Pete Sixsmith is a member of the 92 Club and if you take in all the non league, lower league, …
What will our leaky defence do next? Your guess is as good as mine but it could win you a prize, albeit only a mug.
Guess the Score is early again this week as Monsieur Salut is braving the Siberian chill to drive to what should be sunnier climes except that its snowing there as well.
And the competition reverts to the conventional format this week. That means the prediction does not have to be a winning scoreline for Sunderland to qualify.
Malcolm Dawson writes…….well the Men and Women’s curling both proved to be a huge but not unexpected disappointment. I am …
We were 1-0 up when I started setting this up, just after half time. By the time I’d got the page ready for Pete Sixsmith we were 1-2 down, with the second being a Grant Leadbitter penalty.
Could we overcome being struck by the curse of the former player? Yes and no. Yes because we scored to equalise but no because they scored a third shortly afterwards.
But yes again because we came back strongly, which led to Pete changing his text at the very last minute:
John McCormick writes: I’d really have to think hard about whether or not I’ve seen us play ‘Boro at Roker. Away, yes – I’ve been to Ayresome Park – but I have no recollection of any game against them at home. I wouldn’t have been at the 1961 game Pete describes below, being only 10 at the time (my SAFC career began about the time Cloughie’s ended and I never saw him) and for much of the sixties I think we were were in different divisions.
Even so, this series by Pete Sixsmith is beginning to make me think my memory is seriously deficient.
I blame the drink. I’m clearly not getting enough
Monsieur Salut says: when I said Salut! Sunderland had perhaps been too kind to Ellis Short in the past, I should have made it clear there has been no collectively unanimous view. Malcolm Dawson, the deputy editor, has been much more critical. His comment deserves to be read as a self-contained piece …
Welcome to the strange world of Ellis Short, reluctant and reclusive football boss. In the past, Salut! Sunderland may have been too kind to the SAFC owner, accepting that he had put lots of his own money into the club only to be let down in horrific fashion by managers, executives and players.
But now we learn from the Sunderland Echo that Chris Coleman has never spoken to Short.
Amid all Sunderland’s more pressing problems, it seems almost incidental to reflect on how old you now have to be to have any dependable first-hand memory of May 5 1973: Porterfield’s goal, Monty’s double save, Stokoe’s sprint and our cup.
Never forget that the London branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association voted years ago to change the name of its newsletter from 5573 to Wear Down South, an excellent title but the choice reflecting younger – and also some older – members’ reluctance to be reminded quite so regularly of how long had passed since the arrival of serious silverware at Roker Park or the Stadium of Light.
And we all know what has happened to the status and allure of the FA Cup in more recent times. It was different in 1973. And if Monsieur Salut’s younger daughter, Nathalie Randall, were somewhat older, enough to have seen that win against lofty, dirty Leeds, it’s a fair bet that the emotion and glory of that day – and her father’s celebrations – might have have steered her into lifelong support of Sunderland, not Liverpool.
But let Nathalie explain how her own feelings about the competition have been affected by two unexpected results, Wigan’s heartening act of giant-killing and Rochdale’s draw against Spurs to ensure at least one day out at Wembley …
Monsieur Salut writes: having used up virtually the entire Boro-supporting side of my family (my sister has lived there throughout her adult life, for some years just around the corner from Ayresome Park), I scoured Twitter for a fresh pair of eyes. There I found Chris Blackwood*, a York-based lifelong Boro fan. He readily agree to share his thoughts with us. He rates Chris Coleman highly, thinks he might just pull us one or two places clear of the drop but clearly sees the necessary Sunderland points coming from a tough-looking run-in since he sees yet aother Stadium of Light home defeat looming for this weekend …
By now you’ll have read Pete Sixsmith’s report from Bolton. I can’t find fault with it and there’s no point in my writing something similar, not that I could. It has been almost six months since I saw Sunderland play live, during which time they have changed manager and a host of players. Instant recognition of most is lacking and the contrast is so poor on our away shirts that I couldn’t read numbers and names from my seat …
Nor can I instantly identify a playing formation, assuming we have one.
So I’m trying to give you something different…