The Robson Report: Atkinson’s Arsenal shocker is last straw for me

Jeremy Robson: 'Up with this I will no longer put'
Jeremy Robson: ‘Up with this I will no longer put’

Jeremy Robson wears heart on sleeve and is undeniably one for the dramatic gesture. Most of us tore out what hair we might have had in despair at Martin Atkinson’s appalling decision not to play the advantage rule when Jozy Altidore ‘scored’ on Saturday. Along with the decision to award Sagna a yellow and not a red, when he had demonstrably denied a goalscoring opportunity, it was without question the sort of moment that decides the outcome of matches. Then we got on with life. Sadly, for Jeremy (and Monsieur Salut disagrees completely with him on this), it was indicative of something rotten at the heart of the game, a game on which he says he is now turning his back … should we start preparing for the grand comeback tour?

Read more

Salut! Sunderland’s end-of-season reviews: (1) a tale of two managers

Jeremy Robson: 'We now have a manager how wants to be great'
Jeremy Robson: ‘We now have a manager who wants to be great’

Jeremy Robson is not built in the mould of the docile, acquiescent sort of supporter who takes whatever muck is thrown at him and just rolls over to be tickled now and again. Years spent standing in the Clock Stand Paddock illustrated his passion but made him a critical fan. Here, he kicks off our traditional series of season end assessments …

Read more

The Robson Report: PDC makes it so simple; why couldn’t O’Neill?

Jeremy Robson
Jeremy Robson

Some of the most thought-provoking analysis of things that matter to Sunderland AFC supporters comes from the great Mackem diaspora. This comment on the Blackcats e-mail list – “the older I get the more I become convinced that it really is a simpler game than the coaches, tacticians and (especially) pundits would have us believe” – emanated from the region (Mick Goulding in Co Durham) but set Jeremy Robson, over in Canada, thinking about some of the basic failings of the Martin O’Neill regime and the equally basic remedies Paolo Di Canio is applying. In an interesting riposte, Moscow-based Andy Potts sees similarities in the early achievements of both men …

Read more

The Robson Report: Di Canio must judge who’s fit to wear the shirt

Jeremy Robson
Jeremy Robson

Every cloud … you know the rest. One silver lining is the return from self-imposed exile of Jeremy Robson. To the immense relief of many, Salut! Sunderland imagines, here is an almost exclusively back-to-basics assessment of past failings and the hefty challenges facing Paolo Di Canio. Next, we’ll be getting medals or brownie points in the post from SAFC’s corporate machine for nobly sticking – or reverting – to football …

Read more

Robson Report: Chelsea, now Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, conjure managerial mayhem

Jeremy Robson

A Forest fan on the radio expressed the hope that Roy Keane’s presence at the 4-2 defeat of Leeds did not mean he was about to be named manager. More rang in to register disgust at the treatment of Sean O’Driscoll. Meanwhile, Henning Berg’s reign at Ewood Park also ends, in his case after fiftysomething days. Jeremy Robson is aghast at a creeping tendency within football …

Read more

O’Neill One Year On: (5) remember, remember the 4th of December (walloping Chelsea)

Jake gets the gaffer's point. Do the players?

In the final part of Salut! Sunderland‘s mini series looking back at Martin O’Neill’s first year at the Stadium of Light (read the first four via the home page) Pete Sixsmith recalls Decembers of the past, one when the Lads put in a performance to remember, helped in no small part by an unsung Frenchman, another when a feisty Irishman called it a day and finally one which saw the arrival of another saviour, this time from the northern part of the Emerald Isle.

Sixer gives his thoughts on yer man’s first 12 months …

Read more

O’Neill One Year On: (3) trivial pursuit or action man this Christmas?

Jake gets the gaffer's point. Do the players?

In the third of our series looking back at Martin O’Neill’s first term in office, (visit the home page salutsunderland.com to see the first two) we welcome a new contributor, Gareth Barker who is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past and of Christmas yet to come. Pete Sixsmith will, in his own inimitable style, round off our offerings later today but before that let Gareth explain why Martin O’Neill may just be the gift we always wanted.

Read more

The Robson Report: Gardner as Mr Bean. And guess the Wigan score

YCFC vs SAFCImage: vagueonthehow

We hear often enough of football’s darker side, perhaps not enough on the good works many players willingly perform (honest: the juxtaposition of Catts and Gardner is purely accidental!). Jeremy Robson plants a fully deserved pat on the back of Craig Gardner and could probably persuade the kids of Biddick Junior, Washington to make the back quite sore. Oh, and no prize this week but have a go anyway at guessing the SAFC v Wigan score in Comments below …

Read more