Colin Randall

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

Sunderland vs Oxford prize Guess the Score; who will win the ‘Donald derby’?

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Pete Sixsmith is back home after his southern travels, taking in assorted games and lots of culture between Gillingham and south-west London. He’ll be at the match on Saturday and you’ll be able to read his instant post-game verdict as soon as the whistle blows. After that you can revisit the site on Sunday for his match report.

But what will Pete be reporting on after what one SAFC wag has called the “Donald derby” in honour of our owner’s lifelong support for Oxford United? A win? A loss? (surely not). Or a draw? If you think you know here’s a chance to put that knowledge to good use, and if you don’t know here’s a chance to make an informed guess.

Or you could just speculate like the rest of us, even if it does make you blind like they told us at school.

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Coventry are base as Peterborough join Charlton, Barnsley and Portsmouth (and SAFC) on our watch list

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There should have been an update to this series (see the archive links below for the earlier posts) at the start of the season but I travelled up early for the Charlton game, spending the Friday in Leeds before driving on to the North-East, then when I got back home I did a match report to complement Pete Sixsmith’s and didn’t have time for anything else.

This was followed by five games in two weeks, with no space to fit anything in, and here we are.

This means my last post in the series was the one that explained the role of Coventry City‘s fans in propelling their club up and Sunderland down in our poll and asked who should be the sixth team to join Coventry, Sunderland, Charlton, Barnsley and Portsmouth in our  deliberations. Peterborough was the very clear preference from the four choices offered; they got more votes than the other three clubs (Southend, Plymouth and Luton) combined.

Those six will be the ones we start with, and I can’t imagine it changing before Christmas.

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Branch Lines: Greater Manchester, among the extended Sunderland family’s biggest and best

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HAPPY DAYS…Greater Manchester Branch members en-route to Luton in May 2007 when the Lads won 5-0 to clinch the Championship title and an immediate return to the Premier League under manager Roy Keane

Monsieur Salut writes: the great family of Sunderland AFC supporters has offshoots throughout the North East and wherever in the world that people from the region have travelled and settled for work or family reasons. Our illustrator Jake came up with the idea a couple of years ago of reporting on some of the branches that exist in far-flung places. Manchester is not really far-flung, but it’s as good a place as any to start. I turned to my old colleague Dave Bowman to introduce his Greater Manchester branch of the SAFCSA in the 21st year of its inception (or should that be the 22nd?) …

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The Lars Word: from Legend to legend in waiting in only twenty steps (and 16 years)

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Lars Knutsen touching base

John McCormick writes: We have another full week coming up. I’ve got something ready to post on Tuesday, then I’m sure M Salut will post a “Guess that score” – another winner last Saturday – and a “Who are You?” midweek, and probably in that order, then we’ll get ready for the weekend with Pete Sixsmith’s look at the visit of Oxford United. I’ve seen us play them, but not at home (as far as I can remember) and not for over 40 years, so it will be interesting to find out when Pete first encountered them.

First, though, we have Lars Knutsen with a timely reminder of things past as we begin, at last, to look forward to some stability and a promising future.

Over to Lars:

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Sixer’s Wimbledon Sevens: Cattermole tidies up Wimbledon come-on

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Listening to Barnes and Benno it sounded as if we were under the cosh a bit in the first 45 being forced into playing a long ball game by the Dons and the half time scoreline sounded fair enough. Pete Sixsmith was one of the 727 Sunderland fans officially in the crowd and his half time text read “bigger, better and stronger at the moment” referring unfortunately to the home side rather than ourselves. Could Jack Ross continue to impress with a halftime reassessment and reshuffle of his squad, still lacking the option of a big physical centre forward. 

Well it definitely sounded as if we came into it more during the second half and although Wimbledon had further chances to score it was the rejuvenated Lee Cattermole who found the net not once but twice prompting our man at the match to message “bloody hell – he’s done it again!” when we took the lead. 

One thing we can say about the season so far is that it certainly hasn’t been boring. Pete’s full match report will be with us tomorrow but for now we make do with his instant 7 word summary sent as the final whistle sounded!

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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground: AFC Wimbledon and Kingsmeadow

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John McCormick writes: I have visited Kingston-upon-Thames. It was within a couple of years of our Wembley triumph (the second one) and I can’t remember much about it, though I’m sure it certainly never struck me as a place that would host a professional football club.

But what do I know about football?

Clearly it’s not as much as Pete Sixsmith

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The Wimbledon Who are You?: ‘SAFC will go straight back up; I’ll settle for mid-table’

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Ray Amrfield’s granddaughter Olivia, now one-year-old, may not know it but she’s already a Dons Trust member

Salut! Sunderland warmly welcomes Ray Armfield*, a Wimbledon supporter who’s seen all the highs and lows from the Crazy Gang and Wembley to the out-of-town move up the motorway. He’s chuffed to be on the brink for return to near the club’s old Plough Lane ground, thinks Sunderland are bound for immediate promotion and recalls a shivering visit to Roker Park many years ago …

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Sixer’s Soapbox: Gillingham are good. We are better

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Pete Sixsmith popped into the library at Rochester to type his report from the Gillingham match, one he thoroughly enjoyed. After the 4-1 victory at the Priestfield, he’s heading on to Wimbledon, where we hope the Sunderland revival will continue.

No doubt Pete will fill the time with cultural activities and the occasional partaking of refreshment, in the manner described below. Let’s hope he he finds another library, for accounts of his travels make an excellent read even when they don’t focus on the main purpose of his trip

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The Wimbledon vs Sunderland prize Guess the Score: after Gillingham, some act to follow

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There is a prize. A great one? Depends whether you think a coffee mug can ever be great

Pete Sixsmith is on his southern travels, taking in assorted games and lots of culture between Gillingham and south-west London. He’ll be at the match on Saturday having witnessed the 4-1 win over the Gills.

However you manage to follow the game – and the plaintive social media appeals for spare ticket show how tight its been for SAFC supporters – have a go at guessing the score.

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