Sorry, Lads. I really wanted to record a stunning victory, reminiscent of 1973, for the underdogs. There was, in the event, to be no FA Cup Final fairytale. Chelsea 1 (won) Portsmouth 0 (didn’t, despite having a great but squandered chance to go ahead with a first-half penalty).
So the score was the same as Sunderland v Leeds 37 years ago, but in the wrong order, Drogba’s goal winning it for Chelsea.
If Pete Sixsmith can swan off to Scotland in his traditional FA Cup Final avoidance mode, I can be allowed to indulge my passing interest in French football. Can’t really speak for the Queen, though …
… un grand bienvenue aux supporters de Marseille en provenance du site OM Planete
Well, we should own up that we can only guess the emotions of the English monarch as OM step out tonight to celebrate their first Ligue 1 title for 18 years in what should be party style, top versus bottom with poor, relegated, 20th placed Grenoble as lambs for the slaughter.
Of course, there could be a shock away win. But Marseille have the championship and while Salut! Sunderland has no idea of the travel plans of Lorik Cana and Bolo Zenden this weekend, we couldn’t be remotely surprised to hear they at least considered a trip to the stade Vélodrome for old time’s sake.
Our series of reports on the season just ended is nearly complete. Luke Harvey, who famously brings down the average age of Salut! Sunderland contributors, edges us towards the climax (Pete Sixsmith’s magisterial pronouncements, due any day soon). Luke ponders the league we did win – for the team with the top flight’s most shocking disciplinary record …
Sunderland beat off competition from Hull City on the final day of the season to secure the most red cards in the season, having already secured the Worst Disciplinary Trophy sometime ago. Going into the last day, Sunderland had accumulated seven red cards to Hull’s six – making for a tense final day.
They came late, but came nonetheless, Michael Turner and Jack Colback – the latter on his debut – were both ordered off to ensure Sunderland were head and shoulders above the rest as the most unruly team in the entire league.
Salut! Sunderland had no doubt Chelsea deserved the Premier title more than Manchester United, and said so in the posting found here. For tomorrow’s FA Cup Final, poor Portsmouth get our sympathy vote, and we’d love to see them win. Having invited Peter Allen to share his Pompey dreams and nightmares yesterday, we were duty bound to hear from a Chelsea fan, too. Step forward
David Millward *, an occasional visitor to these shores, who passionately wants the richer shade of blue to prevail. But he does have kind words for Pompey and Avram Grant – and bemoans the Stamford Bridge moaners …
Once upon a time a Chelsea v Pompey clash was less to do with football than making a fashion statement.
Some time after the skinhead years, the two clubs rivalled each other in the designer wear which their crews wore. If it wasn’t Tacchini, it was Lacoste. If it wasn’t Lacoste, it was Slazenger.
READ ON: but also see our Pompey fan’s wistful thoughts on tomorrow by clicking here
With their Bunsen burners and experiments with mercury, chemistry teachers tend to be men (and women) of few words who know how to get quickly to the point with a minimum of fuss.Bob Chapman lives up to the stereotype with a short but impeccably presented summary of our season, straying from the path of science only to borrow plus and minus signs from his maths colleagues …
As a school teacher I have just finished writing a series of reports for my A level Chemistry group who are all off to University this coming autumn.
It was an easy task as they already have enough marks and with a couple of exams to go should be successful come summer. The grades they achieve will match their ability. However writing this report for Sunderland has been so much more difficult. The grade we achieved did not match our ability!
Following the relegation of Sheffield Wednesday, and the club’s decision not to retain him, Mickey Gray has ended his playing career. He retires from the game with our appreciation and best wishes …
Mickey Gray served his own club of birthright and choice, Sunderland, extremely well.
Colin Randall writes: just before Sunderland went to Portsmouth for what should have been a routine romp into the FA Cup fifth round, a Paris-based, Pompey-daft friend
Peter Allen – no stranger to Salut! Sunderland – said he had a hunch it might be another Wembley year for his crisis-hit club. Of course, Pete, of course, we thought, keeping an eye open for airborne pigs. Time to eat humble pork pie, and present the first of our fan previews of the final …
Portsmouth fans have a lot in common with the fabled band of the RMS Titanic at the moment.
The icy waters of bankruptcy are lapping in, most of the lifeboats have long since disappeared, and we’re left manning the trumpets and drums for what is potentially our last hurrah.
READ On – and come back tomorrow for a Chelsea fan’s turn
Jeremy Robson may be in Canadian exile but he keeps fellow subscribers to the estimable Blackcats forum entertained with his trenchant thoughts on everything from the possible shelf-installing skills of Daryl Murphy to the competing merits of obscure rock bands. For his contribution to our series of end-of-season reviews, Jeremy chose to conduct a time and motion study on John Mensah since his arrival on loan from Lyon. His conclusions are illuminating …
Highs and lows. Peaks and troughs. The agony and the ecstasy. Great triumphs and complete humiliations.
Sunderland’s welcome signing of Cristian Riveros, on a free transfer from the Mexican club Cruz Azul, may have deepened our fondness for Paraguay. We like to think, having voted already for Paulo da Silva and their red and white stripes, that we’re their official British site for the World Cup (though we’re not).
But let’s hear it tonight for Darren Bent, included in Fabio Capello’s provisional squad for South Africa.
Top versus bottom. The super-rich and the paupers. Worlds apart, the Two Blues of this weekend’s FA Cup Final, Chelsea and Portsmouth, will surely produce a game that remains true to form and shows that the faded old competition isn’t really a great leveller after all.
Colin Randall gets Salut! Sunderland’s Wembley build-up underway but return on Thursday and Friday for the fans’ views …
The Two Blues, if you grew up in the County Durham of which Sunderland was part, were Bishop Auckland.
They were the kings of amateur football and there was a time, when they had the ultimate showman goalkeeper in Harry Sharratt and such stalwarts as Bob Hardisty and Derek Lewin, that it seemed they were hardly ever away from Wembley.