Question: what is it about the appalling suits who run much of football that makes them think they and their clubs are above criticism?
Answer: a mixture of control freakery, arrogance and sheer stupidity
John McCormick writes:some 7,687 votes have been cast in our relegation poll. I wonder if Guardian writer Louise Taylor is among the voters. She’s one of a team that predict we’ll finish 15th, according to the opening line of her assessment of our chances for this season.
Sometimes, Who are You? interviewees bend over backwards to please, offering upbeat predictions for Sunderland’s season that even we wouldn’t share. Not Ben Jacobs*, another of Monsieur Salut’s ESPN FC colleagues but also a busy sports broadcaster and journalist in the Middle East. A passionate Leicester supporter, and first in the WAY hot seat for the new Premier season, he makes due apology, but forecasts an end to our top-flight stay. What’s worrying is that he comes across – with fascinating views on football cheats, Qatar as 2022 World Cup hosts and Foxes management issues – as knowledgeable!…
Monsieur Salut asked Pete Sixsmith for a slice of nostalgia and it doesn’t come much better than this, a lovely …
The beautiful game, with all those blemishes the heaviest make-up cannot conceal, is back. There may still be a Test series going on, and loads of people are on holiday or have holidays still to take, but football won’t wait.
And that means, at Salut! Sunderland, the return of Guess the Score. Let’s have a bumper entry for the opening game versus Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
For Monsieur Salut’s latest piece for ESPN FC, the victory in Hannover took second place to the more immediate news of Connor Wickham’s move to Crystal Palace being confirmed.
I am in two minds about his departure. There is clearly a good player struggling to break out of the not-so-good one Sunderland fans have too often seen. Wickham worked hard out wide last season, a role he would not have chosen for himself, and he also suffered when used as a frontman from the same lack of viable service that had bedevilled Sunderland’s play for seasons.
Delighted to signed for @cpfc_palace_ a new start a new challenge and a new journey! ?? https://t.co/6LOXwnAGOZ
— Connor Wickham (@ConnorWickham10) August 3, 2015
As usual. The Observer made a pre-season raid on the thoughts of Pete Sixsmith. Sixer obliged, but before the 1-0 …
Malcolm Dawson writes….this was Dick’s last chance pre-season to give what will probably be his first choice eleven a run …
There’s a week to go, more or less, to the big kick-off so it’s time to revisit our dodgy numbers relegation stakes. 6,373 votes were cast in our poll, with Bournemouth and Watford being consistently clear favourites for the drop since the early days:
Malcolm Dawson writes…he’s back. Our man of few words with his summation of last night’s players’ performances. Rob Hutchison was …