What would Keir Bradwell, our marks-out-of-10 columnist, make of it? One reader, Bill, said Seb Larsson was the only player whose head failed to drop: ‘I would say he was [our] Man of the Match and give him a 5, so Keir will probably give him -5.’ One newspaper had Santiago Vergini on 1.5/10, Vito Mannone on 2/10 and other team members on three or four, a shamefully low set of ratings for a top-flight side.
After West Ham (1968), Watford (1982) and Southampton (2014): a dozen questions
Still on the national news, still getting ribbed mercilessly if someone spots the SAFCSA membership card in my wallet, still feeling numb …
So 12 questions. A mug for the best answers posted below, as judged by Monsieur Salut (who drove 1,200km to be at this debacle). You can answer one or more or all of them. You can be a supporter of any club you choose (or that chose you) but you must have a UK delivery address to qualify for the life-altering prize …
Sixer’s Southampton Soapbox: ‘my ultimate humiliation’ following Sunderland
Colin Randall writes: What more is there to say? Vito Mannone suggests the players should club together and refund the travelling support. Hmmmm. I will just repeat what I have said elsewhere: ‘The day started well. Smooth train journey from Waterloo, pints with friends at a terrific pub opposite the Isle of Wight ferry terminal, £14 off my ticket for being an old git, leisurely stroll to the ground, even a bright start from Sunderland. If I had left at 3.11pm I’d have vaguely expected to hear later that we’d got a draw or maybe even sneaked a win.’
Let Pete Sixsmith take up the sorrier story that unfolded ….
Poyetry without rhyme from Southampton: where were the positives? Bravo the fans
Colin Randall writes: there should be no surprise that non one among Salut! Sunderland‘s hardy band of helpers found the enthusiasm to publish Gus Poyet’s post-match e-mail last night. What could the man possibly say to alleviate the gloom, soothe the embarrassment, kiss the wounds better? For me, it was a grim way to resume UK life after my return from France, twice as grim as last season, when I came home to a 4-0 thumping at Swansea on Poyet’s debut as head coach. At least the QPR game, caught on a fleeting visit, was close-fought. Yesterday, as I said at Facebook, seemed to have the makings of a decent day out: easy train journey from Waterloo, pints with Sixer and others at the excellent Platform Tavern opposite the IoW ferry terminal and leisurely stroll to the ground. What could go wrong? ..
Sixer’s Sevens: Southampton 8 – Sunderland 0. Saints go one better than Sixsmith
John McCormick writes: On Thursday my ticket for the Arsenal game arrived, then my rail tickets and my railcard followed in short order. So I went out last night in a good mood.
And it lasted until about ten past three this afternoon.
Here, in seven words, no more, no less, Pete Sixsmith tells you why (he actually offered about eight versions of the verdict but none makes for pleasant reading – Ed) …
Salut! Sunderland Nostalgia: stuck in the mud after Millwall end cup dream
Image: Peter BurgessMonsieur Salut is back in the UK, will be at Southampton on Saturday and awaits a winning goal from John O’Shea, who crowned his magnificent career in international football with a last-gap equaliser for Ireland as he claimed his 100th cap against Germany. Whatever happens at St Mary’s, Salut! Sunderland salutes John’s great achievement.
Ahead of that, let’s take another shameless dip into the archives, from the days when Salut! Sunderland had so few readers such postings were probably not seen at all. It did also appear in a matchday SAFC programme but if you missed it in either place, and have a soft spot for other people’s hard luck stories, read on. You’ll learn about a Big Match day out – our last appearance in an FA Cup semi-final, back in 2004 – that sticks nastily in the memory for some Sunderland supporters …
Southampton vs Sunderland Who are You?: ‘cheat, cheat, cheat. It’s OK’
This feels like a first. A few other ‘Who are You?’ interviewees have said too much is made of diving. Some of our own readers think I should stop rattling on about it. But I am not sure anyone has ever previously said it’s just part of the game and, more or less, OK. But then our Southampton fan in this week’s hot heat, Alistair Iveson*, a journalism student, doesn’t care much about his club’s stripes or colours, thinks people from the North East have silly accents and believes a Saints hero, Matt Le Tissier, has become an ‘egotistical wash-up’, Against that he’s hardly a fair weather fan – ‘I’ve always enjoyed going to watch Southampton, even when we were flailing at the bottom of the Championship’ – and Salut! Sunderland is happy to reproduce his strident views on most matters in football …
Southampton vs SAFC Guess the Score: football’s back with a rollover
From our good friends at Personalised Football Gifts, a Weardale business owned by a Sunderland supporter, two mugs await the winner of this week’s Guess the Score.
Only one reader correctly predicted Sunderland 3 Stoke City 1. Step forward Keir Bradwell. Then step back again: he posted it after the match.
Roy Keane: skip the Manchester United bits for a fine Sunderland read
We’ve seen the headlines and, if we chose to do so, read the reports. Fergie and other Man Utd spats will grip others. We may all retain a healthy feeling of distaste at his lack of remorse for the appalling assault on Alf-Inge Haaland whatever the latter had done to displease him. The bits that we’ll find interesting concern us. Pete Sixsmith has read them. He makes no inference to that other headline, that Keano was pleased Clive Clarke had a heart attack, and with good reason: it might have been better put but he was just relieved that something he could not be blamed for would divert attention from a dreadful result. Here is Pete’s verdict on the chapters he didn’t skip …
Letter from Liverpool: colour blind in Hull, Cardiff and Sunderland
Once too young to drink. Now too old to stand
It’s not just M Salut and Mr Sixsmith, not to mention MOTD, who are celebrating 50 years of supporting, as you can see from my photo. It really was a different era then, and not just because televised football consisted of an hour of black and white on a Saturday night. The Land of the Prince Bishops was the land of heavy industry and a predominantly male workforce, measured in the tens of thousands, many of whose jobs continued until 12 on Saturdays.