Once upon a time, Sunderland and Portsmouth were linked by the world of newspapers: each city had local papers owned by the same group with roots in Sunderland but swallowed up by Johnston Press in 1999.
Perhaps old Samuel Storey, the Sunderland Echo founder who then spread his minor publishing empire to the south coast, would have approved of this week’s links between Salut! Sunderland and Vital Pompey …
You’ve seen what Chix had to say – see this link – on behalf of his fellow Pompey fans. Now we’ve returned the compliment and you can see Peter Sixsmith’s replies to a set of questions posed by the Portsmouth site.
Here’s a sample or two:
Q Go on, who’s going to win and march into round 5 and a step closer to FA Cup glory?
A I fear a draw and a freezing cold night at the Stadium of Light in front of an 18,000 crowd, with Pompey winning on penalties after a turgid, goalless 120 minutes. Or we could win 3-0 on Saturday. Or you could win 2-0. Do you really want FA Cup glory after last time?
And …
We snuck through by the skin of our teeth against Coventry, who would you rather be playing at the weekend – them, or us or does it not really bother you?
For most Sunderland fans a chance to beat Coventry is to be relished. In 1977, they ensured that we were relegated and they stayed up due to the appalling Jimmy Hill manipulating kick off times. We have long memories.
See the article in full at:
http://www.portsmouth.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=185425