John McCormick writes: I was there, at Goodison, that night. For a long time afterwards I felt cheated but I was prepared to accept that Coventry fans would think “tough” – I would have done so in their circumstances. Nevertheless, I always harboured a resentment towards Jimmy Hill and when I heard Coventry fans had clubbed together and paid for a statue, which the man himself was invited to unveil, I couldn’t wish them well.
Pete Sixsmith may offer sympathy. My thoughts are a bit more Karmic: Get rid of the statue, Coventry fans, look what it has brought you.
Jake: ‘with thanks to all opposing fans who participate’
Monsieur Salut introduces our annual HAWAY awards, with thanks to the supporters of all clubs played by Sunderland in league and cup this season who contributed to the series …
Cinema does it with Oscars, BAFTAs, Cannes and the rest. Pop has the Brits and Grammys. Salut! Sunderland brings you the HAWAYS, honouring the best interviews with opposing fans – the Highly Articulate Who are You? awards.
We are delighted once again to have a trio of generous sponsors. The rough-and-ready shortlist is with judges but I shall extend the process this year to allow a popular vote, using the same criteria including the fact that my suggestions are intended as no more than a guide.
Jake: ‘with thanks to all opposing fans who participate’
Salut! Sunderland gets big hits for “Who are You?” interviews, the Q and A sessions with opposing fans that we publish before every game, writes Monsieur Salut.
And at the end of each season, we present the Haways – Highly Articulate Who Are You? awards – to those our judges deem to have been the best.
It is entirely subjective but a spot of fun. If any reader who follows the series wishes to have a say, please just leave a comment (using your correct e-mail address, which is not shown but I can see) and you will be contacted.
More than 45 years ago, a gas explosion in David Moyes’s native Scotland – Clarkston, East Renfrewshire to be precise – killed 22 people. It was a terrible event but one, happily rare occurrence ensured that every gas leak or minor explosion for weeks, anywhere in the UK, was reported as if part of a trend.
Much the same happened, in the 1980s if I remember correctly, after a child was killed by vicious dog masquerading as family pet. However minor subsequent incidents involving dog attacks, the sort that happen all the time, they were described as a “spate”. I have spent almost all my working life in journalism but this was not the media – print or broadcast – at its finest.
No game, and no need – or desire – for a relegation review so soon after the last one, which means I’m taking another meander around the Northwest to bring you up to date, more or less, with some of the clubs on this side of the Pennines.
I was going to title this piece “take a walk on the west side” in homage to wrinkly Pete’s propensity for including songs. You’ll find out why I didn’t at the end.
Monsieur Salut writes: please see John McCormick’s fine piece on Barca 6-1 PSG. My view from France? The PSG collapse was lead item on the French lunchtime news, which I found shocking given there is also a presidential election campaign and a gruesome family murder in Brittany. I am quite pleased about PSG’s heavy defeat but only because I regard them as a fairly loathsome club and don’t (yet? really?) feel the same way about Barcelona. And now for some Salut! Sunderland housekeeping …
It boils down to an invitation to Guess the Score – in the absence of a Sunderland game – in either of the two matches affecting us, Bournemouth vs West Ham and Hull vs Swansea. Be first to be right in either case and you can either have the mini-version of Nick Barnes’s Matchbook, knowing a fiver will go to the Bradley Lowery fund, or – if, say, you support one of the teams involved – a mug reflecting your allegiance … in the latter case, Salut! Sunderland would pay the fiver into Bradley’s fund
Goes without saying that two first-to-be-correct scorelines = two prizes. You must have a UK delivery address.
John McCormick writes: Wrinkly Pete often illuminates his posts with reference to old songs which, given most of our readers can remember us winning a trophy, still resonate. He missed one, though, but I spotted it and stuck it in the title.
Read on and you’ll find it somewhere in his prose. So this week’s quiz is:
What’s the title, and can you identify any singers/groups and the years in which they recorded versions?
No prizes, but there are at least four to find, and all from different years, if my memory serves me well. And if you think I’m looking back to keep my mind from pondering what lies ahead, maybe I am, not that Wrinkly Pete agrees.
Pete has asked me if I can do a match report for him as he’s taking in Bradford v Toulouse and won’t get in until late.
I can, but you mustn’t expect his level of wit, nor his keen observation and erudition. This was only my third live game of the season and I have enough trouble recognising September’s signings, never mind any from January, and have yet to work out what system we use and where different players slot in, assuming we have one.
I got back from Goodison about half an hour ago. Pete Sixsmith and I were in agreement with most things during the game and in the post-game discussion on the way to the station, where we went in different directions. I won’t spoil Pete’s report by saying what we discussed but I will give you a clue:
David, I don’t agree with all of what you’re saying below and I don’t think Pete will either.
