Can two sets of supporters, from good, decent football clubs, be trusted to share the same licensed premises with a couple of coppers on hand to nip any nonsense in the bud?
The answer from the Met is No. So make sure to get your pre-match pints in Kings Cross or elsewhere. Shepherds Bush may prove a desert. One or two publicans may welcome you but don’t bet on it.
It seems only five minutes, but is more than five months, since we were all putting a thumping at Arsenal behind us and watching a spirited first half at Wembley in which Fabio Borini scored one cracker, from Adam Johnson’s marvellous long ball, and ought to have had another. Citeh then produced two even better goals and, as we pressed for an equaliser, an entirely undeserved third on the break to kill us off.
Is St Andrew’s the start of another quest for glory? And if so, can it be achieved or at least competed for without the distraction of a desperate battle against relegation.
Few pundits expect Sunderland to emerge from a game against Manchester United, even a home game, other than as a …
Let us kick off a new series of Guess the Score, the competition which sometimes sees Salut! Sunderland offering, with a straight face, a mug as the winner’s prize … and sometimes offering nothing, not even the guarantee of reward in heaven.
And thanks heavens for that. I now have a lot of serious saving to do to fund the lorryloads of mugs owed to recent winners of Guess the Score.
I said there’d be a prize for each competition until our fate was determined and it seems churlish to revert to a for-fun-only basis for the last game, especially since it promises to be a great party.
Nolwenn Leroy is not only an uncommonly canny lass but a great Breton (not the same, except literally, as Great Briton) singer. On Saturday night, she sang her heart out for the Lads with this superb rendition of Brittany’s anthem, which the Welsh and Cornish-speaking Cornish may well recognise, both sets of Lads being Breton, Rennes and Guingamp, in the French cup final at the Stade de France. Guingamp (Nolwenn’s own preference, believe) won 2-0 against more fancied opponents. I hope and believe we can match that result at home to West Brom and – outrageous point-scoring/deducting challenges from Norwich, Fulham and Cardiff notwithstanding – dodge the arrows for one more season.
The answer to the question posed in the headline, logically, is No.
Sunderland have done brilliantly in the league cup and in recent Premier League games. We all hope and hope again that Saturday might bring at least one point and maybe three.
No one correctly guessed the score at Chelsea.
That does not mean no Salut! Sunderland reader could bring himself or herself to predict an away win: the thin entry offered 1-1, 2-2 twice, 2-0 along with 2-1 and 3-1 to Chelsea but also, heroically, “William C” with 1-0 to the Lads. I also give credit to Terry, whose forecast of 3-1 was presented as an example of reverse psychology and turned out to be one that worked.
The heartbreaking nature of Man City’s undeserved equaliser should not detract from the pride we can take, finally and for the first time since we last played them, in a Sunderland performance.
Pete Sixsmith is probably right – too little, too late – but it is important for own morale, and for the future health of the club we love, that each player puts every ounce of passion he can muster into the five games that remain and just hope that other stumble as we prosper.
It’s time to forget about Saturday, the sure approach of relegation and idiotic, contrived controversies about Graeme Anderson’s Jozy Altidore tweet*.
Not yet – quite – time for all Salut! Sunderland contributors to rattle off their pieces for what we shall call the Wembley and Bust series. What’s it going to be about, someone asked. I’ll leave you to guess.