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Club versus country (1): a smoking gun

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England play Ukraine on Saturday, depriving us of a Premier match to worry about or, in our mood of new-found optimism, one to look forward to with relish.

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Darren Bent did not make the squad. But is Colin Randall alone in saying he couldn’t care less about internationals and that Bent’s inclusion would not have increased his appetite to any great extent? He is not. Some Salut! Sunderland readers are familiar with this expansion of his reasons for placing passion for Sunderland miles ahead of anything felt about the national side. But for our many new readers, here is the first part of a chapter written for A Love Supreme’s book More 24 Hour SAFC People (our share of the proceeds were donated to charity) . If anyone feels like getting stuck into a debate, we’ll come up with a prize for the best entry …

Looking back, it was as golden an opportunity as Daniel Dichio’s sitter in the Wembley playoff final against Charlton, or indeed the chance of his at Upton Park that would, if converted, have put us top of the Premiership. And I missed mine just as glaringly as Danny had missed his.

In one of the love letters that passed between us long ago, Joelle, then my wife-to-be, wrote that she could think of only one fault in me that she would change. I smoked too much. She might have added others: permanently broke, holes in my socks and underpants, coming from Shildon, being lousy at her native language, French. She has certainly added plenty since and while the French has improved, there isn’t much I can do about coming from Shildon. But back then, it was the fags that concerned her. If only I would cut down, she wrote to me from Le Mans, her home town, she would in return do anything I asked of her.

Talk about open goals. There it was, my cue to secure a lifetime of pass-outs to watch Sunderland !

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Soapbox: robbed by the Reds

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If only. If only Kieran Richardson hadn’t done football’s equivalent of Roman Polanski making a high-profile visit to a country with a massive extradition treaty with the US. If only Malbranque had got to that ball before Carrick and made it 3-1. If only Anton … but no, this is the way to even higher blood pressure. It was still a resounding performance, the result as predicted by Bill Taylor (ex-Bishop, now Canada) on these pages and the game as described here by Pete Sixsmith …


One of my first Soapbox pieces was after our 3-2 defeat at the Emirates two years ago. I said this was the first time we had looked like a Premier League side since Reidy was in his pomp and that it was something we could build on.

Alas, since then, we have done very little except beat weaker teams and scrabble around the nether regions, prompting commentators to dismiss us as also-rans and one of those sides that act as cannon fodder for the big boys.

Well, that was effectively brought to an end on Saturday as we gave Manchester United a lesson in how to retain possession, how to mark tightly and how to score goals. Yes, Sunderland gave Manchester United a lesson. Never thought I would write those words, but, dear reader, it is true. We did. So there!!

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Shack’s law: decency and squalor in football

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Great draws yesterday – for us at Old Trafford and, er, Bristol City at St James’ Park. Stand by for Pete Sixsmith’s verdict on our cruelly denied win over Man Utd. First, there’s some unfinished business for Colin Randallto attend to …

Len Shackleton had the measure of Newcastle United. When it comes the Mags, he said, “I’m not biased; I don’t mind who beats them.”

On that basis, Kevin Keegan will do. Shack’s soul can take mischievous pleasure in Keegan’s £2m victory at the Premier League arbitration panel over Mike Ashley’s ducking-and-diving regime of questionable taste and morality.

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Who are you? We’re Manchester United (2)

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That’s more like it, Salut! Sunderland said mischievously: a Manchester United supporter in the Red Devils’ heartland of – you guessed – Denmark. But Helge Conradsen* is not just another far-away, never-been-to-Old-Trafford gloryseeker. He heads Denmark’s branch of the MUFC supporters’ club, has 47 years’ service as a United fan, owns a dog named after Cantona and is probably the best-known and most knowledgeable of all the club’s Danish fans. We love the way his brother “was once” a supporter of Sunderland (how can such an allegiance be fleeting?) …

Salut! Sunderland How does a Danish person end up supporting Manchester United fan? Why not Hull City or Derby County, for example, or your local club in Denmark?

I was 10 when I saw my first FA Cup Final on Danish TV. It was in 1963. Manchester United played Leicester City. I didn’t know anything about the teams but the team in the dark shirts (there was no colour TV then) played really well. A small striker caught my eyes. I found out that the name of the team was Manchester United and that the name of the player was Denis Law. Since then Manchester United have been my passion and Law my favourite player. I follow both English and Danish football but nothing can compare with Manchester United.

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Who are you? We’re Manchester United (1)

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This may be a first. A fan from the City of Manchester has been found, verified as a United supporter and persuaded to preview the game at Old Trafford on Saturday. That was cheap and grossly unfair, or at least United fans would say so. Of course there are Man Utd supporters in Manchester and the surrounding area; it is just that there are so many of them in far-flung corners of the word that the global glory-seeking jibe comes naturally to the lips or keyboard. Liam Bradford*, assistant editor of United first fanzine, Red News, and press officer for the Independent Manchester United Supporters’ Association (IMUSA) puts us right. Next stop? Denmark! …

Salut! Sunderland:

The last United fan in the Who Are You? series at Salut! Sunderland was a 100 per cent Manc who gets very irritated when people say they’re a world brand, not a proper club. What say you?

HOW VERY DARE YOU!!!!!!! We are both! As much as we hate to admit it, we are a successful football club that got turned into a worldwide recognised brand. What you do have to consider is that no football club means no brand where no brand means that there’s still a football club. We have to be a proper club don’t we? How do you define “proper club” anyway? founded in 1878, but we aren’t a proper club? It’s difficult isn’t it? The long and short of it is that we have to understand now that we are both customer and fan to a team that is both football club and world brand.

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The Kenwyne debate: a critic speaks

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For Pete Sixsmith, any remaining question marks concerning Kenwyne Jones’s commitment, ability and contribution were removed on Sunday afternoon, not when Darren Bent handed him the second penalty – to Steve Bruce’s subsequent fury – but when he cut across to put us back in front with the sweetest of strikes. Jeremy Robson has been one of Kenwyne’s fiercest critics. Did Sunday bring about a damascene conversion? Jeremy explains why he stills wants more …

Did the real Kenwyne Jones stand up against Wolves, Salut! Sunderland asked?

If ever there was a loaded question along the lines “Have you stopped beating your grandmother yet?”, this was it. Undeterred, I will get back to the question, and unlike politicians who might meander around the subject for so long that the question becomes lost in the mix, I will give a concise answer. Did KJ stand up. Well, he certainly got off his stool.

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Soapbox: keeping the Wolves from the door

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Debate? What debate? Pete Sixsmith watches Sunderland score five without quite performing as if about to storm into the top four. But one thing that did please him (apart from reaching a points tally that leave us just 28 short of safety) was goal number three. It prompted Pete to give short shrift to doubts about Kenwyne Jones …


The great Kenwyne Jones debate was surely shelved at 5.35 when he moved across the front of the goal, left two defenders for dead and whipped a 20 yard shot past the Wolves keeper. It put us 3-2 up, and as Mick McCarthy’s men s legs were beginning to wobble, set up what looks, on paper, like a comfortable 5-2 win.

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Did the real Kenwyne stand up today?

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Salut! Sunderland is looking this week at Kenwyne Jones, whose performances seem to have the power to divide Sunderland fans between unwavering admirers and serious detractors. Will today’s two goals, in the 5-2 home win against Wolves, settle the argument? Don’t bet on it, says Colin Randall …

Take a look at the Premier top scorers’ list tonight and you’ll see that Sunderland have two strikers riding high: Darren Bent on six, assuming the decisive deflection rules out his claims to a second goal today, Kenwyne Jones on four.

That’s a healthy showing. But Kenwyne has still not won his way back (after last season’s decline in form) into the hearts of all fans and, if paper talk has any basis in reality, has – or, maybe after his two goals today, had – some convincing to do for Steve Bruce.

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