John McCormick writes……the team that finished the season was vastly different from that which started it. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that the manager who finished the season was not only different from the one who started it but also different from the one that started the previous game. And it would appear that these changes worked, although Pete Sixsmith, in his final report of the season, adds a note of caution as he doesn’t think Wolves were playing at their best…
Finally, we come to the end of a dismal season. One that has dashed hopes and destroyed dreams.
But, with last week’s news of a sale, perhaps it’s also one that contains the seeds of a rebirth, especially after Robbie Stockdale rang the changes and youth delivered against worthy champions.
For a change, Pete Sixsmith’s match report will be welcome reading; for now his seven word post-match text gives us a hint of what next season might bring:
A Sunday kick off has left us with a little pause before the final game of the season, so I thought I’d go back five years, when Salut looked back a further 40. There is a whole series of posts about that cup final, which you can access via this link.
Now we have this, the final instalment of a Pete Sixsmith series that has, as I said a week ago about the sister (away) series, brightened a dismal season.
Even though I say it myself, as a proud contributor, this is some site.
Jake: ‘thanks to all who participate’. Click this image to see all of this seaon’s interviews
No one gets to clasp a gold-plated bronze statuette. But at the end of each season, Salut! Sunderland says thank you to the supporters of all opposing clubs by making its own modest version of Oscar awards for best interviews in the Who are You? series.
We call them the HAWAYs – Highly Articulate Who are You?s – and the process has developed into a strong Salut! Sunderland tradition.
Up again: Andy James with son Jacob on the pitch celebrating promotion in 2009. Click the image to view the entire Who are You? archive for 2017-2018
Monsieur Salut writes: here endeth the 2017-2018 series of Who are You?, our detailed interviews with warm, witty and/or wise supporters of Sunderland opponent. Andy James can not make it the Stadium of Light on Sunday but will be with the festive travelling support in spirit. Thanks for the answers, Andy, and now enjoy your reacquaintance with the Premier League, a revival in Molineux fortunes he rather charitably predicts will be repeated sooner or later by Sunderland. So top versus bottom – how many of us actually believed that is how the season would end up? …
Happier times: Malcolm Dawson – slimmer these days – with SuperKev
Malcolm Dawson, deputy editor, writes: last week I composed my contribution to Salut! Sunderland‘s end of season review series – see all items so far at this link – in response to Monsieur Salut’s urgings and thought back to my feelings at the end of term when Big Sam had engineered yet another Great Escape.
In 2016 I referenced Ian Dury’s hit Reasons to Be Cheerful Part 3 to follow on from the previous year when I had used the title of the Zoe record Sunshine on a Rainy Day which in turn had followed that of Irving Berlin’s Blue Skies. I chose those songs because my articles all spoke with unjustifiable optimism, despite my constant disappointments following Sunderland AFC. There was always something to give me a little bit of hope.
But time spent recovering from surgery meant that I missed a couple of games in the Moyes reign and caused me to rethink whether or not I needed my fix of footballing disappointment. With Ellis Short in control of the club I could only see it going one way and made up my mind that I would not renew my season card as long as he was the owner. That in turn led to what follows – the bulk of which was written before last weekend’s announcements. For anyone who hasn’t spotted this year’s reference let me refer you to The Smiths and What Difference Does It Make?
One Jake made earlier (ie when both teams were together in the Premier League)
Ignore any rumour that the BBC Radio Newcastle has asked its Durham CCC man Martin Emmerson to return to the Stadium of Light commentary box in place of Nick Barnes given the prospect of a cricket-style score in Sunderland’s final game of the season.
It’s a mischievously intriguing thought all the same.
This will be my final dodgy numberspost of the season. (If you haven’t seen the previous ones you can follow the link above, and/or those below). There is still a game to go, and two questions remain unanswered, but we can now look at the league table and judge how well our start of season pundits did. Their choices for the top six spots, in order of popularity were: Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Fulham, Leeds, Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland.
Three out of six, and wrong about the top two. Is that a “not bad” verdict or something worse?
Photo from 1933 – only three years before our last top flight title – by Monsieur Salut’s own National Union of Journalists
Monsieur Salut writes: what might George Orwell have said of the takeover? Will a new manager give Jack Rodwell a cuddle and turn him back into the player he thinks he still is? Questions about the takeover abound and who better than Pete Sixsmith to delve into his old George Orwell paperbacks, and memories of teaching history to year 11, and seek to tease out the answers? ….
Many years ago, when I was a history teacher in County Durham, I would suggest that my Year 11 students should read Animal Farm to get George Orwell’s view of the Russian Revolution and the descent into Stalinism. It was a popular read partly because it was a short one, partly because it had talking animals in it and partly because they liked to draw parallels between the animals and various members of the teaching staff.
The animal I was decreed to resemble was not one of the pigs but Benjamin the donkey. He is the companion of the great Boxer, the mainstay of the revolution who follows every edict with rampant enthusiasm, something Benjamin does not.
