Ken Gambles

In conversation with Charlie Methven: (4) what is the least Sunderland should expect?

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Can we keep the faith?

It is time to conclude our series based on (mainly) electronic conversations between Salut! Sunderland writers and Charlie Methven, executive director of the club and a minority shareholder.

We thank Charlie for his time and full, diligent responses. Not every Sunderland supporter is yet convinced, either that the takeover from Ellis Short leaves Stewart Donald, Charlie and their team in a strong financial position or that bargain acquisitions from Scotland will win us League One.

We will see. For now, the right noises are being made and the level of communication between club and fans is healthier than in the past, possibly healthier than at any time in the history of Sunderland AFC.

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Reviews of the Season: pathetic, spineless lows but a Montyesque goalkeeping high

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Jake: 'you get the idea Ken's seen better'
Jake: ‘you get the idea Ken’s seen better’

The end-of-season reviews continue to flow in. Ken Gambles is another of our writers with a wealth of experience of watching Sunderland, good and bad. It’s fair to say he felt cheated at times in the season he now reviews, but at least he found one huge positive. All the reviews in this series can be seen at https://safc.blog/category/end-of-season-reviews-2015/ …

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The Tottenham, Chelsea, Everton, WBA and QPR giants who fired my youth

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Ken Gambles is Sunderland through and through. But the recent death of Dave Mackay got him thinking back to some of the giants of English football seen in his student days. Let Ken reacquaint older readers with – and introduce younger ones to – some of the players who gave him such pleasure without ever pulling on the red and white stripes of Sunderland …

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Gambles’ Rambles: Yes to Mannone’s humility, a resounding No to moneyback culture

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Ken Gambles: 'charity begins at home to Arsenal'
Ken Gambles: ‘charity begins at home to Arsenal’

Just as old cynics – step forward Ken Gambles and also M Salut – were wondering what sort of reception Vito Mannone got in the dressing-room when he took the hat round for refunds for the fans (£50,000, £60,000, £70,000 in all or am I way out?), safc.com put out a statement saying this grand gesture was on. Ken, though, disagrees completely with idea of fans demanding their money back after wretched performances and would doubtless go along with the idea floated here of allowing their refunds to go to the Grace House children’s charity. All you need do is miss the deadline of Nov 5 for claiming the money. But let Ken have his say on the principle anyway …

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Summer Gold: (2) goggles for Robben, pink mittens for shirt-tuggers

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This photograph from the Flickr files of the National Media Museum may or may not show Arjen Robben making one last attempt to perfect his technique ahead of tonight’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

Our Summer Gold series, recalling timeless highlights from Salut! Sunderland‘s archives, harks back to August 2011 and Ken Gambles‘s entertaining manifesto for cutting out the things that irritate him about football. Nothing’s changed …

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Gambles Rambles: a cry for fairness on Paolo Di Canio

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'You decide,' as Jake used to say. But is there a middle ground?
‘You decide,’ as Jake used to say. But is there a middle ground?

Is it possible to believe both that Ellis Short was utterly right to dismiss Paolo Di Canio when he did and that not every scathing appraisal of PDC was fair? Ken Gambles regards the merits of the sacking to be proper ground for debate but finds unjust and unpleasant the almost cliched view of the Italian as a man not quite right in the head …

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