Malcolm Dawson writes….as I left Heritage Park on Friday night, having witnessed Bishop Auckland’s 4-0 trouncing of Wembley bound local rivals West Auckland, Pete Sixsmith said to me: “We could well be safe this time tomorrow if results go our way.” “We can but dream,” I thought, fully expecting Wednesday to be the evening when we could be certain of survival, but I repeated the sage’s words to another group of Sunderland fans who were discussing the significance of the past fortnight on the walk to the car park. I was hopeful that Poyet would have the team organised, that the upsurge of confidence that has come from who knows where since the Tottenham game and the resurgent Wickham could get us a point. But all three? We’d seen what the new manager effect had done to Norwich and Old Trafford is a ground where success has been notable by its absence since the days of Sir Matt Busby’s team of Stepney, Charlton, Stiles, Best and Crerand. For our ace reporter yesterday was one of those performances which reminds him why he sits through so much dross. Sixer looks back on a day to remember, the like of which he hadn’t seen since high jumpers were still using the straddle technique and a change of government in an independent Eastern European country led to Russian interference.
Gus Poyet
Pure Poyetry: breaking the Old Trafford hoodoo, but celebrations on hold
Malcolm Dawson writes…the manager has every right to be pleased with the form of his team just now. A couple …
Pure Poyetry: incredible fans see ten man Cardiff demolished
Malcolm Dawson writes….I should’ve been there but prior commitments meant that I had to be in Lytham St Annes by …
Trust in Gus starts paying off as ‘impossible’ loses ‘im’ at Chelsea
No Sixer’s Soapbox from this of all games. Pete Sixsmith announced a few weeks ago that he would not be at Chelsea – has he now relented over Man Utd? – but the decision had much less to do with Sunderland’s then quite hopeless plight than his disdain for Stamford Bridge and those who inhabit it. Ray Knight’s excellent, and amusing Chelsea ‘Who are You?’ made me warm to Chelsea supporters a little (I had already felt pleased when they beat PSG), until one Peter Scott began a series of incomprehensible, condescending postings after my own report at ESPN.
So no Sixer to record this momentous victory. Let a recent addition to the ranks of contributors, Grant Tunkel, offer his own sunny view from California …
The Robson Report: in an SAFC world without Poyet, who’d be next?
Still not the start of ‘Wembley and Bust’, the series in which our contributors will discuss what went so drastically wrong. But Jeremy Robson feels it in his bones that Gus is about to hop on a one-way bus trip. Who would come in to pick up the pieces, rebuild for a different task (gaining promotion as opposed to perpetual relegation avoidance) and please the fans? …
The Robson Report: what on earth happens next?
The time for the proper inquest is not quite with us. Soon enough, Salut! Sunderland contributors will be having their say on a season that has had one high spot but otherwise trundled relentlessly towards the abyss. That doesn’t stop us thinking about the mess we’re in and Jeremy Robson offers some preliminary conclusions …
Bouncing from rock bottom at Spurs. What will we see against Everton?
Spurs was one of the games I planned to attend. Only tentatively originally, because Helen and Will (daughter and Spurs-supporting boyfriend) had a wedding to go to and they said I could borrow Will’s season ticket and bunk down at theirs, but it was all lined up until the game was moved to a Monday night and the plan was scuppered.
Poyet: no poyetry, no motion, not even many words after Tottenham debacle
Monsieur Salut writes: I was relieved to discover no one else had jumped to attention and posted Gus Poyet‘s post-match reaction straight away last night after I’d knocked off my ESPN piece and gone to bed (which started out as ‘gone to bad’; see Ken’s comment). Not surprisingly, after the utter shambles of a second half that saw a respectable 1-1 degenerate into a 5-1 rout, that reaction was curt. But we, as supporters, have few sanctions available to us when let down as badly as this by our club. Not turning up – Pete Sixsmith has already said he will attend no further away games; we’ll be lucky if he bothers with the home ones either – is one. And Salut! Sunderland ignoring, if only by default, the head coach’s attempt at explanation until this morning is another. Pure Poyetry? Poetry in Motion? Hardly. Do not expect to learn much …
Wrinkly Pete: my own ‘Dear Gus’ on the Norwich and Liverpool contrast
In common with Monsieur Salut and a lot of others, Peter Lynn* – aka Wrinkly Pete – gets the post-match e-mails from Gus Poyet. He decided it was time to write back and M Salut thinks this should be published before a prize edition of Guess the Score for SAFC v West Ham, which will now appear from Saturday morning with the added incentive of a competition for tickets, travel and hotel to attend the Champions League final in Lisbon …
Pure Poyetry: mixed emotions for Gus at Liverpool
Malcolm Dawson writes….with M. Salut travelling home through the Gallic hinterland and John McCormick a victim of RSI caused by …