Colin Randall

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

Judges of character

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Originally uploaded by Image: Shayne Kaye

An inconsequential tale of football folk, coincidence and life in (and outside) the law …

Ten years ago, I met a man on holiday in Peru who turned out to be a judge.

He thought I was cool because on the day of the group’s homeward bound departure, I let everyone else take the tour company bus and stayed behind to watch Sunderland v Leeds (in Spanish) in the hotel before racing to the airport by cab to catch up. We lost 2-1.

We became friends and I came to think of him as even cooler, especially for a judge, because we shared obscure musical tastes: Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Sandy Denny and the like. And as well as sharing my fondness for football and leftish political ground, he had a most unjudgely T-shirt showing a boy aiming a peashooter at a car (slogan: Lee Harvey Oswald aged three).

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Soapbox at Accrington Stanley: Joe Hinnigan, who’s Joe Hinnigan exactly?

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Fans with long memories, or an anorakish taste for detail, will know the answer immediately. Pete Sixsmith offers a guiding hand to those less acquainted with the legion of former Sunderland players …

Not a great couple of days for us Red and Whites. A hangover from the bitter disappointment of Tuesday night was made even worse when the news came through of Titus Bramble’s arrest.

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Salut!’s Nice corner: the new Zidane

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Just as my back was turned – back in England for a few days – Eric Roy’s Nice took their first defeat of the season and it was a grim-sounding 4-0 thumping at Sochaux.

And then went out in the League Cup – which may seem familiar to Sunderland fans – in midweek, though at least the scoreline was more respectable (2-0) and it was away to this week’s Ligue 1 leaders, St Etienne (it’ll probably be someone else top next week).

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Niall Quinn, Titus Bramble and presumptions of innocence

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Click here and you will quickly see what you are invited to sign. Most of us pay lip service to notions of justice. In practice, we repeatedly encounter anomalies …

Niall Quinn stands convicted on one count – not knowing the difference between refute and deny – but is absolutely right to put out a dignified club statement* emphasising that Titus Bramble, arrested on suspicion of rape, maintains his innocence.

Niall was also wise enough to the potential charge of hypocrisy to avoid adding that whenever an individual is charged with a crime in the UK, and indeed his own native Irish Republic, there is – notionally at least – a presumption of innocence. It is nevertheless worth pointing it out: Bramble has not even been charged; if and when that occurs, he must be seen as innocent until and unless found guilty.

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The Liverpool ‘Who are You?’: Anfield so good, so far

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In view of technical problems affecting this, the original posting, a slightly modified matchday version now appears as Liverpool v SAFC: the voice of America


Ah, to be a Liverpool fan. Memories of standing on the Kop as a lad, that overpowering emotion as Gerry Marsden sings the first words of You’ll Never Walk Alone with every home fan raising scarf aloft, a pint or two in the Ship & Mitre after the match. Ed* – our latest “Who Are You?” contributor to seek semi-anonymity (good reason) – can only take our word for it. He’s a keen supporter and edits the fan site, Liverpool Offside, but lives on the other side of the Atlantic, has never set foot in Liverpool and knows nothing of the Anfield experience at first hand. From the American Mid West, he offers his thoughts on the Reds’ slow start to the season, the Anfield hero who has been known to cheat and the corporate chaos engulfing his adopted club. Maybe just as a well he did so before last night’s load of old Cobblers … …

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The Hammers Soapbox: Carling Cup hopes gone west

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Not a great night: out pf the Carling Cup at an early stage in front of a measly crowd for an all-Premier clash, then Titus Bramble arrested on suspicion of rape (though remember he’s innocent until proved otherwise, a concept that should commend itself to bigwigs at a certain association football club). A jury can sort out that one and low gates are sadly par for the Carling course. As for our flat performance, here is Pete Sixsmith‘s analysis …


I had two possibilities for last night’s seven-word summary. The one that appeared was relevant to the disappointing performance we had turned in against a West Ham side who looked anything but relegation candidates. The other one will stay on my phone so I can recycle it if we are knocked out of the FA Cup by the likes of Bolton or Portsmouth.

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The West Ham ‘Who are You?’: not a Sullivan/Gold fan

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Tonight sees a great chance for Sunderland to make further progress in a winnable competition. Having seen off mighty Colchester, we face Premier League opposition in the form of a team needing a morale-boosting win from anywhere. Not starting with Darren Bent would not seem to do much good to our chances of stopping that win coming tonight – unless Asamoah Gyan is now fully matchfit and raring to get at them. Sam the Hammer (aka Sam H) is our Hammers previewer and this is a repeat of his interview for those who missed it (we are beset with technical problems just now).
Sam is a regular enough visitor to Salut! Sunderland. He’s a techie wizard, genial company over a pint and lord of the manor over at the West Ham Process, one our constant rivals for top spot among the FootballUnited.com hit parade of footie sites. Sam is also one of life optimists, a condition that helps when you support certain clubs (don’t we know it?), but feels this is one Sunderland will win. So, Sam, Who Are You? …

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West Ham United: we’re taking them seriously

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Image: addick-tedKevin

The world has gone mad. A Hammer comes to Salut! Sunderland and promises to buy drinks for all our readers (later modified, wisely, to “a select few of our favourite commenters”) and a Premier manager talks about the importance of the Carling Cup. Luckily, it was our manager and some drinks, at least, are still on Sam the Hammer …

Hammers fans: go straight here

We must welcome Steve Bruce’s promise to put out a strong side to play West Ham in the Carling Cup tonight/tomorrow night (depending on when and where you’re reading this). And news that Asamoah Gyan will make his first start since arriving for £13m from Rennes, should give all Sunderland fans a great buzz.

SAFC, it is safe to predict, will not win the Premier League title just yet. We have every right to expect a distinct improvement on last season’s 13th place finish, but 12 places higher may still be out of our reach.

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