John McCormick writes: if you’re old, like myself, Monsieur Salut, Malcolm and Pete Sixsmith, Bolton Wanderers will probably be there or thereabouts in your memories. They are a proper club, with a proper history and I’ve no doubt they fired the imagination of a lot of youngsters in that long ago era of dubbin, casies and nailed-in studs. We haven’t shared much of that history, however, as we’ve tended to rise as Bolton Wanderers have fallen and vice versa, as Pete explains below:
Jake: ‘what could be simpler than beating the bottom club at home?’
Monsieur Salut writes: it is a telling feature of Sunderland’s predicament that away fans, naturally talking up their teams’ expectations, are correctly predicting the results of games at the Stadium of Light.
So far, the Bolton Wanderers Who are You? has not landed. I have no idea what the man in the hot seat, Gabe John, from the fan site Burnden Aces, will forecast.
Chris Mann, who runs the site, may have been trying to humour us when I suggested he must be feeling upbeat about Tuesday night. “More a sense of pessimism,” Chris replied. “We didn’t win away all season when we were relegated and yet to do so on the road this season – despite coming ever so close yesterday. Your winless home run is no match for our 32 without a Championship away win, so not feeling too optimistic.”
Malcolm Dawson writes………..I am not one of the multitude calling for Simon Grayson’s head for the simple reason that at the end of last season I decided that I would not renew my season card and would not return to the Stadium of Light until I felt the club was able to offer me something in return for what was (up until May) my loyalty.
There is only so far blind faith can take you and my eyes are open. So I’m not calling for Grayson’s head purely because I haven’t been able to judge personally how inept he really is. For that I’ll rely on Pete Sixsmith‘s first hand verdict, first in his report from yet another frustrating afternoon spent in Sunderland and then later in the flesh when I see him at the U23 game. You see I haven’t given up entirely …
Bristol City H
Every team, bar onethat I have seen at the Stadium of Light this season has had a number of common characteristics, the common one being that they are well organised with their players appearing to know what their roles are within the team structure.
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Footballers earning a great deal of money turned out at the Stadium of Light on Saturday afternoon and, yet again, let down the supporters who, earning a great deal less, help to pay their wages. A manager, also earning very good money, chose the team, the tactics, the substitutions … so he, too, let down the fans.
John McCormick writes: half an hour in and my hopes of a mug were dashed. And though we continued our scoring run and equalised we also continued our home hoodoo and lost to a second-half goal.
Will that cost our manager his job? Pete Sixsmith’s seven word text, straight on the final whistle, suggests it should.
John McCormick writes: Like Pete Sixsmith, I can’t remember a lot of matches against Bristol City (or Rovers for that matter). I’m pretty sure I was at the 6-1 win in ’64 but the only game which sticks in my mind is there because of an overnight trip on a Tennick bus and a team sheet that included Joe Baker. I remembered it as a cup match but when I looked it up on the Statcat website it wasn’t. It can only have been the season-opening 4-3 loss that Pete mentions below, and nothing to do with the cup, so I saw an opening day 7 goal thriller which included Joe Baker netting two of the 12 goals he scored for us, plus a last minute heartbreaker, and I can’t remember it. I blame the drink.
Back to Pete, and let’s be thankful he has a better memory than me:
Circumstances have kept Pete Lynn, our Wrinkly one, away from Sunderland games so far this season. He has not been boycotting the club, as he explains below. On Saturday, he makes his long-awaited debut as Simon Grayson once again tries to end a dismal winless run, against Bristol City at the Stadium of Light. Pete has already supplied an excellent candidate for Who are You?, his Bristol-supporting nephew doing …
Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa
What do the following three sporting institutions have in common – Sunderland AFC, Warwickshire County Cricket Club and Solihull Moors AFC?
Phil Clarke, on the far right (not in the Marine Le Pen sense) with, from L-R, the son, James, of his uncle – our own Wrinkly Pete – Pete himself and Phil’s son Red
Pete Lynn, aka Wrinkly Pete, writes: Phil Clarke*, is my nephew and, sad to tell, a lifelong Bristol City fan even though his origins, like mine, are in Sunderland. I did my best to persuade Phil to abandon the Robins for the Black Cats last season when he and his youngest son Red made their first ever trip to the Stadium Of Light. Before the match, the family visited the shop where my parents – Phil’s grandparents – met, without which meeting none of them would exist! Best not to dwell on the game itself, as the Lads were Gabbiadinied by Southampton … what follows is a good read made all the better by a wonderful Martin Scott anecdote …
Since the Ipswich debacle, Sunderland have been unbeaten. That is the good news, the bad being that we still cannot win and the worse being that we seldom look like doing so.
John McCormick writes: It’s a team effort, here at Salut! Pete Sixmith was engaged with a non-League fixture so Bob Chapman stepped in with his seven word summary, which was sent to Malcolm, who used it to finalise the draft I’d prepared.
And now M Salut himself has forwarded Bob’s post-match report. For me, it carries a hint that, while there’s some way to go, we are at least beginning to create chances. That could be because I thought we did something similar at Preston, so I suggest you tuck into this excellent read, bear in mind that not all our players are fully match fit, and decide for yourself.
Bristol City H
