

The Lads welcomed the Cherries to Wearside with the curse of the former player threatening, in the (much more muscular than when we had him) shape of Semenyo. What we got was a rip-roaring, gut-busting, no-holds-barred 110 minutes of action as we came from two down to win, cementing our position as the side that's gained the most points from a losing position.

Having eventually managed to clean the mud of Fulham Park off my boots, it was off again to Football City (that's Sunderland, by the way) to see the red and white wizards (copyright G. Duff) bounce back. With Alderete back from concussion we had options at the back, but why change a largely effective unit? An impact sub allowing Gerty to push forward? Perhaps.

Of more immediate (ie before kickoff) concern was the manky weather forecast, which suggested a continuation of the Fulham deluge, with a northerly "breeze" hoyed in for good measure. Lovely, and our journey through was uneventful apart from the emergency stop that propelled Monty the dog the full length of the aisle and into the dashboard. He's OK, by the way.

The rumoured changes were duly rung:

Roefs
Mukiele Alderete Ballard Reinildo
Xhaka (c) Sadiki Le Fee
Traore Isidor Talbi.. and a bench of Patterson, Hume, Mayenda, Rigg, Neil, Geertruida, Brobbey, Mundle, and Adingra.

Obviously a change in shape as well - unless our players are even more versatile than advertised. As Busking Joe had relocated his drum kit to Regis le Bridge, why not? When the forecasted rain arrived it was just a bit mizzling on, but perhaps Talbi could do wingback and we'd stay at three central defenders. We'll see... anyway, the foghorn boomed, the twist was begun, and we were in as the mizzle became light rain. The foghorn boomed again, the lighthouse flashed, the knights danced, and we were ready to go....and Wise Men Say.

With Bournemouth in all dark blue, and the rain hoying it down, we defended the Roker End and they kicked off, getting a shot away after barely half a minute that took a lucky rebound for a goal kick.

Xhaka set a move away that ended when Talbi's shot was blocked after he came in from the left - it looked a pretty obvious handball, but they didn't even bother with VAR, which was surprising. Talbi was there again when we broke up a Cherries attack, curling one just wide of the keeper's left hand post.

Given it was so wet, the game pinged about at a fair old pace, and on 6 minutes they came down their left to fire off the post and the rebound was popped away.

Bah.

After a weird free to them (the second in a long line of iffy decisions), we messed up a corner on our right, they broke and caught Roefs way off his line with a hoof from 40 yards.

Double bah.

We had a corner on the left then one on the right, and somehow they got a free when Reinildo was clearly thrown to the floor. Roefs then made a comfy save up high before Alderete was booked for a dunsh in our half on 20, and a couple of minutes later Issy had a blast from the edge of the box beaten away by the keeper. A really nasty one on Xhaka as he attempted to carry it away from our box only brought a yellow for their Scott - and more of him later.

Another penalty shout was ignored - no VAR? Why is it there? No doubt about the penalty, (Scott again) although they did consult VAR before Enzo fairy blammed it high into the net. Back in it.

Traore looked to have been pulled/pushed around the side of their box, then an off the ball trip on Issy was ignored as we broke down the left. Reinildo turned up in their box to flash a header wide on 38, then a Bournemouth shot on the turn was blocked.

After an injury to Traore, Scott clattered in again but avoided probably his third yellow and seven added minutes were announced before Enzo fired into the side netting.

No changes for us for the second half, but the visitors sensibly took Scott off. An early free was launched into their box, Xhaka won back the clearance and played it to the right, from where it was pinged back to him, then came the disguised pass to Traore, who stepped inside and fired low just inside their keeper's left post. Barely a minute in - and that after our halftime thoughts were about his lack of end product.

Ours to win? Why aye! Mind, it looked dodgy when Semenyo's cross hit a Sunderland shin and seemed destined for the far corner - but Evanilson foolishly tapped it in from an offside position. Even that ref couldn't miss that one.

Semenyo, a constant pest down our right, put in a cross and won a corner which was followed by another on the other side. We got it away, but a few minutes later a loose one by Enzo saw them shoot - way over. On 58, Traore was away but hung on to the ball in the box and the keeper was down onto it. On 62, off went Issy, Traore, and Talbi, replaced by Brobbey, Mundle, and Hume.

The three were straight into it, with a shot over the top and Hume was booked for a trip before he'd kicked the ball. Mundle chased a long free to win a corner, and after the customary scrum and restart, there was Brobbey at the near post to head us into the lead on 67.

Yeehah!

Rather than sit back, we piled into them for a while and a handball on halfway by Semenyo was less of an offence than the penalty we didn't get, and earned their gaffer a yellow. Everyone was up for the free but it was cleared. A low Roefs save cable after a bit of Bournemouth pressure, they wasted two free-kicks from similar positions after faffing on for ages setting up, then crashed a shot off the bar. Hume banged in a couple of trademark tackles, and Enzo was replaced by Gerty for the last five or so, Roefs was booked for time wasting, as was their keeper (eejit) and 8 added minutes were somehow found. Handbags, injuries, fouls, more handbags and a sending off +for an elbow on Sadiki), and the whistle eventually blew at 17:06.

Phew.

Man of the Match? So many to choose from, but definitely not the ref. Watch MOTD to form your own opinion.

Probably Xhaka again, just ahead of the sparkling Enzo, if only for that added time carry across the field to kill time.

Gerrrin!

LFL: B'MOUTHBY IAN MOLEAfter looking like we were going to be hammered we fought back to record a tremendous win. Our ne...
29/11/2025

LFL: B'MOUTH
BY IAN MOLE

After looking like we were going to be hammered we fought back to record a tremendous win. Our never-say-die character was once again clearly demonstrated.

BEFORE
After last Saturday's disappointment I'm hoping for some joy this afternoon and I think we'll come away with at least a point. Bournemouth are currently one place below us and their recent form hasn't been good with only one win out of the last five league games. Their away form hasn't been at all good all season whereas our crowd has given us a major boost so far. It sounds like Mundle is just about ready for first team consideration and he may well be on the bench today. We went through so many players during our eight years in the wilderness that I'm often pushed to recall a lot of them and Semenyo is a case in point. He'll certainly be a man to watch today, though, as he's their main threat upfront. I'm in London and don't know how I'll access the match but I'm hoping to get it online in some format. Match prediction: 2-1 to us.

I got the team-news just after 1.45 and there were two changes in the starting line-up from the Fulham game with Alderete and Talbi coming in for Hume and Geertruida, who were both on the bench. Accompanying them there were Rigg and Mundle but O'Nien wasn't featuring at all. Semenyo was starting for them. I managed to get the commentary on without difficulty after all. It was raining heavily but our fans were in great voice as we kicked-off.

THE MATCH
Talbi had a shot on target in the opening minutes and in our next attack there was a shout for handball but nothing came of it. After we'd done most of the pressing, Bournemouth took the lead in the seventh minute. Mukiele slipped on the wet surface and Roefs managed to push an Evanilson effort onto the post but Adli was there to hit in the rebound. We battled back and won the first corner of the game as the rain intensified. The corner went horribly wrong when Talbi gave the ball away and Bournemouth broke quickly. Adams saw that Roefs was off his line and lobbed the ball over him to make it 2-0 in the fifteenth minute. We had a mountain to climb but we'd climbed them before. We soon won two corners on the trot but the referee, Tim Robinson, blew for a foul against us. We were sounding wide open at times and Alderete received a yellow card for a foul when Bournemouth were about to break through.

Isidor had a good shot on target but it was straight at Petrovic in goal. Commentator Benno had been saying that we didn't have any movement upfront so that was more like it. Scott was booked for a foul on Xhaka and by the sound of it many of our fans thought it should have been a red. Next thing there was a VAR decision for a foul by Scott on Reinildo in their box and after an eternity the penalty was awarded. Benno thought that Scott should have got a second yellow but no action was taken. Anyway, Le Fee took the kick and scored and we were well back in the game in the thirtieth minute. In our next attack Mukiele got a shove in the back but I don't suppose we could expect two penalties within a few minutes and nothing was given. A Reinildo header went just wide of the right post in the thirty-ninth and Bournemouth were soon up the other end winning a corner. Benno said that Semenyo looked a threat every time he got the ball. There was bound to be a fair bit of added-time after the VAR delay but I was surprised when seven minutes were announced. Plenty of time for us to grab an equaliser and go in level. We won a corner about five minutes into that period but Le Fee's kick failed to beat the first man and when the ball came back Le Fee shot into the side-netting. It remained 1-2 as the half-time whistle went but after a disastrous opening quarter hour we'd fought our way back into the game.

During the break I wondered which changes we'd make and I could see Talbi being replaced, maybe by Mundle. I always like to see Mayenda being given some time later on.

As we kicked off again Cook had replaced Scott, no doubt as the latter had been heading for a second yellow. Within a minute of the restart Benno was emitting a long high-pitched whoop and it was in celebration of us equalising through a Traore shot into the right-hand corner after a great pass from Xhaka. Almost immediately Bournemouth had the ball in our net but finally an assistant referee raised his flag and the effort was ruled out. You could sense that there'd be more goals in the game... We survived two corners in a row around ten minutes in and the game continued to go from end to end. Not long after the hour-mark we made a triple change, bringing on Hume, Brobbey and Mundle for Talbi, Isidor and Troare, as Benno had correctly predicted. There was applause all round but an especially loud cheer for Mundle. Brobbey was immediately in the thick of things as we won our fifth corner. Hume made a different kind of impact as he was booked within a minute or two of coming on.

As we entered the final quarter it was anybody's game. The ref had a word with both captains as things had been getting on the heated side but next thing we were ahead when a corner from the left was headed in by Brobbey from about eight yards out. Bournemouth made a double switch and with twenty minutes or so to go it was going to be a hell of a ride till that final whistle. I had to get up and start pacing around and when I sat down again I noticed that BBC Sport were two minutes ahead of our commentary for some strange reason. Maybe I'd entered a timewarp but as long as we were still in the lead I wasn't bothered. Bournemouth made another couple of changes and the game was still going end to end. We conceded a free-kick in a dangerous spot and it took ages to be taken but finally Unal's effort went wide of the post. A Tavernier shot came off the bar and then Le Fee was replaced by Geertruida with four minutes on the clock. Bournemouth were doing most of the pressing as eight minutes of added-time were announced. I've no idea why there was so much. Brooks pushed Mukiele over and this resulted in both of them being yellow-carded for some reason. Sadiki went down injured for a while and then there was a cheer from our fans. It turned out that Cook had been red-carded for an elbow on Sadiki. So the game was extended even further and then Mundle was booked too. Brobbey was injured for a short while and then Roefs also went down for a bit just to drag things out even more. Eventually that whistle blew to loud cheers from our fans and Xhaka was soon conducting them in celebration.

OTD: STOKOE APPOINTEDOn this day in 1972, Bob Stokoe was appointed Sunderland manager and led the Lads to FA Cup glory n...
29/11/2025

OTD: STOKOE APPOINTED

On this day in 1972, Bob Stokoe was appointed Sunderland manager and led the Lads to FA Cup glory not long after his arrival.

The Northumberland-born man began his playing career at Newcastle United, making his debut on Christmas Day 1950 against Middlesbrough. He also scored in that game, one of four goals in his Newcastle career. One of Stokoe’s most memorable moments for the Mags was playing in a 3-1 win over Manchester City in the 1955 FA Cup final...

Stokoe wound down his career at Bury before retiring and becoming their manager at just 31 years old. It made him the second-youngest manager in the Football League. After brief spells at Charlton, Rochdale and Carlisle, Stokoe took over at Blackpool. Despite not being overly popular among the Blackpool fanbase, he brought European football to the seaside in the form of the Anglo-Italian cup. After his third season at Blackpool, Stokoe claimed that he wanted to stay at Blackpool for five years. However, Sunderland came calling and the lure of a North-East return was too much.

When he took over, Sunderland were bottom of the Second Division. However, we went on a run of 32 games that saw defeat just 5 times, guiding us to comfortable safety! Less than a year into his Sunderland spell, Stokoe wrote himself into the history books forever.

We beat Manchester City and Arsenal on the way to the FA Cup final, but nobody gave us a chance against Don Revie’s Leeds side. United had won the cup the previous year, and were a division higher than the Black Cats. However, an Ian Porterfield goal and a world class double save from Jimmy Montgomery meant that Sunderland were the only Second Division team to lift the trophy in 42 years!

He famously has a statue outside the Stadium of Light, which shows Stokoe running onto Wembley’s pitch in his trademark trilby hat, arms outstretched. Sunderland finished 6th that season, and narrowly missed out on promotion the following two years. We eventually went up as champions, adding to Stokoe’s collection of silverware.

However, we struggled in the top-flight. The lads went nine games without a win, leading to the gaffer’s resignation. He went on to only manage former clubs of his. He had stints back at Bury, Blackpool, Rochdale before finally returning to Carlisle. After two spells there, he came back to Sunderland with the team fighting relegation in the Second Division. We eventually lost the relegation play-off despite Stokoe being at the helm, taking us to the Third Division for the first time in our history. Stokoe’s contract was not renewed at the end of the season and he retired from football.

In his later life, Bob struggled for a while with Alzheimer’s. He suffered from pneumonia and was admitted to hospital, sadly passing away in 2004 aged, incidentally, 73. He garnered such respect in the North East that fans of both Newcastle and Sunderland gathered for Bob’s funeral, which took place in Newcastle.

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