Time for another quick look back at the week.
A full stadium, a great build-up and then the damp squib that was, for Sunderland supporters, SAFC v Liverpool.
Jeremy Robson
Marco Gabbiadini, Joan Osborne and one question each
Joan Osborne is of Irish stock so maybe casts an eye from time to time across the Atlantic at how an Irish-American owner and pure Irish chairman are getting on at Sunderland. She may be pleased to hear her whimsical hit One of Us served as a slightly tenuous inspiration for Jeremy Robson to set a rather interesting ball rolling …
That Joan Osborne song, Jeremy reports from his Ontario exile, was on the radio the other day, the one with the mention of “just one question” before the chorus line “What if God was one of us?”.
Some question. But what, he (not He) wondered, if we all had the right to put just one question of our own to any Sunderland player, past or present. To whom would you pose yours and what would it be?
The Mackem diaspora (3): ladies’ stockings, REM and other exotica
Three down and, as things stand, one to go. My first thought about the “Mackem diaspora” thread started by Jeremy Robson at the Blackcats list was that it was a fabulous idea, and stories like these reinforce that view. The choice of images will become clear as you read on. And the reminiscences of Sunderland supporters taking part in the exercise speak for themselves …
See parts one or two by clicking on:
* From Murton to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
* Born in Newcastle, supporting Sunderland
* And the the Google world map initiated by Neil Chandler has now clocked 3,600+ hits. Join it here
Salut!’s week: Liverpool’s lost mojo, winning lasses and scattered Mackems
Image: Mrs Logic
Last weekend was another one without football, at any rate for Sunderland supporters. But there have still been plenty of talking points, plus the build-up to tomorrow’s Sunderland v Liverpool match, to keep Salut! Sunderland busy, as the latest digest of the past week shows …
The Lads had a break but the Lasses had work to do. Sunderland Women’s Football Club produced a strong second-half performance to beat Lincoln City, from the Super League to which Sunderland were disgracefully denied entry, for a place if the FA Women’s Cup quarter-finals.
They face an even tougher task in the 6th round a week tomorrow – Arsenal at home – and possibly a tougher one still in persuading the official SAFC website to take a blind bit of notice in their admirable achievements. Perhaps someone can explain why safc.com studiously ignores the girls, or direct us to some well-hidden corner of the site, overlooked by me, where their cup and Premier League progress is properly recorded.
For those who missed our week, or parts of it, here is a quick guide to what we’ve been doing. If anything takes your fancy, click on the sub-heading to see the item in full:
The Mackem diaspora (2): born in Newcastle, supporting Sunderland
Where are the Mackem wild geese, and what are the stories of their lives away from the North East? It is a fascinating subject – for those of us who care – and since Jeremy Robson got it going again, it’s not touched ground. Look at the Google map – 3,300+ hits last time I looked – and you’ll see that whether exiles read Salut! Sunderland, ALS, Ready To Go , Roker Report or anything else, their thoughts are never too far from home …
For the first part of this mini-series, please go to this link: The Mackem diaspora (1): from Murton to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
The Mackem diaspora (1): from Murton to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll
Read these stories – and the further ones that will follow – of Sunderland fans spread around the world, add your own and also take a look at the new Blackcats Google map that shows who is where …
Whenever we bemoan the fact that some footballers, or – as Mr Roy Keane may have observed – their Wags, refuse to move to Sunderland because of where it is, some of us feel a tinge of guilt.
I am talking about people who moved away from the North East for reasons of work, love or duty.
How many of them are truly likely to return? It’s 38 years since M Salut left County Durham and he feels no less attached to “home” than he did when he left. But would he, could he, go back?
The Premier League is King? You’re having a laugh
The controversy stirred by Niall Quinn over stayaway, see-it-in-the-pub supporters, quickly followed by his candid admission that Sunderland AFC are not serious Premier title challengers, set Jeremy Robson thinking. Where the thought process led him is not calculated to please those for whom English football sits at the top of the world …
The Emperor’s underpants are looking shabby.
We’ve been told the English Premier League is the best in the world. As much as we all love the league and our teams that participate in it, as well as the premier league betting that comes with it, to call it the very best league in the world may be a slight over-exaggeration at this point.
Commentators and summarisers wax lyrical over games which barely stir the pulse. Millions of pounds are handed over with little thought for not even mediocre players who really couldn’t justify a place in the car park, let alone the starting XI.
West Ham v Spurs: two Olympic winners
Jeremy Robson normally has little time for Seb Coe and cannot bring himself to doff his cap and address him as M’lud. But he agreed with old Seb on the best future for the Olympic stadium and is delighted that the right result seems on the point of being announced …
What a load of hot air and waste of time!
It would appear that the Olympic stadium which is likely to cost somewhere around 565M GBP has been granted a stay of execution. It will not, after all, be razed to the ground when the shadows of the Olympic torch lengthen.
In fact it is more than a mere reprieve: new life will be breathed as a result into a grand old lady of English football, dressed in a traditional frock of claret and blue.
Andy Carroll, Torres and Bent: good business or desperate human trafficking?
So it ended without that extra striker coming our way. That leaves some of us feeling a little nervous, but Steve Bruce seems content with the business he’s done and with his resistance to the idea of panic measures to fill a temporary gap up front. Jeremy Robson looks at events elsewhere in the climax to one of the world’s craziest trade fairs …
The transfer window has always been controversial.
Whoever it serves hadn’t quite been figured out until this one. Most managers seemed to hold the view that it didn’t help anyone much as the prices demanded for players during January was artificially high and that the clubs’ finances would face less of a strain during the summer months.
Blackpool fine not fine by me
In which Jeremy Robson sticks up for Ian Holloway in his hour of need …
At the start of the season every club is required to submit the names of 25 players who will make up their squad for the coming season.
Some of us must wonder what the point of this is, as you can add players and remove them. This is what happened to Anton Ferdinand. He didn’t even have a squad number to begin the season, but soon enough he was in the squad and starting games. So what purpose does this 25 man list serve? I haven’t the foggiest idea!