Year: 2009

Soapbox: Maine Road to Hetton

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Pete Sixsmith tries his hardest to sound jolly. He’ll be jollier than for some time if Sunderland defy the odds and beat Manchester City tomorrow. It won’t happen if we play like the Reserves did in the first half of their game …

As the snow falls all over County Durham and the eastern side of the country, thoughts turn to a trans Pennine trip in a well appointed coach to an equally well appointed stadium at Eastlands, while memories dwell on flogging over the A62 on a Hall Brothers coach in the 60s to watch a game with snow piled on the side and straw all over the pitch at Maine Road.

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Who are you? We’re Manchester City (and Mark Hughes is still the right man)

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Nearly a year and a half ago, some of us stood at the bar of the London-bound train after watching Sunderland trounced 3-0 by Man City at the Stadium of Light. To make things worse, we were sodden after a ferocious downpour. One or two London-based City fans were saying how much affinity they felt with Sunderland. All changed next day: the Abu Dhabi takeover was announced. Martin Haworth*, a City fan in Mackem territory, reviews the progress since then …

Salut! Sunderland (posing the question before Spurs 3 City 0!): So Man City are finally asserting themselves a little. Is a top four finish now certain in your view?

No it isn’t. For my money it would be nice to be able to qualify for the Europa League without gaining entry via the Fair Play qualification – which is how we got in on the last two occasions. I think the talk of the Champions League is mainly media frenzy. There is no-one I know who talks about it. For me, as long as there is progress, then that’s fine. It seems the owners also seem to have a patient attitude, which is good. I know that the end of last season, the form wasn’t good, and people were speculating whether Mark Hughes would keep his job, and I’m glad he has. Too often the club has suffered as a result of short-term actions. To qualify would be fine by me, and we’re still in the League Cup, so a bit of silverware would be a real bonus. Any progress on the last couple of seasons would be good.

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Soapbox: Villa(ins) of the piece

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It’s perhaps too early to panic, but there is no mistaking the gloom that has descended on the Stadium of Light. If losing 2-0 to a buoyant Aston Villa side was not in itself disastrous, the defeat followed all too many dismal Sunderland performances. Pete Sixsmith explains why a decent display last night was not good enough …


We were well beaten. Villa were a better side. We have some problems. Three statements that, to my mind, are non-controversial, but I hope those who read them

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Wolves fans deserve a refund, but what’s gone wrong for us?

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The dreadful run continues. Sunderland cannot finish off lowly teams – or even score against some of them – and can hardly count on doing fairly well, fairly consistently when confronted by the elite. Cana’s heroics have not been forgotten but he starts to look like a liability, the only question each game being how many minutes will elapse before he is shown a card. The first of our forlorn post-Villa reflections is, in part, a tale of two managers …

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Steve Bruce, admittedly struggling with a squad hit by injuries and suspensions, plays his best available teams and gets a single point from two home games. Mick McCarthy gets slated for fielding reserves at Old Trafford (and yes, the travelling Wolves fans should be given £100 a head refunds for their wasted evening), but emerges with three points from two tough away games.

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A search for football’s best, most passionate fans

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Here is a reminder of the search launched by Sky Sports for the best football fans in the land. There will a league table, placing the fans of all 92 league clubs in order, and prizes are promised. Anyone got the answer? Naturally, we all think that answer is staring them in the face and comes from the Stadium of Light. Look at the video and decide whether you’d like to get involved and shout about your passion …

Imagine it. You support Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United or Liverpool. You’ve followed them for ever, or rather since you were old enough to work out they were quite good and won a lot. You may even have been to the city where they play.

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Who are you? We’re Aston Villa (3)

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If Salut! Sunderland‘s generosity with its space is matched by Villa’s generosity to the opposition, our fears after a rotten run since the Arsenal win may be unfounded. I certainly didn’t expect so many Villa fans to come forward with previews ahead of tonight’s game but am happy to publish a third contribution – from Gary Gleeson* – because, like our Pompey previewer last week, he lives within Gary McAllister diving distance of the Stadium of Light. Gary, chairman of the Villa supporters’ North East Lions’ Club, reached us via the VillaTalk site …

Salut! Sunderland How come you’re a Villa fan in the North East? Even if you’re from Brum, SAFC should have rubbed off on you by now!

I’ve been in the North East for about six years now. Originally from Dublin, I’m a Villa fan because of the Irish contingent of Paul McGrath, Steve Staunton and Ray Houghton.

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Who are you? We’re Aston Villa (2)

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It’s been a good weekend for precocious youth. A kid from South Shields – surely that must make him a Sunderland fan, despite Cheryl Cole’s attentions – is voted best karaoke singer. And young Josh Henwood* sees his preview of SAFC vs Aston Villa appear at Salut! Sunderland not once but twice. A technical fault (the editor’s incompetence) caused it to appear early. Josh, another Villa fan found at the VillaTalk site, is very welcome all the same and offers us mixed views on how good Martin O’Neill is while predicting we’ll be beaten by Villa but finish seventh, tipping England for the World Cup final and rebuking us for the random choice of Ashley Young’s name for the Eduardo question because Young has never cheated in his life …


Villa seem to be doing the business this season. Has your time come again at last?

I think that that Villa have got back to ways of old and before I was born! Which is good, as there is a buzzing atmosphere around VP and a real expectation that we are going to win rather than lose!
It’s also real exciting times at VP with the Carling Cup Semis amongst us for the first time since 2004 (When we were cheated out of it by Bolton Wanderers and a real expectation almost of at least one trip to Wembley and maybe even Champions League action next year!

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Soapbox: Pompey pain

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What do you do after seeing Sunderland throw away two points against lowly Portsmouth? Go home and kick the cat, start a few rows, reduce yourself to watching Stacey kicked out of the National Karaoke Championships? At least Pete Sixsmith had some musical therapy lined up …

I’m very pleased that I have had 18 hours or so to mull over this , as if I had written it straight after the game, Bill Taylor would have been even more worried about my pessimistic bent, while Jon would have been much happier with the use of short, pithy words like “c***”, “s****” and “r*******”.

Eighteen hours later, after a most enjoyable evening spent in the company of England’s finest folk singer and guitarist Martin Simpson at The Davy Lamp Folk Club in Washington, things look bleak, but not as bleak as they did at 6pm on Saturday.

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Who are you? We’re Aston Villa (1)

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They’re cock-a-hoop after winning at Old Trafford. We’re down in the dumps after a draw that, as Steve Bruce admitted, felt like a defeat. Pete Sixsmith has yet to deliver his considered verdict but his post-match seven-worder – A horrible game that exposed our weaknesses” – gives you an idea of what he thinks.

Many Salut! Sunderland readers have already seen the second instalment of our Villa previews. A technical hitch meant it was briefly live on Saturday – even before Sunderland’s lamentable surrender of two points aginst Pompey; it was quickly removed but this the link could still be seen at newsnow.com and worked.

But back to plan A: over in the States, Dominic Wren*, discovered via the VillaTalk fan site, is a PE teacher and “soccer” coach (he probably means football). So a few press-ups with the Salut! Sunderland questionnaire – he’s originally from Dorset, the product of Villa-supporting Brummies – hardly brought him out in a sweat. Oh, and Dominic, pictured with John Carew, thinks Villa will beat us 2-1 on Tuesday night …

Salut! Sunderland: Villa seem to be doing the business this season. Has your time come again at last?

No, we’re back where we belong in terms of modern EPL, in the mix amongst the big boys, we still need more creativity (who doesn’t!) to trouble the top four consistently.

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Up against a cocky-sounding Pompey, where’s Joe Bolton when you need him?

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Sunderland v Portsmouth. Was a top vs bottom clash. Now looks an awful lot more nervy an encounter …

After an appalling run on the road, Sunderland have managed to turn what should have been a routine staging post on our cruise up the table into a crucial must-win sort of game.

And what happens? Pompey fans are salivating at the prospect of three away points they think are theirs for the taking as they look to their players to exploit our deepening injury and suspension crisis.

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