Well, United need 9-0 or better; assuming QPR hold Citeh to 1-0. Other permutations – all to do with United getting more points than Citeh – would also keep the Premier League title at Old Trafford.
Wouldn’t it be great to think of second top, with the trophy cabinet already overflowing, as gross underachievement? That’s the lot of the Manchester United fan going into the final game and with only the most slender chance of finishing top. John Lichfield, a veteran United supporter and giant of proper journalism, takes the philosophical view. He’d probably agree with Salut! Sunderland that more important than the result is that Old Time SAFC, the Sunderland supporter who fears terminal illness will make it his last game, is made to feel special …
The rumour mill is grinding away again, with infuriating new reports – to which I fear I can add – about the future of Stéphane Sessegnon …
Those are some of the clubs whose supporters are picking up points as a team of judges deliberates on the best sets of answers given by opposing fans in our regular ‘Who are You?’ feature. But nothing is yet decided; others within reach of glory in the annual awards include supporters of Liverpool and Newcastle United. Oh, and our own Pete Sixsmith is on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport programme (6pm-7.30pm tonight, May 9) …
Not really an end-of-term review, though it starts that way, so the morning after more playoff games seems as good a time as any to throw open the Salut! Sunderland floor once again to Ken Gambles. It also gives readers another chance to stand up for, or slag off, West Ham: my wager is they’ll do better than Reading or Southampton if they go up …
He probably wouldn’t expect it. But a special chant of that headline at the final game, versus Manchester United on Sunday, would be a grand gesture, especially if followed by prolonged applause. Just a thought …
When the number of views at a Ready to Go thread sweeps past 25,000, you know it is probably something out of the ordinary. In fact, two days on, I can say – having updated that figure several times – that it is now way past 60,000.
No doubt James McClean will excuse Salut! Sunderland for its earlier spot of fun at his and the rest of the Lads’ expense, suggesting the double-winning Sunderland Women’s Football Club squad might be sent on to face Man United on Sunday …
Nic Wiseman, a Sunderland supporter and co-editor of the fanzine It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand (when it was published, long ago), exiled in the deep south, looks back on a mixed sporting day by or near the Thames …
Salut! Sunderland’s collective votes in the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association poll have been counted and duly cast: Stéphane Sessegnon emerged from your votes as our player of the season, with overwhelming support, while Jack Colback won a close contest with James McClean as Young Player of the Season.
As if the sight of 171 Hartlepool supporters dressed as Smurfs, riding the escalators of the Underground hadn’t provoked enough open mouthed stares from the tourists and a polite aversion of the eyes from the residents of our capital city on Saturday, Pete Sixsmith and a few thousand Mackems descended on the cauldron of excitement that is Craven Cottage, the next day. Whilst a game with so little at stake provided moments of interest was something to be grateful for, it also gave MON and Sixer the chance to further assess the strengths and weaknesses of a squad that is surely in need of an overhaul during the close season.