Fresh from his media blitz – video clip for The Guardian, Total Sport on BBC Radio Newcastle –
Pete Sixsmith climbs back upmarket to share with Salut! Sunderland readers the 10 things he’s hoping for in the coming season …
Ordinary Jon, aka Jon Adamson, Sunderland supporter and football blogger******, was bored rigid by the vaunted Premier League last season. Even our customary great escape left him feeling there’d been only two or three SAFC games worth remembering and that ours wasn’t even the great escape anyway. His recipe for making life at the top more exciting, and life at the bottom more troublesome, follows. It will suit some appetites, it may cause acute indigestion and it could be too tongue-in-cheek to win votes on Come Dine With Me. Bland fare it is not …
The dullest season since the Premier League began suggests radical action is required. Here’s a five point plan to bring some excitement back into the beautiful product.
It’s here – https://safc.blog/2015/07/who-do-you-support-what-gives-you-the-right/#comments – with some great comments, new or posted when the piece originally appeared five years ago.
Malcolm Dawson writes….Summer Madness is the retrospective spot where we republish articles from days gone by. Well it helps to fill in time whilst we wait for the start of the new season. Pete Sixsmith and I are off to Tow Law this afternoon where the Development squad take on the Lawyers in a pre-season friendly. Chris Waddle of course has played for both clubs but I doubt he’ll be there shouting “pelanty” every time a player goes down in or near the box! A match report will follow.
Meanwhile we go back half a decade to 2010 when M Salut asked the question “What gives you the right to support a team.” I have included the comments which were made at the time. Please feel free to add to those.
Like the look of Chelsea? Gasp in admiration at Man United’s trophy cupboard? Fine, then let’s become a supporter. We can always find out where the place is later.
What are the tests a supporter should pass to qualify as a real fan of the team he or she follows, as opposed to a bandwagon jumper?
I have my own set of rules.
David Millward – universally known as Sid, after his band-leading uncle (Salut! Sunderland’s own Pete Sixsmith was very fond of Sid Millward and the Nitwits) – is a Chelsea fan who has graced at least two Who are You?s at this site.
When Sid, now exiled in New England, said he was heading west to Las Vegas for a convention of football’s most lovable fans – all based in the USA so presumably untarred by the Paris Metro brush – and that Gus Poyet would be the guest of honour, we felt a piece coming on. ‘Sure,’ he replied, ‘but it will be rather Chelsea focused. We went last year, the player who showed up was Michael Duberry, a lovely guy. This year we get Mario Melchiot as well as Gus.’
Well, he did warn us. All the same, here – for some midsummer quiet-time madness – is his account. He did try to mention us, but couldn’t quite suppress the temptation to be snooty …
John McCormick writes:
So you’ve been onto the SAFC home page, clicked the appropriate icon and found the fixtures. No need for me to do much then, is there? Only, M Salut, who is travelling today, would be delighted to find the site that carries his name has not ignored this (pretty much) inauspicious occasion.
John McCormick writes: back in January various sources ran the news that all of 2013-14’s Premiership clubs were in the world’s top 40 in terms of revenue. While Norwich, Fulham and Cardiff won’t stay there for 2016 I expect Burnley, QPR and Leicester to replace them. Looking ahead to 2017, Burnley, Hull and QPR should drop out with Norwich reappearing, along with Watford and Bournemouth; that’s the power of the Premier …
Just to tidy things a little, let Salut! Sunderland record the last pair of Guess the Score winners of the season, with thanks as ever to our Weardale-based, Mackem-owned sponsors, Personalised Football Gifts.
Mike Thomas, a Chelsea supporter, correctly predicted the Blues would exploit tired legs, burst our survival bubble and win 3-1.
“I wish I had been blessed with enough confidence having made my prediction to back it up with a few quid at Corals'” he writes, as if the Chelsea mug is not reward enough. “Please pass on my thanks to Sunderland Supporters who attended – I thought they showed class throughout.”
Bob Chapman brings down the curtain on what we hope has been another season of fine, incisive reporting from each Sunderland game, the best of it combining analysis, observation and humour (the latter quality is remarkable, given the feelings of dejection that all too often haunt the Sunderland supporter’s life). Pete Sixsmith has explained his absence from the final two games, leaving Arsenal to his younger brother Michael and Chelsea to his pal Bob, a frequent understudy. Salut! Sunderland thanks all contributors for one more season of triumph over failure, hope over despair …
Pete Sixsmith awarded himself another day off from actually travelling to an expensive away game, settling for Barnes and Benno and updates from around the country on Premier League’s final day. The big question remains: is this as well as a Chapman Report from Stamford Bridge or instead of one? …