Sixer Says: a hearty Salut! Sunderland welcome to Ola Toivonen

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Pete Sixsmith flying the flag for Salut! Sunderland
Pete Sixsmith flying the flag for Salut! Sunderland

At this stage of the window it is always a bit suspect treating reports on transfers as gospel. We are getting to that stage where both buying and selling clubs are plying the art of brinkmanship. Selling clubs are hoping that potential purchasers may pay over the odds, whilst those in the market for certain players are hoping that their current clubs are desperate enough to accept cut price terms for those deemed surplus to requirements. There are some players who will only become available if the selling club manages to complete some signings of their own first. Then there are the players and their agents touting around for the best deal possible and playing one club against another. If you are to believe some reports Jonathan de Guzman doesn’t rate Dick Advocaat and so won’t be coming to Sunderland. Until a transfer is officially confirmed I take it all with a pinch of salt. But today Sunderland did complete their fifth signing of the summer (sixth if we include Coates). Pete Sixsmith runs the rule over our new attacker/midfielder signed on loan from Rennes which is also the club we bought a certain other striker from … …

A warm welcome to Ola Toivonen who signed for us today on loan from Ligue 1 outfit Stade Rennes. In our time honoured tradition, we take a look at our new Swedish star.

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Unanswered questions about Advocaat’s future squad as Sunderland face Aston Villa

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For no really good reason, except that it’s Friday and no one ever seems to write for these pages on Fridays, let’s give another well-deserved boost to the excellent lads and lasses of the SAFC Supporters’ Association branch in North America – SAFC NASA for short.

Just before we get onto transfer talk, the photo gallery is from Martin Bates, one of the Out West supporters who kept Salut! Sunderland in the loop during the pre-season tour.

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Aston Villa vs Sunderland Who are You?: ‘a tenner on finishing 10th’

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Welcome back, Stuart Jinks*. Jinksy, as some will remember, is a past winner – first prize no less – of what we now call the HAWAYs – Highly Articulate Who Are You? awards. That was back in 2012 and we thought it would be a good idea to invite him to have another bash. Sharp memories will also recall that despite the chummy picture you see below of Jinksy with Martin O’Neill, he had serious misgiving about MON’s managerial abilities. Oh, and the headline gives his Villa prediction; we’ll be a lot lower but stay up, says Jinksy. Now let the man behind the Villa Boy YouTube channel speak for himself …

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Aston Villa vs Sunderland: Guess the Score, Guess the Bigger Club

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Jake: 'another Defoe hat-trick would do nicely, provided Villa don't get six, or even four'
Jake: ‘another Defoe hat-trick would do nicely, provided Villa don’t get six, or even three’


Villa fans swimming to these shores must forgive what they would see as the impertinence of the headline – both sets of fans know precisely which is the bigger club*, though the conclusions they reach may well differ – and look forward to the return of Jinksy.

Stuart Jinks, to give him a real name, is an old friend around here, an award-winning Who are You? interviewee and happy to come back with his forthright views whenever asked. We asked and he has delivered. His interview will appear tomorrow (update: see it now at https://safc.blog/2015/08/aston-villa-vs-sunderland-who-are-you-a-tenner-on-finishing-10th/). He has SAFC finishing 17th and feels his anti-MoN views, once a source of controversy, have been vindicated.

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Sixer’s 6-3 Soapbox: pain and pleasure in beating Exeter. Bring on Manchester City

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Jake: 'I make that one goal for every 1,596 fans present'
Jake: ‘I make that one goal for every 1,596 fans present’

The defeat of Exeter City, with a quirky scoreline, had Salut! Sunderland delving into murky territory. The introduction to Sixer’s Sevens wondered whether Pete Sixsmith ‘enjoyed a nine-goal thriller, in a sadomasochistic sort of way’ and his e-mail this morning talked of the ‘pain and pleasure’ of the occasion. Let Sixer, aka Mr Whiplash, explain …

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 6 Exeter City 3. Discuss …

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Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season

There are different ways of looking at this. Good news: we’re through to the next round, we scored six, Defoe grabbed a slick hat-trick, Watmore and Gooch got most of a half each and were bursting with enthusiasm, Exeter fans had a great night out.

Then there was the bad news. The half time verdicts of Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett were not heartening to those listening on the radio or via the club website. Indispensable to the absent fan – absent as in everyone except just under 14,000 home supporters, since Exeter took 495 seats – B&B were unimpressed. A HT scoreline starting Sunderland 3 is excellent, says Barnes, except that Exeter had 3 as well. ‘You think the defending sounds grim,’ said one of the 14,000-, Pete Sixsmith . ‘It looks even worse. Three times in our box, three goals.’ Then the second half came, Rodwell nodded home strongly from Larsson’s corner, Watmore’s sheer persistence brought a fifth and the game was surely won. B&B were not so convinced, but Jermain’s third came and won it was. We’ll learn in more detail whether Sixer enjoyed a nine-goal thriller, in a sadomasochistic sort of way, or went to bed facing a nightmare about our defence.

‘The score sounds like a thrashing but Exeter made a real game of it,’ Barnes. ‘Until Watmore came on,’ Benno. …

Jake: 'gorging on goals'
Jake: ‘gorging on goals’

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Michael Gray and the grey area of when a ban isn’t a ban

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Jake: 'sometimes you just have to meddle in other people's business'
Jake: ‘sometimes you just have to meddle in other people’s business’

How does anyone get the impression they have been banned from a football stadium when they haven’t? Monsieur Salut remembers being told he was banned from a folk club in Newton Aycliffe, after comments in his folk column for the now-defunct Evening Despatch, and having to attend a hearing by the club’s committee to get the ban lifted.

With Micky Gray and Sunderland AFC, it’s a little more mystifying.

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