Colin Randall

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

Sixer’s weekend off. Snowfall, no football but Millwall

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John McCormick writes:

I had one of Millwall or QPR pencilled in as my London weekend away. Circumstances meant neither could be but those circumstances also meant we could book some time away at the back end of winter. We chose to visit the Lake District as February changed into March.

I took the photo of Newlands on the Wednesday.  I’d have taken one of Shap on the Thursday but I didn’t dare take my hand off the wheel.

Pete Sixsmith, in contrast, was looking forward to a weekend at home. Like my week away, it turned out out to be not quite as expected:

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Sixer’s Sevens: Millwall expected to win, we needed to. An underwhelming draw

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

Pete Sixsmith wasn’t travelling to this match and what appears here is likely to be a joint effort with John McCormick, Pete Sixsmith and Monsieur Salut – all from afar – and maybe Bob Chapman from the Den all chipping in. As M Salut writes, Sunderland’s failure to respond to Millwall’s second half pressure after taking the lead in the first half has led to an inevitable equaliser. ‘Have we enough character to weather the storm and see the game out?’ an increasingly exasperated Benno asked and the feeble resistance since the interval suggested worse was to come. Benno’s comments, and the commentary of Nick Barnes, exposed all our failings in a game that had to be won, not drawn, not because in-form Millwall are a soft touch but because our need is desperate. The seven-word verdicts are a) M Salut’s contingency offering and b) Bob’s view from the Den …

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A champion Championship series: the first time Sixer saw your ground or your team

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Sixer tastes the tropical flavour of a County Durham winter as he delivers the papers

Most weeks, readers of Salut! Sunderland drop by on Friday morning to catch the latest instalment in Pete Sixsmith’s twin series, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground (if the game in question is away), Team (if it’s at the Stadium of Light).

This week, the Millwall edition was posted earlier than usual – namely at this link.

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Millwall Who are You?: ‘ridiculous for SAFC to be in this situation’

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Stephen Jones: ‘I’ve been blessed as a supporter’

Stephen Jones*, our Millwall ‘Who are You?’ volunteer, joins the growing number of outsiders who doubt our ability to get out of trouble. Gone are the words of encouragement from earlier in the season. People who do not support Sunderland see the same signs as those who do. Of course, a few wins would change everything. But where are they going to come from given the difficulty we have in avoiding defeat let alone taking three points, no matter who the opposition? And a word of warning for our flaky defence: George Saville, who scored twice against us at the Stadium of Light, has been having a barren spell and may see a game against us as just the opportunity to start hitting goals again …

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Millwall vs SAFC Guess the Score: Lions tamed or Lions rampant?

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Jake: ever the cynic. What more could anyone want than a mug from Salut! Sunderland?

What will our leaky defence do next? Your guess is as good as mine but it could win you a prize, albeit only a mug.

Guess the Score is early again this week as Monsieur Salut is braving the Siberian chill to drive to what should be sunnier climes except that its snowing there as well.

And the competition reverts to the conventional format this week. That means the prediction does not have to be a winning scoreline for Sunderland to qualify.

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Sixer’s sevens: Middlesbrough take one point. Do our players get another?

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

We were 1-0 up when I started setting this up, just after half time. By the time I’d got the page ready for Pete Sixsmith we were 1-2 down, with the second being a Grant Leadbitter penalty.

Could we overcome being struck by the curse of the former player? Yes and no. Yes because we scored to equalise but no because they scored a third shortly afterwards.

But yes again because we came back strongly, which led to Pete changing his text at the very last minute:

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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Team: Middlesbrough FC

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Sixer by Jake

John McCormick writes: I’d really have to think hard about whether or not I’ve seen us play ‘Boro at Roker. Away, yes – I’ve been to Ayresome Park – but I have no recollection of any game against them at home. I wouldn’t have been at the 1961 game Pete describes below, being only 10 at the time (my SAFC career began about the time Cloughie’s ended and I never saw him)  and for much of the sixties I think we were were in different divisions.

Even so, this series by Pete Sixsmith is beginning to make me think my memory is seriously deficient.

I blame the drink. I’m clearly not getting enough

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Beyond belief: the football club owner who has never spoken to his manager

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M Salut, drawn by Matt, colouring by Jake

Welcome to the strange world of Ellis Short, reluctant and reclusive football boss. In the past, Salut! Sunderland may have been too kind to the SAFC owner, accepting that he had put lots of his own money into the club only to be let down in horrific fashion by managers, executives and players.

But now we learn from the Sunderland Echo that Chris Coleman has never spoken to Short.

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