The great thing about Salut! Sunderland is that I can head off on holiday in the knowledge that my friends Pete Sixsmith and Joan Dawson will leap from the bench – sorry, lumber from it in Pete’s case – to ensure business more or less as usual.
No football this weekend, of course, save for some inconsequential internationals (though it will be interesting to see if Craig Gordon can produce a confidence-boosting display for Scotland).
But items will continue to be posted, and Joan will turn her IT skills to good use when proper football returns and Pete comes up with what we hope will be the first winning Sixer’s Seven in far too long.
I have written a piece about the way Wikipedia deals with Sunderland’s celebrity supporters, and that should appear on Friday. There may be a couple of Pete’s Soapboxes later, and even a guest column from a fellow fan. If you are crelatively new to Salut! Sunderland, you can also trawl back through the archives for a look at the mass of material posted here since the launch 10 months ago).
And I have a spare copy of the new A Love Supreme book, More 24 Hour SAFC People, to give away. It includes a chapter by yours truly, with a self-explanatory title along the lines of Club versus Country: easy home win, but skip that if you wish – it’s a much expanded version of a theme I have addressed here and on the Guardian‘s Comment is Free pages – and enjoy the contributions from a lively line-up of SAFC fans with great stories to tell.
The competition? Just write in here to post a comment on any SAFC related topic you want. Why are we not winning? Was £9m on Craig Gordon a failed gamble? Will we stay up? Is Salut! Sunderland worth reading? How long will we keep Kenwyne before he is lured by one of the “big” clubs, or rather brands? Or just tell me why you should win the book.
Simple as that; I will one way or the other add two more books just out from ALS to the prize pot if there are some good entries. And my decision (which may be no more than a decision to bury the competition altogether if no one bothers to write in!) will as ever be final.
John Penman informs me that the new Chief Executive of the Met Office is a Sunderland fan. Maybe he can arrange for sun on the SoL and torrential rain on Sid James Park