Image: Peadar O’SullivanI may have mentioned already that Salut! Sunderland has a habit of going on tour. It is a tour that takes us to the new site ByFarTheGreatestTeam, where some of our writers have already been showcased, while Stephen Goldsmith pops up in all sorts of places (most recently the Anfield Wrap) and Monsieur Salut sheds his alter ego to write under his real name for ESPN.
Hillsborough and a Sunderland view from Liverpool: no ‘sense of jubilation’
John McCormick, the third Sunderland supporter to collect his thoughts and write on these pages about the agonisingly late recognition of Hillsborough truths, has a special reason to care enough to say what he thinks. Liverpool his adopted city, his children’s birthplace and the place from which friends and colleagues set off that day in 1989 to watch a game of football in Sheffield …
Sunderland v Liverpool: history gives SAFC the edge but guess the score
NB Posting of Sixer’s Sevens and Martin’s Musings may be delayed this weekend … come here with reflections on the match
It is time for another test of your predictive powers.
Hillsborough: truths that were always known, a victory that remains bitter-sweet
Image: Ben SutherlandIn his moving words here yesterday on the long-delayed vindication of Liverpool supporters caught in the horror of Hillsborough 1989, Jeremy Robson mentioned being at one non-Sunderland game that afternoon as news of the disaster spread and thinking instantly of a close friend who was another, the Liverpool-Notts Forest FA Cup semi-final. That friend was Mick Goulding and this, reproduced with his consent from the Blackcats email list, is how Mick recalls an avoidable tragedy and the systematic distortion of the reasons it occurred …
The Robson Report: Hillsborough guilt and shame and glimmers of human compassion
The Hillsborough report has shocked all who have an ounce of compassion and care about decency in public life. Some messengers – notably The Sun – also bear culpability and Kelvin MacKenzie’s ‘profuse apologies’ now do not wash. But always remember it was the public services, or champions of those working within them, that created the message and ensured it was disseminated, focusing blame for 96 deaths – nearly half of them, perhaps, avoidable in any case – on entirely the wrong people. Jeremy Robson has his say; it is a painful but necessary read …
Salut Reflections: football rocked as Cuellar says O’Shea partnership ‘could do well’
Today’s reflection is on those occasions when a “news story” is presented in terms that are really the direct opposite of news. Monsieur Salut draws on hundreds of years of experience to discuss a classic example.
SAFC v Liverpool ‘Who are You?’: on Suarez and Kenny, Jordan and Adam
Whether the past 10 days represent, for you, the tedium of an international break or thrills on the road to Rio 2014, the return to Premier football is welcome enough to justify bringing forward this weeek’s ‘Who are You?’. Sunderland play Liverpool on Saturday evening and we asked David Wooding*, a Reds-supporting journalist and broadcaster who runs political coverage at the News of the World’s successor, The Sun on Sunday, to talk about his club. Whatever we feel about The Sun’s role after the Hillsborough disaster, David had no involvement with the paper then** and this item from his own website indicates that he shares the broad view of supporters everywhere, using the term ‘slur’ to describe the disgraceful suggestion that drunken Liverpool fans arriving late for the FA Cup semi-final were to blame (from today’s damning independent report: ‘The evidence shows conclusively that Liverpool fans neither caused nor contributed to the deaths of 96 men, women and children’ …
An open letter to James McClean – plus the winners of tickets for Liverpool
As the international break meanders on, three things are on Sunderland supporters’ minds: the hope that Adam Johnson’s injury has no effect in his availability, the even stronger hope that we get our first Premier win of the season at home to Liverpool on Saturday and the James McClean tweet saga (of which more, indirectly, later) …
Salut! reflects: has James McClean burned his bridges with Republic of Ireland?
McClean Twitter rant sure to throw Republic of Ireland future into doubt
James McClean should maybe think about handing his phone and laptop to his big pal David Meyler when he has something to say. Meyler providing a vetting service may be in the best interests of McClean’s career after yet another ill advised outburst on Twitter last night. Following on from what some described an offensive joke last month, McClean has now used the social networking site to share his continuing discontent with his autonomy in the Ireland set up.
Salut! Sunderland’s week: unsung stars, Steed’s acclaimed return and our ESPN exploits
Salut! Sunderland readers have been served another feast of comment, analysis and trivia in the past week.