Drumaville

Ten Years After: when Carlos Edwards and Keano warmed Sunderland hearts

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Monsieur Salut writes: it seems an awful long time ago. Then, BBC Radio Newcastle’s brilliantly excitable Simon Crabtree had produced the Mother of all Goal Commentaries with his description of Carlos Edwards’s scintillating winner against Burnley to push us closer to promotion (achieved as champions with the 5-0 away win at Luton in the final game). It’s in the superb YouTube clip you see above.

But Ten Years After – OK, a little more than 10, since the Burnley  match was on April 27 and the Luton game on May 6 – we all need to have our spirits lifted. Then, we were in the hands of the Drumaville consortium, a group of Irish businessmen led by Niall Quinn as chairman and Seaham-born John Hays as vice chairman. I have seen the message Niall sent Drumaville’s surviving veterans after our relegation was confirmed this season; it was a model of dignity and pride.

Can the memory of that astonishing bottom-to-top transformation inspire whoever, ultimately, accepts the job of managing Sunderland and whoever is subsequently the club’s owner(s). We shall see. But here is how we reported on promotion 10 years ago …

 

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Sunderland and Salut: how do we regain our Quinn/Drumaville peak?

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John McCormick:
John McCormick:
Looking for answers

Colin Randall writes: it is not just Sunderland AFC that knows the meaning of struggle. Salut! Sunderland has its moments, too. I am talking readership levels. Victory – and defeats for those who remember them – in the Wear-Tyne derbies always boost numbers, though not as much as they once did. So do John McCormick’s statistical epics on relegation prospects among the bottom eight (or so) clubs. When Monsieur Salut, John or deputy editor Malcolm Dawson come up with a catchy headline, the effect can be the same because of the way website aggregators work. The common denominator, I am sad to say, is other clubs. We often draw big hits when the content, and therefore the headlines, mention them. Purely Sunderland-themed articles do not, with honourable exceptions, have the same effect.

This suggests we are not quite getting it right for SAFC supporters. Our Facebook group has more than 500 members but there are some days when we do not attract even that number of visitors to the site. Here, after John McCormick has set the scene, is your chance to tell us what it is we are doing wrong, what we should be more or better, what we should not be doing at all …

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Roy Keane: skip the Manchester United bits for a fine Sunderland read

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Roy Keane: a snip at the price
Roy Keane: a snip at the price for Sixer, see below* for an even better one

We’ve seen the headlines and, if we chose to do so, read the reports. Fergie and other Man Utd spats will grip others. We may all retain a healthy feeling of distaste at his lack of remorse for the appalling assault on Alf-Inge Haaland whatever the latter had done to displease him. The bits that we’ll find interesting concern us. Pete Sixsmith has read them. He makes no inference to that other headline, that Keano was pleased Clive Clarke had a heart attack, and with good reason: it might have been better put but he was just relieved that something he could not be blamed for would divert attention from a dreadful result. Here is Pete’s verdict on the chapters he didn’t skip …

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A year in Sunderland’s life: things we may never know

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Jake as Tony Roffe's caption writer

Something I had no reason to expect plopped on the doormat during my fleeting visit to London to visit my brother Phil (much, much better; even out of hospital since the weekend). It was a copy of that lesser spotted creature Wear Down South, newsletter of the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association. Ian Todd’s review of events during the many months that had passed since the last edition made the wait worthwhile. Ian, co-founder and mainstay of the branch, tells the story of an important year in SAFC’s recent history with exemplary attention to detail …

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