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Who are you? We’re Wolves – Jody Craddock speaks (1)

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Colin Randall writes: election day and we probably all deserve a break. Let us turn away from Brown, Cameron and Clegg, think about Sunday’s last game of the Premier League season …. and welcome Jody Craddock*.
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Jody served Sunderland well, earning the lasting affection of our supporters before moving on. At Wolverhampton Wanderers he has been a pivotal figure in getting the club up and keeping them up and won effusive praise recently for a man-of-the-match display against Stoke. He has also continued to develop his gift for painting. Salut! Sunderland was honoured that he was willing to answer questions – set by Pete Sixsmith, me and subscribers to the Blackcats e-mail list – ahead of that final game: Wolves v SAFC. Here’s part one …


PART ONE

Salut! Sunderland: What is your view of the reasons for things going wrong after Sunderland’s two seventh place finishes under Peter Reid?

When safc finished 7th twice I feel it was all about balance with the majority of the team being British and a scattering of quality foreign players. The following seasons before we got relegated I feel the balance wasn’t quite right. Vague I know, but we were all to blame as we didn’t play well enough.

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Soapbox: miserable May memories of Thatcher, Palace and Stoke

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Salut! Sunderland naturally observes strict political neutrality in everything it says, does and feels. If, for example, we wanted to say we’d seen the play Enron last night and thought how nice it was to watch this warm portrayal of Mr Cameron’s natural allies, we’d keep such impudent notions to ourselves. Nor would we dream of adopting Oysterband’s brilliant phrase from an earlier election (“We voted Labour but didn’t inhale”). But Pete Sixsmith has a soapbox and what’s a soapbox for but spouting a spot of rhetoric? His column, therefore, is not for the faint-hearted – and that’s just the bit about the football despair May can bring …

Very soon now, we will be on our way to electing a new government of whatever persuasion. Will it be red, will it be blue, will it be yellow, will it be yellow and blue, will it be yellow and red, will it be red and blue? What if we are colour blind? All will be decided on Thursday night.

Footballers are not supposed to be interested in politics. Some show their allegiance openly – Lampard has declared himself a dyed in the wool Tory (so there’s another reason to dislike him), while James Beattie supports the Eton Boys because they don’t believe in taxing those earning astronomical amounts of money – they will raise money by reducing tax credits instead.

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Sunderland/Leeds remembered: it’s those magic numbers 7 and 3 again

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Leeds United fans hate us mentioning it, just as Newcastle United supporters mock us for referring to Dec 5 1908. But since Leeds still have a good chance of following the Toon example in gaining promotion from a lower division, we’re sure they won’t mind another gentle reminder of the day every football fan (apart from them) smiled …

Sunderland fans, especially those who go back a bit, never tire of remembering, on May 5 of each year, a certain event that occurred at Wembley stadium on that date in 1973.

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Soapbox: title busters? Not us

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Maybe we were as bad as some Sunderland fans are saying. Maybe Bardsley, despite early blocks that at the time looked crucial, was run ragged by Giggs as I have seen suggested elsewhere. Perhaps our expectations were pitched too high. Pete Sixsmith detected positive signals, but found it all an anti-climax …

So, we failed to hand the Premier title to Chelsea and some of us will take some satisfaction from that.

United will go into the final week of the season with faint hopes of preventing the arrivistes from The King’s Road celebrating their fourth league title, while we trudge off to an overpriced Molineux to renew acquaintances with MickMac, Jody Craddock and Greg Halford.

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Sunderland 0 Manchester United 1: a hung parliament

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A disappointing result. But was it a disappointing performance? The parliament of Sunderland fans is divided …

The mood on platform two of Sunderland’s charmless station, a strong contender for any worst mainline terminus award, was not quite the same as it had been in row 30 of the East Stand.

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Tomorrow, and sounding off to Manchester

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The Republik of Mancunia came calling, and these were the questions and my responses. We covered Keano, ticket allocation, Jonny Evans and much more besides. Pete Sixsmith’s answers would have different in several places, and I was almost certainly too kind …


Scott the Red: Sunderland are currently six places higher than where they finished last season. Which player has been your best in helping you achieve that?

Simply no contest. Without Darren Bent’s goals we’d be in trouble. No opponents, however grand, can rely on him not to score and to say, as some do, that he has no game beyond scoring goals is to overlook the function of the striker.

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From Arsenal via Hull to Wolves: our honours shortlist

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Who are you? The winners, that is, in Salut! Sunderland‘s grand Who Are You? competition. Could it be Fatima al Shamsi (pictured with reading matter prescribed by us to cure her of supporting Arsenal)? Or the others shown below? The results won’t be known until the season ends. Read on to see if your contribution – or your club if you don’t support Sunderland – made our awards shortlist …

Judging has now begun. The famously half-decent football magazine When Saturday Comes is on board among prize donors. And some time soon, just after the end of the Premier League season, we will announce who has been chosen in first, second and third places for the wit, warmth or wisdom of their replies to the questionnaires we present to at least one opposing fan before each Sunderland game.

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Who are you? We’re Manchester United

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In the second part of his look at Manchester United’s season, Sunday’s game and the meaning of life, Justin Mottershead gives Sir Alex a vote of confidence, tells of a recent encounter with Denis Law, makes passing mention of George Best and berates Salut! Sunderland for remembering David Bellion but inexplicably overlooking Mr Bruce or Mr Evans among men linked to both clubs …


SEE PART ONE, including Justin’s match forecast, BY CLICKING HERE

Salut! Sunderland: Would the Carling Cup and nothing else this season, if it came to that, represent abject failure in your eyes and would that be the time for Sir Alex to stand down?

In short- yes and no. Yes winning the Carling Cup alone is not a successful season at United no matter how you look at it and no Sir Alex should stay on until he believes he’s no longer physically up to the job. He’s always managed to bounce back from a poor season and I’m sure he’ll do the same this time round.

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