Another average season from Sassco, blighted by inconsistency. Unlike previous seasons, this campaign saw some heavy defeats against teams, transformed by handsome wins or, at least, massive improvements in results and performances over the same teams and superior teams a few weeks later.

The pre-season programme was full again; totalling nine games against teams who were in stronger leagues. The team were donning a new jersey and had secured another new sponsor in iKobo, a finance company based in Atlanta, Georgia and also Florida. The players added were returns for Wayne Greenwell, with Neil Richardson coming in for pre-season games (due to a competitive ban) as well as Paul McConville as a non-regular player. Gareth Stoker came in for a centre half berth. Andy Swinhoe also made a return as a regular player along with Mickey Pearson. And Stephen Lewis also returned after warming Redhouse FC’s bench. A unique feature seems to be past Sassco players wanting to return. On the opposite end, Andy Farrer, Andy Reay with Gav Brown were all gone. Also missing was Mark Middlemiss, albeit for a few returns. Jamie Wilson was also absent apart from a solitary appearance.

So, unlike last pre-season, the team was reasonably set for the marathon of games on artificial turfs in and around the region. A heavy hammering off Shildon was one of the notable ones. But battling performances against Rutherford AFC, Redhouse FC and Sunderland South were augmented with excellent wins over Washington Colliery, Whitley Bay Deaf and Forest Hall FC.

The most devastating defeat was actually the 11-a-side team losing to a Sassco B team, cobbled together with ex-players and player from the Sassco leagues. The poor A v B defeat helped in our first game, as confidence was questioned. Sassco blitzed Park View 8-0 away from home. However, after this, we had a poor game at Hylton CW with a depleted team and a 3-1 defeat. The big disaster came away to Sporting Redhouse with a heavy defeat, despite leading. This was mainly due to sending offs, substitutions and injuries, as the team only had nine fit players for the majority of the second half.

After this it was a record win against Sportsmans Arms (a team later removed from the League), with Steve Stubbs making a return. And then the best so far in the Cup against Blue Bell (3-1). Overconfidence nearly led to a home defeat against Traveller’s, but the team 2-0 down and 3-2 down clawed it back to 3-3 (with Lewis scoring two comeback goals).

By now, the team was suffering it’s typical share of player losses. Lewis became disillusioned again and vanished from view. Gareth Stoker was banned for several games. Critically, Dave Graham was missing more and more, and we didn’t have a ready placed replacement.

Then, in November, it was the logistically successful Malta Trip. Three games in three days fulfilled one of the many ambitions I had for Sassco. The results were three expected defeats, but overall the tour was so successful that a Portugal Tour is to take place in October 2009. Dave Gourlay was appointed as Team Coach for the tour and the system seemed to work, so he was appointed on a full-time basis, with myself being solely in charge of bringing together the best 14 players for Gourlay to work with.

Coming back from Malta, the team was caught cold in an away game to Seaham as Cresswell was poached by Hylton Castle (finally). It was then that I called on Jimmy Raeper to return. Craig Charlton also heard about it and requested to join. Charlie transferred from Redhouse and Jimmy came in for the final games in 2008. However, they joined at a poor time. Player shortages starting to occur and we played several important games with what I would call a second string side, or the bare eleven. I started making appearances which is a clear sign of something going wrong.

The Seaham defeat was followed by a heavy Cup defeat to Mountain Daisy in appalling, freezing weather. Pearson also left the team as a regular player.

A mid season game took place against Ovi’s disorganised NaSA team. An easy  win with Raeper and Charlton featuring. This led to a full team easily defeating travellers 4-2 in a Cup Competition. This was followed by a lucky 1-1 draw at home to Cambridge Hotel and a 6-3 win over Times Inn, which saw Anthony Pearson grab a hat-trick in front of the cameras. The games against Sportman’s, Traveller’s and Times Inn were captured on video (available in the Media section) as well as the complete Malta Tour. Back to reality, a good January, which is traditionally poor for Sassco, was followed by a disastrous February.

It was after Christmas when the real problems started occurring. Cresswell leaving left a bit of a void. Also, Stephen Lewis, who re-joined with such fanfare went missing – mainly down to work issues, but probably due to the fact that he wasn’t given the red carpet treatment and seemed to be jealous of Dave Gourlay for some apparent reason.

With the poor weather, several games were called off, thus creating a backlog.

Two heavy defeat in February with depleted sides (1-5 v Hyltion and 1-8 v Colonel Prior – both in the Cup), saw Craig Charlton leave the team (again), but Brian Marley and Andy Farrer making emergency appearances, along with Neil Richardson, due to his ban being lifted. An important win, 3-1 away to Cambridge (which saw Swinhoe playing his last game) revitalised the side, but another setback saw Travellers defeat Sassco, 5-2 away, with Steve Conlin making his first appearance; sourced by Jimmy. A poor squad saw Sassco lose at home to  the Seaham Times Inn, and it was obvious changes needed to be made.

The form was upturned and the best came with 4-1 home win over Usworth, with Kyle Robinson shocking the footballing world by making a return with Sassco. He was sold on the fake club vision by McDermont and this seemed to settle the squad. By this time, Dave Graham’s appearances were limited, Tim failed to show for several games and Stoker was banned again. In the Usworth game Rikki Kennedy made his debut, and Dave Simpson saved his first ever penalty with the scored tied at 1-1. However, the most important result in terms of a watershed moment came after a chaotic midweek 10-0 defeat to Hylton. This was after a superb 2-2 draw v runaway leaders, Sporting (when 2-0 down). This heavy defeat resulted in Dave Gourlay stepping down as Team Coach. I returned as Interim coach (with a 3-2 away win over Usworth) before making a controversial appointment of Neil Richardson as Team Coach (initially until the end of the season). Marc McDermont was also ejected from the team, but apologised and made a return.

However, for Richardson; his first task was to mould the weakest possible Sassco team on a Wednesday evening against The Fort, a team unbeaten in several games. Greenwell, due to the heavy midweek defeat and complaints about Neil Richardson refused to play for him and demanded a change (despite being aware of the change the night before). But Sangha backed his Coach and Greenwell was removed from the team five minutes before kick off. The ten men made a brave stand to gain a 2-2 draw against The Fort. Greenwell was told to apologise to Neil Richardson (his Team Coach) and the team, if he wanted to come back. The Sassco management always stand their ground and the majority of the players had a “stick two fingers up at Greenwell” attitude and were pleased he had left.

After this, things went on the up. Both McConville and Pearson made more regular appearances and we weren’t short for the rest of the season. A win over Country Park Inn was followed by a best performance away to the Fort (6-4). However, it all collapsed when a full and overconfident team were defeated 4-3 by the bottom team and everyone turned on the stubborn Nelly in the changing rooms. I then made the decision to take control of the team again. Nelly obviously wanted better players so he was hampered with the squad chosen for him. However, I didn’t want to change things, so decided that it’s best I pick the squad and the team.

We defeated Park View 3-0, with a wonder goal from Dave Graham, who spent the rest of the half asking people if they wanted his autograph. Then a midweek performance v Hylton CW was vastly improved despite a first half 2-0 deficit. Sassco dominated the second half but failed to score despite at least a dozen good chances.

The final game saw a reasonably full complement easily beat Country Park Inn, with a staggering four goals from Jimmy. The end of season enjoyment was somewhat lowered by Brian Watson’s announcement that he had to stand down as Team Sec. due to other commitments.

Marc McDermont headed the goal scoring list with twelve goals, but Jimmy was close behind him. Gareth Stoker was voted Player of the Season with 8 votes, which is 38%. Dave Gourlay, winner every year since 2005, got 5 votes, which is 24%.

Other things of note were that we had our Charter Standard award renewed. Sponsorship was also renewed and a new away kit was obtained. The website is still gaining many visitors and players seem to want to play for Sassco. A prime example being David “Bunta” Murton, who returns on a temporary two month contract before he vanishes again.

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Greenwell’s return marred by an expected defeat.

Two games were actually played. The first was a standard 45 minute each way game, ending in a 5-0 defeat, while the second one was a mini-game played due to the extra time available on the pitch. The second game ended in a 1-0 defeat.

Bit chaotic at the start. We turned up at Coach Lane, the same place where we have two memorable wins over Forest Hall over the last two summers, but found out that it was a different pitch; a school pitch further up Coach Lane. Several detours and mis-directions later, we hustled together and Greenwell, unlike the meticulous Pearson before him, failed to have any sort of line up ready. It was done on the back of a piece of scrap paper with five minutes to kick off. Then, having several substitutes, Macca left the bench seat at the Northumbria University changing room, so I had to go back for it.

Just as I was returning to the car park, I saw Chemfica’s first goal slot past Dave Smith, who turned up unannounced. Most of the players’ jaws dropped when I told them that Chemfica were a Northern Alliance side, similar to Newcastle BT, who offered us a similar thrashing last summer. However, it wasn’t all that bad. We were doing roll-on, roll-off, which doesn’t help, but remained reasonably stubborn. The half-time result was 2-0, but the floodgates opened in the second half and Chemfica ran up a 5-0 scoreline.

We had our usual expected whingers, with McDermont supposedly injured after five minutes. Obviously he didn’t fancy it and spent the first half moaning about other players on the bench. Here’s a moan for you, Mac: If you don’t fancy it – f**k off.

Lee Ramsay was probably our best player on the afternoon, but we were playing a strong team, so can’t be too disheartened.

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Possibly the poorest Sassco season for a number of years, easily the most disappointing since we dropped out of the top division in 2005, without a single win to our name.

The pre-season was, as expected, quite busy, including trips a post season defeat to Redhouse FC by two goals to one in the AGUK Challenge Cup, a strong win on the Sandhill’s artificial turf against Thomas Wilson, before the team came unstuck on a Sunday morning with a surprise defeat to Leam Lane Rangers at Gateshead.This was followed with a tempestuous comeback win against Forest Hall, a massive victory over Rutherford Deaf and then a heavy defeats against West Auckland and Newcastle BT; both teams in higher levels than ourselves.

After ninety minutes of our opening game, it was obvious that the team had near-collapse. The 2-0 defeat against Cambridge was hard to bear, but the insolence of some key players, namely Stoker and Richardson, meant that I was forced to remove them from the squad. Both eventually returned, but the absence and the disarray saw a run of defeats.

We hadn’t won a single game against a decent team until we actually went to Portugal, where a memorable tour saw a win, a draw and a loss.

Back in the cold, the team suffered and Greenwell, who was appointed Coach, was ready to receive the axe, until a superb run saw the team unbeaten for several games. During this run, Greenwell suffered the “thumb” and was forced out of coaching the side, mainly due to lack of attention and interest. Michael Pearson was appointed in his stead, and kept the run going. However, as the player signing deadline approached, the team was hit with several injuries and hobbled over the finishing line with only five wins out of fourteen games in the new year.

A lot of soul searching during the summer months, but the advantage is that the team has an appointed coach for pre-season for the first time, who will bring his ideas in and look for reliable players to avoid some embarrassingly heavy defeats.

Leading scorer for the season was Mark Muers, who move from defence into attack, back into defence, then back into attack for the latter part of the season.

Overwhelming player nominated as the best Sassco player this season was goalkeeper, David Smith, who replaced Simpson (now outfield) and was a key figure in the long unbeaten run.

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Redhouse stumble to the finishing line with a win.

Scott Dixon strode up confidently and stroked the penalty to score for Redhouse FC, early in the second half to settle the game for Redhouse FC. This was the third AGUK Challenge Cup game, and Redhouse FC retained the trophy. It was a controversial decision and definitely swung the game into Redhouse’s favour, as Sassco put up an excellent first half fight.

Sassco produced one of their most stubborn performances for many years, mainly down to Davinder Sangha taking the reigns in Michael Pearson’s absence. Privately, many players after the game said that Sangha’s grasp and knowledge of football is far superior to the incumbent Coach, Michael Pearson. One anonymous source, when asked If Sangha should usurp Mickey Pearson’s role said, “I naar that.”

Sassco were depleted. Muers had to call off before the game, while Mickey Oliver dropped the team in it again. Jack Wright was roped in and there were “debuts” for Callum Howe and Lee Ramsay.

A disappointing defeat, especially as Sassco were still in with a chance right until the death…

*This report is littered with inaccuracies, cynicism and downright lies as the scoreline could be wrong.

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Dave Gourlay, languishing on the sidelines for varying reasons, decided to grill his General Manager, Sangha, with some Jeremy Paxman like questions.

Q/ Sassco has been running over 10 years now, how do you feel about the brand & did you think you would have made more progress or have you been encouraged by what you have achieved?

I’m quite encouraged to be honest with you. We’ve reached an off field standard that no other amateur team at our level could possibly hope to match. We’ve had our own custom kit, custom footballs, high quality match videos, overseas tours, give away badges, full history since day one and the best website anyone can hope to have. The idea for Sassco.co.uk was always to use the website as the focal point for everything we do and we’ve achieved that.

Q/ Do you still have any aspirations that you are hoping to achieve?

Hoping to win a trophy, but I won’t bring in specialists just to do that. We’ve always been strict on people paying up subs, turning up and helping with nets. I’ve simply been uninterested in certain players because they’re not the ‘Sassco’ type. Anyone not conforming usually sees the exit door rapidly.

Q/ How do you feel this 11-a side season has faired this season & do you consider that we have a good squad or do you think it has diminished over the years?

This season has been quite poor. We had a good run, then Wayne Greenwell decided to go under the thumb and not respond to texts, so there was a bit of instability. However, his replacement, Pearson, had his hands tied by a shocking injury list after the transfer and signing deadline. However, Pearson is far more on the ball than his predecessor and is in constant contact about the squad line up as well as giving more impressive team talks. We always try and get reliable players more than top quality superstars.

Q/ With this in mind, are you happy that Sassco have not achieved much on the field? Or does this not motivate you?

It doesn’t keep me awake at night, mainly because I know that winning at our level isn’t the big thing people make it out to be. I’d ask you to list the winners of our division and the above division for the last three seasons. I’d also ask you to name the cup winners. It’s something you’d have to look up. However, everyone knows about Sassco, because the website is rammed down everyone’s throat.

Q/ A big issue this season has been postponed games, can you comment on whether or not the team will be changing their home pitch to more suitable grounds such as Biddick or gateshead 3G?

This season was a shocker. Unfortunately 3G pitches are way too expensive. An average of £50 a game. We would have to increase subs to around £3 per match and even £4, which is quite scary, but then again, some five-a-side that I’ve been playing recently has costed £3.50 and £3.80

Q/ This season has seen a number of changes in terms of admin, coaches & team selectors, what do you put this down to & can you see the ship being steadied now?

The back end is reasonably stable as despite Brian Watson controlling all the paperwork, I also know the procedures. This means more work for me, but I will be delegating tasks in the close season if we can’t get a new team sec. Greenwell stepped up and performed well as coach despite an atrocious start, but then the thumb struck. Mick Pearson, as mentioned is much more a hands-on coach which is what Sassco needed. Also, there is always an interim coach and others to take over if for any reason we lose the coach. I still have my trusty Asst. Manager, McDermont and Finance Controller, Muers, who tend to assist in most activities.

Q/ Sassco has had two very succesful trips to Europe, can you see the brand being taken to any other continents?

The USA Tour of 2012 is the big one. It’s Spain this year and Cyprus in 2011 (possibly Italy), but a full week tour to the States would be the culmination of everything we’ve hoped for.

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In the first of a series of interviews, Michael Pearson, a long standing, original member of the team, now Assistant Coach, answers some in-depth questions.

Michael was selected by General Manager, Davinder Sangha, to join the team back in it’s debut game in 2002 and has remained a regular player in recent years, having been non-regular during the mid-years. And he was recently appointed as Assistant Coach to the team.

Q) William Harper, in one of his many outlandish, Pele type claims, once considered you “the best young player in Sunderland.” Do you think this has put pressure on you?

PEARSON: As we all know, William “Tash” Harper has a vast amount of experience and is very knowledgeable when it comes to football. Some might say he even played like Pele in his younger days. So when someone like that makes such a statement about a young player it does place a bit of pressure on a young person’s shoulders. Part of being a footballer is about learning to handle such pressures and I feel I owe a lot to Sassco General Manager, Davinder Sangha, for helping me to develop myself further, not just as a player but also as a person.

Q) You stopped playing for Sassco in the Saturday morning Tyne & Wear League after criticising the team heavily in the press. Manager, Sangha, once famously said, “If there was a Hell, it would have to freeze over” before considering you for the team again. Yet you came back. How do you feel the team has developed, as you are one of the original players?

PEARSON: Sassco originally started out with, on paper, a strong looking squad that could challenge for honours but after a poor start in the TW League things went tits up. Internal bickering between players and management alike looked like Sassco would be another one season team. Somehow, Sassco managed to keep on going for a few seasons but the same problems arose season after season and I became a bit of a non – regular. Sassco have never managed to sustain a settled consistent squad and have had many different coaches* giving it a go with very little success.

However, this season has seen a remarkable change in fortunes for this Sassco squad. Gone are the players who some might say caused problems and in came a few new and old faces. The managerial team has seen yet another change but this time has proved successful…so far.

Being an original member of the Sassco brand from the very first day I have seen many good, bad and very humorous times as well as many, many…many players come and go but I can now see that the team is now realising its true potential. On the field the team is beginning to play consistently well and have had some excellent results so far this season and can hopefully build on that.

Off the field Sassco is one the most organised and well ran clubs in local football. No one can argue with that. Everything from the superb website, trips abroad and links with various north east clubs and it is all down to Dov. He might not have the tactical nous to change a game but he can certainly make the Sassco brand bigger and better.

* Coaches since 2002 have been: Davinder Sangha (several long spells and various interim roles), Dave Watson, Dave Gourlay, Neil Richardson, William Harper and Wayne Greenwell.

Q) Its common knowledge that once you’re in a relationship with a girl, your football career effectively ends. What are your comments on this?

PEARSON: When I have stopped playing for Sassco previously it was down to a number of factors. I don’t want to dwell on the past, I just want to look to the future and drive Sassco forward. I take my role with the club very seriously.

Q) How do you feel about having your brother, Anthony, in the team?

PEARSON: I think it’s great to have young talent in the team. I feel he fits in very well into the way we play and has made the left hand side of midfield his own by being in excellent form recently, scoring 5 goals in his last 6 appearances.  Obviously with him being my brother and me being part of the managerial team some might expect favouritism but I would like to go on record to say I am his biggest critic and we often have many disagreements with how we rate each other’s performances in games. No player is favoured more than others. Each game a team is picked that we think can win.

Q) Its quite obvious that General Manager, Davinder Sangha, considers you the true power behind Greenwell’s throne (you are currently classed as Assistant Coach) and Sangha has on several occasions attempted to undermine Greenwell with undue pressure and also a whispering campaign to install you as Team Coach. Do you think this is a good or bad thing and what are your comments on the situation?

PEARSON: Greenwell and I are working hard to make Sassco a force to be reckoned with and part of that is to make the squad a strong unit with a united team spirit and any whisper campaigns will undermine our hard work. After our recent run of form I feel as if the management team has answered their critics. Hopefully everyone squad member is on the same page now and we can continue to build on our form going into the New Year. We have competition for places now which is something we have never had before. Times ahead look bright for Sassco and I look forward working alongside Greenwell and hopefully take Sassco onto the next level.

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WhatsApp, SMS, email contact details

Feel free to contact Sassco.co.uk for any reason such as joining a tournament, sponsorship of the website, etc.

• The main contact number is 07780 972630
• Email address to use is davinder.sangha@sassco.co.uk
  

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