Colin Randall - SAFC Blog - Page 63 of 572

Norwich Guess the Score: to think we’ll be at the World Cup

December 16, 2019April 8, 2018 by Colin Randall

Monsieur Salut writes: a family holiday looms so this is being prepared between Black Monday, perhaps the defining moment of a wretched season when even a half-decent performance was undone by the usual defensive frailties, and whatever happens at Leeds. I leave it to Salut! Sunderland colleagues to update this introduction as they see fit after Elland Road. For now, I shall combine the usual prize Guess the Score competition for the next home game, Norwich City and a rare chance to record a double, with some thoughts from elsewhere on a competition that seems to have little or nothing to do with the preoccupations of a club heading for League One (or not, according to results) …

Sixer’s Soapbox. Leeds do enough to draw, SAFC don’t do enough to draw clear

April 8, 2018April 8, 2018 by Colin Randall

John McCormick writes: Pete Sixsmith caps another decent display with a more than decent report. I detect in it a touch of optimism for the future, something I share. We have been dire for a while but hopefully we will soon be rebuilding, and on firmer foundations than have propped up the last few years.

Like yesterday’s game, all is not lost.

Hutch’s patch from Leeds: Olivia checks in as we (just about) check out

April 7, 2018 by Colin Randall

Rob Hutchison was driving, he told Olivia, who texted Colin, who group e-mailed asking if anyone could put this up and I (John Mac) picked up the message. That’s teamwork.

Did we see any teamwork at Elland Road? I thought we were OK, Pete’s seven word text suggests we did and now we have some corroboration.

What a pity it’s too late

Sixer’s Sevens – Leeds United: close but no cigar

April 7, 2018 by Colin Randall

Unless Radio Newcastle had their effects microphone turned up extra loud today the Sunderland fans at Elland Road were in fine form. The Barnes and Bennett commentary conveyed a pleasing performance from the Lads, who it sounds as if dominated the game for long periods. But at one goal ahead the expectation this season is more one of waiting for the opposition to score than going home with three points. Sure enough Leeds got one back and despite going down to 10 men with a few minutes left the pressure from the boys in red and white was not enough to produce a winner. Pete Sixsmith was there and as usual sums things up in only seven words.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground: Leeds United and Elland Road

April 6, 2018 by Colin Randall

John McCormick writes: Some time in the early sixties, after my dad had taken me to St James Park for my very first proper game, he and I were listening to a match on the radio. It was Sunderland v Leeds or more probably Leeds v Sunderland. I think I’d decided to support Sunderland by then but it was possibly this match that confirmed it for me and turned me away from the Dark Side for all time.

It may have been another ten years before I got round to seeing Leeds live. Not so for Pete Sixsmith; it looks like he was there in the flesh as me and my dad sat listening to the light programme in the kitchen.

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Leeds United vs SAFC Who are You?: ‘glory days may be gone forever’

April 5, 2018April 4, 2018 by Colin Randall

Kevin Ayscough with a miniature Leeds fan, his grandson Charlie

Monsieur Salut writes: Black Monday was followed by Blacker Tuesday, the latest home defeat put in grim perspective by Birmingham’s win at Bolton. It all made a mockery of the hope some allowed themselves after the aberration of a Sunderland win at Pride Park.

But life of a sort goes on. There’s a prize Leeds United-SAFC Guess the Score and, now, a return to the Who are You? series (our Sheffield Wednesday interview never arrived, but there was no reason for reproach since the volunteer’s father had just died).

We first met our Leeds-supporting candidate Kevin Ayscough*, related to our own Pete Sixsmith through marriage, before the equivalent game at the Stadium of Light, a 2-0 away win that set the tone for most of our home programme. Here he is again, disappointed at Leeds’s own failings and urging SAFC to keep faith with Chris Coleman for the battles ahead …

Birmingham pull clear. Anyone for 0-1 in Leeds-SAFC Guess the Score?

April 4, 2018April 3, 2018 by Colin Randall

From an old birthday card sent to M Salut by his mother

We have got used to fantasy entries in Guess the Score. You know, the ones that predict a Sunderland win (especially if there’s already been one in living memory).

Sixer’s Sevens: Awful Defending Gives Sheffield Wednesday the Game

April 2, 2018 by Colin Randall

You might notice the headline has seven words. You might think Pete Sixsmith sent them. You would be wrong.

Pete’s own seven words, sent immediately post match, convey pretty much the same sentiment, only more emphatically, and they spell out the implications for Sunderland rather than for Sheffield Wednesday:

The Lars Word: Cheer Up Peter Reid

April 3, 2018April 2, 2018 by Colin Randall

Lars Knutsen prefaced the e-mail which arrived this morning with “We need a win against Sheffield Wednesday”. There’s no disagreement there. Nor will there be, I suggest, any disagreement with his proposition that “Reidy’s master coup was of course the signing of the legend, Kevin Phillips for a mere £375000 from Watford”.

From Sheffield Wednesday to Peter Reid might seem quite a jump. But there’s logic to Lars and he draws some interesting parallels in his latest missive:

Sixer’s Derby Soapbox: Pride Park and Something Special

April 1, 2018April 1, 2018 by Colin Randall

John McCormick writes: once, in the days of Ted Heath and strife, I went to see us play Leyton Orient in an afternoon kickoff and then legged it to White Hart Lane and Spurs v somebody or other. If I remember correctly I saw the last half hour, or maybe a bit more. I’ve never told anybody before, especially Pete Sixsmith, for the man would quite rightly have looked down his nose and sniffed at me for thinking I’d done something special.

Speaking of which, here’s his report from Pride Park and a very good Good Friday fixture: