IT CANA LAST FOREVER

Nick Colling
Grassroots editorial column

My columns have so far been about golf, and that will remain a constant after today. This column is dedicated to Lorik Cana..

Last July I was in Amsterdam watching Sunderland play Athletico Madrid, during the press conference after the game the news was broken that we had signed the Marseille captain Lorik Cana. It was a great moment an International captain, Lorik who also captains his country, had signed for my team. The you-tube videos showed images of a man who looked like Samson, who flew into tackles and at first glance looked to be a diamond. He showed both glamour and a hardness that had long been lacking from Sunderlands weak midfield.

Bolton away is always a tricky game, and one SAFC have long harboured secret ambitions of being disgraced whenever possible. Lorik made his debut against Bolton last year and in my mind became the perfect midfielder for SAFC. I loved his all action, unforgiving and blood stirring performance, he hit everyone of the Bolton tough nuts and made them look ordinary. My clearest memory of the game and his performance was late in the second half, with the lads one nil up, Cana was caught in the middle of a Bolton sandwich. The result was Lorik lying on the floor, it looked to everyone as though he was out cold, until he sat bolt upright and got up to finish the game.

Sadly Sunderland’s form dipped in the middle of the season, alongside Loriks, he struggled in the middle part of the season and missed his midfield companion Lee Cattermole. This in turn saw the uneducated section of our crowd give him a little bit of a tough time, nothing major, just a few moans.

But for his performances I fell in love with Lorik Cana the footballer, he was every inch the all-action star we required. I was given a huge shock yesterday, the sad sad news the he had been sold to Galatasary. I trust in Brucie and I am sure he has something planned to deal with his absence, midfield is our strongest area afterall, but make no mistake he will be missed.

Perhaps Christian Riveros, who had a great World Cup will go on to become more valuable to Sunderland Football Club in the future, and perhaps Lee Cattermole will stay injury free this season, but I am depressed at the thought my club yesterday lost a genuine star.

Lorik Cana, thanks for the memories…………………