Countdown to Portsmouth at Wembley: (1) ‘a pleasant change from cataclysmic collapse’

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                            Jake sets the scene

Monsieur Salut writes: Wembley looms again. There is no meaningful football for us (except the games involving our League One promotion rivals) until we face Portsmouth in the Checkatrade Trophy final on March 31.

So we will offer a mini-series to help keep everyone entertained during the long buildup. We start with the republication of an article you can no longer find in the Salut! Sunderland archives. The Pompey ‘Who are You?’ interview was among the casualties of the system crash that hit the site on the day we lost 3-1 at Fratton Park. It was a good interview, as most WAYs are this season, and deserves the chance to breathe that it was denied last December.

The interviewee was Peter Allen*, my favourite confrere among the British contingent of foreign correspondents when I lived in Paris. We worked, ate and drank together, often enough finding a televised match to watch. We were even tear-gassed together, covering a student riot outside the Sorbonne.

Pete is still in Paris, at present covering the wretched Gilets Jaunes riots with great professionalism, and is a lifelong Pompey supporter. He’s seen good days and miserable days for his club. Before the Fratton Park game, with Pompey going strong, he thought the League One championship would be decided when our teams meet near the end of the season. As he prepares a trip home for the final, that judgement may have changed but it’s still a good read …

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From the archives: Birmingham City memories and Sixer doffs his hat to Roy Hodgson

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John McCormick writes: Malcolm said over the weekend that “with no game between now and the Checkatrade Trophy final, the Salut! Sunderland team will no doubt be racking their collective brains trying to think up articles that will keep the readership ticking over.”

Of course we will, and ideas are already being drafted out. Even so, with a whole fortnight between SAFC games there’s still time for a look back in time, so here’s a piece Pete Sixsmith wrote which first saw the light of day exactly 9 years ago. I’ve included it because it’s interesting to see how much – and how little – has changed in less than a decade.

Here’s how M Salut introduced the piece, which had the title

Soapbox: Birmingham memories, fighting Sunderland lasses and plaudits for Fulham

  • Such nights don’t come along too often. We’d won promotion and clinched the title, the team were out celebrating with their wives (two of whom got on spectacularly badly as the night wore on). Pete Sixsmith looks back, taking his hat off to Roy Hodgson along the way

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View from the Avenue: how Sunderland benefit from the Checkatrade distraction

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So close

A few days when size mattered, writes Monsieur Salut: first we had Salut! Sunderland passing a grand total of 4m visits since launch. John McCormick, our associate editor, got so close to capturing the moment (see above) that he wins the promised special-ish prize, Art of Football’s Jermain Defoe five-in-a-row print. Then we had more than 34,000 people at the SoL for a League One fixture from which Sunderland took maximum points. Meanwhile England conceded 31 second-half points after leading 31-7 against Scotland in rugby and could only draw and – no offence intended – another ‘only draw’ was the start of UKIP’s little Leave means Grieve Leave march from Sunderland to London, which could only draw 300 hardy souls.

Amid all this number-crunching, Paul Summerside contributes his first piece for a while. It’s short and sweet but lends an opportunity to reproduce John Mac’s 4,000,005 photo …

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Sixer’s Sub’s Soapbox: Walsall can’t hold on as Sunderland close the gap

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This is one Jake made later (his original, sent when he had to pop out, had the scoreline at 1-1 which he said, I hope you won’t have to use’)

Pete Sixsmith reported windy weather before trotting off to the SOL yesterday and Walsall duly put the wind up Sunderland, who produced yet another shaky start. It turned out well enough in the end, with four of the top six drawing and the seventh-placed club losing, to once more put us in control of our own destiny.

With no game between now and the Checkatrade Trophy final, the Salut! Sunderland team will no doubt be racking their collective brains trying to think up articles that will keep the readership ticking over. By contrast the past few weeks have been pretty hectic and in order to give Pete a bit of a break and allow him some time off to enjoy his other interests, Deputy Editor Malcolm Dawson once more borrows the soapbox to report on yesterday’s game against our visitors from the West Midlands.

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Sixer’s Sevens: Grigg strike eases patchy Sunderland past Walsall for three mighty points

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Back home, after a long time on the road, with a depleted squad and a serious need to keep in touch with the top two, which suddenly looked doable once again, especially after Gillingham twice equalised against Luton, Pete Sixsmith wearily texted the early Walsall goal to absent friends. Then Cattermole smashed in an equaliser off a defender and our illustrator Jake decided head to go out so sent a banner with 1-1 as the final score. Benno was full of praise for Luke O’Nien, getting stuck in all over the pitch. But it was the introduction of Wyke that turned the game as he did himself and Will Grigg a great deal of good, his assist setting up Grigg for a fine finish and winner.

Pete will send his full report in due course. For now, here’s his instant post-whistle text, and Jake emailed to say he’ll send a suitable graphic later, just to make a good day that little bit better

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Walsall Who are You?: ‘genuinely shocked Sunderland are not running away with League One’

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Monsieur Salut writes: we heard a little from Darren Fellows* after the first of our earlier games against his club, Walsall.

This time, his answers arrived as both of us nervously awaited Tuesday night’s fixtures. We managed a draw at Barnsley, a result that was good in isolation but left us still chasing the top two, while Walsall did us no favours, beaten at home by Pompey. Over to Darren, who thinks we should be doing  so much better this season than to risk having to accept a playoff place.

It’s another interesting set of answers, though Will Grigg’s friends may want to keep it from his eyes …

 

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Can four million be wrong? Salut! Sunderland scales the heights

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Three words that sum up our mission

Stop Press: we passed 4,000,000 some time between 1pm and 2pm. Did anyone grab a pic of the figure? Tell us if so and you qualify for a prize

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We have said something like it before and it remains the case now save that the figure has grown higher. Four million hits to a website does not mean that much if you compare it with what the big news, entertainment and pop culture sites attract. But Salut! Sunderland is rather proud to be on the brink of passing that figure. As I start to write, it stands at 3,998,551 so the 4m point will be reached within a day or less.

We took our first breath of air back in January 2007. That was when I, Monsieur Salut, newly redundant but still prevented by contractual nonsense from working for anyone else for another month or so, decided to expand my tinpot Salut! empire to embrace a lifelong passion for Sunderland AFC.

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Sixer’s Barnsley Soapbox: a good opportunity lost?

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John McCormick writes: Games like this have to be taken in context. Lose and we can forget about automatic promotion. Win and we’re back in control of our own destiny. But draw? It means we’re still reliant on other teams dropping points (while Luton widen the gap) but it doesn’t mean we’re out of the race.
So what did Pete Sixsmith think of it after a little reflection?  (And by the way, it’s he, not me, who is adding the editorials)

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