Relegation watch: still looking at Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich, with Leicester hanging on

by
John McCormick:
John McCormick: getting ready, only a month to go

What a website! On 15th June, in response to my “who went down, who’s going down?”  Dave left a comment which included:

“… I think Pearson will, at some point, have a big row with a player or a fan, and the team’s spirit that kept them up will dissipate…”

Two weeks later Leicester City’s website contained the following:

“…it has become clear to the Club that fundamental differences in perspective exist between us. Regrettably, the Club believes that the working relationship between Nigel and the Board is no longer viable…”

The effect on team spirit remains to be seen but as I said at the start, what a website!

A week ago I left you with a poll whose results were suggesting the targets of my dodgy numbers “relegation watch” would be the three promoted clubs and Leicester. Since then another couple of thousand votes have been cast but they didn’t make much difference, despite the turmoil  at the Kingpower . Here are last Friday’s and this Friday’s results:

Read more

Summer Madness: (1) on Man Utd being urged ‘forget our Man City Poznan’

by
Click to enlarge

Stephen Goldsmith, fondly remembered from this parish, unwittingly kicks off a series of Summer Madness retrospectives, good reads that deserve another airing.

The choice of Goldy’s article from 2012 was prompted by a tweet from a MUFC fan explaining his jibe about Sunderland being relegated next May. It reflected his lingering anger at the Poznan done by some SAFC fans when they beat us in the final game and thought themselves champions until Man City scored in stoppage time to break their hearts. See the Twitter exchange below (I cannot quite work out how to avoid repeating each tweet before the reply). But first, have another look at Goldy’s amusing piece …

Read more

Lee Cattermole and Liverpool’s Sebastian Coates: two cracking signatures for Advocaat

by

Jake: 'when he keeps his head, he's a class act'
Jake: ‘when he keeps his head, he’s a class act’

For Metro, it was the signing of the summer, or at least Dick Advocaat’s summer.

Then you look to see which foreign star has been lured to the Stadium of Light and realise they meant the new six-year contract for Lee Cattermole. To be fair, the Metro piece was one of its club-by-club blog postings and the writer, Gary Johnson, is one of us.

And he is right. The close-season progress may seem leisurely, but it is progress. Tying Cattermole to Sunderland until 2021 is a good move. It means that even if Roy Hodgson suddenly woke up and did what he’d have done already, if only Catts played in London or the North West, our tenacious midfielder would be a very valuable asset should another club come sniffing.

Read more

Thomas Sorensen, of Sunderland, Stoke, Villa and Denmark: a well-earned Sixsmith tribute

by
Donate to the KidsAid charity supported by Thomas Sorensen at http://kidsaidacrossamerica.com/
Donate to the KidsAid charity supported by Thomas Sorensen at http://kidsaidacrossamerica.com/

Just as the players (Coates included) were due to report back Pete Sixsmith’s extended season came to an end. But, unlike those on international duty, he doesn’t get extra time off. No sooner has he put his pen down from his other job than he has to pick it up for M Salut and take us on a journey down memory lane:

Read more

Transfer news: there isn’t much, but should we really worry?

by
Jake: 'has Messi signed yet?'
Jake: ‘has Messi signed yet?’

Others clubs are doing business and when that happens, and your own is – publicly – doing none, it is natural to wonder what is going on.

I have argued repeatedly over the years since Roy Keane led Sunderland back to the Premier that the best thing to do with most transfer speculation is to ignore it.

There are exceptions. Jordan Henderson’s departure was well flagged for some time, as were the pursuits of Steven Fletcher, Adam Johnson and – though it ended unhappily – Fabio Borini. No journalistic hype was necessary to keep readers, listeners and viewers informed with what turned out to have been reasonable accuracy.

Read more

Relegation: it’s still Bournemouth and Watford. Can Leicester and Norwich relax?

by
John McCormick:
John McCormick: I’m biased. Are you?

Strange, isn’t it? I spend Monday evening idly browsing the MLS (aka Major League Soccer) website trying to work out how it (the league, not the website) operates and then along comes David Millward with a piece about a football convention in the USA. I wonder if the fans he mixed with can get their heads around relegation and promotion better than I can handle the subtleties of the MLS.

Read more

Danny Graham on the brightest, thickest, fastest, slowest, funniest and worst-dressed

by


 

 

More midsummer madness.

Safc.com has had some fun with quickfire Q+As, posting the resulting clips at YouTube.

Here – broadly speaking, not word-for word (some answers were slightly unclear) – is what Danny Graham, clearly speaking just after his deflected goal set Sunderland on the path to victory at Goodison, made of his questions. See the whole clip – you’ll hear his answers to a couple of other questions (best player played with, best advice given – neither answer Sunderland-related). He seems a decent lad …

Read more