Colin Randall 
An appalling play on words, and surely more than enough to make Peter Cross*. I always thought, because Catholic friends in Belfast and Derry/Londonderry told me so, that Everton was predominantly their club, Liverpool the Protestants’. Peter, who leads Northern Ireland’s branch of the Everton Supporters’ Club, knows better; ahead of Monday’s SAFC v Everton clash at the Stadium of Light, he offers a brief but scholarly history of the two clubs. And yes, talks about football, too …
We cannot really be sure what to think about those five out of 10s in this morning’s England match reports, or the barbed “not quite ready” remarks on one debutant’s individual performance in a poor team performance. Maybe we should just be quietly content; we know how good Jordan Henderson is and it’ll do Sunderland no harm if the rest of the world, and notably the predatory “big clubs”, reach a kneejerk conclusion that he’s not – yet – such a star after all. Luke’s World oozes the common sense thoughts of Luke Harvey …
The child in me is still delirious after the weekend’s triumph but seeing our very own Jordan Henderson struggle against a disciplined French side was a slightly bitter pill to swallow.
The Horan dog and settee may not have recovered, but Pete Sixsmith has, and is urging caution with regard to Monday night. How boring is that??
Never let it be said that I will not invoke stereotypes if desperate for an opening line. A day at Bootle means that I am perfectly qualified to use the Harry Enfield gag from, oh, twenty years ago about Liverpudlians uttering the above words in high pitched voices.
But I do think that some of us need to. The impact of the excellent win at Stamford Bridge has really hit the region as red and whites have been able to stick their heads above the parapet after the disaster at SJP.
After that hideous experience, some folk went overboard, demanding the defenestration of the entire team and management. Bruce should be sacked, suspended, sent to live in West Cornforth etc. The players were a disgrace and the lot, apart from Bardsley and Bent should be made to play for Brandon United for a month.
It’s often said that being a Sunderland supporter is never dull. Just when we might have thought we were heading for a straightforward, mid-table finish, we have the low of Newcastle followed by the high of Chelsea. Luke Harvey reflects on an amazing fortnight, and applauds our players’ resilience in bouncing back.
I could write reams and reams on my emotions and thoughts after the amazing destruction of league leaders Chelsea. None would truly convey all my feelings and none would be as good as Sixer’s succinct seven word round up, but the victory over Chelsea is easily as amazing as the Newcastle result was terrible.
The focus and commitment from the team was second to none. From beginning to end we looked in control of the situation, and even with a slender 1-0 lead Chelsea never looked like mounting a serious comeback – although I didn’t rule out the possibility until Welbeck made it three.
As already said elsewhere on this site: we were magnificent from front to back – and all without our talisman Darren Bent, proving we weren’t just a one-man team. With results since the Newcastle debacle looking very promising, it seems like Gyan and Welbeck have quickly formed an understanding up front – although surely Bent’s place in the team won’t be in jeopardy when fit.
While the £13m Ghanaian may be taking most of the plaudits up front – although I’m unsure where I stand on his dancing skills (I won’t complain to seeing them a few more times this season) – the rest of the team are deserving of equal praise.
Having not missed a match home or away all season, except on the odd school night, Pete Sixsmith laments opting out of the Chelsea game on the grounds of cost. Instead, the Horans’ sofa takes one hell of a beating.
I have a short list of things I know that I will never do in my lifetime, things like never voting Tory or taking up English folk dancing. One of the football related things I vowed I would never do (alongside banging a drum at a match) was to pay £48.00 to watch a run-of-the-mill Premier League game.
Now, one of my golden rules has been broken. I have never ever voted Tory (or Lib Dem – they’re the same, aren’t they?) and you will never see me skipping around a market place with bells on my feet and waving knotted hankies at all and sundry. However, I do wish that I had spent £48.00 on Sunday on a ticket for Stamford Bridge.
If I had children (poor little sods) I could regale them in my dotage about how I was there at SJP in 1990, Hillsborough in 1973, Roker for the Manchester United replay in 1964. But I would not be able to say that I was at Stamford Bridge the day Sunderland slaughtered Chelsea (Paul Merson’s words, not mine).
This is the slot where Salut! Sunderland‘s inimitable chronicler and sage casts his instant judgement on every SAFC match – …
A home banker. They thought so, we feared so. So what did our Lads do but tear up the script …
Don’t tell ‘un(h)appy ‘arry but this is one view of the “career-threatening” challenge by Lee Cattermole on Mr Luka Modric …
Fabio Capello has given us a good excuse to show off addick_tedKevin‘s latest Sunderland player image. Michael Turner was also, apparently, in Capello’s list of possibles (that outstanding second half at Spurs not quite enough to clinch it for him?), Darren Bent would have been involved if fit, so all in all we have reason to applaud the rising quality of Steve Bruce’s squad …
Thoroughly deserved selection, and reason for celebration (a sober one, on the eve of Chelsea away) for Jordan Henderson.
The lad has advanced by leaps and bounds under careful care at Sunderland and it will be a source of pride for those concerned with his development, as well as Jordan himself, that he may be about to win his first full international cap at just 20.
It may be quiet around here in the coming week. I am off to St Petersburg on Monday – still Leningrad as far as Sixer is concerned – and what appears at Salut! Sunderland will depend on what others can supply and what Joan Dawson is able to post. After Chelsea tomorrow (about which I will try to post something, whatever becomes of us), the next game is not until Mon Nov 22 and the Everton “Who are You?” will appear on Friday, Friday and Saturday if we receive more than one completed questionnaire. See you soon …
The word – Mackemoiselles – officially entered the vocabulary on Thursday. Claire Reidlinger, photographed with her son (pictured above) at the Leicester pre-season friendly, had announced that she would not be in the Blackcats e-mail loop for the time being, thanks to a job change, leaving Karen Turner alone in flying the flag for female subscribers.