Standard practice around here is that an admirable band of stalwarts call by every day or so to see what Salut! Sunderland has been up to.
Hundreds more, and sometimes thousands, visit the site only when something new appears on newsnow.co.uk’s SAFC pages or a kind soul drops a link at Ready to Go or elsewhere.
The trick, when trying to avoid descent into insanity as a fan site editor, is to take it all in the stride. Must Not Fret about readership figures should be the mantra; let us be the low-circulation site for the thinking supporter and stop worrying about tabloid-level hits.
Still, it is nice when people who have taken the trouble to write for Salut! Sunderland actually gain an audience. That happened yesterday when Sobs, aka Paul Dobson, accepted an invitation to present the book others among us may have wished we’d written but only he did.
So let us start this occasional edition of the Salut Sunderland Week series with Sobs. https://safc.blog/2014/11/the-etihad-stamford-bridge-old-trafford-where-the-great-escape-was-done/ is the story about the story: how Paul came to write about Sunderland’s extraordinary escape from relegation in the face of towering odds.
Sample: ‘If ever a season in which no trophy was won, and no promotion achieved, screamed out to have something permanent written about it, last season at Sunderland did.’
Before that, though, we had the usual classy buildup to the big game, notably with a SAFC v Chelsea Guess the Score. The highlight has been all those SAFC supporters queuing up to predict massive Sunderland wins (up to 12-0, I think).
And there was an unusually restrained Blue in the hot seat for Who are You? at https://safc.blog/2014/11/safc-vs-chelsea-who-are-you-highs-and-lows-and-occasional-shame/.
Extract:
Salut Sunderland: Name this season’s top four (or should I say next three) in order, plus the bottom three?
Vaughan Pearce, Chelsea fan: Man City, Chelsea, Southampton, Sunderland (he can come back again, provided his medication permits – Ed).
Burnley, QPR, Palace (or Arsenal at this rate!).
You have probably seen and read all you’d ever want to know about Leicester vs Sunderland.
But Sixer was there and produced his customary gem of a matchday report at https://safc.blog/2014/11/sixsmiths-leicester-soapbox-at-least-the-beer-was-good/.
And Rob Hutchison survived his King Power stadium experience comfortably enough to oblige with another of his one-word assessments of the way each Lad played: https://safc.blog/2014/11/hutchs-patch-sunderland-ratings-vs-leicester-guess-who-got-1010/
We also had a look at the enigma that is Jack Rodwell, our big summer signing. All gone wrong, or about to come right? See what Gus Poyet had to say at https://safc.blog/2014/11/gus-poyet-manchester-city-and-the-enigma-of-the-lesser-spotted-rodwell/.
All that remains is a gigantic Ha’way the Lads for tomorrow evening. And thanks to the stalwarts.
