John McCormick writes: Pete Sixsmith sent me a text a few games ago suggesting we were Championship bound. I wasn’t so sure then. Now, I’m not even bothering to run the numbers to predict the final table. Why not? Well, I wasn’t there yesterday but Pete was, so why not find out from his post-match report? …
If this had been just another match, it was a disappointing but acceptable home defeat, bottom against near-the-top and making them sweat at times before conceding a horrendously unlucky own goal by Wes Brown. Unfortunately, it was a result that meant more than just three points lost. A win would have raised hope, false though the hope might have been. It would certainly have prolonged the agony. That agony, we must pretty much admit, is now over. Look at the other results. They could not have been worse. Games in hand we probably won’t win and the best we can now hope for is somehow avoiding bottom. Pete Sixsmith detected slender hope at half time – ‘the corpse is twitching’ – but was making funeral plans by the end ..
I have promised a prize in each Guess the Score unless or until relegation is a certainty. That holds. Pete …
Goodison Park, Boxing Day. It was backs to the wall against 10 men after a good first half that should have produced another goal, but the win gave us all hope. Despite our helping of cup glory, it’s been mostly downhill since then and we stand at the gates of doom. Not so Everton, playing out of their skins, scoring for fun and chasing Liverpool up the Premier League. Why, they don’t even need their own refinement of the Whitefall farce, imaginary fouls on Leon Osman, to fool Howard Webb and gain points any more. Barry Cass* is a happy Evertonian who co-hosts a local radio programme, The Footy Show KCC, contributes to Everton discussions on Radio City and runs the mainly Everton-related website, Footyscene …
John McCormick writes: I almost didn’t go. Will was coming up and I was waiting to hear if he wanted …
Gus Poyet had every reason to be pleased at 5pm. What had been impossible for 15 years or so at Goodison had just become possible – a Sunderland win. The fans had chanted ‘we’re going to win the league’ even at 0-0. The reaction at full time suggested that dream had been realised. Here’s what Gus made of it in his post-match e-mail …
Salut! Sunderland wishes all readers a happy Christmas and fabulous new year
Everton under Roberto Martinez are, on their many good days, one of the teams of the season. The victory at Old Trafford was just one of a string of excellent results and they reach Christmas in fifth place. That makes Paul Dargan*, an author, journalist and broadcaster, as happy as you’d expect an Evertonian to be and he believes with a touch of wishful thinking that the club will finish one position higher. I hardly dare mention where he thinks we’ll end up …
Salut! Sunderland wishes all readers and contributors a much merrier Christmas than the plight of Sunderland AFC suggests is possible, and hopes against hope for a brighter new year. Enjoy the eccentric choice of a gallery of photos from the Royal Library of Denmark …
Is it possible?
To anyone who was present at Roker Park on May 12 1980, Mick Buckley* was a hero, one of 12 (starting line-up plus substitute) who secured the win over West Ham United in a delayed final game – the Hammers had won the cup 48 hours earlier – that clinched promotion. Mick also scored a winner, a cracking shot against Manchester City in another last game of the season, keeping us up two years later. Now, far too young, he has died. Pete Sixsmith offers a tribute to a player with the ability to do what was expected of battling midfielders of his times …
Salut! Sunderland’s Pete Sixsmith can remember the time when the transfer window was just an empty space covered in an old potato sack. Now the latest window has been closed, Peter gives his thoughts on the last minute activity that brought a further three players into the club …
The great day has gone and Sky Sports can put Jim White back in the cupboard until the end of January. The gossip columns go quiet for a couple of weeks before the next batch of rumours start, while the Football League loan market opens next week. And to think that I once thought that the transfer window was a good idea!