HA’WAY the lads 😎🔴⚪️

Sunderland have been on an eight-year journey beneath the Premier League - they are now just one game away from a return after Dan Ballard's last-gasp winner against Coventry. Phil Buckingham on an extraordinary end to the Championship play-off semi-final ⤵️ 🔗 www.nytimes.com/athletic/635...

Congratulations to the University of Sunderland, ranked 33rd best university in the UK in the Guardian rankings, up from 49th in 2024. A great civic university which is playing such an important role in the future of the city and the region.

Decent first half. Not amazing, but relatively pleased. Coventry are obviously a solid team and we’ve defended them well in a difficult away fixture. More of the same in the second half please #COVSUN

Managed to get my #Switch2 pre-order, and it sounds like America’s #tariff loss is Europe’s gain, because extra pre-order stock seems to have been allocated. At least where I am in the UK, my local store was unexpectedly given a second batch today! 😳

FYI, I think I’m a curse for Liverpool this season. Watched them twice, they’ve lost both times. Sorry to all the scousers for my behaviour. #FULLIV

The #Switch2 pre-order queue will use a loyalty system: > Online subscription duration > Playtime > signed up to marketing emails before 31st of March I respect the idea of awarding loyal players, but this is the first time I’ve ever regretted opting out of an email 😭

So Nintendo has made a dedicated wheelchair basketball game that looks genuinely awesome! Some cool stuff coming out of the #Switch2 presentation so far 😎

Top Gun The Prince of Egypt Batman Forever Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 4 movies that are at least in my top 50 of all time, with the latter probably in the top 10. Val Kilmer was integral to them all, and it’s by no means an exhaustive list. Great talent. RIP.

I just watched one video about the science of fat-loss, and now my YouTube feed is full of “go from this to this in 6 weeks” videos etc… The fitness influencer industry is deeply broken, and most major algorithms are too aggressive now. It’s so dangerous.

I’d said 5 mins before the goal why’s MacCallister marking Dan Burn for corners!

I think I’ve spent more with @safc.com and Hummel in the last 6 months than in the previous 6 years. Loving this diversity kit, and the bucket hat too! 🔴⚪️ #SAFC

An appropriate quote from the Sunderland forum: “I’m in danger of flatlining watching this turgid dross” #BURLEE

I will admit, that is a mile outside the box #BURSUN #SAFC

Quite a statement 11. Big calls to drop AA and Mayenda. I thought maybe one of them, but both is interesting. Also bringing in Le Fée & Rigg, neither of them natural wide-men and the former only had a week of training. Again, a big statement. I suspect we have a very specific game-plan. #SAFC 🔴⚪️

I don’t often take photos, but sometimes you see a good opportunity. #NorthEast

I’ve recently lost a lot of weight and I’m rebuilding my wardrobe, and I’ve discovered a weird source of fashion inspo. Saw Romesh Ranganathan live a few months back, and admired how his clothes fit a tall lad, and just seen him on telly tonight looking sharp too. Need to google his wardrobe.

I’m excited for the Nintendo Switch 2. Can’t believe we have to wait until April for specs! Looks cool though.

Exciting to see new, independent projects spin up to decentralize the atproto ecosystem! Building alternative infrastructure is a big step towards giving users more choice and making the network billionaire-proof.

I always said “this is the best year so far in human history to get cancer” and John retorted, “yeah, but next year would have been better.” Truly ridiculous how right he was…

I much prefer the less aggressive Bluesky algorithm. In the before place, all I would get is Sunderland. Don’t get me wrong, I love SAFC, but I also like other things. Here, it’s much more balanced, though occasionally like: “I dunno, sports? Here’s a discussion of the Cubs’ new right-hand pitcher.”

Very muted game, but I thought a couple of players showed some promise. Hjelde is a different player in the middle. Does a job out wide, but he’s clearly a CB. Also thought Aleksić looked good. Jones showed glimpses of quality too. Shame about Alese though 😢 #SAFC

I’ve had it confirmed to me Enzo Le Fée is pronounced ‘Fay’, like Morgan Le Fay - King Arthur’s fairy sister. In other words, this kid is magic ✨🔴⚪️✨#SAFC

✍️ We are delighted to announce the loan signing of Enzo Le Fée from AS Roma! Welcome to Sunderland, Enzo! ❤️

Solanke is an absolute menace whenever I watch him (which is admittedly not often) #TOTLIV

Christ, NowTV cut out just as VAR was about to check the Solanke goal. I’m back on now, and can see it’s 0-0, but no idea whether it was the correct call or not 🙄 #TOTLIV

Good time to remind everyone Luke O’Nien has had one of the best defensive records in the championship for over 2 seasons now. The stats don’t lie, he’s just a bit unorthodox. Not to take away from the bad day at the office he’s clearly having! 😳 #SAFC

New Year's Day means only one thing... ❤️ 🎙️ 'He's round the goalkeeper, he's done it!'

Mayenda!!!! Love that kid, deserves that goal 😎😎😎 #SAFC

I was excited to tell my kids that there's a sequel to Encanto, only to scroll down and learn that Google's AI just completely made this up

City still look dangerous going forward, but they basically do none of their off the ball stuff they’ve been doing for the last half a decade. It’s surreal.

There’s a pretty solid collection of movies coming out at the cinema right now. It was the same last year. January rapidly becoming my favourite time of year for the cinema. Nosferstu might be my top pic, very excited for it.

I know you have seen dogs playing poker, but have you seen cats winning at it? Google has. Still can't believe this is production technology from the unrivaled leader in internet search. (Kitty Kuo is a human professional poker player)

Seriously, if you’ve got a spare hour, this is such a fantastic comedy show, and it’s totally free to watch on YouTube 👇

Sliding onto @bsky.app...

Intergalactic looks sick, Witcher 4 looks sick, a couple of other things look sick too. Some great trailers coming out of the game awards this year.

Dan Neil and Mayenda both class at the end there. Neil rallying the troops, Mayenda running under pressure. Plaudits all round though! Get in there lads 🔴⚪️ #SAFC

With world events meaning more podcasts, and with lyrics distracting me during the thesis, this was in many ways the year I DIDN’T listen to music. However, it’s also the year I read that if you are learning a language, you should listen to its music, hence the Japanese artists. #SpotifyWrapped

Get in Tommy! #SAFC 🔴⚪️

Arcane has been intensely good. Looking forward for the last couple of eps to drop. It’s just mad how you can basically pause it at any moment and you’d have a cool desktop background. If you are into animation, it’s a must.

The true test of Bluesky’s purportedly less polarised community is whether I’m allowed to admit that I love the Starship programme and get really excited about what SpaceX are doing in Boca Chica. Great test today with flight 6, particularly with the lighter heat shield & the stress-tested flaps.

It’s 1°C and I’m about to play football outside. Why am I doing this again? 🥶

Just saw a fully AI ad from Etorro. Looked like absolute slop. Really not looking forward to everything I see being THAT from now on. 🙄

Just passed my PhD, so I’m now a doctor of politics 😎 Still going to keep this account politics-light. I want a space where I can enjoy footy & comics in peace. Keeping it all separate is important for the brain I think. If people want my luke-warm political takes, follow @robcronin.bsky.social

Blimey! 1 week later? 42,370 start packs!!

Day five of following all Sunderland fans back on Bluesky. Drop this post a share so fellow supporters can find you. #SAFC

Now that @bsky.app seems to be to one picking up traction, I’m going all in, which means two separate accounts like I had in the old place. This account will be a personal one for football/film/comics etc, and @robcronin.bsky.social will be my work/politics account. Apologies for the duplication!

Twitter update: I’ve decided to split my time between politics/news stuff on here/Threads, and football stuff on X. And yet, a casual post about signing (interestingly enough, a black player) leads to an agreeing reply from someone called GBRMackem @caleb11488 🤢🤮

‘The Substance’ was absolutely bloody awesome in case you were wondering. It’s a strange experience to realise you are simultaneously watching a movie through your fingers and grinning from ear to ear. 🤢😅😱 Hilarious, fun, clever, rancid, gross 10/10 Not for the faint-hearted!

Donald Trump accuses UK Labour party of interference in White House race on.ft.com/3YCTcNy