Pete Sixsmith said at half time that Sunderland were giving Chelsea a tough old game and he was right. And when he cried for more, he got it. This was a superb point and could have been three with a spot more luck, from a game in which SAFC were never truly second best. Sixer offers two seven-word verdicts; his fuller assessment should be a rousing read …
Nov 29 SAFC (0) 0 Chelsea (0) 0*A performance to make Sunderland supporters proud or Could and maybe should have won it
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.
We don’t often do well against them at home, but when we do it’s spectacular. Most of us recall that …
Colin Randall writes: We all have memories of our best gig. Mine, as an old folkie, was in a field in Oxfordshire one fine summer’s evening in 2007. The original Fairport Convention line-up – minus, of course, Sandy Denny, whose place was taken admirably by Chris While – reassembled to reproduce the classic Liege and Lief album track by track. But before Fairport, Show of Hands had played their own superb set, making it an evening to remember for the thousands present.
Vaughan Pearce* is the manager of Show of Hands and a Chelsea supporter from boyhood. It seemed a good idea to invite him into the ‘Who are You?’ hot seat ahead of Saturday’s game. I think we can take his Premier top four tips with a pinch of salt …
Nic Wiseman, fresh from being told on Twitter by Sky’s SAFC-supporting David Jones that It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand – co-created and co-edited by Nic – was ‘the best name for a SAFC fanzine ever’ – tonight made his debut in the Salut! Sunderland editorial set-up, editing and posting Keir Bradwell’s Easter-delayed ratings from Man City and Chelsea. Welcome on board, Nic …
Salut! Sunderland readers are generally too sensible to get carried away, says Monsieur Salut. Maybe because I need something to take the mind off Sunday, I cannot get enough of the post-Chelsea reflections. Keir Bradwell has been on detention, aka a wifi-free Center Parcs break (do they really spell it that way?), but keeps promising his ratings, now amounting to a mini-backlog. While we wait, here is what our old friend Rob Hutchison made of it. I love his opening three words as much as anything that follows them …
How Jose Mourinho must have salivated at that Gareth Bale goal for his old boys, Real Madrid, and wished he had a player remotely capable of similar at Chelsea FC.
But it’s all very well for Sunderland supporters to mock. After all, we may not have many points but we have got Adam Johnson, Connor Wickham and Fabio Borini. They only have the likes of Demba Ba and Eden Hazard.
Nic Wiseman takes a break from professional gardening, serious running and preparing his editing debut at Salut! Sunderland – if only young Keir gets round to handing in his homework – to reflect on the latest twists and turns in the life of a Sunderland supporter. Will the Lads keep up the momentum of terrific trips to the top of the league and for once see off fellow-strugglers? Nic sees the obvious pitfalls, St James’ Park being one on the last but one matchday of Cardiff’s season, but keeps faith …
This football lark is easy isn’t it? Just get battered 5-1 at Spurs and claim that only a miracle can save us. From then on we lost very unluckily to Everton (I know, I know, that’s what we always say) and then harvest four magic points from the supposed ‘unwinnable’ games at Citeh and Chelski.
No Sixer’s Soapbox from this of all games. Pete Sixsmith announced a few weeks ago that he would not be at Chelsea – has he now relented over Man Utd? – but the decision had much less to do with Sunderland’s then quite hopeless plight than his disdain for Stamford Bridge and those who inhabit it. Ray Knight’s excellent, and amusing Chelsea ‘Who are You?’ made me warm to Chelsea supporters a little (I had already felt pleased when they beat PSG), until one Peter Scott began a series of incomprehensible, condescending postings after my own report at ESPN.
So no Sixer to record this momentous victory. Let a recent addition to the ranks of contributors, Grant Tunkel, offer his own sunny view from California …
Monsieur Salut writes: in all the time we’ve been covering Sunderland, said Nick Barnes as he and Gary Bennett discussed the MAGNIFIQUE 2-1 win at Chelsea, there may not have been a more incredible result. He was probably right. This was truly a majestic display, a win that was as deserved as it was important. It is little short of a tragedy that Pete Sixsmith, there all season to witness all the dross, was not there for this great occasion. Chelsea fans will whinge from here to Kingdom Come about the penalty – I have to say it looked one to me – but will say nothing at all about Ramires being on the field under false pretences for much of the game after his GBH on Seb Larsson. There is still masses to do, but what better a way to start? …