This, on a day when there seems a lull in the frantic transfer process, is priceless.
To agree with that assessment, you need only to enjoy football history, relish a rare opportunity to see Sunderland beat Everton with ease or hanker for days when commentary came in clipped military tones, boys were passed over the heads of spectators to be nearer the front and what seems like straw was thrown in the air in goal celebration.
See all Salut! Sunderland’s articles recalling May 5 1973 and the run that took SAFC to FA Cup glory: https://safc.blog/category/fa-cup/may-5-1973/ …
The latest edition of French Fancies is special and timely, a must for any Sunderland supporter who happens to be studying – or knows a little of – the language of Molière.
Entrez, s’il vous plaît, our new friend Kevin Quigagne, who is French but has been in England for 21 years, lives in the North East and follows the Lads with some enthusiasm when not demonstrating a soft spot for Sheffield Wednesday.
The Leeds fan, “yorxman”, who posted his silly Yah Boo comment to one of our FA Cup Final 40th anniversary pieces, did at least have a point in implying we were sad to have to go back so long for anything to celebrate.
Members of the London and SE branch of the Sunderland AFC Supporters’ Association voted a few years ago to change the name of the newsletter from 5573 for that very reason. Ian Todd has pointed out elsewhere that it was not just younger members who disapproved of such a distant reference point as May 5 1973 (I voted to keep the name but cannot quarrel too much with the opposing view – and the replacement, Wear Down South, is a great alternative).
But our yorxsman’s sneers are not wholly representative of Leeds United supporters. That day was theirs too, or at any rate it was meant to be theirs, so it seemed a good idea to invite them to share their own memories. This is what a quick posting at the Leeds Fans Online site produced – and I am grateful to all those who contributed:
Pete Sixsmith***** was there. Monsieur Salut was not, having been repeatedly promised a ticket by a drunken colleague whose work gave him close contact with Wembley. The promises continued right up to May 4 but the ticket did not materialise.. A fabulous day all the same, even if you had to watch it in an upstairs company flat in Uxbridge (upstairs of said colleague who was nowhere to be found) before heading off to sink pints with the Co Durham lads who always ended SAFC awaydays at the Wealdstone ex-Service club. Pete describes the day, as I could describe that night, as if writing for this site on May 6 1973 …
This is where Pete Sixsmith records his instant verdict, in seven words, on each Sunderland game. Forget a traumatic week for SAFC. Forget the relegation scrap we’re still enmeshed in. A ruby anniversary has turned Pete’s head and we’re back to this weekend in 1973, when 55,000 packed into Hillsborough to see the Hughes/Hallom double act beat off mighty Arsenal on our way, well, on our way you know where …
The place: Hillsborough. The time: towards 5pm on April 7 1973. Sunderland, unfancied and in Division Two doldrums, have reached Wembley. John McCormick was there to witness this further step towards glory and now continues our 40th anniversary series …
Pete Sixsmith thought he might have seen everything with the fabulous 3-1 win over mighty Man City in the fifth round. Luton Town presented less glamorous quarter-final opposition and the football was not quite so scintillating. But we’re in the semis and that is what counts … continuing our 40th anniversary celebrations of a great year for Sunderland (two days early to avoid a clash with Sunday’s game)
We missed out on Reading and Notts County for the simple reason that the idea didn’t dawn until the 40th anniversaries of those games from the 1973 FA Cup run had passed. So we began this series at Maine Road and will continue it until May 5, the date of the Stokoe-Porterfield-Montgomery (and everyone else) glory in the final.
Pete Sixsmith was at both games against Man City. He was a student in those days and has had thousands of students of his own (ok, pupils) to contend with since.
We’ve already had a Sixer’s Sevens and a Sixer’s Soapbox from the first game, which ended 2-2. Malcolm Allison was still convinced after City’s lucky escape that his side would romp through to the 6th round. Many older Sunderland fans regard what actually happened – an emphatic SAFC win – as the best they’ve seen in all their years of unconditional (-ish) love.
And this Soapbox from the replay is written as seen through the young man’s eyes …
This is where Pete Sixsmith records his instant verdict, in seven words, on each Sunderland game. That, in this 40th anniversary year, includes the latter stages of the FA Cup run that ended woith triumph over Leeds United at Wembley. Pete can do so from the privileged position of being
oldmature enough to have attended every game in the run with the exception of the away replay at Reading. Look out later today – Update: in fact look now at this link https://safc.blog/2013/02/sixers-soapbox-roker-erupts-as-hughes-and-halom-rip-manchester-city-apart/ – for his Soapbox report of the game, which really was a cracker …