Colin Randall

Salut! Sunderland was edited by Colin Randall up until December 2019 - read more

Chelsea v Sunderland: ‘no, we don’t always expect to win’

by

ChelseaD is as close as we are allowed to get to identifying the young (everyone, viewed from here, is young) woman in Blue who looks forward to another win over Sunderland on Sunday but benignly offers hope of a tighter margin than last season. What else do we know about her? Well, she runs The Chelsea Blog and, tongue pressed firmly into cheek, enjoys the high moral ground of supporting a club whose players never cheat. No, she’s not the Chelsea fan who took delight that rainy day in January in walking past the away end loudly exclaiming “Appreciate!” …

Salut! Sunderland: Despite your setback at Anfield, everyone assumes Chelsea will win the Premier League with ease this season. Is that how Blues fans see it?

Cheers for the reminder!

I can’t speak for the majority but I’ve never assumed we’d win anything this season. If anything, I’ve thought we’d been sailing by the seat of our pants for a few weeks anyway and needed to play a lot better against Liverpool if we were to come out of it with anything. The fact that we didn’t and were missing Lampard, Essien – and even Drogba for 45 minutes of it – showed we’re no less vulnerable than anyone else when it comes to dropping points.

Read more

Welcome, Arsenal, to the world of accidental clogging

by

 


Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the embryo of a body of contrition hovering over the Emirates stadium as it dawns on Arsenal folk that their self-canonised saints of football may also, from time to time, stray from the path of purity …

Cesc Fabregas is a magical footballer, a convincing contender for any choice of the Premier League’s finest. He is also, necessarily, strong, fast and committed.

So realistic supporters, whether they are Gooners or follow Sunderland or Chelsea, Wolves or Stoke or indeed anyone else, can sympathise with Fabregas when he tells his manager he hadn’t the slightest wish to injure Stephen Ward of Wolves. Yet it was challenge that some felt merited a card of a different colour than the yellow shown by Mark Halsey.

Read more

Tottenham 1 Sunderland 1: ducking and diving

by


The photo shows the penalty box aftermath of David Bentley’s booking for a dramatic dive (‘appy ‘arry reckons it was a blatant penalty so we must be on safe ground in saying the ref got it right). What follows is Salut! Sunderland‘s attempt to fill the absent Pete Sixsmith’s large boots …

The heavy burden of duty, and the idea that nothing’s too good for a lad who grew up in County Durham, has led me to some fancy dinner tables.

Master chefs at establishments from Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’Saisons to the Emirates Palace have seen to it that I have been served the finest food and wine.

Last night, it was small cod and chips in a cardboard container along the Tottenham High Road after horrendous acquaintance with Tetley’s Extra Cold in The Ship, a pub I could swear used to stock drinkable beer.

Even so, I had the fear of a born pessimist that this £3.99 culinary experience (the “beer” was another £3.20), and the honour of being interviewed by BBC Radio Newcastle by phone on surfacing from Seven Sisters station, might be the high points of a tough evening. I have not seen us win at White Hart Lane and didn’t really expect my luck to change.

Read more

Tottenham away: recalling a six-goal thriller in the snow

by

 


If you’re a Sunderland fan with experience of White Hart Lane, you’ve probably seen us lose there. But not – if you’ve been often enough – always. Among far too many defeats have been some sterling performances …


See also: The Spurs “Who are You?” – is Gareth Bale in the same class as Cliff Jones?

Unlucky last season, jubilant in the 1984-85 Milk Cup run, the false dawn when Cissé scored a winner two seasons ago – tonight’s game at White Hart Lane has fans wallowing in potted nostalgia over at Ready to Go.

Read more

Spurs ‘Who are you?’: on Gareth Bale and giants past

by

All poor Jeff Beck, famously a fan of Tottenham Hotspur, did was to receive an invitation to which he has not yet responded. A missed career break? Don’t worry Becks, we’ll fit you in for the return game. The silver lining is supplied by David Sapsted*. Sappers to his mates, of whom I am one. The top British journo, and one-time Spitting Image gagwriter, drools over some of the current White Hart Lane crop. We forgot to ask who ‘appy ‘arry gets to assume goalkeeper-maiming duties in Defoe’s absence …

Salut! Sunderland:
Why do you reckon Jeff Beck failed to answer our invitation to answer these questions?

Well, he’s everywhere and nowhere, baby. Besides, he’s even older than me and probably forgot.

So is Gareth Bale due a bad match?

I’ve been a massive fan of Bale’s since I first saw him a few years ago when he was playing for Southampton at QPR. He was about eight at the time. But while everyone raves – quite rightly – about his stunning performances against Inter, he had a quiet game at Manchester United and was effectively neutralised for most of the 90 minutes by Phil Neville during the Everton game at the Lane a fortnight or so back. So he has bad days, good days and some really great days. You Sunderland lot better hope that if he doesn’t have a bad day, then the worst you have to endure is merely one of his good days.

Read more

Soapbox: sorry, Stoke – for once we carried the luck

by

Pete Sixsmith emerges from a rotten post-derby week to watch our uneasy passage back to winning ways. Before treating the upcoming two games – which would have involved unappealing trips to London – as reason enough for a half-term holiday from his Soapbox, Pete looks back on the good, the bad and the ugly of Saturday’s display – and wonders whether letting Steed take a penalty was someone’s idea of a practical joke …

That has been a bloody awful week and I won’t ever go through another one like it. The repercussions of that humiliation are not over and won’t be until the subject of season ticket renewal comes up in April. A lot needs to be done to convince the likes of me that a regular seat is worth it.

Read more

SAFC 2 Stoke City 0: winning points outrageously

by

Image: addick.tedKevin

On top but wobbly. That was the essence of the text messages from the Stadium of Light. Great to secure three points, but television replays show just how wobbly it was …

Salut! Sunderland rattles on week after week about cheating and is among the first to whinge when appalling decisions cost Sunderland points.

Arsenal fans, some of them, came here in self-righteous indignation when, week after week, we asked opposing fans in our Who Are You? feature the Eduardo Question – essentially are you ashamed when one of yours cheats? Our questionnaire before each game still includes a question on the same subject.

But we cannot have it both ways, and we don’t.

Read more