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Who agrees with me that the home kit for 2015-2016 is a significant improvement on last season’s version?
Sunderland’s new kits: ‘I like them – do you?’
Fixture list: Newcastle gone, our nearest to a derby, Middlesbrough, comes early
Pete Sixsmith, quick off the mark, has already booked one must-do trip of recent seasons – if I say the last but one was a match of eight goals and we scored none of them, you’ll get the drift – and is raring to go. Here he casts an eye over the fixtures for 2016-17 (listed in full, though subject to changes, at https://safc.blog/2016/06/talk-about-tough-manchester-city-away-to-start-chelsea-away-to-finish/. Not a bad opening sequence, he reckons, though we’ve got to break with another recent tradition and get early points on the board …
Talk about tough: Manchester City away to start, Chelsea away to finish
Once again, the fixtures list is not particularly kind to Sunderland. Very well, we all hope we won’t need points …
Euro 2016: Sunderland exile Giaccherini makes the difference for Italy vs Belgium
Salut! Sunderland is always open to suggestions for posts from outside interests. Please welcome Cartridge People at whose invitation Pete Sixsmith reports on a match of his choice from the opening phase of Euro 2016. Watching Italy’s 2-0 victory over Belgium stirred memories from the distant past …
Jeremain Lens: our best midfielder (or maybe not)
Blame Rob, who suggested we needed an article on squad analysis when I did my last review of “relegation watch”. Or Malcolm, whose idle speculation led to the idea of specific comparisons. Some of them weren’t particularly enticing but they planted a seed so I trooped off to hosted.stats.com and did a bit of digging. Then I did a bit of moving things around and playing with the numbers on a spreadsheet and here we are.
This is the first of what I think will be two posts comparing our players. It concentrates on midfield and doesn’t include the Hoff as Sunderland have him listed as a defender rather than a midfielder. I’ve also excluded Rees Greenwood and George Honeyman, who made their debuts against Watford.
Euro 2016: Sixer on England yobs, warlike Russians, reckless Cana and (elsewhere) Yedlin
Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith makes 10 points from the opening sequence of the Euros but I seem to have reduced them to seven. I began yesterday in a rage against the moronic English ‘fans’ who, as I have witnessed at first hand, are as obnoxious a group of people as you’d hope not to meet. But if they – and of course I mean the sizeable minority of trouble-seeking louts – had already behaved atrociously in one of my favourite French cities, Marseille, their lowlife thuggishness was more than matched by an evil bunch of Russians, in particular, and by some French ‘fans’.
Pete fears there will be trouble wherever England play, even when the English are not wholly or even mostly to blame. As for the football, disappointment for England, a dark start for a man with SAFC pedigree – Lorik Cana, who must have even Lee Cattermole tit-tutting – not to mention another red, albeit away from the Euros in the Copa America) DeAndre Yedlin – and a great opener for Wales. Now let Sixer admire French stadiums and French midfielders …
Relegation poll: Middlesbrough, Hull or Sunderland? Arsenal and Manchester Utd? Vote now
I’m getting a bit tired of the title (and Monsieur Salut should apologise to any reader lured here by thoughts it was a poll on religion; the word inexplicably replaced relegation in the headline when published and still appeared some time later at the newsnow.co.uk site) .
But just because we have some decent players, led by one of the Premier League’s most experienced managers and backed by a tremendous crowd, we can’t assume we’re safe.
Our record is not good. We’ve been one of the survivors for too many seasons and we can’t take anything for granted. Even now there will be some fans somewhere rubbing their hands as they look at the fixtures and thinking ‘Sunderland, that’s an easy three points’.
Idle speculation to get me through the quiet days
Malcolm Dawson, deputy editor, writes: this hiatus which falls between the end of season and the opening of the transfer window sees me scouring the media for scraps of gossip that may or may not indicate which way the club is going. Most of it will turn out to be idle speculation and bear little resemblance to what actually transpires between the 1st of July and the end of August.
Let’s meet again: Richard Littlejohn, star columnist, Tottenham fan, Salut! Sunderland winner
Salut! Sunderland seeks out all manner of people for the ‘Who are You?’ series. It’s great to attract household names but some of the best interviews have been with ordinary fans, home-and-away regulars or armchair supporters. Richard Littlejohn* fits into the first category, familiar to most people from his TV series and strident Daily Mail columns. Monsieur Salut knew him when he was just one of the mob of hacks covering industrial relations. He’s a good lad, whatever you think of his views, he’s a real football supporter and he came third in our HAWAY awards. Here is the interview we ran before the 1-0 home defeat to Spurs in September …
Sixer Says: the Sunderland retained list. Adieu Fletch, Graham and the admirable Wes Brown
Pete Sixsmith casts an expert eye over the SAFC retained list … he offers broad approval for the decisions made and hopes for a few more exits, as well as signings, before long ..
Many years ago, when Monsieur Salut and I were nowt but lads, the announcement of the retained list was an exciting event.
Who would be staying? Who would be leaving? What might our team look like for next season? Who had Alan Brown/Ian McColl/Alan Brown (again)/Bob Stokoe decided would be the men to take us forward in the next nine months?