SAFC vs Reading Who are You?: Vito’s ‘incredible professionalism’, McShane’s steel

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Anthony Smith: a boy from the Welsh Valleys with a soft spot for Reading. Photo: Chris Forsey

Monsieur Salut writes: what’s the betting on Chris Coleman making his home debut as Sunderland manager with a win against Reading (and football accumulator pages may well be the place to find the answer)? After the relief of the win last Saturday – our first league victory since mid-August and only the second of the season – there is pressure to make it two-in-a-row but also a degree of momentum and the confidence winning brings to any team. To Newcastle fans, that translates as thinking beating Burton is roughly the same as winning the World Cup.

 

Our Reading Who are You? interviewee, Anthony Smith, warmly recommended by Terry Pattinson, a New*as*le supporter who has previously done the honours and may well do so again unless we go up or down), covers Reading for Berkshire newspapers. He’s grown to like the Royals despite roots in South Wales – his club is Swansea – and an inexlicable fondness for Spurs. He overcame a formidable workload to find time to answer our questions. I couldn’t have taken it solely on the word of Terry, a Mag let’s face it, but Anthony comes across as the top bloke he said he was – and he clearly knows his stuff …

 

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Sunderland vs Reading prize Guess the Score: ensure Burton was no freak result

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Jake is far too doubting

Far too early for Guess the Score, of course. But let’s build on the modest excitement of a win and get the ball rolling again (who knows? Monsieur Salut may even get round to sending out some overdue prizes to previous winners) …


It is a time to be positive. On no account should any Sunderland supporter allow himself or herself to think back to that 4-0 win at Crystal Palace that we all took to be the turning point of last season. The past, as has been said by others, is another country.

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Abused referees, dirty players and research that leaves too much to be desired

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John McCormick writes: news of a couple of surveys was e-mailed to the Salut! Sunderland team recently. The first e-mail was more or less a repeat of something we had a little while ago, from a website calling itself Dirtyplayers.co.uk. The second was new to me. We’re happy to share their findings but if I am honest, I’m not impressed by either survey and feel one, and only one, could have value. 

The dirtyplayers.org wesbite originally reported, among other things, that Gareth Barry had accumulated the most ‘Dirty Points’ in the history of the Premier League and that Lee Cattermole was the dirtiest player based on number of appearances. The e-mail we got this week followed this up by telling us that Gareth Barry had picked up his 121st yellow card in the Spurs – West Brom game, and that he’d played 131 games for Everton, who had recently been branded the dirtiest team in Premier League history.

The second, from ticketgum via journalistic.org reported that (up to) 94 per cent of refs surveyed by ticketgum reported being abused during games …

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Sixer’s Burton Albion Soapbox: Sunderland at last show their Pedigree in Burton

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Jake: ‘did I hear the score right?’

Malcolm Dawson writes…..jings it’s cold up in the North East of England this morning.  Occupied as he is at this time of year, with sacks of various types, distributing news to the good folk of Shildon and gifts to the children of the populace who flock to see the great man in Weardale and Tyneside at this pre-festive time, Lord Peter Sixsmith, has today delegated the task of reporting on yesterday’s rare, but welcome events in a place where proper pubs survive, where Marstons brew the Burton Union way, where buns are cobs and “arrrl reet marra” is translated as “ay up duck” to one of the underlings who ensure that all goes well at Sixsmith Towers on such a rare occasion. So don your quilted maroon smoking jacket and read on as you tuck into the kedgeree and devilled kidneys …

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Sixer’s Burton Sevens: two reasons why you should never leave early

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Jake: ‘it’s not always pretty’

At half time Pete Sixsmith sent a text to tell us that the pre-match beer was better than the football. I don’t think the second half was much of an improvement but I won’t definitely know until tomorrow, when I read Pete’s post-match report. However, some late changes by our manager  saw us get vital goals, which gave us vital points, which moved us off the bottom and sparked a celebration, as Pete’s instant seven-word text explains:

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The first time ever I saw your ground: Burton Albion and the Pirelli Stadium

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Sleek Sixer …

John McCormick writes Burton is one of those places you’re not likely to visit by accident if you live in Liverpool. It’s in between everywhere – to the east and north of the M6 and A5, to the south of the road between Stoke, Derby and Nottingham. It is, just about, on the way from here to Leicester but that’s no good if you’re a Sunderland fan travelling down the M1, which tells you how long it is since I’ve been to Filbert Street.

All this is a great pity, as I’ve always wanted to call in and have a pint at the spiritual home of brewing and I’ve never managed it. Pete Sixsmith has of course, and here he is to tell you all about it.

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Burton Albion Who are You?: Brewers’ ‘Pieman’ says we can both beat relegation

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Dave Child: ‘sorry – don’t you go using this photo as a dartboard’

 

 

Dave Child* is a fan of the old school. Burton Albion through and through – ‘who are Derby County?’, he asks when pressed on the competing attractions of other local teams – he was among the 11,000 travelling fans who made Old Trafford less of a library than usual for a cup replay. And he’s an epxert on the pies served at football grounds and hostelries that welcome away fans (if you;’re going, scroll down to see which one Dave thinks you’d enjoy). 

And what was he doing with Paolo Di Canio? Interviewing him for local radio when PDC was Swindon manager and they played Burton…

Salut! Sunderland:  stuck with us in the relegation zone, Burton would probably be expected to struggle even if neutrals would love them to survive. How is it looking for you?

Dave Child: yes we are in our usual position and not really surprised, the aim as we head towards the festive fixtures is to stay out of the bottom three, then come January Cloughie can work his miracles in the loan market bringing in Gareth Bale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and make a late charge for the play offs!

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Burton Albion vs SAFC Guess the Score: what could possibly go wrong?

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Read on: not just another mug for the winner

Just look at the home and away table. Two wins, a draw and six defeats at home, nine goals scored but 21 shipped.

What a catastrophic home record for any professional football side.

How could any away team and its wonderful support go to the Pirelli Stadium, capacity all of 6,912, without a spring in the step? Sadly the away side at Burton on Saturday is us, our home record makes theirs look quite respectable and we haven’t a clue where the next win is coming from.

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Sixer’s Aston Villa Soapbox: neither a bang nor a whimper

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Jake: ‘here’s the one report you should read, Chris’

Chris Coleman is unlikely to see this at all and, should he accidentally find himself at this page, still less likely to feel any need to heed Pete Sixsmith‘s advice, sound as it is.

But who would bet against the new manager reaching pretty much the same conclusions at our Sixer, who certainly reads the game of football as well as some of our past 11 managers (which takes us back only as far as Niall Quinn). Pete was at Villa Park. He saw what he saw, not a bad performance but one lacking midfield strength and punch against barely impressive opposition. It is pointless to talk about Burton on Saturday being a must-win game since we rarely win anything billed as such, but the thought will have crossed other minds …

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