Stoke City vs Sunderland: win a mug as the buildup starts here

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Jake: 'squeaky bum time'
Jake: ‘squeaky bum time’

Even after a break – not internationals to blame this time, but Arsenal’s FA Cup semifinal – Monday is far too too early to be starting the customary sequence of interview/preview/score predictions.

Our nerves are raw enough without unnecessary reminders of what could rest on the outcome of Stoke City versus Sunderland. Wherever you are in the world, you can almost hear Mark Hughes’s early team talks about where and how we may be vulnerable.

But the game is coming and so are the usual Salut! Sunderland features.

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Hearts in right place; no dancing in street for Raith or Rangers

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Getting sunnier at Tynecastle
Getting sunnier at Tynecastle

No Sunderland to endure and Pete Sixsmith was spoilt for choice. SAFC Ladies’ third game in the Women’s Super League – a spirited comeback from a goal down to beat Bristol City 2-1 – and Shildon’s Northern League title bid (a win ) beckoned. But Sixer looked north of the border for his Saturday football fix …

The day went well. Trains ran on time, the weather was fine and the football was a trifle stilted but at least I got to see a home game where half of the home support didn’t leave before the hour mark.

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As Advocaat ponders his great escape, Sixer’s thoughts turn to title hopes

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Jake: 'just like watching Real?'
Jake: ‘just like watching Real?’

Pete Sixmsith‘s love of football goes beyond the unrequited loyalty he bestows upon Sunderland AFC. He holds a wide-ranging view and, like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he always gets his man match. From Bishop to Blyth, Sherburn to Shildon, Crook to Coxhoe, he’s there when it matters.

And this week, as Sunderland aren’t playing (and how is that different from other weeks? you might ask) he’s here to give us the lowdown on what’s going on in the Northern League .

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View from Down Under: how Sunderland dun ‘ed in for Dunedin fan

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Jake's jigsaw
Jake’s jigsaw

As yet another Sunderland season crumbles, leaving us our now-customary last few games for a desperate attempt to pull back from the abyss, Julian Smith* is a supporter watching – and now writing – from afar. He’s out in Dunedin, on NZ’s South Island and home to reputedly the world’s steepest street, Baldwin St, whose gradient may replicate the uphill task facing Dick Advocaat. Monsieur Salut is preparing an apology for the appalling headline pun and this will appear in Fenwick’s window alongside the bare backsides of anyone who predicted a comfortable season …


After the Crystal Palace calamity I now think there’s probably a two-thirds chance of being relegated. Six points will give us a shot, but I cannot now see Sunderland getting them.

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How Long Has This Been Going On? Long before John O’Shea’s howlers

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Peter Lynn: a musical theme for every moment
Peter Lynn: a musical theme for every moment

Tons of words have been and written and spoken about the wretched Sunderland collapse, the latest in a season littered with disappointment. Peter Lynn was among the unhappy Sunderland fans present and, as always for him, it had involved a major effort to get there from the West Midlands. Days later, he puts the mistakes of John O’Shea into perspective and ponders the lack of managerial stability he feels contributes to the SAFC malaise. He says he wrote it ‘to get the Palace nightmare out of my system’ …

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Advochaat on Crystal Palace nightmare: how close does ‘very disappointing’ get?

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Dick Advocaat, by Jake
Dick Advocaat, by Jake

To be fair, Dick Advocaat also admitted in his post-match e-mail to Monsieur Salut, most of the 40,000+ Sunderland fans there at kickoff and, I’m sure, the few hardy souls left at the end, that there could be no complaints. It was an utterly wretched non-performance, one to make us feel a trace of guilt at the possibility of others failing, too, and keeping us up …

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 1-4 Crystal Palace. Supporting Sunderland’s now officially embarrassing

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Jake pins Sixer to the wall
Jake pins Sixer to the wall

Monsieur Salut writes: After a drab first half, Pete Sixsmith saw “nothing much between these two average sides”. Inevitably, Palace came out after half time and showed one difference, a quick goal. Less inevitably, but maybe not so surprising to the longest suffering of football fans anywhere, three more came to complete a 13-minute collapse to rival the earlier surrenders to Southampton and Villa. We did start playing somewhere near the 90th minute, but Palace might have been six up by then. There were men out there today, led by John O’Shea but including some who might otherwise have expected to play on at the top level for several years, who ought to be down the Job Centre on Monday to explore other career possibilities. Come back for Sixer’s fuller report – once again he offers a selection of seven-word verdicts below – but don’t necessarily expect anyone at Salut! Sunderland to show more than O’Shea-like pace to get it posted …’

Jake: 'please tell me how that could happen'
Jake: ‘please tell me how that could happen’

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