Jake and a glorious Seb moment
Like most Sunderland supporters, I want to see new faces at the club. I want the summer to produce arrivals of men genuinely capable of improving the team, and a few more departures would be something I could live with.
First things first. The World Cup poll – not to be taken too seriously – currently shows Uruguay ahead of the USA in terms of preference.
Our marks-out-of-ten columnist, young Keir Bradwell, has registered a protest: how can we have people voting for another team in England’s group? The answer is that you can want England to succeed but have, in reserve, affection for Uruguay because of Gus, Italy for Borini, Mannone and Giaccherini and the USA for Jozy, wretched as he was for us most of the time last season. Anyway, scroll down to vote if you have not already … I intend to keep the poll going as teams falls by the wayside, so the collective Salut! Sunderland preference may change more than once.
One slight change. Taking account of Keir’s point, supported by Jeremy and accepted, of reflection, by Monsieur Salut, votes cast for Uruguay, Costa Rica and Italy – part of our group – will become valid only if and when England depart from the tournament. Even though this is just a spot of fun, it does seem inappropriate to adopt a team England face in the group stage.
My local paper in France runs a French-language version of the lyrics of John Lennon’s Imagine, changed to reflect Jonny Wilkinion’s career-concluding match, donning the red and black of Toulon for the last time in combat for the French championship final at the Stade de France tonight. You can say John McCormick‘s a dreamer, too. He has let his imagination run riot. Not content with allowing an excess of Merlot to induce a vote for Chile in our grand World Cup ‘other team’ poll, he now conducts a musical review of a strange, occasionally rocking and sometimes discordant season for Sunderland. Here, then, are the songs – some real, some imagined, that defined it for him …
Right, this is a semi-serious attempt to reach a World Cup decision.
We naturally wish England especially well, or most of us do, and it would indeed be marvellous to see Roy Hodgson lead Jordan and Co to as advanced a stage of the tournament as possible up to and including the final.
This is what Jake urged … and he was right, with crucial help towards the end of the season from Giaccherini
This is one of those occasional guest posts from outsiders, in this case resulting from a collaboration with Superserp.com. It started out as a “will Giaccherini make the squad?” piece but that idea was scuppered by the announcement from Italy that made clear he had not made it. But was Cesare Prandelli right to overlook him – and, for that matter, was Poyet right to make so little use of him? …
Sixer, right in Irish green. with the more conventionally attired Sobs
One grain of pure white snow, Bert Jansch wrote in his classic song about drug addiction,Needle of Death. It hasn’t yet become quite that bad at Sixsmith Towers. Pete Sixsmith still has a few sporting outlets to get him through the early summer and there is the World Cup to, er, look forward to. Meanwhile, he’s cross about being deprived of fair prices at Fulham, great pies at Wigan and decent beer at the Brunswick in Derby …
Delight seemed as good a first response as any to news that Gus Poyet had signed a new contract, flattening all the speculation about being lured away to low-rent clubs in east London or on the south coast.
It keeps him, theoretically, at Sunderland until 2016 which translates as two seasons to do what no manager since Peter Reid, mid-term and only fleetingly, has managed since the first half of the 1950s (third in 1950, fourth in 1955), and restore to the club its historical upper-table status.
Our Lad, Raich junior’s dad, handed the FA Cup by the King’s lass
This, then, was the winner. You have had another chance to savour the interviews with our second and third-placed “Who are You?” interviewees, supporters of Manchester United and Norwich City, and also the recipient of the editor’s special award, Kidderminister Harriers’ Scott Jones.
Here, though, is the deserving Number One, Raich Carter, son of the Sunderland legend but a product of the life he later made in and around Hull. Raich, when finally tracked down and told he was our judges’ choice, said: ‘Very honoured by the award and congratulations to Gus and the Lads for battling it through!’
Raich’s interview is reproduced below. He may now choose goods valued at up to $200 by our generous US award sponsors soccerpro.com. It seems to be quality clobber and doesn’t come cheaper, but Raich could – say – have this Brazil World Cup top and still have $50 to spend …
Scott Jones* correctly predicted that the team he follows home and away, Kidderminster Harriers, would lose by a single goal at Sunderland in the FA Cup 4th round.
It was a creditable performance, by the team and our own Pete Sixsmith rated their supporters to be the best to visit the Stadium of Light all season. Pete went on to judge Scott’s answers in the pre-match ‘Who are You?’ questionnaire the finest from any of the seasons 40 interviews.
Scott did not quite make it into the top three but shrugged off big-club competition to collect a special editor’s prize arbitrarily awarded by Monsieur Salut. Philosophy Football have promised a World Cup top; they haven;t yet aid which one but, then, Scott has yet to be located to hear of this life-changing event. Tell him to check his e-mails, someone. Here, once again, is the interview that originally appeared back in January …
From Philosophy Football: better than that suit, Scott
