The first time I looked, Sunderland were winning 4-1 against Hull City in Portugal and Campbell, Fraizer not Sol, had scored all four of our goals in the first 34 minutes. The next time I looked it was 4-2 and not far from the final whistle. And my third glance showed that to be the final score.
A challenge to the boo boys who sully SAFC’s name
Image; So the season’s a third over, we’ve struggled at home and failed to win away. Steve Bruce’s new signings have proved deeply disappointing and the quality of play is generally abysmal.
Then, you might argue, would be the time for the boo boys to vent their anger at the manager and his team. If they thought it would do the least bit of good.
Titus Bramble: canny signing, or a mark of lowered ambition?
No one likes to be honoured by a clip like this. A year from now, we all hope to be looking back on the season’s glories from Titus Bramble, if join us he does, and not a new bunch of calamities. Scroll down for a much-respected Wigan fan’s warm commendation. And Titus: the clip is meant in fun …
What we wanted was John Mensah back. What it looks as if we are going to get is Titus Bramble, for a reported £750,000-£1m from Wigan (have we simply given up on Mensah? Tragic if so).
Another team I like: (3) the Two Blues of Bishop Auckland
Long before Bill Taylor set up home in the other Toronto, the one that that isn’t quite capital of Canada, he lived near Toronto, Co Durham. In Bishop Auckland, to be precise, home of great conker trees in the Bishop’s park and – during his boyhood – the all-conquering Two Blues at Kingsway. Bishop Auckland amateur football club won trophies galore, looked down on those of us in places like Shildon and Ferryhill and, in the eccentric but outstanding goalkeeper Harry Sharratt, had a clown prince of their own to rival Len Shackleton. Bill looks back on a magical era …
Clichés tend to become clichés because they’re true. So I make no apologies for repeating one now – the opening line from L P Hartley’s fair-to-middling 1953 novel, The Go-Between:
“The past is another country; they do things differently there.”
My past is in another country – England, where I grew up during the 1950s watching what was probably the finest amateur football team of all time.
Bishop Auckland.
Another team I like: (2) the Tour de France (teams)
Image: When I lived in Paris, part of the finale of the Tour de France took place in the street five floors beneath my front window. It left me cold. All it meant was that it was a lot harder to get around. Pete Sixsmith begs to differ, and just loves those scrawny, “Steroids .. me?” beanpoles and their pelotons. Not strictly speaking “another team”, but it seems to fit the spirit of the series ….
The team have taken off for Portugal without me. Had they gone a week later, I would have been sitting in the sun in the Algarve, sipping a glass of Sagres and deciding which members of the crustacean family I would be devouring.
Another team I like: (1) Peterborough United
Probably everyone has another team they’re fond of. Most regulars to these pages live, breathe, love Sunderland AFC. Some of us would not dream of having a “second club”. But there are equally loyal fans do who have such a thing in their lives, and indeed third or fourth clubs, too, and many of the rest of us have – or once had – soft spots for another team. This is the first in an occasional series to which Salut! Sunderland readers are warmly invited to contribute. Just drop me a line at the e-mail address you see towards the top of the left-hand column …
It was little more than the romance of a team from nowhere pushing and pushing at a highly obstructive Football League until the tycoons, aldermen and chancers who decided such matters had no real choice. But I fell briefly in love with Posh, not David Beckham’s wife but the Peterborough United of long ago.
Soapbox: Darlington 0 SAFC 1 – the season starts here
A short trip to Darlington, a modest win to maintain our pre-season run (that’s two wins in a row, rare enough for Sunderland in recent times) andPete Sixsmith is purring contentedly into his ale …
Another visit to the Darlington Arena (aka as Reynolds Folly) and another win, although by no means as comfortable as last years.
After a morning spent having my feet analysed in Sacriston, the afternoon in Darlo was a pleasant way to spend time in the run up to the end of term next week. Despite the Proprietor’s insistence that I would arrive on the No 1 bus, I drove over and parked just outside of the exclusion zone around Neasham Road, forgoing the chance to visit the Old People’s Home Summer Fayre as I walked to the ground. Time enough for those when I am in one!!
A Celtic nightmare – or dream move for Daryl?
When word first came through that Daryl Murphy might be on his way to Celtic, the relief of Sunderland supporters was matched only by the indignation of Celtic fans who berated Salut! Sunderland for daring to suggest the change of landscape could do wonders for the lad’s career.
Still no apologies from here, of course. The piece – found by clicking here, and also including a great clip of The Fields of Athenry, by the band Dance to Tipperary at Celtic Park – and our subsequent comments made our position abundantly clear.
Soapbox: season to start minus Craig Gordon
Pete Sixsmith is in pre-season training, too, after marking enough exam papers to pay for trips to Darlington (eight miles on the No 1 bus) and Hoffenheim (change at Darlo) …
After the “delights” of Spain v The Netherlands, we are back to normal – ie thinking and writing about the football that really MEANS something for us.
As the first domestic friendly looms into view at Darlington we can begin to anticipate the opening game of our fourth successive season as a Premier League club, against the might of Birmingham City.
John Mensah: will the real Steve Bruce please stand up?
In all the current transfer talk, one subject occupiesColin Randall ‘s attention more than most: the future of a player who excelled in South Africa, just as he did – when fit – for Sunderland last season. The signals from the Stadium of Light are mixed …
Steve Bruce was in understandably dismissive mood when presented with a list of the players he is allegedly trying to sign.