John McCormick writes: It’s half time and we’re 2-0 down in our first game after the closure of the transfer window. I blame Ellis Short. I’ve previously supported him as a good thing; now I think he’s tearing the heart from the club.
Pete Sixsmith’s seven word text, sent immediately as the game ended – without another goal – can be taken as corroboration. It describes exactly what happens when a decent manager in a great club is starved of funds.
John McCormick writes: I’m quite sure I was at the Stoke match Pete mentions in this report; Ed, his brother and I certainly did go to the Victoria Ground at the start of one season in the late sixties, but yet again we have a home game which eludes my memory. Surely I was there.
No matter, Pete Sixsmith was definitely there, and 50 years later, more or less, he does us proud by recalling the game:
Monsieur Salut writes: on Twitter, where we found him, he goes by the name of ITFC COYB. Darren Elmy* is a Glasgow-based Ipswich Town fan who would normally have been at Saturday’s game as he loves visiting Sunderland and has Mackem family connections. Unfortunately he cannot make it but we do have his thoughts on both clubs and the match.
Darren’s a professional gambler; we hope he loses any stake he places on his predicted scoreline – 1-1 – but hammers the bookies if he hedges his bets with money on an emphatic home win …
This edition of Guess the Score will involve a level of effort equivalent to that shown by Sunderland AFC at Birmingham the other night.
There will accordingly be nothing until we reach about the two-thirds stage of the article. Instead, readers are invited to imagine an expanse of blank space between the last word of this sentence and the first word of the next since it’s beyond Monsieur Salut’s technological skills to achieve the look for himself.
Put it this way. Pete Sixsmith gives a lot more to the football-supporting public than he gets back. …
John McCormick writes: there are cries from some of our readers for our manager to go, there are others saying he should have more time, and there are those saying it’s not his fault and there’s nothing he can do. I must confess I’m expecting any day to hear he’s been sacked or walked as it seems to be the SAFC way of dealing with things but I’m not sure if it would solve anything. Pete Sixsmith, who has been to far more matches and lives much nearer to the action, was at last night’s debacle. What does he think? He’s past caring. Perhaps that tells us all we need to know …
Jason Steele may feel it was the curse of Salut! Sunderland. No sooner did we run a largely pro-Robbin Ruiter outsider’s piece on the battle for the No 1 jersey than Newton Aycliffe-born Steele is recalled to side only to concede five times.
But in yet another painfully dismal display by Sunderland, producing a crushing 5-2 defeat at Ipswich, Steele was nowhere near being Simon Grayson’s weakest link.
Long before the end of the latest home defeat, to Cardiff City on Saturday, Pete Sixsmith had reached the conclusion that he was watching the worst Sunderland team since he first started going to Roker Park in the 1960s. That was for his seven-word instant verdict; his considered appraisal of the game was more measured, but not much kinder. It didn’t stop him going to Ipswich.
From where he sent another bleak assessment.
John McCormick writes: Sunderland to Ipswich is not one of the longest journeys in the League. The straight line distance of just over 220 miles puts it in the mid-range category. However, you need to add at least another 50 miles – not all of them easy driving – if you go by road. Alternatively, you could spend a minimum of five hours on the train, with two changes.
When you consider this, and the number of times Sunderland and Ipswich have been in different leagues, you might be surprised to find how many times Pete Sixsmith has been there.
Then again, as it’s Pete Sixsmith, you might not. This is the latest in his twin series of reminiscences on first encounters with Sunderland’s opposing teams and their grounds …
For the second game in succession, Guess the Score was won on Saturday by our Who are You? interviewee from the opposing side. So Everton supporter Bernard Walker and Cardiff City fan Mike Morris join the very select band of people waiting for elusive Salut! Sunderland prize mugs.
One of these days, Monsieur Salut’s ship will come in, bringing the cargo needed to make the mug purchases (ie some dosh). And one day, Sunderland will remind supporters what it feels like to follow a winning side, though at least the Ladies and Under 18s recorded victories at the weekend.