How Dare We? Palace 1 – Watford 0: SuperKev and Justice at Wembley

John McCormick:
John McCormick: looking for justice

When Sir Kevin put that penalty away to give Palace a foothold in the promised land I found myself wondering if justice was being done. I know Sixer isn’t impressed by Palace, according to his post earlier this month, and I can see where he’s coming from but I don’t think Watford, sited inside the M25 and on the Tube’s Metropolitan Line, is much different from Fulham/QPR/Palace.

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SuperKev: will the next generation have a chance to see his skills?

Ross Crawford, Palace fan
Ross Crawford, left slightly unbalanced by SuperKev’s goal

John McCormick writes:

Salut Sunderland has always welcomed good writing, from supporters of any team. This post continues that fine tradition  and, as our leader is away, gives me the honour of introducing a contributor from one of  next season’s new arrivals. You’ll already have no doubt read that Sixer was not too bothered by the playoff final result and I’ll be adding my own view in a week or so.

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SuperKev: the reason Crystal Palace beat Watford – and he’s our hero

With thanks to goals442 at YouTube – any clip from today would presumably be short-lived. Enjoy the great man at the height of his career, playing for Sunderland AFC, and for others …

It cannot be allowed to pass without mention. If anything was calculated to bring a broad smile to Monsieur Salut’s all-too-often unsmiling face, it was Kevin Phillips scoring a playoff final winner at Wembley.

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Sorry for SuperKev, happy to applaud West Ham’s bounceback

Bill: from Toronto, Co Durham to Toronto, Canda via the Great Wall

Never mind what Bill wrote (see below) or even M Salut’s slightly more even-handed introduction (also see below but not so far down): while I am sad for Kevin Phillips, the truth is that West Ham is a Premier club and may now live up to my prediction that they will do better than Reading or Southampton. Well done Big Sam and cheers to my pal Less Big Sam who will be dancing the night away …

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SAFC v Arsenal: how Arsène Wenger sank the drinking culture

Does Arsenal’s walloping in Milan mean they’ll be easy meat on Saturday evening? Or will they return to Sunderland in angry, let’s-prove-we’re-not-useless mode? Time will tell …

Twelve days ago, I met a man on the Tube. He was a director of the Roosterspiripiri fastfood chain on his way home from the Emirates, having watched with his two young sons Arsenal’s demolition of Blackburn. He was also a Gooner, so happy. Once the train emerged into daylight, my mobile phone flashed with news of a goal from Stoke (McClean Coming Clean), so I was happy, too. Man on Tube had a fascinating family background embracing Pakistan, Sunderland and Newcastle and agreed to answer the “Who are You?” questions. Since then, total silence. Luckily Anthony “Ant” Oliveri* popped up. He loves Southend, adores football generally (see his WeAreTrueFans site) but worships Arsenal. And here, much more than a mere supersub for Roosterspiripiri man (who now reports that he has been out of action with a trapped nerve in his shoulder, so all is forgiven), he is …

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SuperKev quiz: see how you fare


Salut! Sunderland‘s daily newspaper of choice, when not in France, is The Guardian, just as its preferred Sunday read is The Observer. It would love there to be a whole day without Graun suits warning of cutbacks and crisis (OK, that’s an exaggeration; a whole month would be fairer.).

But for now, let us just repeat one or two of the questions posed in today’s Guardian on a subject close to our hearts: Kevin Phillips.

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The Ithics Files: (2) when the jury was out on SuperKev & Quinn

This, the second extract from our near-complete set of the lamented fanzine It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand is a classic mixture of retrospective wisdom and downright mischief-making. Back we go to the 1997/1998 season and the origins of a fabulous Premier League strike pairing …

It is not the sort of thing anyone wants to be reminded of: even the slightest hint of hesitancy in initial thoughts on one Kevin Phillips, and a distinctly undecided assessment of Niall Quinn.

That, however, is how Ithics saw things back then. There are strong mitigating factors, and we will get to them, but Salut! Sunderland cannot resist the temptation to dip into edition No 2 – when the writer of each article was still anonymous – and repeat these snippets from a piece entitled: “Reid’s Transfer Record – Hit or Miss?”

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SuperKev menace looms as Soapbox sees Sunderland win at last

Now we know it: Kevin Phillips will be starting on Saturday* intent on heaping more woe on Steve Bruce and Sunderland supporters: “You look at the teams we have got left at home – Sunderland, Wolves and Fulham – and it’s no disrespect to those teams but they are games we feel we can win.” Pete Sixsmith, though, has broken our collective duck: he’s actually witnessed a win, and over money-coming-out-of-our-ears Manchester City at that. You know what’s coming next …

A Sunderland win at last! I was hoping to use that header after Saturday’s trip to St. Andrews, but the Reserves beat me to it with a well deserved 2-0 win over Manchester City at Eppleton/Hetton last night.

Goals from Craig Lynch in the first half and Ryan Noble after the break, sealed the points in the last game of the regular season and possibly the last game to be played under the current reserve set up.

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SAFC v West Brom: a tale of two Kevs



We will all have found ways of trying to blot the memory of Sunday from our minds, but I was still thinking about the gruesome nature of our Eastlands capitulation when I went to Marseille last night, not for a Ligue 1 game but – as old folklies do – to see Joan Baez. What would really work for many of us would be the sort of pulsating performance, against West Brown on Saturday, that we haven’t really seen since Chelsea away. WBA arrive with bags of confidence after a robust display against Liverpool. We are what we are, and it’ll probably be a nervy affair whichever way it goes.
Salut! Sunderland is grateful to Chris Lepkowski*, the
Birmingham Mail‘s West Brom writer, for agreeing to answer the customary “Who are You” questions. But reading his thoughts on SuperKev made me yearn for a vanished era of prolific goalscoring at the SoL …

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