Ellis Short - SAFC Blog

A View from the Avenue: SAFC a scuttled ship and we’re drowning with it

March 7, 2018 by Colin Randall

Paul Summerside: not past caring – just yet

Monsieur Salut writes: Paul Summerside tends to post his thoughts at the Salut! Sunderland Facebook page (and how I wish all of its 740 members came here at least once a day or even once a week). Sometimes, I pick on them and reproduce here, with scant editing. Sometimes, I’m a bit pushed and add them as a comment. And sometimes, I’m so pushed I do nothing. But this seems the perfect accompaniment to the sheer if despairing brilliance of Pete Sixsmith’s report of the meek acceptance of a Villa stroll. As you’ll see, Paul is one of those already voting ith his feet …

Sunderland’s decline under Short ‘more Accrington Stanley than Leeds’

February 23, 2018February 23, 2018 by Colin Randall

Happier times: Malcolm Dawson with Super Kev

Monsieur Salut says: when I said Salut! Sunderland had perhaps been too kind to Ellis Short in the past, I should have made it clear there has been no collectively unanimous view. Malcolm Dawson, the deputy editor, has been much more critical. His comment deserves to be read as a self-contained piece …

Beyond belief: the football club owner who has never spoken to his manager

February 22, 2018 by Colin Randall

M Salut, drawn by Matt, colouring by Jake

Welcome to the strange world of Ellis Short, reluctant and reclusive football boss. In the past, Salut! Sunderland may have been too kind to the SAFC owner, accepting that he had put lots of his own money into the club only to be let down in horrific fashion by managers, executives and players.

But now we learn from the Sunderland Echo that Chris Coleman has never spoken to Short.

Chroniclers of doom. Where, Ellis Short, will SAFC be a year hence?

February 21, 2018 by Colin Randall

Gloomy times, gloomy thoughts from Monsieur Salut …

No football club, whatever its history, has a divine right to play at all times in the highest division (Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal may claim exemption from this rule of natural justice though each has suffered past relegation).

It follows that no club has a divine right, once relegated, to descend no lower. Think Leeds, Villa, Southampton, Nottingham Forest among others.

Come May, if not – mathematically – a good deal earlier, Sunderland supporters may be forced to accept the power of that second “no divine right” rule. How much deeper we can sink is open to speculation.

A View from the Avenue: have the miracles run out?

February 18, 2018 by Colin Randall

Paul Summerside doesn’t mince his words. He calls himself a ‘lapsed SAFC fan’ but is one of 20,000+ longing to resume active support. Ellis Short and Martin Bain may throw up their arms in proclaimed innocence, but what can either of them actually offer those who can take no more? As ever, the pages of Salut Sunderland are open to the owner and/or chief executive. As ever, don’t hold your breath …

At church this morning, the crew of Fulwell 73 (oh the irony) were filming for a forthcoming documentary on this season at SAFC, called Keep the Faith.

A whinge and a prayer. From Blunderland defending to Alice in Sunderland finance

February 7, 2018February 7, 2018 by Colin Randall

Ken Gambles makes a welcome return to writing action with some thoughts he wish he didn’t feel the need to express …

Bristol City Guess the Score – and are we harsh on Ellis Short?

February 6, 2018 by Colin Randall

Have a go. It costs nowt (rather like most of our recruits)

Monsieur Salut writes: this is really the new instalment of Guess the Score. Enter below the scoreline you expect, hope or fear at Ashton Gate on Saturday. If you are first with the correct result, you will win a prize though you must have a UK delivery address to receive it. Ha’way the Lads and all that but forgive me if there seems very little else worth saying about a game most of us probably have uneasy feelings about while hoping for the best …

Yes, I got angry at the weekend and directed some of my anger at our absent, reluctant owner. Yes, he has plenty to answer for.

One crass comment in his tame, underarm bowling sort of interview with the official club site in November particularly annoyed me. He complained that anything that appeared in the media about him was based on speculation or invention because “I don’t talk to the press”.

A View from the Avenue: a fan’s Post-it note to Ellis Short

January 3, 2018 by Colin Randall

Paul Summerside offers Ellis Short some advice the chairman may find has a familiar look

For Paul Summerside, the time is right to wish a happy 2018 to all at Salut! Sunderland and its Facebook page – and to reflect on “Groundhog Day. 2017 revisited”. It’s hardly an open letter to Ellis Short, more a quick reminder that if we set aside changes in personnel, what is needed now if Sunderland are to avoid a humiliating drop into the third tier is pretty much what was needed a year ago …

Wrinkly Pete: the blame game and how Sunderland fortunes could revive

December 10, 2017 by Colin Randall

John McCormick writes, I arrived back from Spain (where I’d been able to eat outside) around midnight last night, to find a duff thermostat and a colder house than expected. And then we woke up to snow. Not as much as Pete Lynn, who reported 4 inches where he is, but enough when the heating doesn’t work.

Luckily, Colin or Malcolm had drafted a few words from Pete and this morning, while texting our local plumber, I was able to finish the post with a heartwarming postcript that he’d added while snowbound:

Sunderland in crisis: Ellis some way Short of convincing

November 5, 2017November 3, 2017 by Colin Randall

Jake: ‘we won’t just mind our own business’

The Northern Echo publishes the full transcript of an interview with Sunderland owner Ellis Short at the official club site. You can see and hear it at safc.com and decide for yourselves how searching the questions were.

Salut! Sunderland will just pick out a few key points, all of which you’ll find amplified at the links above: