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It was a warm evening, 6 men sit around a poker table, no limit texas holdem is the game.
The evening so far had been much better than the rest of my 10 holiday in Vegas sitting with $50,000 worth of chips infront of me, the cards were coming thick and fast and these millionaire playboys we just handing over their money.
All except one. When he sat down he introduced himself as Bob Murray, it took me 15 minutes to place the name. I was sitting across from the chairman on Sunderland Football Club.
The evening goes slowly as the cards dry up, Murray finds himself sitting behind a massive stack, at least half of which is mine.
"Getting some nice cards there Bob" I say, trying to get some banter going.
"Cards have nothing to do with it when you play against chumps!"
Taken aback by his somewhat blunt response I make it my mission for the rest of the evening to bust Bob Murray.
2 hours later and I have dragged myself back to $52,000, Murray has been having a run of bad luck and finds himself on $37,000. Obviously annoyed he declares that this will be his last hand. I'm in the short blind, Murray two places to my right.
The dealer gives everyone two cards face down, the blinds are $2000/$1000. The first 3 players fold, leaving Murray, myself and a japanese guy with a hideous hawian shirt. Murray looks at his cards
"Make it $4000" he says confidently, he leans back, a sign of a good hand.
I look down to see the Ace and Queen of hearts. "Call"
The Japanese guy folds quickly, wishing us luck.
The flop comes...
Jack of hearts, 10 of hearts, King of clubs
I've hit top straight flush draw, the best hand in poker.
First to act i bet $5000, Murray stares at me, looks at his cards and says "Raise 5000"
I look down at my cards, making sure they haven't changed. "Ok, I call"
Now the turn...
King of hearts
I've made a straight flush, i'm unbeatable, absolutely stone cold unbeatable. I bet again "$5000"
Again Murray stares, "I'll raise $10,000", he now has $13000 left compared to my $28000.
I look at my cards again "All in!", the biggest moment of my life. Now i see Murray look triumphant, i have no idea what i've got but he says to me.
"I can't cover that"
"You're a rich man, i'm sure you can afford an extra $15000"
"Maybe so, but how about i offer you a job instead? If you beat my hand you can take all the chips on the table and i will give you the managers job at Sunderland"
I can't believe whats happening, i'm sitting here with the best hand possible, there is $89000 chips on the table and i've just been offered one of the hardest jobs in football.
It takes me a millisecond to say it "Deal!"
Murray laughs, stands up and turns his cards over...
"I hope you can beat 4 of a kind"
he shows the King of diamonds and the King of spades.
Now i'm laughing uncontrollably, Murray looks at me "Show me your cards then"
I'm on my knees laughing "Come on lad, show me the F*%"&£G CARDS"
I turn over my straight flush, still laughing to the back ground noise of Bob Murray crying.
I step into Bob Murray's office, he's sitting behind behing a large mahogany desk, ontop of which is my 1 year contract.
"Now then lad, you'll be paid £17,000 for the year, we have limited funds so the best i can give you is £4.4m for transfers and £130,000p/w on wages.
And forget what the papers say, I think you can keep this club up, and you will keep this club up, your job depends on it."
I quickly sign the contract and then make the trip to the Acadamy of Light to have a look at the training facilities and meet the players.
After my first training session i called Chris Brown and Stephen Wright into the first team squad, in the belief that they will improve it and provide competition for places.
Squad Analysis
Goal Keeper:
Kelvin Davis (28) - Brought in for £1.3m from ipswitch at the end of last season, will be my first choice, solid all round except for his kicking. Joe Murphy (23) - In for a free from wallsal, adequate cover, will see a lot of the bench.
Right Backs:
Nyron Nosworthy (24) - Another new boy, signed on a free from gillingham. Looks decent, can also play wing back. Stephen Wright (25) - Former England u21, has valuable premiership experience. Will start as first choice. Been at the club for 3 years since signing from Liverpool for £3m. Justin Hoyte (20) - England u21 on loan from Arsenal for the season. Will be behind wright and nosworthy, may be sent back to arsenal to make space for extra loan signings.
Left Backs:
George McCartney (24) - Northern Ireland international, been at the club for 7 years, looks very good but unfortunately injured for 6 months with a torn hamstring.
Danny Collins (24) - Been at the club for 1 year, bought for £140k from chester. Also out injured, 2-3 months with a damaged achillies tendon. This Wales international will push for the first team when fit.
Centre Backs:
Gary Breen (31) - Ireland international, signed for a free from west ham 1 year ago. experience will be important.
Stephen Caldwell (24) - Young scotland international, looks to be the pick of my centre backs. Free transfer from Newcastle 1 year ago.
Alan Stubbs (33) - Lots of experience, will start out as first team captain, hopefully forming a good partnership with caldwell.
Right Wing:
Liam Lawrence (23) - Good young prospect, lacks stamina but good stats on the ball. Will spend most of his time in the reserves. Anthony Le Tallec (20) - French u21 on loan from Liverpool, looks a very good player, can play in the middle aswell but will be put on the wing to make the most of his pace and dribbling skills. Andy Gray (27) - A new signing from Sheffield United. Scotland International who can also do a job up front. Fighting for a place with Le Tallec.
Left Wing:
Julio Arca (24) - First choice winger, can also play left back. will be a threat to most opposition defences. Andy Welsh (21) - Young player who will play second fiddle to Arce.
Central Midfield:
Christian Bassila (27) - Free transfer from Stasbourg. Looks a good player, with good tackling and passing, very defensive player.
Dean Whitehead (23) - Young solid midfielder. Pushing for a first team place.
Tommy Miller (26) - At the moment my best midfielder, needs to be on form if we have a chance of staying up.
Strikers:
Jonathan Stead (22) - Raw striker, England u21, will be a valuable player.
Stephen Elliott (21) - My best striker, a lot rests on his shoulders, will start most games.
Chris Brown (20) - Another young talented striker. Brought up from the reserves to gain experience and push for a starting place.
Conclusion
A very young squad with only breen and stubbs over 30. More experience is needed, especially up front. Plus the lack of depth is a concern. Main priority is a left back so that arca can be free to play on the wing and another central midfielder.
A very small crowd witnessed a good contest against little know Dinamo. Sunderland had the majority of the possesion, going 2:0 infront before half time thanks to an own goal and a clever finish from Stephen Elliott. A mix up between Stubbs and Davis gifted Dinamo a consolation with 15 minutes left to play.
I'm intending to make proper match reports more detailed, not a big fan of friendlies (as important as they are), so i am trying to get through them as quickly as possible
A bore draw did nothing to raise the spirits of the crowd on a damp summer evening
21/07/2005 Stadium of Light, Sunderland
A press conference is held so that our 2 new signings can be unveiled.
"I am pleased to announce that we have secured the services of Steven Watts on loan from Chelsea for the season, and we have also signed the Senelgalese international Amdy Faye for £1.6m from Newcastle United. Both players i'm sure will fit in very well and strengthen our squad for what promises to be a demanding season."
The usual press photos are taken and I leave the stadium feeling upbeat about our chances of staying up.
3 first half goals in 12 minutes from neil shipperly gave sheffield and easy victory, michael tonge completing the rout after half time Not one sunderland player put in a decent performance, very worrying going into the first game of the season.
On the day totalbet.com declare us as being 300-1 for the title and would do well to stay in the division Tommy Miller is ruled out for the first 3 weeks of the season picking up a sprained ankle in training.
An inspired Stephen Elliott lead Sunderland to an impressive first win of the season. Clinical finishing was the difference in a very close game at the Valley. Sunderland got off to a great start when Elliott finished one on one after a flick on from Chris Brown. Things got even better after 30 minutes when Brown hit a thunderbolt from 30 yards out in his first game for the club.
Just before half time Charlton clawed one back when Darren Bent finished from 10 yards after some neat play. Then man of the match Elliott rounds the game off with a good finished after being put through by Amdy Faye who was very impressive on his debut. The last 20 minutes played out with no efforts of note on goal. Manager Liam McCrea said after the match.
"I'm pround of my players, this was a tough opening game to the season but we played some good football and followed that up with some outstanding defending. And as an added bonus this win puts us top of the league for at least 24 hours!"
GK Kelvin Davis
DR Nyron Nosworthy
DL Dan Smith
DC Alan Stubbs
DC Stephen Caldwell
MR Anthony Le Tallec
ML Julio Arca
MC Amdy Faye
MC Christian Bassila
FC Stephen Elliott
FC Chris Brown
S1 Joe Murphy
S2 Gary Breen
S3 Stephen Wright
S4 Andy Gray
S5 Jonathan Stead
Good Luck, Bad Team 
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