Gareth Barker is half of the dynamic duo that brings you the regular Salut! Sunderland podcast. There is no requirement to go along with a word he now has to say, It is, as he freely acknowledges, a rant. But a rant from the heart …
After much stewing and engagement in argument/discussion across social networking sites, I came to the conclusion I needed to write down all of my thoughts on the sacking of Paolo Di Canio.
Gareth Barker introduces the latest edition of the Salut! Sunderland podcast created by those fine lads, Gareth and Goldy, in the appropriate guise of Wise Men Say. Is is wall-to-wall gloom after the dismal start to the season, with the major challenge of Arsenal at home to come? Scroll down, hot the link and find out …
It always seems that Stephen Goldsmith and I are like coroners at an inquest when it comes to recording the Wise Men Say podcast and this week was no different.
One of the most encouraging things about the live podcast last week was seeing many journo and editor types in the audience, writes Stephen Goldsmith. This was particularly pleasing as it meant I could remind them face to face about their assurances of featuring on the podcast.
James Hunter from the Evening Chronicle was one the recipients of this direct method and popped in to the studios to discuss all things SAFC. Being the Sunderland correspondent in a Newcastle paper, it was a change in environment for James, here he could witness Sunderland fans moaning instead of Newcastle fans goading over airports or housing estates that aren’t even in the same county. Gareth Barker and I were also joined by Craig Clark from over at Roker Report who sparked off a massive Phil Bardsley debate at the live pod last week. If he hadn’t have asked somebody else would have in all fairness.
After last week’s lapse with the podcast, not posted here until after the Fulham game, the lads have made no mistake this time. M Salut has just listened to it and it’s cracking stuff with the panel talking in front of, and to, a live audience. See the link below …
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?
Gareth Barker has been thinking about Mark Hughes’s appointment as replacement for the sacked Tony Pulis at Stoke City and this led him to reflect again on Sunderland’s dramatic change from Martin O’Neill to Paolo Di Canio. In his parallel Sunderland universe, Gareth sees another 1-1 draw. Both clubs, he argues, got it right …
And so another season draws to a close. It’s fair to say the contrast in the campaign’s two managers …
Gareth Barker imagines what an onlooker from his own parallel universe might have made of the dismal display against Manchester United that was quickly followed by MoN’s exit, looks back on Paolo Di Canio’s mostly winning start and gets reacquainted with enjoying life …
When Adam Johnson finally beat the first defender with a corner at Loftus Road, but only by lofting the ball behind the goal, it was a piece of comic cuts football that seemed to encapsulate his season. The expensive move, the high wages and the perception of underachievement have weighed heavily in worrying times for Sunderland. But prompted by a tweet from @GhostofRoker – “For all the stick Johnson is getting, he has got goals and assists to his name, something which we’ve not had from a winger for yonks” – we wondered whether anyone might be willing to take an objective, even complimentary look at the player. Gareth Barker obliged …
Stephen Goldsmith and Gareth Barker have toiled long and hard to bring you this added dimension to the amazing service contributors to this site provide (said an unbiased onlooker).