Lost in the deluge of post-Southampton news, anger and gallows humour, John McCormick applied a scholarly eye to the statistics he considers relevant factors in determining who goes down, who stays up. Ominously, in this update, the 8-0 defeat is seen as not only wrecking our goal difference but pushing us more obviously into the frame, on John’s interpretation of trends. He hopes and we hope he is completely wrong …
Quaking in their boots in expectation of a heroic bounceback from 8-0 – or breezily confident, after coming from behind to beat Anderlecht on Arsène Wenger’s 65th birthday, of adding to our woes? We’ll soon enough find out which Sunderland and which Arsenal turns out. Nigel Payne*, our Arsenal ‘Who are You?’ interviewee, is a sports marketing consultant and well-known figure in horse racing (co-owner of the 1998 Grand National winner Earth Summit, chairman of the Professional Jockeys Association and a former communications chief at Aintree). Expect strident views on Wenger, warm thoughts on Sunderland and Poyet … and an eccentric score prediction …
We cannot guarantee these will be the very last words – Salut! Sunderland clings to democratic values – but, speaking …
Pete Sixsmith will, for once, be absent when Sunderland take on Arsenal on Saturday. No boycott, just the competing lure of Shildon in the FA Cup. But the post-Southampton soul-searching and self-flagellation must have set him thinking. Here’s a dip into the archives of his mind …
It was an honourable decision by the players to attempt to reimburse those of us who travelled on Saturday and it is to be hoped that Grace House will benefit by £50,000 as a result.
It is possible that no win at all will be needed for Sunderland Ladies in their final game to complete a sensational promotion at the first attempt and join the elite of the Women’s Super League top flight.
Unfortunately, that would be the case only if the one team able to overtake them, Doncaster Rovers Belles, lost. And they are at London Bees, hived off from the rest of the swarm at the very bottom of WSL2.
Just as old cynics – step forward Ken Gambles and also M Salut – were wondering what sort of reception Vito Mannone got in the dressing-room when he took the hat round for refunds for the fans (£50,000, £60,000, £70,000 in all or am I way out?), safc.com put out a statement saying this grand gesture was on. Ken, though, disagrees completely with idea of fans demanding their money back after wretched performances and would doubtless go along with the idea floated here of allowing their refunds to go to the Grace House children’s charity. All you need do is miss the deadline of Nov 5 for claiming the money. But let Ken have his say on the principle anyway …
What better to accompany the tea or coffee, or stronger, in your rollover pair of prize mugs than a few tasty wafer-thin mint chocolates with cream inside?
Let Salut! Sunderland reproduce, word for word, tonight’s statement from SAFC. I had an inkling something was afoot when the pleasant ticketline girl taking my order for Saturday’s game said ‘watch the site … there may be some good news’. My refund will go to the Grace House charity and I urge any other supporters able to do so to follow suit …
Travelling supporters who attended defeat at Southampton offered ticket refunds.
Monsieur Salut writes: The last I saw of Pete Sixmith was when he boarded one train, and I another, at Southampton Central. It’s fair to say our spirits were not high. As we await our Mannone payouts – Sixer reckons £500 would cover his extended south coast stay; mine involves diesel and motorway tolls for 1,200km through France and the south-east, one overnight stop, travel and beer on Saturday and the old codger’s ticket but I’d accept even less, say £300) – he takes in a Sunderland return to winning ways, unfortunately at the wrong level to ease our Premier worries …
Before the season started I used some dodgy stats and history to predict this season’s relegated candidates, including a couple of wildcards. From 20th place upwards they were:
QPR – Purely because a promoted team is almost certain to go down and most often it has been the playoff winner. I had to go with this, whatever the bookies said about Burnley.
Hull, on the basis that second season syndrome’s due and as two London teams have never been relegated in the same season QPR’s demise must mean Palace are safe.
Villa, on the grounds of their being the only club to have been in the bottom three for each of the last three seasons without being relegated. That’s scary stuff for a fan.
Southampton were the first wildcard, chosen because of the personnel changes and turbulence the club has experienced this year.
West Brom, because of last season’s iffy form and the way they appointed their manager, were the second.
You can read the whole post here: https://safc.blog/2014/08/good-news-for-burnley-and-leicester-our-stats-man-has-qpr-hull-city-and-aston-villa/