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As Coleman starts the revival, remember Big Sam’s brief but effective Sunderland reign

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Source: Sam Allardyce via Facebook

Until as recently as the weekend, no one could seriously fault the bookies’ belief that Sunderland were relegation probabilities. Now, Chris Coleman has made the sort of start after replcaing Simon Grayson as manager to encourage measured hope that a swift ascent of the Championship table is more likely. Here, William Sundin, a media production graduate from Sunderland University, looks back at the short but successful stint of one of Coleman’s predecessors Sam Allardyce, who has now steered Everton to ninth top, and wonders when the two clubs may meet again in the top flight …


Everton recently made the wise decision to bring in Sam Allardyce to save their season after they got off to a dismal start under Ronald Koeman.

Big Sam already has the team climbing back up the table and it wouldn’t be out of the question to suggest that having taken over a team staring relegation in the face, he could even steer them towards a top six finish.

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Sixer’s sevens: Out of the bottom three as the long wait ends

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

Malcolm Dawson is occupying Pete’s seat and I believe he’ll be doing the match report tomorrow, as befits someone in such an elevated position. Malcolm sent his seven word summary to M Salut at the  final whistle. M Salut, somewhere else  in the ground – and possibly in a better seat – forwarded it to me (John Mc, that is), and here it is:

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The first time ever I saw your team: Fulham

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You lucky people, here’s Sixer

John McCormick writes: I can only remember one game against Fulham, and that was at Craven Cottage, where, like Pete Sixsmith, I enjoyed a walk through the park and a stand that overlooked the river.

Other than that, my mind is its usual blank. Was I at this match (indeed, any home games v Fulham between 1964 and 1974?) I really don’t know, possibly because it was a totally forgettable game. No matter, Saturday’s visit allows Pete and his prodigious memory to provide yet another trip to Roker, where some memorable players graced the sacred turf.

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SAFC vs Fulham Who are You?: ‘our possession football can be devastating’

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Russ:’no one touches Danny Murphy as a Fulham star of recent years’

Monsieur Salut writes: I had a dream; Sunderland beat Fulham 2-0 before my eyes to end the home hoodoo. A likely outcome? Russ Goldman*, a USA-based Fulham fan who hosts the Cottage Talk podcast (as well as a New England Patriots podcast, disagrees as you would expect. He is not too downbeat about his club’s failure to live up to expectations so far and believes they will end up in the top six. He also expects them to beat us on Saturday …

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Lee Cattermole: for better or for worse, time to go? Vote now

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Jake: ‘love him, hate him?’

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It is fair to say Lee Cattermole has long divided opinion among Sunderland supporters. Perhaps all or certainly most of us appreciate the commitment, that desire to win or at least avoid defeat, that epitomises his game. We may even, occasionally, respect his willingness to ‘take one for the team’. And opposing fans often say he’s someone they’d like in their teams.

But is he now being caught out once too often, and too expensively, even at Championship level? Is he, quite bluntly, a liabilty? Or do we take a kinder view and say ‘let’s not be swayed by one red card, the first in four years, there’s plenty more he has to offer Sunderland’? …. Chris Weatherspoon*, a fan and a seasoned writer on things SAFC, has a view and it’s a harsh one.

There is a Salut! Sunderland poll on this. Scroll down to vote …

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Bearing gifts, Sixer as not seen before (since this time last year)

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And what he said next was ‘……’


The Last Time Ever I Looked, the star of Salut! Sunderland’s gripping series, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Team/Ground, had attracted 101 “likes” with this image posted at Facebook.

Steadfast dieting has whittled away Pete Sixsmith, for it is again he in the guise of County Durham’s busiest descendant of Saint Nicholas. But he still looks the part, as he describes it, as “Santa in his grotto at As You Like It in Jesmond”.

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The Sunderland v Fulham Guess the Score with classy Niall/SuperKev prize

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Niall and SuperKev: click the image for more details

Out with the mugs and in with the print or t-shirt. For the next two games, Guess the Score has the ear of those excellent people at Art of Football, occasional sponsors of Salut! Sunderland competitions and run by Nottingham Forest fans among whom we found a Who are You? candidate earlier in the season.

So guess the score in Sunderland vs Fulham, be first with the right scoreline and you will win one of the two Niall Quinn/Kevin Phillips items shown: a fine print or a t-shirt depicting two heroes of Sunderland’s relatively recent past.

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After Toronto seize cup from Seattle Sounders, could Jozy and Grabban lead our uptable charge?

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Jake: ‘Jody scores, we’re on the pitch’

Monsieur Salut writes: what strikers want to do is score goals. The best of them, like Brian Clough, Kevin Phillips and Jermain Defoe among our greats, also have a selfish streak. Above all, they want their names on the scoresheet.

Lewis Grabban usually has no one to pass to anyway. But his tally in a miserable Sunderland season must make him, overall, a happy man. He is not bought but borrowed and he is also fully aware other clubs are casting an eye in his direction.

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The Chapman Report from Wolves: ‘my game of the season so far’

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When Sixer’s away, Bob gets to play …

Bob Chapman is always a great stand-in for Pete Sixsmith, a home and away stalwart who lives so far south that even a home game means a trek. Wolbverhampton wasn’t next door but neither was it anything like as far. And Bob was rewarded by a display of outstanding commitment (and a decent day out with pals) …

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