M Salut writes: I find it slightly worrying that John McCormick has not yet produced one of his statistical projections showing how Sunderland will stay up. Silence speaks volumes? Ordinary Jon, aka Jon Adamson**, has been conducting an exercise of his own and finds reasons for hope as well as concern – concern that would rocket in the event of a bad outcome of Norwich vs SAFC on Saturday …
Once again, the ever-present Robert Chapman, snapped up in a Salut! Sunderland editorial swoop on the White Horse in Parsons Green, steps up to cover for Peter Sixsmith, who missed out on the bargain train fares and gave Fulham away a miss. He did see Shildon beat Consett 2-0 and doubtless was kept in touch with events at Craven Cottage by more comprehensive means than Monsieur Salut’s mistyped texts. Robert, who also supplied the seven-word verdict immediately after the game, reports on a marvellous afternoon to be a Sunderland supporter …
Earlier this week Gus Poyet, in his post-Man Utd e-mail, identified the arrival of Adam Johnson, our purchase from Manchester’s …
Pete Sixsmith doesn’t always go to London games and he wasn’t there today. Won’t he be unhappy with his decision! …
No fanfare, no fuss, no prize. You can bid for Eric Bowers’s Salut! Sunderland in a charity auction at another post – West Ham gone, Man Utd faltering. Forget formalities: Man City-SAFC final – but this is the just-for-fun Guess the Score for Fulham vs SAFC.
Dan Crawford* is a sportswriter, Fulham supporter, Labour councillor (‘when will my bins be emptied?’) and commissioning editor of the Cottagers’ Hammyend.com fan site. It’s a good read for proper fans of any football club …
Mea culpa, penitent stool, abject apologies … guess what we clean forgot to post last week?
Our much-feted podcast duo, Stephen Goldsmith and Gareth Barker, meant to send Monsieur Salut the file but didn’t. M Salut, weighed down by work and domestic duty, neglected to chase them.
What’s the point, you may well now ask, of carefully bolting the stable door long after the horse has had time not only to bolt but to live out its life and end up in someone’s pure beef lasagne?
Malcolm Dawson writes: to me yesterday was a microcosm of life as a Sunderland supporter. The mood around the ground was one of excitement and anticipation of a new season ahead. The early signs were positive. It was apparent that the new players had qualities their replacements lacked and the attack minded approach was refreshing after the dross of recent seasons. As the half time whistle blew there was nothing to dampen the optimism, except perhaps that despite the pressure and dominance the Fulham goal was rarely threatened. That those hopes were dashed by an opposition snatch and grab and that the subsequent resignation of those around me that defeat was on the cards summed up my 49 years of following The Lads. But I was encouraged by the approach and what is undoubtedly a stronger squad than the one that finished last season. Peter Sixsmith can appreciate my view but asks the readership whether this is justified or just more false optimism …
In his post match e-mail to M Salut, PDC refuses to follow the Bruce/O’Neill approach in picking out the positives from defeat. Instead he highlights the obvious, that this is a new team playing together for the first time but also calls for more fire from his team.
This is where you will always find Pete Sixmsith‘s instant verdicts on Sunderland games. Today’s? We produced plenty of bluster, a few decent touches and virtually no serious chances. Fulham had one attempt on goal, from their first corner, and took it. Don’t worry – unless you’ve already seen the seven home games to come. Maybe we need to become away specialists. Pete, as is usually the case, came up with a seven-word judgement. In fact he came up with four: the others were ‘The revolution taking a while to start’, ‘Failure to beat Fulham hardly augurs well’ and ‘Another f****** waste of £400’. Good job the last one fell short of seven words …
(2013-2014)
August 17 2013 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (0) 1 Ultimately little difference from previous two seasons