Colin Randall

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

Manchester United: a questionable stand

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Salut! Sunderland‘s spot of innocent fun on how to keep Alan Hutton at the Stadium of Light attracted nearly three times as many people to the site as will be allowed into the away end when we play Man Utd on May 9. All because United fans like to stand. Let us weigh up the arguments …

One thing needs to be clear. I’d prefer Manchester United to win the title. But success for Chelsea is a price I will happily pay for seeing Sunderland beat United as convincingly as we are able in our final home game.

Unlike many football supporters, I do not dislike Man Utd.

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Alan Hutton: tell Spurs he’s rubbish

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Our brightest hope at full back since Mickey Gray? But can we hang on to him? Salut! Sunderland ponders the chances of securing Alan Hutton permanently …

Most Sunderland supporters who have seen anything of Alan Hutton are likely to agree that he is just the sort of player we need at the club on a permanent basis.

It has been like a breath of fresh air to see a full back so capable of getting forward and causing serious concern to opposing defences.

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Soapbox: bye, bye Burnley

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Our immediate post-match thoughts naturally concerned Sunderland’s own safety, not that this had been in serious doubt since we learnt how to win again a few games ago. But spare some sympathy for Burnley, now in need of a miracle to survive. Pete Sixsmith offers a consoling arm …

If there is one thing we Sunderland fans know about, it’s relegation. At one stage of this season, I thought that there was a possibility of us being sucked into the scuffle at the bottom. But I took solace from the fact that Hull City and Burnley were in the bottom three and were unlikely to escape.

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Sunderland 2 Burnley 1: safety assured

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Colin Randall struggles to keep in touch one way or the other with events at the Stadium of Light, but manages to catch essential parts of an important, if not hugely impressive victory …

We started as if we might tear them apart and were left hanging on, though not deperately, at the end.

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Tony Blair and Newcastle United: when the truth hurts

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If it has begun to seem like Be Nice to Toon Week here. be assured normal service will resume once the volcanic cloud lifts. But as a footnote to the questionnaire Alastair Campbell answered for Salut! Sunderland ahead of today’s game against his beloved Burnley, he commented on a certain urban myth – dear to Mackem hearts – concerning his old boss. Colin Randall reports with heavy heart …

Some stories are true, but you wish they weren’t. Some cry out to be true but are false, even if they leave a postscript – read on – that is entertaining and plausible.

Into the second of those categories slots the belief that Tony Bair, while Prime Minister, talked wistfully in an interview of having sat as a lad in the Gallowgate end at St James’ Park, watching Jackie Milburn play for Newcastle United.

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Soapbox: suffering sponsors

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What’s this, a new split in the Salut! Sunderland camp? The ink’s hardly dry on Colin Randall’s piece about Sunderland’s Tombola sponsorship, essentially saying it doesn’t matter too much what appears on our shirts (assuming we cannot just return to the good old days of red and white stripes, badge and each player’s number). Now Pete Sixsmith offers his dissenting view …

Unlike Colin, I do think shirt sponsors are quite important. They often give you a flavour of what a club is about. Until the Boylesports deal, all of our sponsors had been Wearside companies – Cowies, Vaux, Vardy’s and I was unaware that Tombola were a Sunderland based company until I read about them on the club site.

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Georgia’s tale: when Sunderland/Newcastle tribalism loses meaning

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Colin Randall writes: for weeks, Georgia Lewis has been promising the tale of how she became a Sunderland supporter. I’d worked with her in Abu Dhabi without even knowing of this Aussie journalist’s unexepected allegiance. Once I found out, she said it was an emotional story but one she was willing to tell. Yet I’d still somehow counted on something quite jolly. What I was not prepared for was a brave and open account of tragedy, almost impossible to read without sharing Georgia’s own pain and feeling desperately sorry for someone else who met an untimely end. Salut! Sunderland dedicates the posting to the memory of a man we wish we’d known, and thanks Georgia* for telling us about him …

When it comes to muddied oafs, I’ve always been a rugby girl, thanks to a rugby refereeing father.

But my family has always taken an interest in all sorts of sports and I remember as a kid, thinking Nottingham Forest sounded like a cute team to support, complete with the adorable tree badge. And Dad and I used to play a game when that bloke who read the English football results on the radio fired up. We’d try and guess the score while impersonating his dourly sing-song tones.

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Alastair Campbell on the Burnley legend who shocked even him

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In the first part of Alastair Campbell‘s “Who Are You?” questionnaire ahead of Sunderland v Burnley this weekend, we heard of his unwavering commitment to the club, to the extent that the No 10 switchboard was under instructions not to bother him at games. The operators will have needed no further discouragement, if the film satire In The Loop was right in portraying him as a scary, foul-mouthed bully. “Oh, his swearing is much, much worse than that,” John Prescott said after seeing the film. But Alastair would say both – film and Two Jags – got him wrong; indeed, his sensitive side is revealed today as he recalls the day Gordon Harris left him flabbergasted. He recovers in time to predict an away win he can’t be there to see …

Salut! Sunderland: Are you conscious of the long history of rivalry between Sunderland and Burnley for the capture of North-eastern footballing talent (Burnley usually getting their way!), and of the links between the clubs (Jimmy Adamson being the obvious one)?

Yes absolutely. Gordon Harris was one of my earliest heroes. He was also the cause of one of my most shocking early memories. He came to take a throw in right in front of us and as he let the ball out of his hands, he let out a loud fart, and I turned to my brother and said I couldn’t believe Gordon Harris farted. Some of our greatest players came from the North East for one of the most obvious reasons – some of our greatest scouts were from there.

Gordon Harris:gordon harris: pictured with thanks to the Clarets Mad fan site**..

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Who are you? We’re Burnley – by the champion of spin

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Alastair Campbell is famous or infamous – according to taste – for having been Tony Blair’s blunt, media-savvy communications director. Beyond the many scrapes that role got him into, he is also an accomplished Scottish piper, a novelist, a New Labour chronicler … and a passionate supporter of our next opponents, Burnley. Salut! Sunderland is delighted that he agreed to answer our questions ahead of Saturday’s match, which he will miss because of charity commitments. Here is part one …


Salut! Sunderland: Loads of football fans, especially of clubs like Sunderland, were chuffed to see Burnley go up, but nearly everyone expected you to go straight down. Did the early home form give you unrealistic hope or can you still claw a way out of the bottom zone?

It was always going to be tough. We have the smallest squad, the lowest wage bill, and we are the smallest town ever to have a Premier League club. The start was fantastic, especially beating Manchester United in our first home game, but we always knew it would be about beating clubs at the other end of the pile and we have lost too many of those. But I am a great believer in the power of hope and commitment and even if it means winning against clubs like Liverpool and Spurs, we have to keep believing.

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