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Watch the goals from Saturday v QPR and hear Quinnie on the subject of promotion – then read on

When Roy Keane, fresh from signing on the dotted line, asked to be talked through the squad he was taking on, he said he should have held out for a much bigger salary.

It was a light hearted remark. But then everyone knew there were plenty of weaknesses among players from the Reid and McCarthy eras and even among those brought in by Niall Quinn.

What of the squad now? Men who were struggling before but have thrived under Keane. Others who have responded to his methods, inspiration and example and just got better and better? And the lads he has bought or borrowed?

At his press conference following the QPR game, the boss said there were a number of players at the club who, he was sure, could hold their own in the Premiership.

Who are those players? Let Salut! Sunderland know those areas you would strengthen and those you would trust in the higher division.

Yes, I know we are not there yet. We are Sunderland supporters and should know better than to get carried away. But we couldn’t have set ourselves up better for the final lap. We MUST do it!

And who knows, I might even come up with another prize for the brightest, funniest or most interesting response. I’ll set the ball rolling with my own thoughts……….

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Gina McKee
Picture: image4

Thank you for the entries to Salut! Sunderland‘s competition marking its first 5,000 hits.

The question I set was this:

Imagine I am an acclaimed actress. Now read the clues and tell me who I am

1) I was born into a Red and White household in the North East

2) I have won awards for my work and my roles have included a nurse, a woman in a wheelchair and a store detective

3) Whether – or how much – I support Sunderland is a bit of a mystery. But a fly on the wall would make you think I was passionate

The answer, of course, is Gina McKee: Peterlee lass, superb actress and the product of a resolutely SAFC-supporting household. She famously narrated the Premiers Passions series that took a fly-on-the-wall look inside the club during the Reid era (hence question 3) but firmly resisted all attempts by Wear Down South to tempt her into an interview.

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Sunderland, Saturday

Some day.

It began with The Independent falsely telling me we were back to second. Which bloody Derby game had I missed since Momentous Monday at st Mary’s, Southampton? Nonsense – no such thing had happened; the paper had just managed to print an old league table.

I am sure an explanation will be forthcoming from my friend Sam Wallace, the Indie’s excellent football writer who grew up on the same estate as Kevin Phillips, or maybe it was the next one, and should really support Sunderland as his family came from the area, but doesn’t.

That bogus league table bothered me all morning until I was reassured that we were still top.

AS WE ARE TONIGHT!
My first home game in ages…..and the last time I saw the team was at QPR, when comical misses made the scoreline – 2-1 – seem a bit tight.

Today was similar. Whitehead’s opener, smartly made and taken, came in under seven minutes and made us believe we were in for a high-scoring stroll.

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The Lads drew 40,000-plus to the Stadium of Light on Saturday. A look down the Premiership attendances shows how impressive that was.

Keane 2 McCarthy 1
Picture: smirkyspice

Salut! Sunderland has a long way to go, but will very soon – today? tomorrow? by the time I finish typing these words? – pass another little milestone. We didn’t get going until mid-January so it’s an encouraging response in such a short time.

To mark the first 5,000 “hits” to this site, and to stop me thinking too hard about the match at Southampton, I today announce the details of a modest competition.

The prizes: a copy of Alice in Sunderland, Bryan Talbot’s fascinating book mentioned in an earlier posting AND a guest column, on any football related topic, on Salut! Sunderland*.

If you get the answer to the question that follows, send it by e-mail _ NOT AS A COMMENT TO BE POSTED HERE – to colinrandall@yahoo.fr or to the address that appears on the e-mail link on this page (top left). I will keep the competition open until Saturday April 14 – let’s make 3pm, kick off time for the QPR game, the deadline for entries.

The winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries received. My decision will have to be final.

To enter, READ ON………..after first taking in the news that Birmingham have lost, Derby could only draw. What an incentive for the Lads at Southampton. Top tonight in they win, and the last two sentences removed if they lose (even though we’d stay second).

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What a brilliant April Fool wheeze.

My friend Rachel Cooke, a bright, funny and award-winning writer on the Observer, drew on her own lifelong support of Sunderland to dream up a seemingly serious review of Alice in Sunderland. This, she said, was a brand new book exploring far-fetched links between the North East, and Wearside in particular, and Lewis Carroll and his great creation, Alice in Wonderland.

I half imagined Rachel pitching the idea at an editorial conference, seeing off a dozen other contenders from around the paper, getting the go-ahead and then composing a bogus critique that would be so good, so persuasive that it would hoodwink readers into believing it was the real thing.

It took me an entire ferry trip from one side of the Channel to the other, once I’d scoured my edition of the Observer in vain for a proper report of Cardiff 0 Sunderland 1, to get the joke. It was April 1 and I’d fallen for what the French call a poisson d’avril.

But no sooner had I decided that this must be a spoof than a text version of “phone a friend” revealed the even more shocking truth: Bryan Talbot’s work was for real, a “graphic novel” according to the publishers, Jonathan Cape, and a “wise and witty” book in the words of the newspaper’s headline writer. How could I have doubted you, Rachel?

READ ON and you’ll see that there’s a free copy of this fascinating sounding book going spare for one lucky reader of Salut! Sunderland.

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