The other day, I came across my old Len Shackleton t-shirt in a pile of worn-less-often SAFC related togs. It may have been sandwiched between my Lionel Perez t-shirt and a couple of old tops commemorating promotions that led to relegations.

Most people probably remember the Shack one from the excellent people at Philosophy Football: blank page from his book, Clown Prince of Football, on the front, Shackleton and No 10 on the back.

The slogan on the front, of course, loyally follows the title of the chapter which constituted that blank page: “The Average Director’s Knowledge of Football.”

But coming across it again reminded me of a story about the day he died that I never tire of telling other Sunderland fans – indeed fans of other clubs, too.

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It is just as well that Paul Wilson may have set the true standard, in terms of how much notice we need to take, for predictions appearing in the Guardian‘s online football pages about the prospects for Sunderland AFC under Roy Keane.

But this is a tale of three Pauls, not one, and one Mark. It starts with a Paul of our own, Paul Saleh, a Shields-born fan* who has been among fans posting pertinent pre-season comments to the ever-lively Blackcats forum,

He reported on a sarky piece (Guardian online – read on for more) about Keano’s activity in the transfer market, and admitted that this reflected his own feelings. “I like to err on the side of pessimism,” he said, “so that when good stuff happens, I enjoy it even more.”

This is where another fan, Mark (Sugden), came in, suggesting that “if anyone else had made the signings we’ve made, you’d think they’d gone bonkers”.

“Throw in a potential £9m for Craig Gordon and that’s 19 million for three players none of whom have proved it at the top level yet. Throw in a guy from Reading who couldn’t make their first team and an Aberdeen defender that at 28 has never made it to the Old Firm or played outwith Scotland. Then you’ve got a Norwich midfielder who nobody’s heard of.”

Being supporters, Pauls hopes for the “good stuff” to defeat his pessimism while Mark searches for a brighter assessment of the buys:

“…..maybe he (RK) sees potential in them all. Halford never got a chance at Reading, Anderson has been brilliant away from the glare of the Old Firm spotlight while Richardson just needs a run of games to prove his potential. As for Chopra, he’s a natural goalscorer who will be desperate to prove himself after leaving the Mags. Still haven’t heard of the Norwich bloke but he will turn into a revelation. Suppose we just have to trust the manager.”

But journalists like the Observer‘s Paul Wilson and our third Paul, the Guardian‘s chief sports writer Paul Doyle, do not need to search for silver linings.

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Bound for Europe
The Salut! Sunderland service does not run to instant reports on pre-season friendlies. Or at least it didn’t.

Summer breaks – and yes, for those who got drenched in and around Darlington last night, it is officially still summer – were never going to get in the way of Pete Sixsmith. Big Pete, pictured left on a city inspection in case Paris is chosen again (and in time for us) for a Champions League final, had a spot of pre-Premiership match practice of his own to put in.

The two succinct messages, both enhancing my enjoyment of the rather balmier climes of the south of France, read: “1-0 half time. Wallace” and then “2-0. Stokes”. His fuller thoughts, fresh in, appear on the continuation page – well worth a read.

From here, I will just say this. These games are interesting rather than instructive. When we win, and 2-0 away, even at Darlo, is a respectable enough start (our 5,500 travelling-not-that-far support was also respectable), you hope it’s a foretaste of what’s to come.

And when you lose, you look for that reassuring managerspeak line about these games being “all about fitness not the result”.

There is more about the detail of the game here, and also here. Read on to see what Pete, who would turn out to watch the Lads if they were playing table football in a Redcar amusement arcade, made of it.

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One part of me wants to write about Roy Keane’s Premiership squad finally taking shape.

The signing of Kieran Richardson was a great coup, and adds usefully to the build-up of pre-season excitement. And I am relieved tha despite speculation about David Bellion, he ended up going to Bordeaux (from Nice).

But Keano has more work to do in the transfer market, so I am happy to let matters rest while he completes his strengthening of the promoted side, a process we all hope will include the arrival of players of proven top-flight quality.

But it occurred to me when reading Pete Sixsmith’s comment on Terry McLoughlin’s recent guest column that the histories of ordinary fans are often as interesting as those of the occasional Celebrity Supporters.

Let me promote Pete’s reminiscences, and those of both Terry and the earlier guest columnist, Mark Hanson, for readers who missed them first time round (I realise footnotes and comments are not always as avidly read as they might be):

PETE FIRST

My first experience of Roker Park was in 1961. I had only been living in the North East for 18 months or so and came from a Rugby League background in Leeds. Football had never appeared on my radar as a youngster. One of my uncle’s took me to Elland Road to see Leeds and John Charles but I was bored and just wanted to go back to Headingley to watch my first idol Lewis Jones. My fathers job brought him to the North East and he took me to Roker Park with a Middlesbrough supporting friend of his for a local derby against the Boro. I think I was more interested in Sunderland than any of the other local clubs, probably because I had just got to know Colin. But whatever the reason I was hooked when I walked through the entrance into the Roker End and saw 40,000+ faces and huge stands.

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Salut! and its offshots, Salut Live! and Salut! Sunderland, have no special rule book about the separation of editorial and advertising.

These site take a lot of time to maintain, and have no obvious source of proper income. They are, on the other hand very rewarding in other ways and I love the exchanges, many of them sharp or funny or illuminating, that my postings sometimes inspire.

A lot of you have said you like at least some of what you find here. Some, as I have admitted before, will arrive by chance, recoil in horror or yawn and scarper as fast as their cyber legs will carry them.

But if you are in the first category, please do not be offended if I occasionally draw your attention to small ways in which, absolutely according to your own choice, you can help me keep the sites going and keep looking as enthusiastically as now for interesting material to share.

The book and music links are obvious examples. If you come here, and then find out about something you might like to read or hear, please use the links down the right hand column to make such purchases from Amazon.

If you like a flutter, and are at Salut! Sunderland, look up the Boylesports link (the Irish bookmakers are, for unsuspecting folkies and francophiles, the new sponsors of Sunderland AFC.

And if it’s a visit to Cornwall that appeals, visit the site of my old friend and former colleague Mike Fleet, whose B&B near Lostwithiel makes an appearance from today. I have not been there and will offer no personal recommendation save to say that Mike’s a grand lad, despite being a Plymouth supporter, and is rather proud of his fry-ups.

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I’ve had my say, Kirsten or Kristin likewise and Mark Hanson has delivered a stiff rebuke to the moaners. Now it’s the turn of Terry McLoughlin*. He offers a fascinating mix of loyal faith in Roy Keane and realism about the state of the game and transfer market. And he follows that – on the continuation page – with a brilliant summing up of last season………

And when last season ended and promotion was deservedly ours?

That ending was, for me, a spectacular high. Then the euphoria faded quickly to be replaced by an ‘Oh bugger! What do we do now?’ feeling.

We’ve all seen it over the years. The boom-and-bust scenario repeating itself. The momentum of the ’98-00 seasons lost. Good money spent badly or too late.

Where, looking back to May 6 and the championship icing on our promotion cake, from here?

Firstly, I make no apologies for stating I have absolute faith in Roy Keane. I know he is a winner and I know he is a focused and single-minded individual who has got to the very top of his game.

He doesn’t take prisoners yet can work with his perceived enemies if the cause is right. I’m glad he is at Sunderland and I look forward to the day that Man Utd approach us to take him away. We’ll be in a cracking league position by then.

Secondly, the increased revenue from the TV companies has given clubs the ability to throw silly amounts of money at relatively ordinary players. We’ve seen it with Bent at £16.5m and Nugent at £6-7m. There were no queues forming to sign these players yet they went for silly money in a one-horse race.

Prices are being jacked up, the cushion being that, on relegation, the parachute payment is now large enough that a club can keep it’s team in tact, weed out the weakest, improve, and bounce back. This will turn the Premier League into a 23-team league that won’t be broken without a massive investment into an established Coca Cola team.

Armed with this I decided not to get over-excited during the transfer window and was already following Roy’s belated advice and “chill out”. Anyone who can say “the less time Nyron has on the ball, the better for all” while turning him into a cult hero gets my vote. I’m sure he sees what our knowledgeable supporters see from the terraces. He knows where we need the new players.

Who to buy?

The whole pre-season transfer system works as a cascade. The very top clubs, the Chelseas, Man Utds, Arsenals & Liverpools bring in the top Europeans or South Americans (almost said Brazilians but that sounds like a haircut). There is usually no secret about their targets well in advance. These players are the best and are always available if the money is right. Before our season ends, these players are already earmarked. Their agents keep them in the media and drive their prices upwards.

Once these known targets are signed, the clubs can then decide who they can afford to release. Those teams who aspire to the Champions League have their pick of them. They are usually the well-established, upper mid-table, teams who can offer the best contracts. They can then release lesser players who are signed by teams hopeful of a UEFA place. These can then release players to relegation candidates to, hopefully, improve their squad.

This triggers the release of players to relegation fodder, who give them huge wages and stupid let-out clauses in desperation, just for allowing them to play for them while they are relegated. Then they’re stuck with them. Premier League failures or players on a last big pay day dragging your club down.

You have to short-circuit the system. You either buy direct from Europe or South America, trust your management and scouting team, or fight in the volatile August window.

Our signings so far?

Pleased with Greg Halford, he looked the part for Colchester against us.

Russell Anderson? Age and experience sounds about right. Let’s wait and see.

Michael Chopra? Don’t care about his background. Enough has been said about ex-Mags. On the pitch over the years they haven’t let us down.

As an aside on the Chopra transfer. There’s been a bit of press recently about Sunderland and the NE in general being in the middle of nowhere. Players needing to be persuaded to come up here for a look around, yet alone moving their families up.

Keane said himself that he needed persuading and he now feels he can “sell” the area. London players like London and the furthest north they’ll move is Manchester (United). Any further north needs lots and lots of money (see Newcastle United).

Chopra signed quickly. No need to sell the area, he knew it. He also knows what he’s walking into. A goal on his debut and he’s a hero. A goal on November 10th and he’s a legend. He won’t miss that game through injury because he’ll be labelled a ‘bottler’. Only an amputation or a death certificate will keep him out. He’ll be there.

Keiran Richardson? Supposedly signing soon. At a price rising to £5.5m he’s expensive but as I said earlier, they all are. I know he’s Man Utd and is about 6th choice in their midfield. I also know that if he didn’t have a left foot he wouldn’t be anywhere near the England squad. He’s the right sort of signing for us though.

Chopra at £5m may not get the juices flowing but the signing of a proven front man in the next couple of weeks would change things. Quinn and Phillips all over again. The prices have gone up, along with the stakes.

I expect we’ll see a keeper, a left back a centre back and a tall striker soon. I know Keane likes Murphy but whether he sees him as a front man I don’t know. The lad reminds me of James Beattie. Where to play him?

Darren Ward strikes me as a very competent keeper whose “all round” game is very good. He certainly stabilised us last season. Craig Gordon at a reported £8m will give us what exactly?

I won’t be surprised to see Jonny Evans back. It’s not wishful thinking.

Squad numbers 3, 4, 5 & 6 are still available. I’m sure Roy will fill them wisely.

Meanwhile, we supporters will speculate, cogitate and ruminate about rumoured pending signings, then say: “Where the f**k did that one come from?”

Hold the line.

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Dad – John Penman – cannot make up his mind whether it’s Kristin or Kirsten. The baby herself, at last in red and white (there’s another pic on the continuation page), knows her own mind perfectly well.

She is, we are told, “delighted though with her debut on Salut! Sunderland” and the international celebrity it brings her (700+ visitors to this site so far today alone).

And she is “happy with the Chopra signing but feels that we need 3-4 experienced Premiership players to give the team a solid backbone.

“Kieran Richardson would be a welcome addition but she nearly choked on her milk when she read the story in one of the papers up here this morning about Bobo Balde from Celtic being a target.

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After yesterday’s burst of nostalgia, let’s look forward to the new season.

Here’s a reminder of the new away top which some – most – of you will already have seen. Thanks to Boylesports, the club’s new sponsors, for the image, which gives me an excuse to draw your attention to the link to their own site and opportunities for the odd flutter.

As for John Penman, Sunderland fan and Salut! Sunderland reader/contributor, I can only think that he believes Boylesports may be thinking of adding baby clothes to our array of strips. After promising to provide pictures on his newborn, one Kristin, clad in SAFC togs, this is the result:

But at least she’s a new Mackem, albeit one born in Scotland…..we have yet to ascertain her views on the purchases of Michael Chopra and, imminently, of Kieran Richardson.

Another picture of Kristin, and another from the launch of the away shirt, appear overleaf (in the electronic sense)….

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34-and-a-bit indeed, and even then only if you were an exceptionally precocious sprog.

But let’s put the Michael Chopra saga to one side, just for now.

If he comes – and so many sources report that he is coming, for £5m, that only a medical problem or disagreement over wages seems likely to stand in the way – I will rise above tribal issues and support Roy Keane’s judgment. Simple as that.

Lee Clark left under a cloud but did a totally professional job for Peter Reid, and therefore us, until promotion set up a conflict of loyalty in which there could be only one winner. Let’s see how Chopra, if he signs, performs – while realising, as he will, how the fans would respond if he proved to be out of of his depth. Rather, I think, as they will now respond to a certain away defender when Fulham come to the SoL, and a certain attacker at SAFC vs Portsmouth.

And just for a bit of fun, look at my pictures here and on the continuation page – click on image to enlarge – or, for one of them, open this picture and tell me what they depict.

It’s not hard, given the clue in my headline, but if anyone comes up with especially strong detail or a particularly impressive reply – with the obvious exception of the fan who supplied the photographs – I will award a small prize. My decision final blah, blah……

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