Fraternal welcome to Newcastle on rejoining the big boys’ league

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soapbox

It made only a paragraph in today’s edition of the Var Matin newspaper, and the text was limited to a mention of Nottingham Forest’s draw sending Newcastle United back up. In the North East, Pete Sixsmith could hardly escape the fuss, but this evening finds him in deeply conciliatory spirits …

When I opened this morning’s Guardian Sport and saw the headline “We can take on the might of Europe”, I thought: “Here we go again. They’ve only been promoted for 10 hours and they’ve bloody well started.”

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Premier League duds – or a dud list?

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kieran

Here’s a team line-up with a difference: one man’s view of the worst players in the Premier League. One Sunderland regular, and one old boy, get nominations. The compiler gets an earful …

When a journalist runs out of things to say, he can always come up with a list. After all, Nick Hornby did it, over and again in High Fidelity, and made a fortune. So why not?

Justin Mottershead is a mature student in his final year of a journalism degree at City University London. He says he’s from Manchester and “obviously” loves United – the “obviously” is a little baffling to those of us who find the correlation not at all obvious – and his list is of the players he’d select for the Premier team from hell.

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Soapbox: shooting down Spurs (if not quite 6-1)

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soapbox


Pete Sixsmith was pulled up here by a Spurs fan (Telboy) for suggesting in his Observer match verdict that it could have ended Sunderland 6 Tottenham 1. What Telboy couldn’t have realised was the Pete also said it might have been 3-3 (that less sexy bit being cut out). We shouldn’t be greedy, but there’s no denying 6-1 was strictly speaking feasible (two missed pens, one disallowed goal) and would have been very nice indeed …

It crossed my mind to use “Broken nose Bruce slaughters Flannel faced ‘Arry” as my seven-word summary, but I felt this might upset the sensitivities of any passing Spurs fans, so decided on the more prosaic words you can find elsewhere on this site .

It was a wonderfully exciting game of football and if Ellis Short and Niall Quinn wanted to present any wavering renewers with a good reason for parting with a wad of money for next season, then this game provided perfect ammunition.

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Beating Spurs: no need for sober reflection

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There’s plenty to say about the three penalties, about the two of them that Darren Bent missed, about Sunderland’s impassioned display, about Anton’s disallowed goal, about Bolo Zenden’s cracking volley.

But a lot of that has already been discussed here in the previous posts. And Pete Sixsmith has hardly had his say yet.

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Sunderland 3 Tottenham 1. Three sublime points

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dbent

A much-needed, well-won, heartstopping victory. Sunderland are just about safe now, barring a crazy run-in, and can even aspire to mid-table respectability. Here is an updated, edited version of our earlier attempts to offer running commentary (itself a rarity at Salut! Sunderland) …

This was a pulsating match and, in the end, an inspiring win. Darren Bent grabbed two goals before 30 minutes had passed, had a fabulous chance to score a hat trick before the interval and another chance afterwards, but twice had penalties well saved by Gomes.

After Peter Crouch made life uncomfortable by pulling Spurs one back, Zenden eased the nerves… and three more points were in the bag.

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Nasty smells on the web

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The day began just hoping for three points against Spurs, a tall order but not beyond us. This rant came on as I found yet again that there was a mini-epidemic of spamming and phishing to deal with …

Since we exposed the odious activites of someone or something calling him/itself Andrew A Sailer, the name has been refreshingly absent from the comments left at Salut! Sunderland and other Salut! sites.

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Salut! History (3): massacred by Middlesbrough, but Mick’s no quitter

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keane mccarthy

In the first two extracts from his book, Sing When You’re Winning, Colin Irwin trod the familiar path of Sunderland’s history: early glory, post-war turbulence and 1973 fairytale (with as much literary licence as the Brothers Grimm). He left us with the anxiety of relegation-haunted fans as kickoff neared in SAFC v Boro in Jan 2006 …

Not that the nail biting lasts for long. Sunderland forget that Emanuel Pogatetz, the big lad strolling into their penalty area when Middlesbrough are awarded a free kick just outside the box, isn’t there to discuss the latest bargains at B&Q and may have evil intent.

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Who are you? We’re Tottenham (2) – and don’t need Bent back

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sappers

Salut! Sunderland has experienced some technical problems today, and this is a repeat of a post that appeared earlier. Our thanks to the many Spurs fans who came here for Part One of this week’s Who Are You? feature. Now for part two, in which we briefly discuss Tottenham greats: Jimmy Greaves, John White, Danny Blanchflower … Jurgen Klinsmann … Chris Waddle, Glenn Hoddle, Gary Lineker … and Thomas Andrew Huddlestone. We won’t suggest that inclusion of the last name might raise eyebrows away from White Hart Lane because he’d only go and break out hearts at the Stadium of Light on Saturday if we did. David Sapsted*, pictured at a Fleet Street “function”, and Bernie Kingsley**, who chairs the Tottenham Supporters’ Trust, don’t agree on everything but can be found purring in harmony on how good Tom Huddlestone is. They also talk about the White Lane Lane “reserves” now earning a crust on Wearside – and the view is dismissive in Bernie’s case – and offer differing verdicts on Steve Bruce (he’s either a “good manager” or a “bottom half manager”) …

Salut! Sunderland: What do you make of the Spurs old boys who are now at the Stadium of Light: Reid, Malbranque, Hutton and, of course, Bent?

Bernie: You’ve forgotten Fraizer Campbell and Marton Fulop. You are welcome to most of them. Malbranque was probably the one we were most disappointed to lose, but with more moves rumoured you are in danger of replacing Portsmouth as our reserve team in the EPL.


David: I never thought Bent got a fair crack of whip when he was with us. Like any striker, he needed a decent run in the side to prove his worth and he never got it. Since his move, he’s more than proved his point. You could say much the same this season about Pavlyuchenko, whom I have always rated and who, at long last, is getting the chance to show his mettle. I’m a fan of Hutton’s, too. I love the way he bombs forward, though I’ve always harboured doubts about his defensive capabilities. As for Steed….I’d have him on the pitch for any game, though probably not for more than 60 minutes these days.

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