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Soapbox: on Kenwyne, Ryan and a chilly night at Hetton

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Hard as nails. That’s Salut! Sunderland’s star writer Pete Sixsmith. Viewed from afar, the North East looked as if cut off from the rest of the world by snow drifts. That must have been a picture of Tow Law. But it was cold enough as Pete saw Sunderland Reserves take on Wigan. Hadn’t we seen as much of Wigan as we’d want for a while? …

Tuesday night and outside it’s cold and the wind is blowing. Inside, the heating is on, the gas fire warms the room, there’s a welcoming bottle of Macallan open and a good book on the coffee table. So, what do you do but dig out the thermals and woolly socks, put on a warm coat and head for a reserve game at Hetton?

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Can you hear United sing?

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And the answer is “not very much”.

Last night a team of unknowns wearing the colours of Manchester United (OK – see comments – I stand corrected: a team including relative unknowns) beat Tottenham Hotspur in the Carling Cup quarter-finals.

On TalkSport this morning, the atmosphere at Old Trafford was described in anxious tones as having been like that of a practice match. Which, we suppose, is an improvement on the morgue it sometimes resembles in the home ends.

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Soapbox: World Cup Willies

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Celebrated for its literate and loyal readership, Salut! Sunderland has been promised a review copy of Stokoe, Sunderland and 1973; The Greatest FA Cup Final Shock of all Time, which sounds more like a short chapter than a book title. Watch this space. But we know all about it already, not because we broke into the print works to snatch a copy but because our own Pete Sixsmith was interviewed for it . This, however, is more about the 2018 World Cup and the campaign to bring it to England – and Sunderland …

Last weekend the papers contained a breakdown of the possible venues for the 2018 World Cup Finals, should the FA manage to put a believable bid together.

At the moment, they seem to bear a remarkable resemblance to my Year 11 group – riven with infighting and squabbles. Mind you, I sometimes think that the Year 11s have more common sense those who run the National Game from their plush new offices at Wembley.

The Stadium of Light and the club’s bid came out it well, the city itself, not so good. The Stadium is, along with Wembley and no other ground in England, a proud recipient of the top FIFA Grade for stadiums. Better than Old Trafford, The Emirates and the hotchpotch up the road. .

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More tributes to Dave Lish

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Many Salut! Sunderland readers have seen Pete Sixsmith’s warm tribute to Dave Lish, the SAFC fan who died suddenly on Nov 22.

Dave and Pete were chatting as usual at the Arsenal game the day before, when there was nothing to suggest Dave was other than in good shape and excellent spirits.

Following our obituary, a lot of other people have now added their own thoughts on Dave and these deserve to be repeated.

In particular, mention at Ready to Go of what Pete wrote has prompted a few more to offer sympathy and homage.

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Darren Bent’s mum: an update on the “racial slur” incident

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LATEST NEWS (Dec 1):

The media are reporting the arrest of a 26-year-old man from Chester-le-Street on suspicion of racially abusing Mrs Bent. He has been bailed pending further inquiries. No further comments can be accepted on this posting.


More details have emerged about the alleged racial taunt that caused such offence to Darren Bent’s mother, and therefore to her son. However, the reporting of the incident is inconsistent and in serious need of proper clarification …

Salut! Sunderland takes no pleasure in returning to the subject of the alleged racial slur that so outraged Darren Bent.

If a report in today’s Northern Echo is correct, then the location of the incident has moved. But it remains a matter of no less concern to what I am sure is the overwhelming majority of Sunderland fans.

Also, taking this account at face value, we can exclude any suggestion that Darren Bent’s mother misunderstood a fan’s accent or attempt at humour (which was suggested as a possible explanation in a comment posted here after our first report).

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Soapbox: a bumpy day in pieland

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Pete Sixsmith reflects on yet another disappointing day on the road, yet another dismal comedown when encountering humbler opposition immediately after heroics against the Premier League’s finest …

What does Arsene Wenger do when the Gunners have a Saturday blank? If he was listening to James Alexander Gordon at 5pm, he would have risked a wry smile as he heard the dour Scotsman intone “Wigan Athletic 1 Sunderland 0”.

In his summing up last week, he said that Sunderland needed to do better against the lesser sides in the League. It was relatively easy to work on and carry out a game plan against the top sides, but that had to be modified when the opponents were not as exalted as his club, said the Sage of North London.

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Darren Bent: an apology

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kroof
Even more depressing than the team’s after-the-Lord-Mayor’s-ball type of performance at Wigan was news that Darren Bent ‘s mother was racially abused at the DW stadium. And even more depressing than that, he says a Sunderland supporter was the culprit.

Bent vented his feelings in a message posted to his Twitter page after the game: “So we get beaten by Wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a Sunderland fan. I won’t stand for that.”

He apparently added for good measure that the offender “needs to hope I don’t find out his name or who he is”, and I don’t blame him.

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Down to earth with a thud at Wigan

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Somehow, when Steve Bruce said after the Arsenal game that he’d warned the team “play as like that at Wigan or else”, the longer serving pessimists among us knew what was about to happen.
And happen it does. We fail to score even one against a team that concedes shedloads, and lose 1-0. Before what I expect to be a severe rollicking for Sunderland when Pete Sixsmith expands on his seven-word verdict, here is an idea of today’s debacle from these comments at the Blackcats list. It starts with a dreadful first half and manages to get worse …

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That Wigan bounceback fear: another view

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Pete Sixsmith’s had his say. Another pal, Martin Emmerson, Sunderland through and through but working for BBC Radio N*wc****e, alerts me to his tuppence worth. Martin will be at Wigan, but fears it may be another case of a great result against top opposition followed by deep disappointment against lesser mortals. Up to the Lads to prove him wrong …

Is there life after a 9-1 drubbing?

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