KEITH S. TED MIDDLETON

About this brick

My brick is shared with my late Granda. I was going to get my own, but he passed away, so I decided to share the brick with him — I couldn’t afford two anyway! My first real memory of a Sunderland game was watching us get beaten 1–0 by Liverpool with my dad in a pretty drab game at Roker in November 1976. I was 9. But my best memory from that season was at home with my Granda. Sunderland had endured a terrible season and looked certain for relegation. They hadn’t won a game for three months, but due to some quirk (postponements maybe), they then had four home games on the bounce. They beat Bristol City 1–0, thumped Boro 4–0, and suddenly hope was back. On Thursday 22nd February 1977 (a bit unusual, but my Nana and Granda used to babysit us every Thursday), West Brom came to town. As usual, we were sat having supper — hot dogs, crisps and Bovril :-) — but this time the radio was on the table with commentary of the game. It turned into a brilliant night. Bob Lee scored a couple, Shaun Elliott got another before half-time, and I can still remember my Granda dancing around the living room as Bob completed his hat-trick and the scoring, with us winning 6–1! We beat West Ham 6–0 in the next game too. Then things went back to normal, and eventually the Coventry cheating debacle saw us relegated on the final day. Happy memories of my Granda that night. Ted was a lovely bloke. He had only three jobs — shipyard worker, soldier in WW2, and miner. Loved a beer and a bet. He was old Sunderland through and through.