A rocking manager, Martin O’Neill glory days, Luke O’Nien: the Wycombe Wanderers ‘Who are You?’

Jon Dickinson: on stage (right) accompanying the Wycombe Wanderers boss and former player Gareth Ainsworth

Monsieur Salut writes: I may have said it before but League One is a treasure trove when it comes to Who are You? interviews, or is once I can locate a warm, witty and/or wise supporter from each club. There will be stumbles as the season progresses – the FA Cup draw left me with the task of finding not one but two Walsall candidates (it was often hard enough to get one when we were in the Championship), the Barnsley game has crept up on me and I haven’t even started thinking about Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers. Walsall (one fan covering both the forthcoming games) and Barnsley are sorted after a burst of energy yesterday, but recommendations for other coming games would be appreciated.

Jon Dickinson‘s* Who are You? makes the effort worthwhile. I love the pride he takes in supporting his own unfashionable local team but most of all, I love his responses about Martin O’Neill, Wycombe Wanderers’ amateur football history, what colleagues made of Sunderland when he conducted a straw poll at work and the manager who, when not managing, belts out rock music ….

Read more

SAFC vs Wycombe Wanderers: a prized return for Guess the Score

Click the image to pre-order your copy (in case you don’t win Guess the Score or have a Christmas gift in mind)

Our thanks to Tales From Publishing, the people behind the Tales From the Red and Whites series on books about Sunderland AFC, for donating this week’s Guess the Score prize …

Stand by, until tomorrow, for a serious contender for the end-of-season awards for the best of the 2018/19 Who are You? features.

We may be struggling to find opposing fans for every match but the Wycombe Wanderers volunteer, Jon Dickinson, has produced some cracking responses – and a great photo showing the Chairboys’ former manager and former playing hero Gareth Ainsworth in, shall we say, more musical that footballing mode.

Anyone who remembers the glory days of amateur football, in which Wanderers played an important part as did North-Eastern sides led by Bishop Auckland, will also find it a great read. Come back tomorrow for a treat. But for now, there’s important business ahead so Guess the Score.

Read more

The North Eastern Programme Club: (3) looking on from the sidelines

Click me for a better view of the ingredients: geographical references to Jake, Monsieur Salut & Sixer, Malcolm Dawson and John McCormick

Hopelessly out of sequence but bit by bit, we are adding the articles written by members of the Salut! Sunderland team for the matchday programme. This was Malcolm Dawson‘s contribution, published in the programme for the Peterborough United game, drawn 2-2 at the beginning of October, and it is interesting to look at the way the teams he mentions have fared since then (check the table at this link) …

When I looked at the make-up of EFL League One before the season kicked off and tried to assess our chances, the majority of the teams seemed an unknown quantity. After all, apart from the four games involving Burton Albion and Barnsley, we hadn’t met any of the clubs – other than in a few pre-season friendlies – for several years.

Read more

Sixer’s Soapbox: Porter at Port Vale and a grand day out

John McCormick writes: There was something from a Port Vale fan on twitter asking why we had only 2000 there yesterday. For my part the move to Sunday scuppered it – no car, and a train service with not only a Sunday timetable but also rail replacement buses left me unable to work out how or when I’d get back.

That said, when the crowd totaled about 7,200 2,000 (officially 1600+)is not a bad away contingent and it gets even better when you realise Pete Sixsmith was one of them:

Read more

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground: Morecambe and The Globe Arena

John McCormick writes……..the last time I wrote about Morecambe was about 18 months ago when I ventured the suggestion that their off-field troubles may have been ending. I think I was right as the intervening months have seen wholesale changes at the club, which are continuing (their chairman has just stepped down). The one exception is their manager, Jim Bentley, who has been in post since 2011 and I think he’s the longest serving manager in the top 4 divisions now that Arsene has gone.

But by the time he took over Pete Sixsmith had already been there:

Read more

Checkatrade Morecambe: Guess the Score

no mugs this Tuesday

John McCormick writes: I’m hoping to get this up before my battery runs out so it will be short and sweet.

What will the score be on Tuesday when we take on Morecambe in the Checkatrade Trophy?

First to post the correct score won’t win a mug but the glory will all be theirs.

Read more

Sixer’s Port Vale Sevens: Pope misses out on a miracle


Pete Sixsmith  reckons his  match report will arrive at Salut HQ some time around midday. Before then we’ll have another in his “first time” series to set us up for Tuesday’s trip to Morecambe.

And before that we have his immediate post-match seven word text, sent on its way as the whistle blew in Burslem and Sunderland concluded their tenth  in a row unbeaten:

Read more